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August 28th, 2008 @ 19:58
Speaking to Gamasutra, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president Joseph Olin has claimed that PS3’s Blu-ray drive may not be the winning asset Sony had hoped.
“I look at Blu-ray being the obvious short-term differentiator, but if everything goes to digital download - and over time, it will - then the Blu-ray device no longer has the same competitive advantage, or the benefit is not as strong as the feature is,” he said.
And when’s digital distribution going to wipe physical media from the face of planet game, Big Joe?
“Perhaps maybe five years? Maybe seven years? I think the challenge with digital distribution is more because of piped-to-the-home bandwidth than the technology within the systems,” he added.
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if you bought your console, your one out of millions, so who gives a shit about how many...
August 28th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Yeah, in SEVEN YEARS, the PS3 is totally not owning anymore.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I agree… but not for the reasons he gives (I don’t think DD will catch on that much). I simply reckon that by the time blu-ray catches on with mainstream consumers people will be buying £100 players rather than a £200 console.
Sony’s best chance to take advantage is now while the prices are competitive.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
…five years? wtf? between On Demand services and Xbox Live I haven’t been to video store in a least a year. Probably closer to a year and a half, and I don’t even remember the last DVD I bought
I hate it when people say how much it depends on the pipe you have going to the house. I have a 3 meg connection, I’ve never waited more than five minutes to watch a movie when I download it on my 360 and I have absolutely no interest in a Blu-Ray player.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I’m pretty sure Sony has already thought of this, what with the ever expanding PS and video store…
But for people who want true 1080p picture (without any compression and artifacting) and HD sound, downloading movies is not an option, and probably won’t be for at least five years, as he says.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
You are lucky then. The thing is, DD isn’t a worldwide solution.
In addition, I think by then Psychotext, the console will have lowered in price and it will be a games console. I think it’s becoming less of a Blu-Ray player time and time again.
And my friends just invested in the first Blu-Ray, becuase they are only 3 quid more expensive.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
wow what an idiot.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
No_Pud: Yeah, of course the console will be less expensive (that’s why I said £200 and not £300) but standalone players will always be able to drop price lower, and faster.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Very true.
But by then PS3 will be offering what is expected at a lower price.
And most people still ahvem’t got the association of Playstation out of their mind, so I really think it selling on Blu-Ray alone is a myth.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
this guy is off his head. every home will never have an internet connection there will always be a need for a hardware format. my mum still hasn’t got freeview in her house yet. i think these companies are a bit optimistic about the publics desire for technological progression. LP’s still sell in the millions. there’s your proof
August 28th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Even in this generation (people generation now onsoles) people want to have physical media.
It’s not a mistrust, it’s just a novelty.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Well I’m going to agree & disagree with his assertions.
It will take at minimum 10+ more years before digital distribution seriously takes off on the consoles. The consoles are at their very heart the traditional retail business model & that model doesn’t go away overnight.
Broadband infrastructure isn’t anyway near the level it needs to be (which is often lost on those who already have broadband & think all consumers have the same habits as them) and more importantly so is consumer awareness about buying products digitally (I’ve actually seen people for instance complain about were to buy Bionic Commando:Rearmed at retail not realising it is digital only).
Blu-ray though isn’t really a long term advantage though it could turn out to be, it was designed in mind for inefficient/bloated MPEG-2 HD movies & not much else.
What could end up being a bonus for Blu-ray is iD’s Megatexture tech and other developers who go down the same road with their own implementations as it shifts the burden of high resolution textures onto the storage medium to which Blu-ray is ideally suited unlike DVD and those without elite broadband connections.
If more game developers begin to make aggressive use of such technology then the better graphics in the PS3 coupled with the single game disc could be a benefit.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I remember being authoritatively told, early in this decade, by business analysts, technology experts, journalists and futurologists - both real and self-appointed (lots of the latter) - that iTunes would kill the CD album off. How’s that prediction going?
August 28th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
have you seen CD sales lately? it’s not pretty.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
CD sales may not be at their heady heights, but the death of CDs was called about six years ago. Is the CD dead? As Radiohead proved, digital sales are no substitute for many, if not most, consumers.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
CD sales not at their heights? no kidding. Record shops are practically a thing of the past, and mass market retailers are starting to thin out their selection of CDs even more than they already have.
Go into Circuit City, Best Buy or Target lately? what was once practically an entire department of the store has been reduced to two or three isles, and that’s only going to get smaller.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
You are confusing the dichotomy of sales between physical or electronic media with that relating to purchases over the internet or in high street stores. High street music sellers are closing not because of iTunes but because of Amazon et al.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I don’t want to download everything that I buy.
I want packaging. I want fluff, an article in this months EDGE reminded me of how much I love a well made manual.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I want MAPS with my games. The three maps from Morrowind (+ Tribunal and Bloodmoon) were hanging on my wall even. They were amazing hand-drawn masterpieces, I want all of that all the time.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I have done concept art with the guy who did those maps
His art is stunning though. Not realistic, but he developed a lot of the sociology/culture in Morrowind through his work.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:09 am
people like products i can’t see digital distro completely wiping solidarity from the market
August 29th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Didn’t read the comments and this is kinda off topic, but do you guys know a company is suing Sony for BD. If they lose (that’ll be dumb) then BD really would be a short term advantage.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:23 am
They tried last year and failed. And it’s not like the Blu-Ray in PS3 would be discontinued, they’d just ahve to pay up.
But there’s more than a few of these types around, who want to claim money as soon as someone gets near their toes.
It happened to Microsoft recently, i read. It’s just people trying to scam some money. Microsoft unfortubtely had to pay up. I am very skeptical if it was just though.