Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 03 May 2008 11:29
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Unfortunately, it’s all but speculation at the moment, despite a
report by DailyTech which quotes another report from
Digitimes.
The DigiTimes report itself quoting the “Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper, Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer”, suggesting that Pegatron has “won the order to make Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc drive.”
The report goes on to suggest that Microsoft’s perfect time to launch such a console is in Q3, 2008.
The reasoning behind this is obvious – the lead up to Christmas represents the biggest, boldest and baddest sales opportunity for consoles and games, and if anything could stop the PS3 onslaught, it’s an Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray drive.
Blu-ray movies are still far more expensive than DVDs, but the Xbox 360 already has everything it needs to output HD high-definition content at 1080p, especially with an HDMI model.
But as commenters to the DailyTech article noted, Sony’s Blu-ray drive hasn’t made that much difference to the game of the moment, GTA: IV.
Reports suggest that the PS3 version only outputs at 630p, rather than the 720p resolution of the Xbox 360. Yes, the PS3 version can support 7.1 surround sound, apparently uncompressed, while the Xbox 360’s version has needed heavy compression to fit everything onto a dual layer disc.
