A Sony Evil Plan idea

Well I was thinking about this earlier. Someone posted something about this before, but I'm not sure where I read it. Anyway, as Blu-Ray seems to be more likely to win the movie format war at this point, this idea came back to me.

But first, here's a recent article:

Apparently it isn't only Peter Dille who thinks that Microsoft's Xbox 360 Elite is an affirmation of Sony's strategy. GamesIndustry reports that Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter also sees the Xbox 360 Elite as a sign that Sony's game-plan was on target. Pachter explains:

Microsoft's move is an endorsement of high-definition output, and its inclusion of HDMI validates that Sony's initial strategy was correct.

...The 120 GB hard-drive is focused on helping the roll-out of IPTV, and I expect a progression of HDTV broadcast from the current 720p to the 1080p standard over the next few years, so the HDMI output will be relevant.

...On balance, this is a very smart move by Microsoft, but it appears to validate Sony's strategy, and serves as an acknowledgement that HD content matters.

Pachter sees the Xbox 360 Elite as a move by Microsoft to encroach on PlayStation 3 functionality, only this time, instead of offering an all-in-one package, Microsoft is giving consumers choices. Basically gamers get the option to get a system that has components relevant to their needs, at a price they're willing to spend.

Pachter goes on to say that Microsoft is probably seeing that Blu-ray will win the movie format war. Matt Martin of GamesIndustry speculates that given that Microsoft isn't offering an external HD-DVD drive as part of the Elite package is an omen of Microsoft's future plans: a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360 Elite.

Here's Michael Pachter's analysis:

It appears to me that Microsoft sees the writing on the wall – Blu-ray is going to win the format wars. ...Ultimately, Microsoft will likely offer a Blu-ray drive with the 360 Elite, and I think consumers will be able to select based solely upon other drivers.

At this point we feel that it is good to note that Blu-ray on Xbox 360 is starting to seem more likely as time passes. For one thing, Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson did note that "Whatever format wins it is highly likely we will offer a solution."

Now if Blu-Ray wins (and it seems likely) then Microsoft will probably want to make a Blu-Ray add on for the X360. And Sony will make money on every Xbox 360 sale with the unit, not to mention all the movies. But it's also up to them if they'll let Microsoft use the format or not. But I think they will. Here's why.

What if during the next console generation, when Blu-Ray undoubtedly has become the standard disc media for games, and also been boosted in popularity for movies thanks to both PS3, X360 and stand alone players, Sony forbid Microsoft from using it at all in their next console?
The next Xbox would be dead before it even launched.

What do you guys think?

This thread sucks.

The Blu-Ray Group will never forbid MS from using Blu-Ray, as long as they pay the fees. Under that logic they would have forbid MS from using DVD. Sony IS NOT the only one backing BR.

This thread is dumb.

Originally Posted by Zeldafan1

What if during the next console generation, when Blu-Ray undoubtedly has become the standard disc media for games, and also been boosted in popularity for movies thanks to both PS3, X360 and stand alone players, Sony forbid Microsoft from using it at all in their next console?
The next Xbox would be dead before it even launched.

What do you guys think?

It isn't going to happen, as Sony isn't the King of the Blu-Ray group.

Originally Posted by Eduardo24

This thread sucks.

The Blu-Ray Group will never forbid MS from using Blu-Ray, as long as they pay the fees. Under that logic they would have forbid MS from using DVD. Sony IS NOT the only one backing BR.

This thread is dumb.

This thread doesn't suck. There is still some stuff to discuss.

The biggest issue for the Elite and the HD-DVD owners is that the 360 is still not supposedly capable of passing any of the lossless formats over HDMI. Everything is instead re-encoded to Dolby Digital. Not a big deal for me, and most likely "you", as I don't happen to own a receiver that can do anything better than Dolby Digital (Which I still find to be absolutely astonishing). But pair that with the terrible decoding that the 360 does already with the HD-DVD player video, and most AV enthusiasts are disinterested, even if they still buy the player, which isn't uncommon.

What will be interesting is if Microsoft ever releases a software/firmware update for the 360 that will significantly improves the video decoding and allows the passing of lossless audio, whether in the original format or PCM. You would think that since the HD-DVD drive originally debated, they have learned by now how to better utilize the 360's hardware to do the decoding. Then there is also the X-Factor in the new HANA scaler chip that is in the Elite. The originally scaler was great, and you would hope that the Hana would be even better. That's where my knowledge on the 360 ends though. I have no idea what a new scaler would do for HD-DVD playback, besides hopefully skipping one more D>A conversion.

Originally Posted by Mr. Wonderful

It isn't going to happen, as Sony isn't the King of the Blu-Ray group.

Sony have backers included in the Blu-Ray business, but it's mainly their own project, and the ones included in the Blu-ray Disc Association are either hardware manufacturers or Movie industry companies. Plus Sony is capable of making a disc format, is anyone forgetting Betamax. Here scroll down in a list of Sony Products on Wikipedia, Sony owns the Blu-Ray project.I'm pretty sure they do.

Under that logic they would have forbid MS from using DVD.

No Sony never owned DVD. I think it was Toshiba seeing as how they also made HD-DVD.

Originally Posted by Zeldafan1

Sony have backers included in the Blu-Ray business, but it's mainly their own project, and the ones included in the Blu-ray Disc Association are either hardware manufacturers or Movie industry companies. Plus Sony is capable of making a disc format, is anyone forgetting Betamax. Here scroll down in a list of Sony Products on Wikipedia, Sony owns the Blu-Ray project.I'm pretty sure they do.

No Sony never owned DVD. I think it was Toshiba seeing as how they also made HD-DVD.

Yeah Beta max failed and it was superior to VHS UMD also died off except for games , Blu-Ray has no concrete future for now