CNN's Chris Morris - HD-DVD: Microsoft's folly? Options

[Xbox-Scene]

CNN's Chris Morris - HD-DVD: Microsoft's folly? -- Posted by XanTium on January 6 00:43 EST
Chris Morris wrote about the announcement from Microsoft to release an external HD-DVD addon for the Xbox 360 in Game Over, his weekly column on CNN Money:
[QUOTE]
At present, Microsoft says the HD-DVD will only be for movies. There are no current plans to offer games on HD-DVDs.
That could - and very likely will - change, of course. As developers begin to truly take advantage of the system's features in the coming months and years, you're going to see games that cannot fit onto a single DVD.
Game developers are in something of a bind, though. Even if Microsoft opens up the HD-DVD player for game software and even if sales of the peripheral soar, game makers will still have to publish two versions of the game, which could confuse and frustrate consumers.

Microsoft pointedly avoided discussing a price Wednesday, but the new drives aren't likely to be cheap. Toshiba recently announced plans to sell a stand-alone HD-DVD player for $499. Even if Microsoft's version sells for considerably less, you're still likely to see a price tag equal to or greater than the price of the core Xbox 360 unit.

Ultimately, the availability of a HD-DVD accessory probably won't hurt or help Microsoft. It will serve its purpose, though: Preventing Sony from being able to accurately say the PS3 is the only game machine with a high definition DVD drive. And as the battle between those two companies escalates this year, that's no small thing.
[/QUOTE]

Read More: money.cnn.com.

[johnnywikked]

Doesn't alot of that price go into the chips that make the drive work? Make the unit powerful enough to support HD?
If so, the cost should be lower for 360, because the 360 can do all the processing power itself, without the need for chips and all that.

[esc1]

They can split games on DVD. Did it for Playstation. Add-on will most likely be for just movies and possibly some LE games IMO.

[Gbeav]

This is the important part of that article.


"That could – and very likely will - change, of course. As developers begin to truly take advantage of the system's features in the coming months and years, you're going to see games that cannot fit onto a single DVD. In fact, that's already happening. The developer of "Enchant Arms," an upcoming role-playing game in Japan, told Gamespot.com last year it was hoping to be able to fit the game on two discs, but admitted "that's even looking grim." Any old school gamer can tell you that switching discs while playing is not a fun experience."

They can split games on DVD. Did it for Playstation. Add-on will most likely be for just movies and possibly some LE games IMO.

That would only work for pure linear games. RPG's with a streamlined storyline. Regular games that just won't fly.

[ibemonty2000]

Yeah well most games do work in a fairly linear fashion.

But seriously. This is media war is end up fucking up the industry worse than I can imagine. I can't stand it. This sucks.

-Monty

This post has been edited by ibemonty2000: Jan 6 2006, 08:41 AM

[Vasher]

Yeah well most games do work in a fairly linear fashion.

But seriously. This is media war is end up fucking up the industry worse than I can imagine. I can't stand it. This sucks.

-Monty

Yeah, I wish they had quite after laser disc.

As games grow the media must also. PS2 jumped from CD to DVD (Xbox used the same), this is just the next step and it benefits all gamers.

This post has been edited by Vasher: Jan 6 2006, 08:47 AM

[ILLusions0fGrander]

yeah.. seriously... ends up fucking with the consumer... making us choose...

like homes in america are gonna fall for buying two standards just to get their favorite movie on a HD disc.

well.. at least i wont.

[Altima NEO]

Who knows, had it not been for MSs choice to go with DVD, we probably wouldnt be playing 360 right now.

I think the 360 coming this early certainly gave MS an edge, but will that edge stay sharp with PS3 on the horizon with its "blu ray".

And I honestly doubt the HDDVD drive will cost as much as the 360. Probably in the 100 dollar range for sure. They said that the stand alone player may go for as much as $499, but thats for the whole player. The 360 already has better hardware than any dvd player, plus 100 bucks for a HDDVD drive, that brings the total to about the same price (depending on if you have a premium or core).

[tempchicken]

My biggest question is what about HDMI?

If I understand correctly, to use HD-DVD at full res you need to use HDMI. It will downscale otherwise to 480p. Is this going to be true for the 360? Will they release an HDMI kit with it? At the same time?

[kidkinetix]

Again, an 'expert' stating that things might change and we may start seeing games on HD-DVD is rediculous. It won't happen.

To Non- Gaming/Developing 'Experts'
1. Games don't need that much space, stop pretending they do.
2. We're better off having 3 or 4 games in the library on multiple dvds then on HD-DVD
3. Be Quiet

So much negative speculation everywhere, trying to make a negative story out of everything. This add on is a great development for any owner of a 360 disappointed in the fact that they can't play HiDef movies.

Maybe they (MS) were a little late to annouce support for HD-DVD but discussions and decisions about the format were still going on far too late in the 360's development to do anything about it. The timing of this announcment is as much Toshiba + partners fault as MSs.

[BasicAir]

Yeah these 'experts' and also 'fanboys' talking about how DVD-ROM's don't offer enough space for next-gen games are out of their minds.

Has any 360 game topped a DVD9 yet? Nope.

Of course we are still in the 360's infancy meaning that the 360 titles will only get better from here. Does that mean larger-volume media are needed for 'better' games? No. Will some use more space? Sure, but taking more advantage of the 360's power does *NOT* mean that a direct increase in disc volume size is necessary.

As we all know from the PS1 days, too, games that used 2-5 CD-ROM's gamers had no problems with. IF we ever came to a day where we would need to be swapping DVD's on a 360 title anyway it would most definately be just on a select few titles anyway. Just like the past, I highly doubt this will have any impact at all on the sales of that game, too.

One more thing -- Let's say more space is needed and developers DON'T want to make an extra disc - They can always, if necessary, throw a couple GB of compressed data on the disc onto the 360 HDD. Then on the back of the game case they could mention how it uses such-and-such space of the HDD. Now this is a really radical approach to SLIGHTLY POTENTIAL issues in a SMALL NUMBER of titles in the FUTURE of 360 releases, but it's still something they could look into if needed (and I'm sure they have).

[saunders73]

Has any 360 game topped a DVD9 yet? Nope.

But the 360 has been out for a little over a month their is still 5 years to go

One more thing -- Let's say more space is needed and developers DON'T want to make an extra disc - They can always, if necessary, throw a couple GB of compressed data on the disc onto the 360 HDD. Then on the back of the game case they could mention how it uses such-and-such space of the HDD. Now this is a really radical approach to SLIGHTLY POTENTIAL issues in a SMALL NUMBER of titles in the FUTURE of 360 releases, but it's still something they could look into if needed (and I'm sure they have).

Do you mean just put it in the cache? because if thats what you mean it could increase loading time alot
If you mean it stays on pernamently unless deleted(like a gamesave) then a larger HDD will definatly be needed

[deftonesmx17]

Yeah these 'experts' and also 'fanboys' talking about how DVD-ROM's don't offer enough space for next-gen games are out of their minds.

Has any 360 game topped a DVD9 yet? Nope.

Of course we are still in the 360's infancy meaning that the 360 titles will only get better from here. Does that mean larger-volume media are needed for 'better' games? No

Let me break it down simple for you.
When the PS2 was first released, most games were still on CD-ROM's and were not filling them all the way. That changed within just one year and almost every game was using DVD and being over 1GB in size. Now, years later, PS2 games are starting to use DVD-9's. So using logic, yes newer games take up more space. A computer game from 3-4 years ago, might have been on 2 CD's (many were still single CD as it is compressed on the disc) and took maybe 1GB of space on your HDD. Now new computer games are over 3GB and many now come on DVD's.

Get the picture yet, I just named two drastically different systems and how much the size of a game has changed within five years.

Also, think things like GTA SA. If it does not fit on one disc, you no longer have a game with one big world that you can roam in without loading screens.

This post has been edited by deftonesmx17: Jan 6 2006, 08:15 PM

[Dougpr]

If Elder Scrolls: Oblivion ends up coming out on a single DVD, I doubt many (if any) other games will exceed the over 9GB of space this gen. That game is friggin huge, and if it fits on a single DVD, I think that will prove that DVD's work just fine.

[kidkinetix]

Get the picture yet, I just named two drastically different systems and how much the size of a game has changed within five years.

PS2 was in a uinique transition period. Yes there are a few examples of games requiring dvd9, most of this has been music (grand turismo) or voice acting (god of war), and not using a space friendly format like AC3. Storage size for world maps and textures may get larger this generation, but not a whole lot, and sound quality will remain the same. This just leaves sound qauntity, how much music are you going to seek out for your game as a developer when all gamers have the freedom to listen to their own music with EVERY x360 title on the market?

Ps2 was unique , if space was that important i don't think nintendo would have been brave enough to go backwards with a smaller format with gamecube and possibly revolution. It's over rated!

I'll say it all day but 'game space' is a NON-ISSUE.