Sony doesn't own bluray.

It was in our news media last week and a consortium of companies who do not have any ownership stakes in the current cable are looking to raise the capital to carry out the project. So as far as NZ is concerned it's still some way off.

I can never write about laying cable without getting a smirk on.

too late, I've already argued the point with someone else.  See previous posts on this thread.

I would sincerely hope that within the next 5 or so years someone can come up with a beter storage system than blu ray.   Sure, it's the best out there at the moment, but it still has the same problems as DVD, the main one being that they are easilly damaged.  Someone mentioned Flash storage, I'd welcome a move in that direction, it's faster, more robust, and smaller, I guess it may be more expensive though.

I didn't mention DDL.  I hope to god DDL won't take over.  If a company tries to go with DDL only, then I'm pretty sure it'll bomb anyway, so we should be safe on that front.

I would think they would have to move to blu-ray...seeing as next gen system will come no later than fall 2012. Im willing to bet HVD (holographic video dics) will not come out that time due to cost.

As graphics technology improves so does the amount of data used to store them. Look at most of the recent AAA offerings .... Final Fantasy 13, God of War 3, Uncharted 2. All of those games exceed 30GB of data. I think thats why the xbox360 has not have a game graphically comparable to that of the ps3. The problem with dvd is compressing data causes it to lose quality. With blu-ray you dont have to compress data because u have a limit of 50gb.

Digital distribution is just ouf the question for now because of the download speed. The average internet user i would assume have the budget internet $40-60 a month at 6-15mbps.

how the hell would blu-ray be superceded.next gen is in 1-3 years.the next gen will be defined on blu-ray.Full DD is no way near possible in today's world

DVD came in 1995 but its mainstream success was in 2000

With the PS2...

There isnt much choice in the matter. Blu ray will have become significantly cheaper in the coming 2-3 yrs. Discs, diodes etc. Holographic disc is still work in progress and would be expensive. BD quad is arnd 100GB+ which honestly is quite enough. Drive speeds will go up too with time. We already have faster disc drives than the ps3.

So faster, cheaper and enough space.

Why wouldn't they use it.

DVD9 is fine for now. But it has no place in the next gen.

HD-DVD is dead.

DD model is only suitable for certain countries/cities.

I would say that it all depends how popular DD will become by the time of next console. Right now, it would not be wise to go to DD and I would say it will still take several years before it will become viable option. If they would release next console in 2-3 years, then they would most likely would use Blu-ray. It all depends how much Blu-ray would cost and how much benefit does MS get from Blu-ray. If using Blu-ray sounds beneficial for MS then they would certainly use it. They don't think like 360 or PS3 fanboys, for them profits in the long term is most important.

Also to those who say MS wouldn't pay for Sony or that Sony wouldn't allow MS to use Blu-ray... Both CD and DVD have Sony technology so MS is already paying license fees to Sony for using them. They could have chosen propriety optical disc just like Nintendo if they really would have wanted to avoid paying to Sony. In next years license fees and manufacturing costs for Blu-ray are going to be much smaller so it isn't such a big issue then.

Sorry but you're talking about something you don't understand, there is such a thing as lossless compression for a start.  Crysis which is still arguably the technically strongest game out there came on a single DVD, kind of blows your theory out of the water. 

By the way you do still have to use compression on Bluray too because if uncompressed the file sizes would be too big to be streamed at sufficient speed to stop pop in issues.  The only reason you lose quality in compression is if you make the easy and lazy choice when you compress, there is many other workarounds that don't cause a loss in quality. 

There are quite a few 360 games that are comparable to the PS3 exclsuives, you would have to be really blinded by biuas to try and say there is some sort of generational gap between the two.  They're referred to as the HD twins for a reason on this and many other sites.

Digital distribution is perfectly viable for many areas around the world and it will be a feature Microsoft push on their next console but it will not be the only distribution method for games, I suspect Bluray will be included for its multimedia advantages.

@Heedstone - thankfully businesses don't work like your strange mind seems to.  Sony don't own Bluray anyway so they cannot determine who gets a license or not.  Secondly if Sony for instance were rather stupid and somehow managed to throw out an application by Microsoft then what happens if Microsoft turn round and refuse to sell Sony OEM copies of Windows.  At that point all Sony computers then have to come with a premium to cover the extra OS costs.  Neither scenario is going to happen though as its better for both to make money off each other than appear unproffesional in the worlds eyes.