Microsofts Next Media Format?

[KBG29]

I don't expect to see the next round of consoles tell late 2013. By then I see no reason why Microsoft would need a disc drive in the system. They have never supported Blu-ray, and their would be no point in doing so in the next generation. Microsoft will very likly just turn the next Xbox into a fully Digitaly system.

I think they will still cap the amount of space developers can use. Even with the speed of the internet at that time, and the larger size storage mediums it would be hard to see a download over 25 GB. It also is very dependent on how ISP's are going to react to huge amounts of downloads. The next Xbox will surly have IPTV, Movie/TV streaming, Music, and Games. That will add up to a lot of data being moved each month, even by a less tech savy family. In the US it may not be to bad with Comcasts 250GB cap, but other countrys in Eu, and Austrailia have caps around 25GB or less. Unless something changes ISP's could end up forcing MS to use a disc.

Another thing that may need to be taken into consideration is what Sony is going to do. So far we have not seen the differance in storage capacity cause any issues with the current generation. Over the next few years the problem may pop up, and we may see games like Madden, NBA 2K, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and more utilising more than one disc on the 360. Some say this is no problem, but I think games like Madden and NBA could see nice gains in all aspects if the Blu-ray storage capacity was taken advantage of. If these games were on 2 discs that would seem a little out of hand.

If Sony comes with a PS3 that supports 400GB Blu-ray, then Microsoft will probably need to look at a way to get big games out on some kind of phyisical medium. Even if the next Xbox had 2TB of built in storage, that is only space for 4 or 5 epic experiances. If you don't believe that we will need that much space next gen just think about this. Both systems will be looking at 4GB of RAM. Streaming engines is now common practice in game development. That means 10GB levels are not out of the question next gen, making your average FPS or action game at least 100GB. Then you think about RPG's that could see 400GB.