XBox 360 to be replaced by...

[beat mania]

Originally posted by: BD2003
A xbox with internal wifi, an hd-dvd drive, and a larger HD? Sounds like, I dunno....a PS3? Interesting idea, but fairly pointless if its any more expensive than $499. I doubt it will happen, because they simply dont need to do this to sell consoles.

This will get fanboys to buy another xbox 360.

First, they should start working on making consoles that don't spontaneously implode.

This will not get fanboys to buy another xbox 360.

 

[JRich]

I'll wait for the Xbox 720 Ultra Rad with the radiator attachment.

 

[Queasy]

Link

A source close to Microsoft has downplayed rumors of an equipped-to-the-hilt ?Xbox 360 Ultimate.?

An article in UK-based gadget mag Stuff said that by August 2008, Microsoft will release what the publication called the ?Xbox 360 Ultimate.?

This machine would outdo the current Xbox 360 top SKU, the Xbox 360 Elite, by including ?1080p HDMI output, built-in Wi-Fi, hi-def audio output, cooler 65nm hardware architecture and a near-silent fan,? as well as a 320GB disk drive and a possible built-in HD-DVD player.

When contacted by Next-Gen, Microsoft declined to comment on the rumor. However, a separate source close to Microsoft who wished to remain anonymous said that the rumored ?Ultimate? is simply not on the cards.

For Microsoft to introduce yet another SKU at this point in the Xbox 360?s life cycle would be a questionable move. The current Xbox 360 lineup consists of three models that already address audiences ranging from the more casual to the hardcore gamer. With a top-of-the-line 120GB hard drive-equipped Xbox 360 Elite already priced at $450, the purported ?Ultimate? would undoubtedly be priced higher (probably considerably higher) than a top-tier PS3 model.

Yet the rumors of a 360 with a built-in HD DVD will never die.

 

[petez]

I am pretty sure there will be no HD-DVD built-in for XB "Ultimate" (if it is ever released), cause WB just anounced they are dropping HD-DVD in favor for Blu. The only exclusivity is Par/Dreamwork for HD-DVD, meaning there will be no more movies releasing for HD-DVD. Also, the HD-DVD Promo Association just cancelled its conference. Lol, HD-DVD is dying in a few months. Yeah, the Hi-Def war is over = Why HD-DVD drive for XBox Ultimate?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: petez
I am pretty sure there will be no HD-DVD built-in for XB "Ultimate" (if it is ever released), cause WB just anounced they are dropping HD-DVD in favor for Blu. The only exclusivity is Par/Dreamwork for HD-DVD, meaning there will be no more movies releasing for HD-DVD. Also, the HD-DVD Promo Association just cancelled its conference. Lol, HD-DVD is dying in a few months. Yeah, the Hi-Def war is over = Why HD-DVD drive for XBox Ultimate?

Exactly. Plus, the current Xbox lineup of consoles is fine. No need for another variation at all.

 

[beat mania]

Originally posted by: petez
I am pretty sure there will be no HD-DVD built-in for XB "Ultimate" (if it is ever released), cause WB just anounced they are dropping HD-DVD in favor for Blu. The only exclusivity is Par/Dreamwork for HD-DVD, meaning there will be no more movies releasing for HD-DVD. Also, the HD-DVD Promo Association just cancelled its conference. Lol, HD-DVD is dying in a few months. Yeah, the Hi-Def war is over = Why HD-DVD drive for XBox Ultimate?

Blu-ray built in! :thumbsup:

Then they can claim that you can watch any format with the XBox. Think of the marketing potential. 🙂

 

[petez]

Souns good for movie buffs (sony will be very happy about the blu), but it will not make current xbox owners happy. Plus, games releasing for xbox with blu ray storage capacity will be useless for current 12+ millions xbox w/ hddvd. MS has also been trying to stop the hi-def disc war, made consumers confused enough to switch to digital download services, which most of propritery format based on WM-HD codec. Why would they want to make xbox/bluray?

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: potato28

Originally posted by: joshsquall
I think Microsoft and Sony are competing to see who can release more SKUs.

Microsfot is winning right now, 5 SKU's for the 360?

I think it's a tie:
PS3 20GB
PS3 40GB
PS3 60GB w/hardware compatibility
PS3 60GB w/software compatibilty
PS3 80GB

Sony only actually makes the 40GB and the 80GB now though, so they are only actually producing 2 SKUs.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Originally posted by: beat mania

Originally posted by: petez
I am pretty sure there will be no HD-DVD built-in for XB "Ultimate" (if it is ever released), cause WB just anounced they are dropping HD-DVD in favor for Blu. The only exclusivity is Par/Dreamwork for HD-DVD, meaning there will be no more movies releasing for HD-DVD. Also, the HD-DVD Promo Association just cancelled its conference. Lol, HD-DVD is dying in a few months. Yeah, the Hi-Def war is over = Why HD-DVD drive for XBox Ultimate?

Blu-ray built in! :thumbsup:

Then they can claim that you can watch any format with the XBox. Think of the marketing potential. 🙂

As much as I enjoy my HD DVD drive for my 360, the loss of Warner is a big blow that will be very difficult for Toshiba to recover from. I don't know if Blu Ray built in is important, but another $150 drive for the Xbox to support Blu Ray would be convenient.

 

[Ackmed]

Yay, another version of the 360 for people to "upgrade" to, for things that should have been there the whole time. Or at the very least, in the Elite.

Originally posted by: potato28
If thats true a lot of people are gonna be mad. I don't even think they'll make 360 games onto HD-DVD disks for another 2 or 3 years at least.

They will never make 360 games on HD-DVD's. Why? Because then people without this rumored Ultimate wont be able to play them.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
Yay, another version of the 360 for people to "upgrade" to, for things that should have been there the whole time. Or at the very least, in the Elite.

Considering that NOTHING this supposed Xbox Ultimate will come with is something that I feel I need to own, I don't agree with you that it comes with things that should have been there the whole time. I'm glad I didn't have to pay more for my Xbox 360 to get features that I don't even need.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: ObscureCaucasian

Originally posted by: beat mania

Originally posted by: petez
I am pretty sure there will be no HD-DVD built-in for XB "Ultimate" (if it is ever released), cause WB just anounced they are dropping HD-DVD in favor for Blu. The only exclusivity is Par/Dreamwork for HD-DVD, meaning there will be no more movies releasing for HD-DVD. Also, the HD-DVD Promo Association just cancelled its conference. Lol, HD-DVD is dying in a few months. Yeah, the Hi-Def war is over = Why HD-DVD drive for XBox Ultimate?

Blu-ray built in! :thumbsup:

Then they can claim that you can watch any format with the XBox. Think of the marketing potential. 🙂

As much as I enjoy my HD DVD drive for my 360, the loss of Warner is a big blow that will be very difficult for Toshiba to recover from. I don't know if Blu Ray built in is important, but another $150 drive for the Xbox to support Blu Ray would be convenient.

won't happen. Sony won't license it to MS. It's one of the selling points of the PS3, being a HD player and media center (with web browser).

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
won't happen. Sony won't license it to MS. It's one of the selling points of the PS3, being a HD player and media center (with web browser).

I agree. It won't happen, but I think the reason will be more along the lines of MS not wanting to support a physical media, much less a competitor's physical media.

But since we're only speculating, but I would think that the format war is decidedly more important to Sony than the console war. As big as the gaming industry has become, the movie/DVD industry is MUCH bigger. People can argue until they're blue in the face that Sony wanted Blu-Ray in the PS3 because they feel it will become a necessity for games, but reason #1 was undoubtedly so that the Sony-backed format would have a leg up in the HD physical media race. Anyone who has been following the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray hardware sales figures knows how splendidly that move has worked out for Sony. Without the PS3's ~6m in Blu-Ray hardware sales, we'd be looking at things in a much different light these last few days.

Think about it like this - Software/movie discs are where the money is at. Hardware manufacturers rarely make much money on the consoles/players (other than Nintendo, of course). Sony would love for all the Xbox 360 owners to all of a sudden have an affordable way to become Blu-Ray adopters so they would be able to sell more of their Blu-Ray movie discs.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: CKDragon

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
won't happen. Sony won't license it to MS. It's one of the selling points of the PS3, being a HD player and media center (with web browser).

I agree. It won't happen, but I think the reason will be more along the lines of MS not wanting to support a physical media, much less a competitor's physical media.

But since we're only speculating, but I would think that the format war is decidedly more important to Sony than the console war. As big as the gaming industry has become, the movie/DVD industry is MUCH bigger. People can argue until they're blue in the face that Sony wanted Blu-Ray in the PS3 because they feel it will become a necessity for games, but reason #1 was undoubtedly so that the Sony-backed format would have a leg up in the HD physical media race. Anyone who has been following the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray hardware sales figures knows how splendidly that move has worked out for Sony. Without the PS3's ~6m in Blu-Ray hardware sales, we'd be looking at things in a much different light these last few days.

Think about it like this - Software/movie discs are where the money is at. Hardware manufacturers rarely make much money on the consoles/players (other than Nintendo, of course). Sony would love for all the Xbox 360 owners to all of a sudden have an affordable way to become Blu-Ray adopters so they would be able to sell more of their Blu-Ray movie discs.

MS wants downloads but we all know that that will never become mainstream. Most people, myself included want to own the disk. There are also people who can't get good broadband access either. Not to mention it's filled with more DRM than Blu-Ray's BD+. Finally they only offer 720p downloads with lossy DolbyDigital audio. No TrueHD 7.1 there.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Ackmed
Yay, another version of the 360 for people to "upgrade" to, for things that should have been there the whole time. Or at the very least, in the Elite.

Considering that NOTHING this supposed Xbox Ultimate will come with is something that I feel I need to own, I don't agree with you that it comes with things that should have been there the whole time. I'm glad I didn't have to pay more for my Xbox 360 to get features that I don't even need.

Thats good for you. You're in the vast minority however. Who wouldnt want a cooler, and quieter 360? I guess you're the only one. And who is to say it would cost more? The Wii has wifi and is $250. There goes that excuse.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Ackmed
Yay, another version of the 360 for people to "upgrade" to, for things that should have been there the whole time. Or at the very least, in the Elite.

Considering that NOTHING this supposed Xbox Ultimate will come with is something that I feel I need to own, I don't agree with you that it comes with things that should have been there the whole time. I'm glad I didn't have to pay more for my Xbox 360 to get features that I don't even need.

Thats good for you. You're in the vast minority however. Who wouldnt want a cooler, and quieter 360? I guess you're the only one. And who is to say it would cost more? The Wii has wifi and is $250. There goes that excuse.

My 360 runs cool, runs quiet...um, No problems

 

[Davegod]

bigger hdd is extremely plausable, nay it's implausable that it won't be bigger. The 360 still not having built-in Wifi is silly IMHO so that's a good bet.

But the hd-dvd? There's nothing in TFA to suggest they have any kind of info we dont - "Well, fingers-crossed for a built-in HD DVD drive. "

Bear in mind the entire contents of the article is "our guesstimate". It's fun to speculate but there's no hint of it coming from a good source.

Also, FWIW, I doubt there are any successful consoles whach have not undergone a number of revisions for improved or cheaper design. Usually they go unannounced and barely noticed. Insofar as I can tell the only functional change is the HDMI port. Everything else is merely market segmentation. Hard drives are a peripheral that's just pre-attached on a bundle deal, different sizes are due to for supplier pricing and market segmentation.
^ The only reason that the above isnt completely on the ball is because the "revisions for improved or cheaper design" have been tackling problems so severe with the initial design that many people consider it an "upgrade" to buy a new, fixed version.

 

[petez]

CES report confirms that MS chairman Bill said nothing about the Ultimate. BTW, it was a boring speech with no new products announced.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: petez
CES report confirms that MS chairman Bill said nothing about the Ultimate. BTW, it was a boring speech with no new products announced.

CES isn't the place for new/big 360 announcements. That is saved for the GAME FOCUSED trade shows like GDC, E3, etc. The announcements for 360 were in the general consumer category - MGM, ABC licensing for Xbox Live Video Marketplace, 360 used as a set-top box for British Telecom.

 

[Davegod]

http://kotaku.com/341323/micro...d+dvd+in+a+360-chatter
/points finger in various directions 😉

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Queasy
CES isn't the place for new/big 360 announcements. That is saved for the GAME FOCUSED trade shows like GDC, E3, etc. The announcements for 360 were in the general consumer category - MGM, ABC licensing for Xbox Live Video Marketplace, 360 used as a set-top box for British Telecom.

True, but if a 360 with HD-DVD was coming you'd expect MS to announce it there for damage control. The WB announcement makes HD-DVD look like a sinking ship and MS has worked to bail it out in the past.

So maybe an Ultimate or Elite 2.0, but probably without HD-DVD.

 

[Slick5150]

It wouldn't be unheard of for MS to release some games on HD-DVD that required the drive. SegaCD games obviously wouldn't work on a standard Genesis, you needed the CD drive attachment. And without it, you couldn't play such classics as Sewer Shark and Marky Mark: Make My Video!

Actually, there were a few decent games for it, but my point is that its been done before..

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
It wouldn't be unheard of for MS to release some games on HD-DVD that required the drive. SegaCD games obviously wouldn't work on a standard Genesis, you needed the CD drive attachment. And without it, you couldn't play such classics as Sewer Shark and Marky Mark: Make My Video!

Actually, there were a few decent games for it, but my point is that its been done before..

Well, MS already said previously that no games will ever use HD DVD. They would be flat out liars to do otherwise.