Lets begin by saying this is in no way a prediction, a rumor, or fact in any way.  It was a dream, no more.

Now, onto my dream.  So last night, in my usual randomness of dreams, I stumbled onto a brief dream about the next Xbox, or more precisely, the new HD-DVD drive and disc format.  Apparently in my dream, which was very vivid, Microsoft released an HD-DVD2 drive, which was purchasable as an addon to the Xbox 360, and included automatically in the new Xbox.  Pricing was never mentioned, but it had the style of the original HD-DVD addon, but was thinner, slot loading, and had a neat logo for the HD-DVD2 with a green glow to the logo and the slot loader.  The disc format was obviously, again, the HD-DVD2 disc.  The specs on the box that I saw, showed an original disc capacity of 126GB per side (printable on both sides of the disc).  I have no idea why my brain chose this size.  All I can remember thinking in this dream was that this was the perfect format and the perfect answer for the next disc format.  It also enabled Xbox 360s to play the majority of the next Xbox's games.

What do you think?  Will Microsoft revive and improve upon the HD-DVD standard and use it in the future?  Was my dream a possible forseight or just some random compilation of memories from my HD-DVD attachment, my Wii, discussion on this forum, and too much Lost Odyssey gaming?

No.

The reason I say this is because their next console will HAVE TO play Blu-Ray discs. If Blu-Ray takes off and they don't include it, the console will fail. Considering the fact that their next console and Sony's should theoretically release around the same price, if Blu-Ray is widely accepted and the next XBOX doesn't include it, a lot of people will buy a PS4 over the 720 just because of that feature. As many people have said in the past, the gaming experience is much the same. By time they come out, there will not be a sizeable difference between PSN and Live, so the choice will be more based on features.

I honestly think if the next XBOX doesn't support Blu-Ray, if Blu-Ray becomes vastly popular by then (which it has PLENTY of time to, because we're still talking 4 years off), the console will fail.

I don't follow you.

Microsoft is gonna try digital downloads or something. They might be too stubborn to adopt blu-ray.

They don't need Blu-Ray. The console doesn't need to play HD movie discs to be succesful (Wii). All it needs the new format to do is play games. Right now with Netflix HD, streaming, downloads, etc. they are satisfying any HD movie needs. They still can't play HD movie discs right now past the old HD-DVD's and yet it is still a great console and selling more than the PS3 by a wide margin.  Not to mention by the time of the new consoles, if Blu-Ray is vastly adopted, its price will be much lower, so much so that a new Xbox + a Blu-Ray player will be cheaper than a PS4 with Blu-Ray included.  Kinda like how a Gamecube + DVD player was cheaper than Xbox or PS2.

Considering most of your post was unbased speculation, what if PSN isn't free anymore on the new system?  Surely Sony won't want to lose all that money all over again.  If the next Xbox does not include an HD movie player option, it will be available for cheaper, and with the streaming and downloads, still appeal to most people (as broadband speeds and reach will also be vastly expanded in 4 years, although I expect the next Xbox will be around in late 2011).

The Wii can't even play CD's! Blu-ray isn't a must. I figure it'll be backwards compatible, but I really hope disc drives get phased out. To many things go wrong when consoles have too many moving parts. Even my Gamecube started acting up in the end.

I bet everything will be downloadable. You can buy blu ray add ons and so on.

No.

It won't be Blu-ray either.

Disc media formats will soon be obsolete, because loading times stink etc. DVD will work fine for this gen's consoles and movies for another decade, but bigger laser discs such as Blu-ray will never take off. Flash-memory sticks (or something even better) and digital downloads are the future.

No comments on my extremely random, vivid dream? :(

You have "the sight", Nightsurge. You can see into the future. Unfortunately, I'm going to do everything I can to keep your vision from coming true. Not because it's apocalyptic or anything. I just like screwing stuff up!