I'm fully aware of why PS3 launch slipped, I'm less aware of why the X360 had such poor supply at launch (especially on simple things like RGB scart leads and HDD add-ons). But even then, sorry, I don't buy the lack of HD DVD arguement, and in fact all these comments just add up to MS rushing to launch ahead of the competition at all costs (poor supplies, smaller capacity, no HDMI and bad reliability).
Because the 360 launched worldwide, and the PS3 staggered their launch (after promising to launch worldwide). And you can "not buy" the hddvd argument all you like. I would suggest that even if the 360 had launched at the same time as the PS3, it _still_ would have used DVD.
Well one console launched with severe supply constraints and the other didn't
Yah, I'm sure the $800-$900 PS3s on E-bay indicated a perfectly good supply. When the PS3 launched, I was still in the HD DVD team, and we had discussions with Toshiba about how the other blu ray manufacturers were desperate for diodes because Sony was hoarding theirs for the PS3.
Any time a console launches, it'll generally be supply constrained for a few months, your factories haven't spun up to full speed, and generally, you don't have the time to stockpile as much as you'd like. The more regions you launch in makes it worse, because you can't easily shift stock from one to another as the demand changes.
PS3 was even more supply constrained than the 360, so much so that they abandoned a worldwide launch, slipped 6 months (12 months for europe), tossed their blu-ray partners under a bus, and still could not keep up, even with the lower demand their launch price caused.
can't?
The PS3 is 2x because there's no reason to upgrade, however putting a HD DVD into an X360 would mean the user had the option to play HD DVD films (at least) and devs the option to use more space...but wait, if devs had that option then maybe more games would have required 2 disks...something MS didn't want.
Yes, Can't. Any change that significant would have broken games relying on the higher data rate from the DVD drive. You can sometimes go to better performance, but going to worse performance is a huge no-no. MS had the ability to allow the HD DVD addon to be used for games, and didn't, because splitting the user base is generally a very bad thing, especially that early into the console generation. The developers would not have thanked MS if they had been told they now need to ship all their titles on two formats, and the consumer confusion would have sunk the console.
I usually have other stuff to do when I get in, rarely will I be able to pick up a game as I walk in and play...I know it's optional for X360 but let's be honest, other than the initial quick play (and I don't even do that) I bet everyone here installs...it's the best way to play...like I said earlier, shame Sony don't let you do it.
I have installed exactly 0 games on my console. I started once, but got bored. It takes too long. I don't have stats on the number of games installed in our userbase, but I suspect it's lower than you think.
Anyway, I'm done on this topic. We can argue with 20/20 hindsight all we like, it won't change the facts, and any theoretical changes we like to think would have helped will have had just as much chance of sinking the system.
