Blu-ray will not matter...

[EndR]

Some thoughts I wanted to ventilate and see what kind of feedback I recieve here.

Well, regarding Blu-ray in the PS3 and how this is some kind of advantage for the PS3. My question is: Is it really an advantage?

blu-ray will add to the cost of the PS3, that is for sure but it would be a severe blow for Sony if it isn´t used to that extent as Sony might want to.

My thoughts goes like this..
If you look at the next gen platforms, 3 out of 4 will be DVD-based. 360, Rev and PC will all use the DVD media as their storage medium. It is only Sony that will have BD-capacity as well as DVD.

Now, if we consider what is happening in the biz, with all the talks about higher dev-costs and that we will see more multiplatform-games to maximize sells, isn´t it logical to work with the DVD in mind from the get go? The lowest common denominator (that the majority will have) is the DVD-media.

I mean, it makes sense for the devs and publishers to focus on as many platforms as possible and the majority are DVD-based.

For gaming, BD will take care the convenient-factor but I cannot see that devs will soley focus on the PS3 because of the Blu-ray media. Devs and publishers will lose the ability to reach to the whole market by focusing on BD (or making a game that demands a BD-media) and lose revenues/profits.

So, if DVD will still be the major focus for devs, then BD-capacity in PS3 will add more negative (higher costs of the machine) than positive (exclusivity in software)...

or am I way off here?

 

[Geo]

But is games the only consideration in that calculation?

 

[dukmahsik]

i dont think games will really use BR

 

[EndR]

But is games the only consideration in that calculation?

Well, of course.. movie-playback is the other big thing Sony is pushing but the whole BD/HD-DVD war is far from over. Besides, HVD seems to be ready for consumer market bu late 2006 or at least around 2007. From a movie standpoint, BD could lose as well..

Blu-ray adds a cost to the PS3 that will make an impact for Sony financial-wise. If BD was a way to secure more exlcusive content from devs, then it was wrong because the higher cost-factor will make devs want to make more and more multiplatform-titles and the majority are dvd-based.

 

[AlphaWolf]

But is games the only consideration in that calculation?

Right, the biggest plus for Sony is that they can market the PS3 as a blu-ray HD player. Most games will likely ship on DVD anyway because it will be a cost consideration.

 

[EndR]

i dont think games will really use BR

I don´t think that BR (or is to BD? or maybe BRD? ) was solely ment for movies. I think that PSM had a speculation (or maybe it was some real info) from Rockstar that said they had a GTA4 engine taking advantage of, amongst other things, the BRD-media... which sounded a bit strange to me...

 

[Geo]

From a movie standpoint, BD could lose as well..

Yeah. As a consumer, even better that I can get it in a device that won't be a door stop if BD does lose.

 

[Bobbler]

Sony has a vested interest in making sure that BR succeeds as a format (movie format especially) -- I believe they are going to be raking in a rather large portion of the royalties on each BRD pressed.

If BRD catches on (which they want to make sure of) then they stand to gain a lot.

The losses initially on putting a BRD in a console are going to be peanuts compared to what they stand to gain over the years on movie sales and whatever other uses are found for it.

And, its just a nice selling point -- I certainly like the fact that I won't necessarily need to purchase an 800 dollar stand alone player to watch fancy new movies. Instead of waiting a few years for prices of players to fall, like I had to with DVD, I can buy a product I was going to already and have one.

 

[avaya]

In many ways you could argue Blu-Ray in PS3 has already established a number of goals for the Sony Group

- It's been a key to getting almost complete Hollywood support for the format.
- Establishes a tangible component in the perception of "Real Next-Gen vs. Xbox 1.5" for marketing to exploit
- Associating successful brands (PS) with up and coming product ranges helps breakdown initial consumer scepticism.

 

[McFly]

There are already games announced that will need multiple DVD's on the Xbox 360. This in mind, there really is no doupt that some, many, who knows ... PS3 games will use the capacity of Blu-Ray, the question is just how many.

Fredi

 

[seismologist]

I think even multiplatform games will find a way to take advantage of each consoles features. If there's a ton of space on Blue Ray devs will find a way to use it. The most obvious use will be for hi def FMV in RPGs.

It the game is multiplatform then the lower spec version will be compromised in some way. Same as this gen.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

Still paying for it though, so I don't see what you've avoided other than paying $50 more to have it in a console that doesn't make use of it.

For games, I think a larger variety of high res texturing will be the biggest benefit. As in each level can have completely unique texture sets, or even multiple sets within a level, etc.

For movies, the PS3 is hardly a "value" player, just as the PS2/Xbox were hardly "value" DVD players. Value players are $50-$100, not ~$400+. If people are early adopters, they don't typically care much about value. If they wait for value offerings to come out for a new format, they won't consider the consoles to be that good of an option (if they choose it for that function alone, or have to pay ~$50 more to have that as an option on that console).

Still cool to have support for more. More is always better, right? Well, at least it can't hurt... unless something else had to go to make (cost) room for BR...

 

[AlphaWolf]

There are already games announced that will need multiple DVD's on the Xbox 360.

Link?

 

[Mythos]

In many ways you could argue Blu-Ray in PS3 has already established a number of goals for the Sony Group

- It's been a key to getting almost complete Hollywood support for the format.
- Establishes a tangible component in the perception of "Real Next-Gen vs. Xbox 1.5" for marketing to exploit
- Associating successful brands (PS) with up and coming product ranges helps breakdown initial consumer scepticism.

And also in the game industry as EA and Vivendi will promote the blu-ray format.

 

[3roxor]

Seems some people forgot that Sony does more than PS3. I wouldn't be surprised if we soon see games in need of that extra space BD provides, but that's certainly not the number 1 reason it's in the PS3.

 

[DemoCoder]

Still paying for it though, so I don't see what you've avoided other than paying $50 more to have it in a console that doesn't make use of it.

Because you paid $50 more to get a High-Def BluRay movie-player that is going to cost about $1000 at launch if you buy it standalone. Fine, if you don't want Hi-Def movies then it is not for you. Given HD adoption rates, and the desires of the major movie studios, like it or not, HD movie playback is going to be huge within the PS3's console's lifetime. More than that, it will be a huge selling point at launch.

The PS3 looks to be design to be the HD media convergence device that the XB360 claimed to be, but isn't. It's got more I/O ports than most CE devices except for A/V Receivers. It looks to have provisions to support HD PVR functionality (digital and analog tuner stream support in southbridge chip) I think the PS3 is going to smoke the XB360 in Japan easily, and if it launches in Spring/Summer with BluRay movie support, it will be a huge selling point to the vast majority of early adopters, you know, the people who stood in line for 12 hrs to buy a $700 XB360 bundle. The kind of people who own HD equipment and buy the most games.

Judging by AVSFORUM posts, many people who aren't even gamers, plan to buy the PS3 at launch to get movie playback.

 

[McFly]

Link?

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000903070963/

Fredi

 

[Geo]

Are you expecting HTPC/Console convergence this gen, DC? I was thinking one more. . it does make a lot of sense to me for things to go that way, particularly with all that multi-cpu power. I can imagine a PVR going without impacting the console performance noticeably.

BRD may not be the be-all/end-all for PS3, but speaking personally I'd find it a plus.

 

[scooby_dooby]

It the game is multiplatform then the lower spec version will be compromised in some way. Same as this gen.

Actually, what happened this gen is there was a base platform (PS2) which was the lower spec version, however all the games were diesigned for it. Meaning the vast majority of XBOX ports did next to nothing to anything to take advantage of the system. And CERTAINLY did not create any new content.

It makes sense that 360 will be this base platform for the coming generation. easier development tools, cheaper development lifecycle, and largest installed base.

Lowest common denominator for the 2 systems it a game that uses 512mb of ram, a 3.2Ghz PowerPC cpu, and 7.4GB of storage space. I expect that to be the target for the majoritt of cross-platform games. With optimization made first to the specific GPU's, and CPU's, but not really much concern for bluray.

 

[AlphaWolf]

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000903070963/

Fredi

No I meant a real announced game.

<edit> I am not saying there wont be any and in fact I expect there will be, I would just like to see some actual information not some guy that heard from his brothers best friends cousin.