Fri, Oct 10, 2008 | 12:39 BST
Greenberg hammers Blu-ray at TGS: “We have no plans to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience”
An exasperated Aaron Greenberg has flatly denied there are any plans to add Blu-ray to the Xbox platform. Seriously: it’s not happening.
“We have no plans to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience,” the Microsoft production boss told Major Nelson in Tokyo in response to recent rumours that a contract had ben awarded to create an external Xbox 360 Blu-ray player.
“We believe that we shouldn’t force people to pay for things they don’t want. We also believe that the future’s digital, and that’s why we’ve invested in a massive library of entertainment content, that’s why we’re bringing things like Netflix to members in the US, that’s why we’re growing our library in Europe, that’s why we’re adding all type of entertainment experiences around the world.”
The exec went on to ridicule the format, saying that years from now there’ll be an expression, “It got Blu-rayed,” and that, “It’s pretty clear it’s not the next DVD”.
“And Blu-ray: who knows? I’ll tell you one thing: if you look at retail sales and availability, there’s not a lot there, and what is there is at a premium,” he said.
“No one knows what Blu-ray will be. It’s pretty clear it’s not the next DVD, right? The days of one physical format being the standard are gone.
“I went to Sony’s booth, and it used to be that their whole booth was Blu-ray. It just keeps shrinking down. Now it’s just this little corner and there’s no one there and it’s like, there’s a heart sign and it’s got ‘Blu-ray’ and some movies. It’s interesting.”
There’s an audio interview through the link, recording last night after TGS.
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Posted in: Blu-ray, Hot, Microsoft, PS3, Sony, TGS 2008, Xbox 360
Tags: Aaron Greenberg, major nelson
34 comments
#1
DaMan
10/10/08, 12:45 pm
wow Greenberg should take it easy.
#2
patlike
10/10/08, 12:47 pm
He’s brilliant. Green to the bone, and he just doesn’t give a fuck.
#3
morriss
10/10/08, 12:48 pm
So that’s a definite then: 360 BD drive for Christmas.
#4
patlike
10/10/08, 12:51 pm
#5
Psychotext
10/10/08, 12:51 pm
Without question. In the next 6 months… for sure.
#6
G1GAHURTZ
10/10/08, 12:56 pm
Blu-ray is for n00bs!
#7
JPickford
10/10/08, 12:57 pm
Why would they do this? They don’t make money from the films so it would just be an accessory that hardly anybody wants.
Not happening I reckon.
#8
Psychotext
10/10/08, 1:01 pm
Simple really… they might rather give a 360 owner the option to have BR playback than have them go out and buy a PS3 for it.
#9
patlike
10/10/08, 1:15 pm
I have to admit: I’ve never watched a Blu-ray movie on my PS3. I’m not sure I ever will, to be honest.
#10
Herlock
10/10/08, 1:19 pm
Just for do like Sony, if yu want BR dont need to buy PS3, i think.
#11
morriss
10/10/08, 1:23 pm
Pat, you should. Jaw dropping.
#12
Blerk
10/10/08, 1:26 pm
Notice he says they’ll never “integrate” it. As in “we will never build it in”. He doesn’t at any point say that there won’t be an add-on drive. Saying they “don’t believe in making people pay for things they don’t want” reinforces that fact quite nicely.
#13
Johnny Cullen
10/10/08, 1:26 pm
Pat, if I can recomend one movie thats out now on Blu-Ray to watch, it’s Talladega Nights.
It’s brillant….well that or Casino Royale, which I got for free from Sony.
#14
reask
10/10/08, 1:31 pm
Thank goodness he has confirmed it will not be coming to 360.
Blue Ray is what’s making the ps3 so expensive IMHO.
As I said yesterday in a short while stand alone players will be ten a penny.
That is if it indeed ever takes off.
#15
patlike
10/10/08, 1:31 pm
Cheers, Johnny. I’ll have a look.
Morriss – I saw something on the Blu-ray stand at CES a couple of years back on a 1080p screen and I couldn’t believe it. The demo man thought it was hilarious: I gawped like a fish.
#16
Esha
10/10/08, 4:43 pm
But… Blu-ray made MGS 4 pretty. :<
And I’m now officially wincing and looking at my screen from behind my fingers. That guy’s kicking my empathy into overdrive. I’m actually beginning to feel sorry for him.
#17
G1GAHURTZ
10/10/08, 4:49 pm
I see Blu-ray players running in 1080p (seemingly… you know what Currys staff are like!) in shops all the time, and I personally don’t think that it’s all that much of a leap forward.
I mean sure… it looks sharper, but…
…it doesn’t make the film plot any better, does it!?
I watch movies on my iPhone all the time on the way to/from work, and I enjoy them just as much as I do when I watch them in HD.
#18
JPickford
10/10/08, 5:38 pm
DVDs still look great to me. I think that’s why Blu Ray isn’t taking off massively. DVD’s are pretty damned good, even on big screens.
VHS looked shit so DVD had a very obvious advantage.
#19
cookiejar
10/10/08, 5:55 pm
They just need to hammer down the price!
I can easily see Blu-ray sitting alongside DVD for sometime quite happily, especially if the price is right! (nice to see Blu-ray, to see it NICE!)
#20
JPickford
10/10/08, 5:58 pm
Cheap players, cheap disks and people will gradually migrate. I think that’s the best they can expect. So long as they charge a premium it’ll be for the Home Cinema brigade. And I have a stack of 200 Laserdisks upstairs so I’ve been there, done that.
#21
airdom
10/10/08, 6:15 pm
Esha…. blu-ray didnt make mgs4 pretty. the ps3(and its said power) did. not really related dude.
#22
gomersoul
10/10/08, 7:48 pm
this geezer is understandably pissed off at blu-ray for being the superior format. says downloads are the future yet the xbox has a much more limited capability in that aspect with all they’re limited file sizes and monthly subscription. who gives a shit whether xbox gets blu-ray or not, it still won’t have blu-ray games, which is all that matters to people willing to throw money at it. i bet they put it on they’re next console.
p.s. that far cry advert should fuck off, nuff said
#23
reask
10/10/08, 7:51 pm
@ gomersoul.
What games are better on blue ray?
#24
JPickford
10/10/08, 8:31 pm
oh dear.
#25
dbronco
10/10/08, 9:23 pm
Nice to have someone from MS finally making open honest statements about Blu-ray. The format is a complete failure.
#26
Robo_1
10/10/08, 9:46 pm
What are BR films shifting like these days?
#27
morriss
10/10/08, 11:40 pm
IronoMan did 500k in its first week.
#28
Psychotext
10/10/08, 11:43 pm
IRONOMAN REQUIRES A KNIFE BUT HAS ONLY SPOONS.
#29
morriss
11/10/08, 12:04 am
#30
reask
11/10/08, 12:10 am
So the ps3 wins because it has blue ray?
Funny thing is I got the 360 for gaming and it has lived up to my expectations.
#31
Esha
11/10/08, 4:27 am
@airdom
Sorry, I had to pick up on this…
That’s not true. Hideo actually commented that the size of the textures in MGS would not have been possible on conventional media (DVD). He actually wanted to make the textures bigger and was disappointed by the lack of capacity of the Blu-ray disc (no, really) but in the end, Blu-ray did at least allow him to pack in much, much bigger textures than a DVD would have, and this lead to a crisper visual experience.
So yes, Blu-ray didn’t exclusively make MGS 4 prettier, but it did help. Just as it’s going to help any developer that takes advantage of it with exclusive titles.
#32
Gamoc
11/10/08, 4:54 am
And, speaking of taking advantage of blu-ray for exclusive titles, lets all look towards LittleBigPlanet [turns head to look at sackboys]
#33
G1GAHURTZ
11/10/08, 8:55 am
Gamegear is WAAAAAY better than Gameboy, because it has a colour screen!
#34
JPickford
11/10/08, 9:15 am
Escha
That’s just hype. The disk format isn’t going to affect texture size.
These big-name developers are encouraged to say this rubbish. When the playstation came out, developers were filling disks up with repeated data and claiming that their game would be impossible to implement on N64.