Pegatron to Manufacture Xbox 360s with Internal BD-ROM drives for Microsoft
Posted by Shawn on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 12:44 pm under Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Game Related Science, Gamer Life, Games Industry, Microsoft, Microsoft
The war is officially over. After all the nonsense about HD downloads being the way to go, Pegatron an Original Equipment Manufacturer for Asustek Computer has been awarded a contract to build Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc (BD)-ROM drive. According to DigiTimes, Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper pegs the release to market date for third quarter 2008.
We’ve haven’t heard “officially” heard from Microsoft that this is the case so I wouldn’t say this is a sure thing yet. However, I’d hope that a company as business savvy as Microsoft would be able to see this as inevitable.
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May 4th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
So whats this model going to be called? The "uber haxor" 360?
May 4th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I wonder if this will help blu-ray at all. Considering HD-DVD went under, it's really struggling as a format. I would have thought it would explode once there was no competition but sales have flatlined. I guess people are just not ready for it yet.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Used Cisco said: Considering HD-DVD went under, it's really struggling as a format.
Its actually being adopted faster than DVD was.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
"Its actually being adopted faster than DVD was."
Not surprising that this comes from Norbit.
That's one of the most misleading statistics ever and even the Blu-Ray advocates have a hard time saying it with a straight face. It's not technically wrong, but it's incredibly misleading.
The reality is, the adoption rate is no where near what DVD was. The existence of the PS3 utterly confuses the actual statistics. There were something like 10 times as many PS3's on the market as there were HD-DVD players, yet blu-ray discs were only outselling HD-DVDs by 2-1 and 3-1 at the very end. That means most PS3s are generally being bought as game systems and shouldn't be considered "adoption" of the blu-ray format.
In the first 2 years of DVD, the PS2 was not out yet, therefore no one had the option to buy a game system that would inflate the DVD adoption numbers as happens today with every PS3 sold. If you remove PS3s from the equation, the difference is drastic. If you insist on leaving the PS3 in the equation, then you only need wait for that 3rd year when the PS2 came out and DVD adoption skyrocketed to see how inaccurate that statement is. Thats the thing people don't notice in the statistic above. DVD continued it's adoption at a staggering rate throughout it's lifespan, while Blu-Ray has flatlined the last few months. In particular if you look at stand alone players and media sales, they're in a real slump.
May 4th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/blu-ray-the-future-has-been-delayed/
"According to NPD, sales of Blu-ray standalone players plummeted 40 percent from January to February, then rose a scant 2 percent from February to March. The general consensus was that once Toshiba dropped its support for the HD DVD format early this year, sales would increase.
In fact, sales of Blu-ray standalone players remain so low that NPD has not yet released actual numbers, for fear that it would be easy to identify individual retailers."
May 4th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I'm talking about sales of media, not players
Way to jump to idiotic conclusions
Because of the PS3 the only way you can get a true picture of how well the format is being adopted is by looking at sales of the media and Blu-ray media has taken off faster than DVD.
There is no point arguing with you because you are obviously either an idiot or you have a dumb agenda. Proof? You said earlier that Microsoft putting a Blu-ray player in the 360 wont help Blu-ray. Have you got any idea of how retarded that sounds?
Seriously. how can it NOT help Blu-ray? 
May 4th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
It doesn't make sense to me to put a BD player inside the box. Games are being designed around the r/w speed of a DVD drive. Putting a BD player in the box segregates the market. As the article says, I can't see a company as smart as Microsoft making this kind of mistake. An add-on drive, absolutely, but not built-in.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
"you are obviously either an idiot or you have a dumb agenda"
At least I can read.
"You said earlier that Microsoft putting a Blu-ray player in the 360 wont help Blu-ray. "
No I didn't. When you can learn to read, then you can respond to me. Otherwise, I'll ignore you just like I do all the children on these boards.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Oh, I almost forgot,
"the only way you can get a true picture of how well the format is being adopted is by looking at sales of the media"
That's the dumbest thing I've heard today. Media sales don't do anything to indicate adoption rate. Adoption rate is a specific thing determined by the number of consumers who switch to a format. Media sales give us no indication of how many consumers are adopting the format because some consumers may buy many movies while others only buy a few. Sales of players is the only number that can really give an idea of adoption rate.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:15 am
I think this is AWESOME news!….and I hope its true….I've been putting off buying a next gen system until the format war was over…plus..I dont like playstation….if this is true..I can finally play some Halo 2 and 3 and GTA 4 ETC..and have a blu-ray player ready to go when i buy an HD tv in the near future….cool!
May 5th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Apparently, Norbit will never learn to stop talking out of his ass.
Oh well.
I really wish Microsoft would release a Blu-Ray add-on drive like they did with the HD-DVD. That would solve the pricing issues I have because the add-on would most likely be much cheaper than a PS3.
Go Marlins!!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 8:06 am
That Norbit is a twat. sorry for being off-topic.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:29 am
"That Norbit is a twat."
I think it's more that he's misguided by his blind devotion to Sony. It does crazy things to people. I just wish he would avoid all the silly name-calling. I don't know if he's 13 or 30, but his posts sure make it look like he's closer to the former.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Microsoft is profit-mongering, but not dumb. The reason HD-DVD was an addon was because Microsoft did not want to try to bet their second ever console on the adoption of a media format. Now that the format war has been decided, the 360 will be getting a built in version. I will expect a BD addon to come out also, would
Microsoft want to get all their current gamers angry?
I would expect this BD360 to be something like the Elite is currently, maybe even supplanting the Elite as the "XBox360+" model. I would not expect that all of the 360's will start to use Bluray come November, but I will expect BD addons and built-ins.
As for why Bluray is struggling, it should be kind of obvious.
1. The promised price drops on players have not happened yet
2. The Holiday Season is in sight, it's no longer January.
Personally I'm already starting to defer large tech purchases instead of coughing up money for them. Although there are some people who buy things in the summer, as long as large price drops are rumored everywhere, many people are content to wait until Black Friday. Bluray is nice, but there is not such a difference that most people will run out and buy one when there is already a DVD player in their residence.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Geez, the imitator brigade is out in full force these days. Stop, seriously. -Editor