Xbox 720 Ditching Optical Drive?

[brybir]

http://www.slashgear.com/xbox-720-ditching-optical-drive-tip-partners-09217647/



Interesting article if true!

 

[Anarchist420]

If they are, then that's a good decision other than that you won't be able to rip albums that are only CD to it in lossless. Optical drives are too damn slow and only good for old things and albums.

 

[RedRooster]

As long as new games drop down to $40, I'm in!

 

[dfuze]

I don't think as a whole we are ready yet for a completely downloadable console environment.But if so, I wonder how places like Best Buy etc would handle the loss of the ability to sell games if they went to a pure download method. Not to mention not everyone has wide broadband pipes/large data caps to handle that either. Unless what they mean by "tipped card-based storage" is the old nintendo looking cartridges.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I doubt it...they previously said blu-ray. All this supposed "I heard from a guy under nda" is crap. Wait for announcement of new system.

Now if this is true then the games will likely come on some type of flash storage if you buy them at retail stores. Likely Microsoft wants to control how we use the system which would account for trying to tighten it up and pushing digital distro.

I hope they don't remove retail completely because I enjoy having another gamer face to face who I can chat with about the latest games.. I would really miss that.

 

[RedRooster]

I don't think as a whole we are ready yet for a completely downloadable console environment.But if so, I wonder how places like Best Buy etc would handle the loss of the ability to sell games if they went to a pure download method. Not to mention not everyone has wide broadband pipes/large data caps to handle that either. Unless what they mean by "tipped card-based storage" is the old nintendo looking cartridges.

They could still sell the download cards with the codes, and have little sales on them and such. It would be like now, only take up less shelf space.

 

[Krynj]

Total bullshit. You might see consoles without optical drives eventually, but not yet. Residential internet connections just aren't up to snuff to download 10+gb worth of game data whenever you buy a new game.

 

[alent1234]

no blu ray no buy

how am i supposed to watch movies on it without blu ray?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Not going to happen unless they're going to replace games with flash based media (just have to look at the 3DS or Vita which use flash based media for their games and are capable of ~8GB cart sizes), granted, even that that proposition is hard to believe as it is still a tad too expensive if we're talking bigger than DVD capacity.

Online only distribution also won't work as there are still far too many people with too poor of an internet connection (or none at all) to move strictly to online only.

only way other than having flash card based games would be for them to include a sort of portable hard drive with the system which you would have to lug with you to a B&M store to buy and then have then install the game to the drive for you

don't get me wrong here, I'd be all for getting rid of optical media, I just don't see it happening, not yet. Maybe next gen.

although its always possible they include a model that has no optical drive and they offer it for a discount to try and encourage adoption of the idea in a move towards that type of system

 

[purbeast0]

100% not happening.

that would alienate their console base by a SHITLOAD considering how many people in the middle of the country are still on DSL or dialup.

it would also be retardedly stupid considering how popular bluray has become.

oh yea, and we have ISP's starting to throttle and cap.

100% it will have a bluray drive.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

no blu ray no buy

how am i supposed to watch movies on it without blu ray?

lol really? you'd get the movies and watch them the same way you'd get the games and play them, ie online distribution, whether its streaming via a service like Netflix or downloading a physical copy like through iTunes...

 

[alent1234]

why would i buy a movie via digital distribution?

my PS3 plays dvd and blu ray
x-box plays only dvd
netflix selection is so so at best

plan is to dump xbox and ps3 and buy the new xbox if it has blu ray

only way i'll buy digital copies of movies if there is no drm to lock them to specific devices and stores

and blu ray's look awesome on my TV. digital copies of movies look like crap

 

[cmdrdredd]

lol really? you'd get the movies and watch them the same way you'd get the games and play them, ie online distribution, whether its streaming via a service like Netflix or downloading a physical copy like through iTunes...

Are they 1080p with full dts-hd sound and all the commentary and behind the scenes? No? Then no thanks. Or what about 3D...you can't steam that too easy over the internet.

 

[JackBurton]

why would i buy a movie via digital distribution?

my PS3 plays dvd and blu ray
x-box plays only dvd
netflix selection is so so at best

plan is to dump xbox and ps3 and buy the new xbox if it has blu ray

only way i'll buy digital copies of movies if there is no drm to lock them to specific devices and stores

and blu ray's look awesome on my TV. digital copies of movies look like crap

Why don't you just buy a BD player instead of relying on a console? When the PS3 was first released it was perfect solution, a game console with a BD player all for what you'd pay for a stand alone BD player. Now that BD players are cheap, I don't see the point of integrating BD into a console unless they are just using it for the added space for the game.

I HIGHLY doubt MS will be going fully digital download for their games. We just aren't ready for it yet. On top of that, newer games will be much larger which makes it even more unlikely for download. I would however like for them to come out with something other than optical media. The space is fine on BD, but it is just TOO SLOW. Flash media would be a much better solution, but it still may not be cost effective.

 

[Fingolfin269]

This is not going to happen. (at least not in the next Xbox)

 

[Atomic Playboy]

The infrastructure isn't there to do this on a widespread scale. It'd work fine somewhere like Seattle where broadband is prevalent, but there are large sections of the country (rural areas) where broadband isn't even available, let alone prevalent. Granted, you could sell games on flash-based memory like thumb drives, but how is that easier than a disc? And are you going to have terabyte hard drives on all your machines? Where are you going to store all this data? Isn't that more costly than including a simple optical drive?

 

[American Gunner]

I live in an area with just DSL, and if this were true I would rule out an Xbox next gen.

 

[tommo123]

i can see downloading games being an option (why not if you have a good connection?) but no blu ray? no chance.

MS want you to use the xbox as the home media centre. same with sony and the ps3 (one reason why the blu ray/hddvd war happened). no blu ray drive means the next xbox would be purely a games machine and they want you to be more invested in the machine than that.

 

[ibex333]

I hope it doesn't happen. I don't want the console manufacturer to have total control over ways in which I obtain my games, and whether I have the right to trade them or sell them to other people.

If I am to be denied the right to sell/trade my games, it means that I don't truly "own" the game in question. It means that I am sort of "renting" it from the console maker/game devs, and can use it as much as I want as long as I use it within the constraints placed on me. This is not right. I am not willing to spend $40-70 on games that are not truly "mine" after the purchase.

 

[RedRooster]

I hope it doesn't happen. I don't want the console manufacturer to have total control over ways in which I obtain my games, and whether I have the right to trade them or sell them to other people.

If I am to be denied the right to sell/trade my games, it means that I don't truly "own" the game in question. It means that I am sort of "renting" it from the console maker/game devs, and can use it as much as I want as long as I use it within the constraints placed on me. This is not right. I am not willing to spend $40-70 on games that are not truly "mine" after the purchase.

What if you could transfer the license to someone else?

 

[boomhower]

Not happening. Between people with slow internet and those with caps it just isn't going to happen. Not to mention the retailers would have an absolute fit.

If they truly intend the Xbox to me the media master of the home they are going to have to put BR in it whether they really want to or not.

 

[mmntech]

Total bullshit. You might see consoles without optical drives eventually, but not yet. Residential internet connections just aren't up to snuff to download 10+gb worth of game data whenever you buy a new game.

This. Especially with ISPs putting tight caps on bandwidth. A lot of cheap broadband connections may not even offer 10gb. That puts a lot of potential customers out of the loop. They'd be stupid to do it.

Download only works for PC because most gamers are fairly serious tech guys and have serious Internet connections to match. It works for mobile because the games are much smaller. Can't see it completely replacing media in consoles. Optical discs may be slow but they can hold a hell of a lot more than flash cartridges. The Xbox 720 will have Bluray or something similar.

 

[JackBurton]

This. Especially with ISPs putting tight caps on bandwidth. A lot of cheap broadband connections may not even offer 10gb. That puts a lot of potential customers out of the loop. They'd be stupid to do it.

Download only works for PC because most gamers are fairly serious tech guys and have serious Internet connections to match. It works for mobile because the games are much smaller. Can't see it completely replacing media in consoles. Optical discs may be slow but they can hold a hell of a lot more than flash cartridges. The Xbox 720 will have Bluray or something similar.

What would be a good compromise would be the game on a disc with a unique identifier that you can register with your XBoxLive account. That way you can copy the disc to your hard drive. I HATE swapping out discs. I should be able to pick up my controller and play whatever game I want without leaving the couch. After all, you could do this on the original XBox...well, some XBox's had that option.

 

[alent1234]

Why don't you just buy a BD player instead of relying on a console? When the PS3 was first released it was perfect solution, a game console with a BD player all for what you'd pay for a stand alone BD player. Now that BD players are cheap, I don't see the point of integrating BD into a console unless they are just using it for the added space for the game.

I HIGHLY doubt MS will be going fully digital download for their games. We just aren't ready for it yet. On top of that, newer games will be much larger which makes it even more unlikely for download. I would however like for them to come out with something other than optical media. The space is fine on BD, but it is just TOO SLOW. Flash media would be a much better solution, but it still may not be cost effective.

because a bd player with wifi and features like netflix is the same price as a PS3. and my wife who's not a techie can tell the quality difference between a dvd in the x-box and the PS3. that's how good it is. and it gets constant firmware and feature updates unlike consumer BD players

my only complaint about the PS3 is that they stopped with netflix, hulu and a few other movie rentals. i was hoping they would get amazon video and most of the features of Roku but it probably won't happen.

which is why i'm hoping next gen x-box goes BD. i'll sell both, buy new x-box and a roku box as well

 

[RavenSEAL]

100% it will have a bluray drive.

That's gonna cost Microsoft an arm and a leg... D: