Microsoft Once Again Denies Blu-ray; Aaron Greenberg Getting Annoyed
By Stephany on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 8:02 AM PST In Gamer Life, Games Industry, Hardware, Microsoft, Microsoft
Once again, amid recent rumors stemmed from a report issued by Xbit Labs, Microsoft has denied that they are working on an external Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360. Speaking to Major Nelson during a TGS podcast, Aaron Greenberg director of product management for Xbox 360, reiterated the company’s belief that the future is digital by siting their recent deal with Netflix and stating that they will not “force” gamers to purchase a product that they do not want.
As transcribed by Videogaming247:
“We believe that we shouldn’t force people to pay for things they don’t want. We also believe that the future’s digital, and that’s why we’ve invested in a massive library of entertainment content, that’s why we’re bringing things like Netflix to members in the US, that’s why we’re growing our library in Europe, that’s why we’re adding all type of entertainment experiences around the world.”
Greenberg also stated in the podcast that in the future, people will be laughing about Blu-ray and will even coin the phrase “I got Blu-rayed”. I wonder if that is opposed to “I got HD-DVDed”? That format is pretty much going the way of dinosaur now, and this argument is no different than the Beta/VHS slamming that consumers were embroiled in the 80’s. However, Greenspan never mentions the failed HD-DVD external drive for the Xbox 360, and never mentioned the failure of that product either.
During the podcast, Greenberg also mentioned “Blur-ray is not the next DVD” and as far as availability and retail sales, Blu-ray does not have much of a selection to offer consumers and what is there goes for a premium price.
“No one knows what Blu-ray will be. It’s pretty clear it’s not the next DVD, right? The days of one physical format being the standard are gone. I went to Sony’s booth, and it used to be that their whole booth was Blu-ray. It just keeps shrinking down. Now it’s just this little corner and there’s no one there and it’s like, there’s a heart sign and it’s got ‘Blu-ray’ and some movies. It’s interesting.”
Unless one is a true psychic or has a time machine, there is no way of knowing if Blu-ray is or isn’t the future of entertainment. It is true that digital distribution is becoming more and more popular in this day and age, but the majority of the world’s population has yet to jump on that particular bandwagon. Until every home has the ability to get fast internet connectivity or a cable/satellite system, people will still be purchasing DVDs or Blu-ray to watch movies. It is shocking to know that there are still people out there who use dial-up and purchase VHS tapes and this does not mean that they are behind the times, just that finances or availability do not dictate staying with the times.
Until everyone is able to invest in the same technology, there will always be options as to how you will be able to get your games and movies; therefore there will never be “just one” winner in the format wars.
“I got Blu-rayed”? Um, how exactly would you get blu-rayed, Mr. Greenburg?
Blu-ray will never come to xbox 360. I Guarantee you that.
It best. I’m a godammned faggot sony fan LOL
What a douchebag. Blu-Ray is the next “DVD” as hollywood is totally backing this format now. I was a pro HD DVD guy, but that format was burried by hollywood. Does this guy live underground or something? The selection of Blu-Ray is growing quickly. Remember back to the DVD launch? Remember how few DVD’s there were back then and how long it took various studios to release their classics and such on DVD? ALONG F’N TIME! DVD’s were also very expensive up untill around 2003. That’s eight long years after the format was released, before DVD’s became reasonably priced.
This guy is so full of shit, it’s oozing out his pantlegs. As for microsoft not selling people things they don’t want…please explain Windows VISTA.