What if the Xbox360 Went Blu Ray from Get-Go?

[STI Jaguar]

What would this have meant?

#1. For sure that Blu Ray would have won this war a lot quicker

#2. The 360 would have smashed the PS3. In fact the PS3 might have been forced to withdraw. This huge blunder, and with games like MSG4/GT5/FF and it looks like the PS3 might even overtake the 360 in sales, despite being on the market a year late and having weaker games.

Going with HD-DVD, the 360 has managed to lose on both fronts. This is probably Microsoft's biggest blunder.

[Gremal]

That's hypothetical. But Sony's business model was excellent through all this. It's nice to see them pull off a very successful introduction.

[jizzle]

The real question is "What if Xbox 360 was HD-DVD in the first place?"

[jq71586]

Could the X-box have even implemented blu-ray and still gotten the entire system out one year ahead of the PS3?

[Prometheus59650]

Originally Posted by ****le

The real question is "What if Xbox 360 was HD-DVD in the first place?"

Indeed. Red could've and (probably would've) won with that. And they'd have cut their current game storage issues at the knees and avoided them.

The next Box will have to pick a format not DVD. Irony of ironies if they went blue.

But I'll bet they use HD-DVD.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by jq71586

Could the X-box have even implemented blu-ray and still gotten the entire system out one year ahead of the PS3?

No. The delay in the PS/3 was mostly due to the blue laser diode yields not improving as fast as expected, and their being a severe shortage for early 2006. There was no chance for four months earlier.

Besides, they've not had much success getting a full spec BDMV working on an Xbox 360.

Gary

[Prometheus59650]

Originally Posted by jq71586

Could the X-box have even implemented blu-ray and still gotten the entire system out one year ahead of the PS3?

No way in hell. Part of Sony's delay WAS trying to implement Blu. As it was M$ was in such a blind rush that they tossed consumers a rampantly defective product.

[Banjo]

There still would be a 33% failure rate.

[EvolutionCherry]

Originally Posted by Banjo

There still would be a 33% failure rate.

Exactly. I was gonna say that a better question would be "What if a 1/3 of the consoles on the market didn't have malfunctions?"

[Sith]

Originally Posted by EvolutionCherry

Exactly. I was gonna say that a better question would be "What if a 1/3 of the consoles on the market didn't have malfunctions?"

Personally i think we all benefit game wise by having 3 consoles doing well.....
Competition leads to better games.....and all gamers benefit....Even if you
just own a ps3...

[fronn]

#1: There wouldn't have been a war. Toshiba wouldn't have pursued it if both 360 and PS3 were going to be released with BR from the get go. Of course 360 probably would have been more expensive then (or PS3 might have been able to be cheaper because of all the units already pumped out by the time it was released).

#2: It wouldn't have changed things much, I don't think. In the grand scheme of things, there aren't that many people who bought a PS3 just for BR. Sony would never just "withdraw" their Playstation even if it was doing even worse than PS3. It'll be a long time before PS3 overtakes 360, if at all. The demise of 360 is a bit early. It may not have the continued momentum it used to, but PS3 still has a ways to go before it consistently outsells it (and a long time after that before it catches up).

As mentioned above if BR was included in 360, the cost of 360 would have rose and it probably would have been delayed, making the playing field vastly different for PS3... so it would be next to impossible to predict the outcome of anything outside of what an initial announcement would cause (the end of HD DVD before it started).

[Sith]

Originally Posted by fronn

#1: There wouldn't have been a war. Toshiba wouldn't have pursued it if both 360 and PS3 were going to be released with BR from the get go. Of course 360 probably would have been more expensive then (or PS3 might have been able to be cheaper because of all the units already pumped out by the time it was released).

#2: It wouldn't have changed things much, I don't think. In the grand scheme of things, there aren't that many people who bought a PS3 just for BR. Sony would never just "withdraw" their Playstation even if it was doing even worse than PS3. It'll be a long time before PS3 overtakes 360, if at all. The demise of 360 is a bit early. It may not have the continued momentum it used to, but PS3 still has a ways to go before it consistently outsells it (and a long time after that before it catches up).

As mentioned above if BR was included in 360, the cost of 360 would have rose and it probably would have been delayed, making the playing field vastly different for PS3... so it would be next to impossible to predict the outcome of anything outside of what an initial announcement would cause (the end of HD DVD before it started).

The only thing that will kill the 360 is the next microsoft system, that will
probably be blu ray right out of the box...

[jw]

looks like blu-ray may be coming to the 360
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/ind...2&newsid=12242

[Phane]

Originally Posted by STI Jaguar

#2. The 360 would have smashed the PS3. In fact the PS3 might have been forced to withdraw. This huge blunder, and with games like MSG4/GT5/FF and it looks like the PS3 might even overtake the 360 in sales, despite being on the market a year late and having weaker games.

I highly doubt that the 360 would have smashed the PS3 if it had included a Blu-ray drive. It would have delayed the 360's launch and erased it's price advantage, which were it's only two advantages out of the gate. The Playstation console had a far better reputation at the time of the 360's launch.

Additionally, the video game console market has traditionally supported 2-3 video game systems adequately. There's no reason to assume that the #2 or #3 best selling console would be withdrawn, it would still be profitable. The only company that has ever withdrawn a console from the market is Sega.

[statikcat]

Originally Posted by STI Jaguar

What would this have meant?

#1. For sure that Blu Ray would have won this war a lot quicker

#2. The 360 would have smashed the PS3. In fact the PS3 might have been forced to withdraw. This huge blunder, and with games like MSG4/GT5/FF and it looks like the PS3 might even overtake the 360 in sales, despite being on the market a year late and having weaker games.

Going with HD-DVD, the 360 has managed to lose on both fronts. This is probably Microsoft's biggest blunder.

Microsoft is not loosing on the game side. They are doing extremely well. Microsoft was never really on the HD-DVD side they just offered an external player for the Xbox - which to my knowledge was not even made by Microsoft.

What are you talking about the Playstation having the withdraw? That is crazy talk. The Playstation would sell well ultimately regardless of what came on the 360. Besides, the 360 could not have came with a BD drive on launch - that is impossible.

[Brian Cash]

What if sony was hd dvd and toshiba was blu ray would it of made a deff did blu ray win because of its technology or its marketing or just because its backed by sony and was in all ps3 systems its all hypothetical questions that we will never know

[NovaBomb]

Originally Posted by STI Jaguar

What would this have meant?

#1. For sure that Blu Ray would have won this war a lot quicker

#2. The 360 would have smashed the PS3. In fact the PS3 might have been forced to withdraw. This huge blunder, and with games like MSG4/GT5/FF and it looks like the PS3 might even overtake the 360 in sales, despite being on the market a year late and having weaker games.

Going with HD-DVD, the 360 has managed to lose on both fronts. This is probably Microsoft's biggest blunder.

Blu-ray was not ready when the Xbox360 came out, thats why the PS3 was delayed a year.... Sony took a chance and let Xbox go a year a head of them

[Elandyll]

1 - Unless I am mistaken, neither HD DVD or Blu Ray were ready when the Xbox 360 launched

2 - MS would would have had to delay launch to adopt HD DVD (Blu Ray would have been farther along, -and- the product of a direct competitor. At the time it would have made no sense)

3 - By being delayed (a year or so?), the Xbox 360 would have lost its "early bird" advantage, and only release 4-5 months ahead of the PS3.

4 - Costs between the two platforms would have been -very- similar, if not to the advantage of the PS3 (with integrated Wi Fi, giving it better value)

5 - Being delayed so much, there would have been less games ready for the 360, and less exclusives

6 - Blu Ray vs HD DVD would have been a much closer call, except in Japan (they hate the Xbox there it seems). BUT with the PS2/PS1 compatibility as a plus, the PS3 would have outsold the (equally expensive) Xbox.

7 - Competition between the two consoles with close capabilities (both HD next gen) would have driven prices down further -on both-. But the additional capacities of the PS3, it's Wifi, Cell and PS2/PSone compatibility would have been major pluses.

The PS3 would have grown faster than the Xbox, and in the end, HD DVD might have lived a few more months (due to Xbox), but the domination of the PS3 would have ensured that Blu Ray would have won anyway, not counting the better technical specs of Blu Ray.

In the end, same result, except that HD DVD would get to live on as the support of Xbox games... kindof a zombie format.
At least now it's cremated, put in a jar, and burried under concrete.

[zxvfrr41]

Originally Posted by statikcat

Microsoft is not loosing on the game side. They are doing extremely well. Microsoft was never really on the HD-DVD side they just offered an external player for the Xbox - which to my knowledge was not even made by Microsoft.

Actually, Microsoft is not doing extremely well on the gaming side as per the following two articles.

Article 1:
For the year, the division suffered a $1.89bn operating loss, a 47 per cent increase from the $1.28bn hit the division took the prior year. The shortfall came despite $6.08bn in annual revenue, 28 per cent above the $4.76bn it took in the year prior.

Besides decreased Xbox 360 console sales, the EDD's fourth quarter suffered a catastrophic blow when then-corporate vice president Peter Moore announced a three-year extension of the Xbox 360 manufacturer's warranty. The company on Friday confirmed it took a $1.06bn charge as a result of the unprecedented move, causing operating losses for the quarter to tally a massive $1.2bn -- a staggering 183 per cent year-on-year increase. The company said the loss was lessened somewhat by "decreased Xbox 360 console manufacturing costs" and "increased Xbox accessories and video game sales".

Article 2:
The Entertainment and Devices division (which Microsoft's games division is a part of) continues to lose money, as it took a $1.199 billion loss for the quarter and a loss of $1.892 billion for the entire 2007 fiscal year.

[Luis_A51]

Originally Posted by STI Jaguar

What would this have meant?

#1. For sure that Blu Ray would have won this war a lot quicker

#2. The 360 would have smashed the PS3. In fact the PS3 might have been forced to withdraw. This huge blunder, and with games like MSG4/GT5/FF and it looks like the PS3 might even overtake the 360 in sales, despite being on the market a year late and having weaker games.

Going with HD-DVD, the 360 has managed to lose on both fronts. This is probably Microsoft's biggest blunder.

Wrong. For starters, if MS supported Bluray, we would have NEVER HAD THE WAR TO BEGIN WITH.

Second, if the 360 had bluray from the get-go, then it would have been WAY more expensive (than the original 360) and it would have come out at the same time as the PS3, thereby eliminating its 2 key advantages. Therefor the PS3 would have had an EASIER time passing it in sales.