I beg to differ:

"and actually Blu-ray is going to be passed by as a format. People have moved through from DVDs to digital downloads and digital streaming, so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly, no download, no delay.

So, who needs Blu-ray?”

You can't tell me that's only talking about Xbox 360.

"Passed by as a format" means Xbox360 DVD --> Nextbox with something other than Blu-ray. If Nextbox comes with Blu-ray then the format is not being passed by, meaning his "is going to be passed by as a format" comment is going to make him look like a bit of a dick.

In fact if Nextbox comes with any form of physical media device playback this comment is going to be a bit dickish. Because clearly it will mean people haven't moved through to DD, at least not in sufficient numbers.

If the 720 were to focus on DD then i'd expect an HDD no smaller than 1TB.  I can only imagine how much MS will sell their individual HDD for lol.

I cant see DD fully taking over until majority of consumers can afford faster internet with extremely large or unlimited bandwidth.

Do I need Blu Ray to play the games I want. No because I do not have Blu Ray and have managed to play all the Games I want. Do I need Blu Ray to watch my films again no. I pretty much stream everything I watch as I use BT Vision (IPTV Service).They have HD movies but I do not do this as a rule for two reasons the first I do not want to pay more the second a clumsy download system. At some point the Standard and HD versions will be the same price and it will just be choice, still waiting for this though. I do  still get DVDs delivered through the UK equivalent of Netflix (Lovefilm same as Tesco) which I watch but often they stay on the shelf for weeks.

I bought the DVD version of Avatars did I miss anything nope. Watched it in the cinema and can tell you that it upscaled OK did not miss the 3D certainly did not miss paying more for the HD priviledge. Why did I buy it? Well it was a treat for the little one as he enjoyed the film so much and it allows him to watch it in his room or downstairs (Physical media still has its place).

I am fortunate with my streaming though in that I get 14mb down through my ISP and soon this will be converted to fibre (We spell it that way in blighty) so streaming for me is a very enjoyable way of watching films as it is extremely convenient. My most favourite streaming experience though is the "instant on" HD streaming from the Xbox, although it does cost extra so even though it is amazing and super quick I still rarely use it. Although I did buy the Halo movie the other day (Yes you can buy them which means I can stream them again) which was cool especially as it was half price. I am still waiting for BT to upgrade the HD service to the same offered by the Xbox and am confident as they use the Mediaroom OS that this will happen.

I might not necessarily agree with the guy exactly but I do think Blu Ray has much more competition than good old DVD and it will be for those reasons that it will never quiet manage full market acceptance in the same way as DVD.

Hell you do not need a DVD player let alone Blu Ray even for games.

You're tricking yourself into believing he is saying more than he is.  People who make statements like this don't have the intelligence to read between the lines of every sentence they utter, hence why big corps usually end up apologising for execs bs pr stunts later. 

He is primarily talking about all those people who said the 360 needed Bluray to survive, it's obvious that isn't the case and the benefits of a cheaper unit outweigh the negatives in the storage stakes.  It really is just that simple.

HD-DVDs are just modified DVD fabs. They won't be that hard to emulate. In the end they would prevent all optical disc piracy by using an uncommon disc format. Also it is still in production as a drive, but it isn't released outside of China so they have low cost and good economies of scale.

They'll go one of two directions.

1. They will release with Blu Ray but have the Blu Ray unlock for $39.

2. They will release with HD-DVD or equivalent.

I don't see them tolerating an extra $15 of fixed costs in order to play back movies. May as well make it a profit centre and use it to lower the upfront cost of the console. Do what Sony failed to do, make Blu Ray a profit centre and not a cost sink.

What else can he say..?Pathetic :)

Do I need Blu-ray to survive?  No.  Do I need video games to survive? No.

Is Blu-ray nice? Yes.  Does it make the PS3 offer a big advantage to me personally because it has Blu-ray?  Of course.

Digital distribution is growing very slowly if you look at the statistics.  It has alot to work out before it becomes mainstream.  One thing to start would be the DRM - so it's compatible among multiple devices.

the guy said that bluray isnt needed for consoles. so unless ms invent a new disc or have bluray for the next box, were going to see games coming in 3,4 cds. and if ms does have bluray for their next box then his statement was just a lie, and hes doing all of this for pr, and to hide the fact that devs are having problems with dvd storage.

^

Digital distribution is already mainstream after all Steam is providing large volumes of digital sales, ondemand services are available just about everywhere. I am not sure what statistics you have or how old they are but I would suggest that it is the exact opposite and it is growing fast. This certainly is the case in the UK.

If I am not mistaken both the PS3 and Xbox offer digital distribution offerings and they are mainstream.