There is a rumour that the XBOX 720 will feature a system that means it won't play used games. This could put a lot of shops out of business! This will probably piss off a lot of people who can't afford new games and may inturn lead to the downfall of the system. If you are forced to pay £40+ for every new game then poorer people may choose not to buy the console at all. At a time when we are facing a second recession not sure if this is a good move by M$. There is a chance that this could be being misread and it could infact be a system similar to the PSN pass that Sony are using and that only the online segment becomes unplayable. http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Wii-U-Xbox-720-Oban-Radeon-Performance,news-13994.html
This sounds more plausible to be honest. I don't think even M$ is stupid enough to use an in-system feature that will not play used games.
I think the online pass works quite well for this sort of thing. Not sure how well it'd work of you go beyond that.
It would have to be a pass if they were to implement this kind of system. I can't think of a way that you could possibly make a storage medium such as a BR disc that's mass-produced have an individual and unique key that can be tied to only one system. The thing is it's no skin of anyones nose reallyat MS if people play online or not. If you play a second hand game on XBL you are still paying for a gold subscription and they make far more money from that service to piss people off. Pinch of salt needed I think. It's also way to early for them to be talking about this kind of thing. Also, I was thinking that they'd not go the BR route; MS are a licensee of HD-DVD and a lot of plants in Europe are still set up to make them. No licensing fees needed for using HD-DVD...
This kind of thing would kill one of the main advantages that console gaming has over PC gaming. [quote author=Ichiban] Also, I was thinking that they'd not go the BR route; MS are a licensee of HD-DVD and a lot of plants in Europe are still set up to make them. No licensing fees needed for using HD-DVD... [/quote] HD-DVD might make sense for games, but for movies, it's a dead format. I think they'll probably go with BR. Besides, I'd rather not see HD-DVD come back. The format war was annoying. It created uncertainty and delayed the mass adoption of HD movies by about five years. HDTVs started getting popular in 2005, but it took until 2009 or 2010 for Blu-ray players to really start selling.
Don't blu rays have much much more storage space than HD-DVDs? They'd be stupid to limit themselves to around 8gb again when current gen games are feeling the pinch from the lack of space, unless 360 games come on DVDs rather than HD-DVDs in which case I'll shut up.
HD-DVD: 15GB single layer, 30GB dual layer Blu-ray: 25GB single layer, 50GB dual layer Blu-ray was the superior format. The format war was pretty retarded in retrospect, and really just boiled down to a lot of Sony hate, which was rampant a few years ago. Even I was guilty of it, until I actually tried a PS3. I realized it's a pretty damn good console that suffered a bit at launch because it was way ahead of its time on technology and features, resulting in a high launch price. Now I own two of them, which I mostly use as HTPCs.
The worst part about the format war was some HD-DVD movies still have made the move over to Blu-ray. It was a while before I could get Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind because it was originally in HD-DVD.
X360 games come in dual layer dvd's just like the original xbox games. So yes, you probably have to shut up.
The problem is the format war was decided by support of movie studios as opposed to anyone else in the industry. The format itself was/is sound and I'm fairly certain there was a 51GB triple layer HD-DVD developed if capacity was a sticking issue. Filling a BR disc with content, (real game content at least), is pretty hard to do unless you stick it chock full of FMV and uncompressed audio. However, if MS intend to market their next system as a home entertainment system a BD-ROM would definately make sense but I get the feeling that even the movie studios themselves are going to start pushing towards digital delivery of films and television programs sooner rather than later if only to try and stem the piracy issues they complain about; no more discs to rip. It's something MS have been pushing with their own Zune service and the popularity of things like Netflix and LoveFilm are making the case even more that physical media is no longer needed.
These are some of the largest (GBs) PS3 games: Killzone 3 41.5 GB Final Fantasy XIII 40.8 GB God of War 3 40 GB Metal Gear Solid 4 33.2 GB I'm not sure what the size of Uncharted 3 is, as I found multiple figures. I'm a big fan of the higher end audio. I have a Marantz/Polk 7.1 surround setup that can take advantage of it. The Uncharted games and SOCOM Confrontation have exceptional audio quality. The Killzone games also have very strong audio.
If they link games to accounts/consoles, you can count me out. I don't buy that many used games, but I trade in my old games all the time.
[quote author=Ichiban] However, if MS intend to market their next system as a home entertainment system a BD-ROM would definately make sense but I get the feeling that even the movie studios themselves are going to start pushing towards digital delivery of films and television programs sooner rather than later if only to try and stem the piracy issues they complain about; no more discs to rip. It's something MS have been pushing with their own Zune service and the popularity of things like Netflix and LoveFilm are making the case even more that physical media is no longer needed. [/quote] I absolutely agree that's where things are headed in the long run, but the movie studios will be dragged there kicking and screaming. They're so set in the theater/physical media model of doing things, but that's just not how people watch films anymore. I think there will still be some market for Blu-ray among A/V enthusiasts, but the majority of people will embrace digital distribution.
These "anti piracy" programs only hurts sales in the long run. For instance, there's a lot of DSiware titles that I'd like to get that I don't because they're all tied to a single console. And it almost takes an act of God to transfer them to a different DSi. The same goes with the Wii.