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happydolphin on 28 January 2012
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Reasonable said:
abhiram_33 said:
if Xbox uses blu-ray wouldn't they have to pay a royalty to Sony


They'd pay the BR consortium which includes Sony - but so what?  No different from Sony paying MS to put Windows on their laptops.  MS didn't put BR in 360 because they didn't want to pay - the added an HDD Drive they needed to pay a loyalty for - nor because they don't want to pay Sony - MS I'm sure is happy to pay Sony in principle since it gives Sony money to pay right back to MS for Windows.

MS didn't put BR in 360 because they wanted to go with DVD and keep the costs down and because they hoped - maybe still do - that their next console could be digital.  MS backed HDD simply to delay a winner and hurt PS3.  They didn't want HDD to win any more than BR and knew that although BR looked likely to win if they backed HDD with an add-on it might delay the result.

If they believe they don't need BR they will go digitial - but I think they will decide that the recession, amongst other factors, will have delayed the time they can go fully digital.  DVD I believe they will decide is too small this time due to rising game sizes - particularly if the console is more powerful the games are sure to get bigger.

They could go proprietaty - that's what Nintendo do - but that normally means no playback of other mediums - i.e. no DVD or BR playback, which doesn't fit MS's push for entertainment hub.

So I expect they'll either go digital (which I think would be a mistake) or push for digital but stick a BR in it as well.

I mostly agree except some parts which seem a tiny bit far-fetched like MS not wanting HDD to win more than BR. But I mostly agree. I'd add that I expect MS to launch two versions of the console. One digital only (like psp go), and one with BR. Either this gen (at launch or within the gen with remodels) or the next.