New Xbox system will not have a disc drive.

[Leo_A]

A site I never heard of having exclusive information on a system we know nothing about at the moment (And who the heck ever says "learnt" like the first sentence of that article)? Needs to be taken with about a ton of salt instead of a grain...

Optical media is so much cheaper per gig than the alternatives mentioned that it makes this easy to dismiss even if it was making the rounds around reliable websites. And Microsoft sure as heck wants to be at the center of your home entertainment and physical media is still important even if it has declined a bit.

Music CD sales are still big business despite years of growth of downloadable alternatives, DVD is the centerpiece of many people's media libraries and is still big business (Although certainly in decline compared to just a few years ago), and Blu-Ray is the only HD media available on the marketplace to purchase today (And I would not be surprised if the Xbox 720 had legacy support for the HD-DVD drive add-on for the 360). Streaming is big business today and growing, but physical media is still very important to far too many people for Microsoft to ignore. People's connection that Blu-Ray equals Sony is no more valid than a format like DVD where Sony also has had a huge stake and a system that doesn't support any of the popular home media formats can hardly be billed as the center of your home entertainment center, which is a angle MS has often used through recent years.

And the 360 is very popular. Backwards compatibility is likely going to be a much more important feature this generation for many people than it was back in 2005 and that will necessitate a disc drive for people to fully take advantage of (How many people have heavily relied on the Games on Demand service? I bet the average is under a game per 360).

Needless to say, I don't believe it. My money is on it utilizing Blu-Ray technology and paying the Blu-Ray Disc Association (And the DVD Forum and whatever industrial organization that handles the CD format) to fully enable playback of media.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Needless to say, I don't believe it. My money is on it utilizing Blu-Ray technology and paying the Blu-Ray Disc Association (And the DVD Forum and whatever industrial organization that handles the CD format) to fully enable playback of media.

Microsoft's too proud to give money to Sony, even indirectly. Why do you think they went with HD-DVD for their failed external drive?

[Leo_A]

Sony is a major partner in the DVD Forum, the exact same sort of position they hold in the Blu-Ray Disc Association. Due to Sony's pushing of hardware that can play Blu-Ray and their widespread support of the format, people incorrectly consider it a Sony format. People used to think similarly back around 2000 about DVD and didn't think the competition would utilize that technology, although both competitors have done just that over the past two generations.

Blu-Ray is no more Sony than DVD or CD (Which Sony was also a major force behind). That's one reason the WiiU is going to utilize Blu-Ray technology although they appear to be planning not to pay the license fee to the Blu-Ray Disc Association to enable video playback (Ala what they did the last two console generations with DVD technology, licensing the patents they needed directly from the various partners but saving money by not paying the DVD Forum to enable video playback on those devices).

If it was owned and controlled by Sony rather than a independent organization composed of many partners, I'm sure Nintendo wouldn't be utilizing it. Yet I believe Nintendo has spoken about utilizing Blu-Ray technology and single layered 25 gig disc which is in line with the existing format.

[The 1 2 P]

These rumors are starting to get worst than the Wii U ones, mainly because Microsoft probably won't be making any announcements about their next gen system until next year. They already said they won't be alotting any time for it at their E3 show and I don't blame them. The 360 is doing so well right now(in year 7) that the last thing they want people to do is start focusing on their next system, which is kind of inevitable. But I'm going to put this rumor right next to the one that states you can't play used games on the next Xbox: possible but highly unlikely.

[Leo_A]

When did they announce that they wouldn't have any information about it at E3? I missed that (Not that I'm implying that you're wrong just because I never saw it or don't remember it, I'm just curious).

Edit - Looks like they said "at the moment we have nothing to announce" a couple of months ago in a GameSpot interview which appears to be the source of all these articles about no E3 announcement planned.

So it could still go either way. Stating they have nothing to announce at the moment isn't stating that they have no plans to make an announcement.

I figured they'd wait until 2013, but recently with so many rumors swirling around, I wouldn't be shocked if they made an announcement at E3 this year (Although I still bet on a Fall 2013 release date even if announced this year). But the 360 is so successful like you said that I wouldn't be surprised if they keep the lid closed this year.

[Bojay1997]

Are you seriously trying to say that the source listed in the OP is more credible simply because it's not a Gawker owned site?
Seriously....the site posted is the ONLY citation posted thus far. You'd think the bigger sites would be reporting something this big. I guess not, cause there's only one source, a relatively unheard of site until now, but hey, I guess that's all the proof anyone needs.

MCV is actually a highly respected industry publication which does employ actual reporters. It's basically the "Variety" or "Hollywood Reporter" of the European game industry and unlike most other print magazines or websites, most game publishers and certainly the European offices actually read it. I know the gaming division of the company I work for has had multiple subscriptions for many years.

[dendawg]

MCV is actually a highly respected industry publication which does employ actual reporters. It's basically the "Variety" or "Hollywood Reporter" of the European game industry and unlike most other print magazines or websites, most game publishers and certainly the European offices actually read it. I know the gaming division of the company I work for has had multiple subscriptions for many years.

Credibility aside, IMHO going all-digital is still a suicidal move sales wise...remember how successful PSP Go was?

[APE992]

Microsoft's too proud to give money to Sony, even indirectly. Why do you think they went with HD-DVD for their failed external drive?

Revisionist history. At the time of its release nobody knew that HD-DVD was going to fail. Truth be told it felt more like Toshiba didn't want to use money to wage a format war when the PS3 was a really cheap BD-ROM player that played PS3, PS2 and PS1 games...at the time.

No way to beat the PS3 if all you wanted was a Blu-Ray player. Just like the PS2 was a sweet $300 DVD player that could play PS2 and PS1 games.

Now you could make an argument that they are too proud/butt hurt at the loss of HD-DVD to license BD tech as a whole. Sony is but one of nine that founded the Blu-Ray Disc Association as well as Hitachi (maker of 360 DVD-ROMs), Samsung (they had RAM in the XBox and likely parts elsewhere), Phillips (also an XBox DVD-ROM manufacturer with LG) amongst others. They probably feel at this point that anyone who wants a Blu-Ray player already has one and that an addon would be too cost prohibitive to sell.

Besides, Sega demonstrated that addons NEVER sell.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Revisionist history. At the time of its release nobody knew that HD-DVD was going to fail. Truth be told it felt more like Toshiba didn't want to use money to wage a format war when the PS3 was a really cheap BD-ROM player that played PS3, PS2 and PS1 games...at the time.

Er... I'm not sure why you're calling it revisionist, as far as I knew, that was what a lot of people thought of when they heard about the HD-DVD drive.

[Bojay1997]

Er... I'm not sure why you're calling it revisionist, as far as I knew, that was what a lot of people thought of when they heard about the HD-DVD drive.

Disagree with that completely. I don't think anybody knew for sure if Blu Ray or HD-DVD would win or even survive at the time the 360 came out. I know a lot of commentators in the computer press were claiming HD-DVD was the way to go because there were going to be HD-DVD computer drives available at a much lower cost than Blu Ray. Ultimately, neither format really took off in the computer world (I'm sure in no small part due to Apple refusing to adopt or support either one and the Blu Ray consortium keeping writeable media very expensive to avoid piracy) as hard drives and various card and stick formats became dirt cheap. While Blu Ray won the home video format war, it was a pretty weak victory given the mediocre DVD and Blu Ray sales during the past few years.

[heybtbm]

Er... as far as I knew.

...which apparently isn't much.

So much anger in this one.

[Griking]

1. Cost of the Kiosks - Wouldn't be cheap. Sure, would pay for themselves in a year or so, but the initial cost would be prohibitive. Would be interesting to see how the retailers would react to such an idea, especially GameStop. GameStop stores have a limited amount of floor space.

I can't imagine that they'd be any more expensive then the Redbox kiosks that are in every grocery store near my home. And as far as how Gamestop would react, well I'm sure that eliminating Gamestop as a middleman altogether is part of the plan.

2. Lines at the Kiosk - We all know what it's like to wait in line behind people at a Redbox machine. It really sucks. People aren't going to be excited about waiting in line at a Kiosk.

I personally don't use Redbox but they have then in my local grocery stores and I've never noticed a long line at them. And even if you do end up having to wait for 2-3 to be taken care of first how is that any different than standing in line at a Gamestop now? Besides I have a feeling that the majority of people would simply just directly download their games from their consoles at home.

3. Time it takes to copy the game over to your storage unit - Copying a 15 gig game, or whatever they are going to end up being, is going to take some time. Will people really want to stand around and wait for 30 to 45 minutes?

this may be an issue but I have a feeling that they'll figure this out. Perhaps having pre-made copies of the most popular games and a flash card exchange program.

4. Buying games for people's birthdays, Xmas, etc, etc. Certainly grandmothers can buy their grandsons a gift card for GameStop, but usually people like to get somebody a specific physical item. Kinda hard to do this with the Kiosk model.

I'd much rather get a gift card then have my mom or wife pick out a game for me that she thinks I'll like.

[The 1 2 P]

When did they announce that they wouldn't have any information about it at E3? I missed that (Not that I'm implying that you're wrong just because I never saw it or don't remember it, I'm just curious).

Edit - Looks like they said "at the moment we have nothing to announce" a couple of months ago in a GameSpot interview which appears to be the source of all these articles about no E3 announcement planned.

I was also referring to this. He states there will be nothing new in 2012(which we all figured anyway) but one could argue there could still be an announcement this year. However, I don't see that happening. One of the keys to doing better than last year is having an even bigger holiday sales period this year and Halo 4 will help that. What won't help that is having the thought of the next Xbox right around the corner looming on all of your consumers minds. So I'm still of the opinion that we won't get any major annoucements until next year.

[Griking]

lol ok, so i'm reading more articles on this site now and its got to be a joke.

MCV has learnt that senior members of the GAME management teams have been told to brace for the possibility of administration.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/d-day...or-game/092556

[Kitsune Sniper]

...which apparently isn't much.

So much anger in this one.

... Who's angry? I'm a PC guy. I've been dealing with Microsoft's shenanigans with other people's technologies and software for years. If they can't buy or copy it then they ignore it or find a way to trash it.

They can't buy or copy this, so what will they do? Ignore it until they have no choice but to adopt it.

Edit:

lol ok, so i'm reading more articles on this site now and its got to be a joke.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/d-day...or-game/092556

Nope. Game has been in financial trouble for some time now. They really are in danger of going bankrupt.

[Berserker]

I can't see Microsoft wanting to be the first ones to try something that risky - it's not their style. When someone else does it, and it works, then they'll do it.

[APE992]

When HD-DVD and Blu-Ray were competing nobody was quite sure which would win out completely. I think more people placed their bets on Blu-Ray due to its inclusion with the PS3 but I don't recall anybody snickering at the HD-DVD addon to the 360 as dead on arrival. Hard to say who thought it was a good idea or if Microsoft may have been given a free license for HD-DVD to help compete with the PS3.

Regardless addons never sell. The fact it was HD-DVD didn't make it a failure, the fact you had to cough up $300 and then some more for an attachment made the addon a failure. The same argument can be applied to the G and N wifi dongles if you want to go by sales figures albeit I'd wager the profit margin on the thing more than made up for low sales.

[Leo_A]

One of the keys to doing better than last year is having an even bigger holiday sales period this year and Halo 4 will help that. What won't help that is having the thought of the next Xbox right around the corner looming on all of your consumers minds. So I'm still of the opinion that we won't get any major annoucements until next year.

My money is on you being right.

The only reason I have even the slightest bit of doubt is the WiiU. While Nintendo has traditionally first revealed their consoles well over a year before release (Which would've meant a 2011 reveal just like we got since I think a late 2012 release has been widely speculated on for quite sometime before we first heard about it), I still didn't think they would announce it last year. The 3DS had just hit and I felt like any news of a new console would divert attention away from that. And the Wii itself was still selling fairly well, unlike the N64 and GCN that were all but dead their last Christmas before being replaced (Although in greatly diminished amounts compared to its glory years), they had Skyward Sword coming up for Christmas (As big of a game just about for traditional Nintendo fans as Halo 4 is for Xbox fans), and Nintendo apparantly was confident enough in its Christmas sales potential with the Wii to keep the MSRP at $150 (I bet there will be $99.99 Wii's this year).

Yet they announced it anyways. So that's why I have a little bit of doubt here since my thoughts about that ended up being completely off (Plus I could see how a Xbox 720 announcement with the system due in 2013 could be a tactic to combat the WiiU this Fall).

[Ryudo]

No disc drive then I won't buy it



@Leo A
Wii-U disc is not base on blu ray but China's version of HD-DVD. CH DVD.
Also remember Wii still hase big releases this year. PAL has Pandora's tower next month. US has Xenoblade and in June in the US The Last Story

[Leo_A]

Wii-U disc is not base on blu ray but China's version of HD-DVD. CH DVD.

That's not what I've read.

And a search for WiiU CH DVD through Google didn't yield even a single reference while a search for WiiU Blu-Ray found many links with discussion about it utilizing the technology..

And 25 gig single layered disc (Something Nintendo themselves have stated is the capacity of their format) fits Blu-Ray to a tee. A quick search for CH DVD shows that disc sizes are 15 gigs for single layered disc and 35 gigs for dual layered disc, neither of which aligns with what we know about the format that the WiiU will use.