Quote:
Originally Posted by sperry
Microsoft didn't seem to have a problem offering the HD-DVD drive as an option for the XBox 360.
And if Sony sold a bunch of machines w/o the Blu-Ray then released an awesome game that required it, they'd probably sell a ton of Blu-Ray upgrade drives as well. Anyone else remember how the original Myst game sold millions of CD-ROM drives for PC's?
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Right, but developers won't be producing xb360 games on hd-dvd - Microsoft won't allow it, because they know that suddenly requiring people to drop $200 on an add-on to play new games is a huge mistake. This is the lesson learned from the failed Sega CD and 32x: while some people may buy it, you've just alienated most of your userbase. So the devs are stuck with standard dvd. I also think that the data transfer rate on the hd-dvd drive would turn out to be restrictive - loading time may be too unbearable for hd-dvd games to really be possible. It's possible that this may change, but not any time soon. By the time hd-dvd is cheap enough for them to try to make that leap, they will have a new system ready for release (MS is holding itself to a very strict 4-year hardware lifecycle). It's most likely that hd-dvd games won't be seen until the next generation.
The larger capacity format that you get by default on the PS3 is one of Sony's big draws for devs. Of course, this is part of the gamble because the higher price point deters people from purchasing the system, which in turn deters publishers from wanting to produce exclusively on PS3.
For example, Capcom has decided to make Devil May Cry a multi-platform title - a pretty big loss for Sony. However, it's looking like other directors, such as Tomonobu Itagaki (Team Ninja) and Hideo Kojima (Konami), are quite enamored with the larger capacity: Ninja Gaiden Sigma is currently exclusive to the PS3, and judging by comments from Kojima regarding the Blu-ray disc capacity, it's still looking like MGS4 will remain exclusive.