Post by Steve Farrelly @ 02:14pm 08/09/10 | 25 Comments
"Already games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves are pushing the limits of the Blu-ray 50GB discs," said Graham Heaton, CEO of BDA Europe. "The infrastructure for broadband throughout the world varies greatly and is a long way from being able to support the downloading and streaming of 50GB games in a consumer friendly format. It will be a very long time before this changes, so Blu-ray is in a ideal position to ensure that the best games are available to all gamers."
True that, we know broadband issues better than anyone. Of course, that's just the BDA offering Microsoft an in, it's still pretty unlikely they'd ever go down that route. Shame though.
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Posted 02:19pm 08/9/10
Posted 02:25pm 08/9/10
i think microsoft is still pissed off that they didnt win the format war with their hddvd
last edited by ravn0s at 14:25:29 08/Sep/10
Posted 02:29pm 08/9/10
quite the opposite in fact
Posted 02:32pm 08/9/10
For that matter, current gen of BD drives still have slower read speeds than dvd drives too
Whenever/If MS' next console launches (prob still at least 4 years+) they might consider it, but there's always the potential that they might go download only by then and do away with physical media entirely by then.
It also does make sense for MS to not jump on board BD for movies on the xbox (with a detachable drive like the HD-DVD one) because they are big pimping their download movie offerings in the US with Netflix etc and don't necessarily want to draw attention away from those facilities.
Posted 02:49pm 08/9/10
last edited by Mantorok at 14:49:49 08/Sep/10
Posted 02:49pm 08/9/10
Posted 02:50pm 08/9/10
this
Posted 02:50pm 08/9/10
especially until there is way way faster net with unlimited plans
Posted 02:54pm 08/9/10
one word? don't bother
you're a waste of scroll time
Posted 02:56pm 08/9/10
Posted 03:13pm 08/9/10
Posted 03:26pm 08/9/10
The sooner we can own purchases based on their content and not their format the better.
Posted 03:34pm 08/9/10
thats you tho, 1 out of maybe 100 or more potential customers.
Posted 03:45pm 08/9/10
errr, HDDVD wasn't microsof't's format, it was Toshiba's. MS only briefly "supported" it with one single piece of hardware for the xbox 360, which was presumably to try and take a bit of focus away from Sony's PS3 with blueray drive.
After it's failure, they distanced themselves from both with the excuse of focusing on their digital downloadable offerings.
As far as the tech goes, my understanding is that MS stand to make just as much from licensing of the VC-1 codec in BD as they did from HD-DVD.
Posted 03:42pm 08/9/10
Posted 03:45pm 08/9/10
You have to remember that not everyone has a fat internet connection, and they would really be screwing themselves over if they required it. That being said I heart Steam.
Posted 03:53pm 08/9/10
There could also be alternative methods of distributing said downloadable content, solid state media like USB sticks are becoming stupidly cheap, they distrubute the same titles on those for a higher price for people that couldn't download.
Consoles did used to use more expensive media than optical discs once upon a time (DS still does).
It's not too far fetched to imagine a scenario where you could take your console's detachable harddrive, or another correctly formatted storage device into a retailer and have them load a copy of the game they sell you on to it.
I'm not saying that it's super-definitely-likely to happen. Just that it is a credible possibility if they wanted to take a risk and blaze that trail. Much like they did with the xbox live service really, online gaming on a console that required broadband, when most people still only had dialup, now they're a leader in that field.
Posted 04:10pm 08/9/10
Posted 04:24pm 08/9/10
Everybody assumes that because BluRay CAN hold 50GB, that most games actually use it all. F*** all games are that big. The vast, vast majority of games fit nicely onto a dual-layer DVD, and considering how many people make use of Steam, it's hardly going to be much of a stretch to think people will download big games on their consoles.
Posted 04:49pm 08/9/10
I was simply pointing out that the broadband we have at the moment is capable of downloading games, not that people necessarily would if they could.
That said the success of XBLA and PSN suggest that many people will download and lets face it when people are offered a more convenient and easier method of shopping they will generally take it. I doubt the next generation of consoles will be solely a downloadable affair but I would be pretty surprised if there wasn't a digital distribution option. Right now you can buy a game off Steam or from many other digital stores or you can go into EB's and get reemed by some pimpled face nerd who seems upset that you interrupted his guitar hero session, there's no doubt that MS would like to have a digital store for consoles in the future and take the retail profits themselves.
Posted 04:52pm 08/9/10
Posted 05:56pm 08/9/10
*for you spelling nazis who hate ppl who mispell blu ray
Posted 06:04pm 08/9/10
bluray
bluray
blurry
Posted 06:15pm 08/9/10
*cough* FF series
Posted 11:36pm 08/9/10
^This
:D
I think I read several big name games are going to be doing that soon. Cant remember any of the games but I think it was just for GFWL rather then on the 360.