Major Nelson: "HD-DVD Lost, Doesn't Mean Blu-Ray Won"

"One important thing to think about is... ok, HD-DVD lost... that doesn't mean Blu-ray won."

Among many headliners in this week's Major Nelson podcast.

This week's show:
We discuss GDC
Interview: Boris Schneider-Johne, Xbox Germany (17:48–51:55)
Interview: Tim Innes, Capcom (Rocketmen : Axis of Evil) (51:57 – 01:05:21)
Interview: Chris Satchell, XNA and GDC (01:05:23–01:34:00)
We say goodbye to our friend HD DVD
Name the game and more...

[pwnsause]

Nice spin. but it doesnt work in the real world we live in. keep living in fantasy land.

[PumPum]

what a sad attempt major nelson.....pathetic.

[ruibing]

So I guess he thinks that just because the Nazis lost doesn't mean the Allies won. I suppose in a way because they still had to rebuild everything the bad guys destroyed, but they won. The winners write the history books, and its pretty much well established that Blu Ray won. A pretty fitting analogy I believe.

When I go to a BB and look in their entertainment department, the people there never say "well maybe you want to choose between Blu Ray and DLC", it's just Blu Ray.

[BrianC6234]

Major Nelson is just another numbskull in the Xbot Army. What a maroon. Does anyone really care what he thinks? I sure don't. He's just mad he's stuck with a piece of crap HD DVD add-on for his Xbox 1.5 and wasted money on HD DVD movies. Maybe he can autograph his discs and sell them all to Xbots.

[Ri0tSquad]

Haha. Major Nelson sounds like a sore loser. He's always biased and when he has something to say about the PS3 its nothing intelligent or worth listening to. I never liked him, even when I didn't have my PS3 and I was a 360 owner.

[venum]

Does somebody tell him the truth about Santa???

Blu-ray Won.

[ruibing]

I'm sure he'll be singing a completely different tune if the 360 ever gets a Blu Ray add-on. Sour grapes never taste so good.

[ddcab]

Why does Major act like DLC is a console exclusive to Microsoft. Last time I checked the 360 and the PS3 could have download content. Now with blu-ray the victor in the format war, Playstation fans will have the best of both worlds. 2 words = future proof

[Danja]

This prick is such a suck up.....Major Nelson heres some words of advice "Red is Dead ,do Blu" I bet Nelson has a Blu Ray player in house.

Blu Ray FTMW..!! so when is Transformers coming to the Blu side...lol..? ohh forgot Blu hasn't won..

[crunchie101]

He did say on the podcast that he has a PS3

[gamesblow]

What a paid Spooner... It must suck waking up every morning knowing your whole life is dependant on the dollar you earn. What a way to live. Blindness only goes so far, even the blind have intuition... this smack is just absurd.

[Snukadaman]

the blind calling the blind...hey he gets paid too be a ms mouthpiece..cant say the same huh....

[gamesblow]

I think your bib's tied on too tight.. Might want you mom to check that out for ya.

[1-800-SaveAnXbot]

I'm here

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

You know over there? in that big long line, where the others are waiting for games. You jumped in the wrong line sir, this line is for gamers ready to pick up games. You need to take a ticket and wait your turn, your ticket number is 1,029,885. This line doesn't need tickets because it's the Xbox line, and it keeps moving. Sorry for the inconvenience, please step aside your blocking the Xbox gamers.

[bootsielon]

Jason even had to bother to give a long reply to you. Very telling.

[pwnsause]

LMAO,love your name!

[zapass]

"oh hi, I'm calling to report a severe case of xbot depression that needs an intervention ASAP. The name is Jason and he sometimes even appends 360 to it (told ya, it's SEVERE). Anyway, hurry up cuz the desperation is total and the denial is now pathological."

[InYourMom]

"Jason even had to bother to give a long reply to you. Very telling."

Not more telling than a lonely nerd who has to make an Xbot account to try and be funny. But I guess when you have all that extra time you do stupid things.

[MailMan]

How SHOCKING.

Jump OUT and Play B3YOND

[NextGEN Gamers]

I started listening, but pod casts that go over 10 minutes are full of hot air. Keep it short and it makes a good pod cast.

D

[mikeslemonade]

1 to 3 hour podcasts are the best.

[gEnKiE]

OMG..is this all we are going to hear about now? DLC? Its funny it was never brought up before when M$ was trying to push HD-DVD. Now that HD-DVD is gone, it seems their trying to push DLC. Physical media is never going to disapear. I hate just downloading media and not have a physical copy to back it up and many other people feel the same way. Plus, I like to let go over to a friends house and be able to bring a movie or game over to play. This guy is just as desperate as the rest of the M$ fanboys. HD-DVD is dead, f***ing live with it. Blu-Ray won and it's going to be around for awhile.

[DraconWolfX]

Genke are you an idiot? Microsoft has always backed their DLC even when they had Blu-Ray. I'm firmly convinced that the only reason MS backed HD-DVD was so it would hold off Blu-Ray for just long enough that it would give them time to boost their DLC store.

Regardless of the fact, Microsoft always pushed the heck out of their DLC. It wasn't just since Blu-Ray won.

[Mr Murda]

No doubt that BluRay won this most recent "format" war, but the point is that it's not necessarily going to be the format of choice for everyone. DLC is going to win, eventually. If you don't believe me then I suggest that you take notice how Itunes is now the second largest retailer of music...ahead of Best Buy. Yeah, that's right. If Netflix partners with some hardware manufacturers then watch out Blu-Ray or any other format for that matter. I like my Blu-Ray movies and I'll continue to buy them, but I'm not ignorant to the fact that DLC is the future.

Oh, and if you think DLC support is a "new" thing for MS, then I'd suggest taking a look at Bill Gates CES speech (around 1998) talking about the "Digital Living Room". They've been behind DLC for more than a minute.

Thanks for your time.

[PeeboDaKilla]

how do posts like this get agrees?

[Pain]

Blu-ray won, No other way of spinning it.

Saying DLC is going to kill of Physical Media is just plan Stupid and Being a sore-loser.

Grow Up.

[Mr Murda]

Sore loser? Who are you talking to? Obviously not me. I own a PS3 and have 20 Blu-Ray movies to go along with it. In fact, I had both formats and just got done ebay-ing my HD DVD collection. It's only a matter of time before DLC is the winner of all formats. In the near future, when flash drives and sim cards can store 80+ GB then there is no need for a disc of any kind. HDDs will be your "hard copy" not some flimsy disc. This isn't a personal attack, this is fact and WILL be the future...so embrace it. BluRay will be around for another 4 or 5 years (maybe longer), but DLC will be the ultimate victor. That's the point that I'm trying to make.

Re-post what you just said in this thread in 10 years (when you turn 18) and get laughed at.

[Skerj]

DD for Music is totally different from movies. It takes like what, a minute at most to get a song from Itunes (not sure because I don't believe in paying for something digital and mostly intangible to begin with)? But it's use is obvious when we all used to complain about spending 15-20 bucks for a cd when we only wanted to hear TWO or THREE songs. People are now buying the songs they want without the rest of the filler they don't want.

Now when it comes to movies, no one complains they have to buy a whole movie just to see one scene. Hell they might but it's super uncommon if so. Not to forget space limitations for some people, and now ISPs are starting to throttle speeds and cap bandwidth for its high end users, DD isn't going to take over as soon as everyone keeps saying it will.

BluRay won no matter how anyone tries to spin it. It was in a format war between HDDVD NOT Digital Distribution, and who announced that they were stopping production and discontinuing their product? It certainly wasn't the BluRay group, it was Toshiba.

[Peekay]

I was just gona say the same thing. Fact is downloading music is convenient. Download it, store it, and then listen to it.

From a purely subjective view movies are something I watch, and there's something very nostalgic and tangible about having a hard copy in your hands or a collection on your bedroom shelf.

[Mr Murda]

Where in my post, of which I'm assuming you're commenting towards, does it say that Blu-Ray didn't win the format war? I didn't say that and I don't see anyone denying that Blu-Ray won, of course it did. I own a Blu-Ray player (aka PS3) and have invested money into buying movies for that format. I like it, I'm going to keep it, and it's not going anywhere for years to come. That being said, your comment is exactly why I get so frustrated with many of the posts on this site. All I'm saying is that, in time, DD/DLC will ultimately be the way to go. Netflix is already in discussions with hardware manufacturers to create a device that would access it's 90,000+ movie collection for viewing at home. Whether it's streaming, downloading, or licensing...digital content and distribution will be the ultimate victor. Your argument about CDs vs. DD is decent, but still flawed. I own 700+ CDs, and I love looking at my collection as much as the next guy, but I can't remember the last time I opened a CD case and put it in a player (I'm sure you're similar). If and when that same option is available for movies, which it is now (but not in the ideal form), then I'll be saying the same thing about not opening a DVD or BluRay case too. DD will eventually allow us (and it can now too, just not ideally) to watch a movie at home, on our pc, on our laptop, on our portable mp3 player, on our cell phone, etc. Discs of any kind won't allow that to happen and that's why DD will win. Convenience is what drives so many consumer decisions already and that won't change, ever. Movie studios want it cause, they don't have to produce a disc, don't have to ship it, and don't have to retail it in a store. It cuts out all of the middle men and the money/profits can go straight to the studios and not to the guys that make the disc or make the case or the shipping company or the Best Buy it winds up at. See what I'm saying.

That's all I'm saying, DD is the future. BluRay is here now, and I'm happy with it, but it's just a matter of time before DD takes over. Don't make it sound like I'm anti-BluRay or anti hard copy, cause that's not the case. I'm pro-technology and pro-innovation, and DD is the next step...after BluRay or whatever.

[moparful99]

Mr murda what is your problem.. You act like every one is attacking you.. If you dont chill then your going to be one of those guys on the streets that cant sleep because he thinks everyone is out to get him... These people are simply pointing out that this battle was between blu-ray and hd-dvd... Major nelson is bitter over the loss of hd-dvd and its apparent in his statement. He has to take away blu-ray's steam by saying dlc is going to tromp blu-ray.. Well blu-ray is the here and now.. Dlc may be the future.. Nobody can predict what will happen. Point is that to get the same quality of video and sound that you get out of blu-ray you would have to transfer files that are uncompressed because quality is lost when a file is compressed. Do you realize how large uncompressed hd files are? Music is easy to download because they are relatively small and current bandwidths can handle it. You may own a ps3 and love blu-ray but the point is that blu-ray has won the format war and to say that dlc will take over years from now does nothing to sour blu-rays victory...

[Skerj]

The last paragraph wasn't aimed towards you as it was towards anyone who says BluRay didn't win or DD will win or something similar, which is why I said ". ..how anyone spins it" not "how you spin it" and referenced you.

You have very valid points about DD and I agree with them to some extent. DD is still in its infancy and there are a LOT of things that need to be done before it becomes a viable opponent to physical media.
We all know how much the MPAA hates piracy, so what if they impose some crazy DRM that locks said video to a specific device? I'm hoping that scenario doesn't happen but it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

In any case this wasn't a 3 pronged format war, it was between BluRay and HDDVD and for all intents and purposes they achieved what they set out to do.

[lsujester]

Well, MS has been supporting their rip-off rental system, but as for disc-manufacturing, they supported whoever would make them the most money. The reason it was HD for them was that Toshiba agreed to use all of MS's codecs on them, while the adamantly anti-MS coalition of Sony, Apple, Sun, etc., used Java and other mostly open source stuff for Blu-Ray. MS generally doesn't care who wins what, as long as they go to the bank off of it. And I'm sure that years from now when the network structure is enough to warrant trying to transmit multiple GB's of data to your ubermassive hard drives, they will be right there on the train supporting DLC... as long as it uses MS software.

As for this podcast, I in general hate Major Nelson. Everytime he pops up on my 360, I grit my teeth.

Major Nelson = Completely useless MS talking-head troll.

[GIJeff]

flying cars, robot slaves, robot slaves turning people into slaves for robots, and the end of the world. The point that annoys me, is so many people are suddenly saying "but but, int the future". Look, in the future movies will be downloaded to your brain directly. Theres plenty of storage space there, and you could potentially hear, smell, see, and even feel movies and entertainment. But for now, people are buying HD tvs and they need an HD format, for now, its Blu-Ray. so to quote OK Go, "get get get get over it.".

[Bathyj]

More like Major Arsehole. (am I the first one to think of that?) ;)

If thats not a sore loser I dont know what is.

PS
HDDVD was NEVER our friend.

[BrianC6234]

You know what HD DVD's biggest problem was from the start? The only thing it had going for it was cheap price. Blu-ray was much better on everything else. Is that dumb or what? If price is an issue just stick with DVD since it's even cheaper. What was Toshiba thinking? Blu-ray had the better quality, better protection, bigger discs and is even harder to scratch.

[The Wood]

grapes that taste funny.....

and

a river in Egypt.....

guess, guess

[MikeGdaGod]

de....nile???

[Premonition]

sour grape lol

[moparful99]

hehe very clever and funny sir... Bubbles galore...

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Let the droids bring on the spin :) "but but but" but shut up, now excuse me while I go download a movie or TV show from about 5 different sources.

[The Wood]

in HD?

[mullet]

Nah it's fake HD.

[spandexxking]

i could walk down to my local store, buy the blu-ray, go back home and watch it(in HD)all while your computer says "50% complete" haha lol DD!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

XD Ooooh... thats right I can watch while downloading. I can continue to watch while your on the road, in the rain or snow. While your in line behind some guy that doesnt bath and... a lady behind you with a screaming brat thats been crying for the last 30min you been in line. Just so you can get a clerk that hates his job and hates you the customer. You get home to find out the disc is scratched, so you end up downloading somthing from VOD.

Twat did you say? I cunt hear you, I have an ear infu*kion, oh well I'll finger it out later :) That soreness you feal on your ass, thats me because you just got spanked.

[spandexxking]

actaully im not american so i would walk. plus i can also watch VOD but half the time i have to wait for it to buffer. plus its not HD anyway you look at it. admittinly convienent put not worth the hassle plus i own my copy do you?

"Twat did you say? I cunt hear you, I have an ear infu*kion, oh well I'll finger it out later :) That soreness you feal on your ass, thats me because you just got spanked" WTF are you on. that dosent even make sense

blu-ray: ultimate hi-def experience

[The Wood]

i want to watch 3 hd movies in a row. you must have some cia or nsa connection to be able to do that kid and if you are connected that way then you are a super minority. Point is i can buy 3 and no hdd failure could ruin my future enjoyment. Say I dont like the film and want to sell it. You just have to give it up jay. DD will never be without some form or tangible media to burn/transfer to

[Ri0tSquad]

Your emotional attachment to your Xbox 360 takes your fail to a new level when your trying to defend what ever it has against the Playstation 3.

"I can continue to watch while your on the road, in the rain or snow."

You do know new movies just don't pop up on release on Xbox live, they take quite some time actually.

"While your in line behind some guy that doesnt bath and... a lady behind you with a screaming brat thats been crying for the last 30min you been in line."

But what if I decide to go out crazy and buy a sh!t load of Blu-Rays (maybe 10) that'll look better then what you downloaded, I'll get it earlier, sound better, and I can bring it over to a friends house or lend it to someone to borrow. I'll also have special features, behind the scenes, and all that good stuff packed into that Blu-Ray disc as well.

"You get home to find out the disc is scratched, so you end up downloading somthing from VOD."

But I'm buying them and if I was renting them I could take them back and exchange it. BTW, you do know that Blu-Rays have a layer that protects them from BEING scratched? Yeah, exactly.

So.....what were you saying?

[Xbox is the BEST]

Movie on HD format "American Gangster". A dead format with the number one movie funny stuff. This should never happen because HD DVD is dead. The arguments on high def digest is that Ag didn't sell 100K, if so then how much did the #2 movie (which is on Blu Ray) Michael Clayton sold with all those players out? Sony depending on gamers to push a movie format. Let's hope Blu Ray can become the standard because I got money invested in Blu.

[mullet]

#1 movie? Wtf? You must be black or something.

[The Closing]

Michael Clayton? What the hell is that? American Gangster, well thats a good movie people have actually seen.

It's not the format that sold the movie it was the movie. If it was on bluray it would have sold even more being that there are well over 10 times the players in peoples households. Stop trying to put a spin on this, and get a clue.

[butterfinger]

American Gangster ads on TV were showing the DVD and did not mention HD DVD whatsoever other than showing a picture of it and saying you get it free with the purchase of the DVD. lol. What a total slap in the face of HD DVD. Universal must have been pissed when Toshiba pulled the plug right before their release date. So, now I wonder why American Gangster HD DVD "sold" so many copies....

[ThatArtGuy]

iTunes didn't kill CD. 'Nuff said.

[Ludwig]

Didn't killed (yet.) but certainly CD is showing its age pretty damm seriously.

[grilledgorlupa8]

but they still sell well and thats the point. If you can make money off iTunes AND music CDs why not make money off of both.

[fenderputty]

iTunes hasn't killed the CD. It's hurt the CD but it hasn't killed it. The funny thing is that MP3's are a hell of a lot easier to download and store then HD movies too. People with 56k modems can download an MP3 but would take a year to download 4 HD movies. Plus ... iTunes and MP3 are much further along then DD of HD movies. I can pretty easily take my iPod to a friends house or, hook it up in their car. This isn't the case for HD movies yet. A lot has to happen before DD of HD movies becomes mainstream. Even still ... when it happens I still don't think it will kill off physical media.

[krik]

And let's not even compare a 4Mb song to a 40Gb movie.... where will I store all my movies? How about backups? And the DRM?

I use iTunes a lot but only because I can make real CDs and backup my library pretty often. Also I buy without DRM whenever available. Without being able to backup I wouldn't buy from iTunes at all.

So, I will start buying digital movies/shows when I can manage my movie library in the same way I manage my music library. I need to be able to back it up, share it with my wife/son and make blu-rays out of it to play on my blu-ray player.

Anyway XBL does not own the downloadable movie format, they can't even beat Apple on that fight. Also, Sony with movie studios of their own can surely provide a downloadable service on top of Blu-ray and DVD.

The reality is that Blu-ray won, these people should just accept it and stop making stupid comments like this. This kind of comment only shows how bad of a loser they are.

[GutZ31]

Download speeds are not optimal, and will stay out of range until we drastically change our methods of communication.
Downloadable content should be able to take off in "japan", after the 4Tb/s satellite has finished its full spectrum of testing, in about 2~4 years.

This is not the the case for the US, Europe, and neighboring countries.

You still have to remember that we would need stand alone devices able to pick up these new speeds.

This is evident in the hardware needed with Wifi using the "N" method.

As some my thing that "oh, i have an Wireless N router, so I'm all good"
This can be a complete misjudgment.

First thing to remember, is that each series, a,b,g,n, has to be met by hardware capable to translate it into data.

So if you have a N router, and a wireless A connection, you wont get ANY benefit from the technology, this means you would stay just as slow as you were with your old router.

This is not to say that there isn't a way around this kind of nonsense, but it also doesn't look very promising just yet, as its taking alot of time to find a way suitable for investors, and government to agree on a single development.

The 50~100$ add ons for consoles and computers would start to become
120~170$ just to connect to a signal of proper speeds, then theres the problem of price gorging, or price fixing by the communication company to make some extra money off of the consumer with the new found speeds, and new found demand.

Digital downloads are getting closer, but with HiDef becoming the new standard, its becoming more and more obvious that things need to change for it become main stream.

If you are still skeptical, reason this.
There are still +60% of world population that have no high speed internet, and still over 20% with out internet at all, if they do, dial-up.

[harv052]

Or people with bandwidth limits......

[wow4u]

Half of internet traffic **TODAY** is P2P media downloads.

That download traffic has destroyed the audio CD, and is destroying the DVD.

You two can pretend all you like otherwise, but I havent bought a plastic disc in **years**.

I have no interest in dusting off yet another pile of physical media.

Digital Distribution is the victor *today*.

[GutZ31]

Bittorrent is the victor at this point in the game, but your forgetting that there are more people then your self and internet savvy people such as your self, and many others on the net.

The issue comes that DLC isnt for everyone, and not everyone can get internet in there areas. You have to think of the "dumbies" also, as most plan folk wouldnt know what download even means, as they are just starting to understand what Blu-ray is.

Bittorrent has such a huge gathering because it uses everyone with the files to seed the data out, your not thinking that microsoft is planing on doing this for its DLC are you?

the beauty of torrents is the simplisity of it gathering data from peers with out you searching for them. You can achieve speeds much greater then most FTP servers with it also.

But then it comes back to how many people have internet in the first place, as not all gamers and homes have high speed internet as the media would like you to believe.

I could see thumb drives becoming the next big thing as movie rentals, as they hold data, can be copy protected, and are physical media.

One thing that never changes is that people like to "have" what they own.
downloads are great, but its an empty pleasure, and not ready for the mainstream.

[krik]

@n4user1

I think what you don't want is to spend money. How do you feel about stealing movies? Do you steal music and games too?

I don't know if you realized it or not but I'm pretty sure Major Nelson is talking about free downloads.

[360_Rules]

Admit defeat because you never going to beat Nintendo or MS in gaming. Enjoy being #3 in North America and #2 in Japan.

[NextGEN Gamers]

So should Microsoft enjoy being 3rd everywhere outside of the US?

[spandexxking]

actually in gaming as a whole microsoft is last.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Realy?

Wii 22 milion
360 18 million
PS3 9 million

That would make the 360... TahDah! 2nd

Don't forget PC, the other "Microsoft" platform. You know PC? over a billion served PC? Ah forget it, your a Droid and you guys think gaming started with the PS2.

[BLUR111]

nice one jason. i love playstation since ps1 and xbox since 360 came out, but sony had the big avantage in next gen gaming and there barly keeping up with ms, and you have got to give to them for just there second gaming system. and to u fanboys of sony just watch what you say on your pc and think who owns your windows xp or vista. m$ is very powerful!

[spandexxking]

im talking gaming platforms and sony and nintendo pretty much have it covered. cant say the same for MS. lets see how this gen goes. MS will be at the same place last. my gaming started with sony. your a bot and you think gaming started with an RROD.

[butterfinger]

Why do sales numbers matter to gamers? I still don't understand that, and btw Jason's numbers are off anyway, so you can look up some real facts if you choose to. The loyalty to a company that is trying to take over everything in the world is downright disturbing. While you sit and bicker about your xbox being so great, the M$ sit back, count their money, and laugh when you get the RROD... I tend to buy based on quality, not based on how many other morons have bought something because it came out first.

[robbo918]

@ 10.0:
"Admit defeat because you never going to beat Nintendo or MS in gaming. Enjoy being #3 in North America and #2 in Japan."
Never going to beat Nintendo or MS in gaming??? List for me WW lifetime sales for PS1, PS2 then compare them to Xbox original...heck even throw in X360's current lifetime sales. Ok yeah never going to beat MS??? Nintendo has earned a place at the top for what it did to the console industry but acting like Sony hasn't is retarded. Oh and according to current sales PS3 has beat X360 in NA for January (according to the beloved holy grail of Xbots, NPD) and has outsold it in NA in February too. Yeah yeah go ahead and talk about the "shortages" but again, PS3's 80Gb SKU has been hard to find as well as X360 Elites.

@Jason:
"Wii 22 milion
360 18 million
PS3 9 million"

Jason, where do you seriously get your numbers man? Looks like you use VGChartz to get Wii and 360 (and rounded X360's up, plus if you are quoting the guy from MS at GDC he said he "thinks" X360 has shipped 18million) it looks like but ignore them for PS3's? PS3 is around 10 1/2 million if you use VG and NPD (NPD shows PS3 was shorted by VG by upwards of 400-500K).

[candystop]

I dont mind going the DLC route but 1 thing they need to do is make the prices more attractive on live marketplace! DLC is only getting bigger better but I think it's only fair to give bluray a fair chance because in a year from now we are all probably going to own a player anyway!

[Leathersoup]

I agree with you 100%. I'll believe that HD downloads are a viable substitute to owning a Blu-Ray drive only if the cost of downloading the movie is equivalent or less than going out to BlockBuster and renting it. Sure there's the convenience of not having to drive to the rental store, but then there's also the inconvenience of having to watch what Microsoft deems good for me to watch. Seriously, the XBLM has no selection and it gets updated, what every 2-3 weeks?

And then there's the price. Microsoft, do you seriously think that charging my 9 dollars is a suitable price for watching a "sorta" hi def movie? Yeah... I said sorta. 720p may look a bit better than the 480 crap you're dishing out but compared to my DVDs at home it doesn't look that much better.

I own a 360 and as much as I like it, I can't recommend it to anyone anymore. I actually deter people from buying them now. If I see someone trying to decide between buying an X360 and a PS3 I tell them to go PS3. I can't sit by while MS continues with it's policy of nickling and diming it's own player base to death.

[SL1M DADDY]

I'm sorry, but did I miss something here? Since when was Larry Herb or whatever his name is become an expert in format war news? Is he one of the worlds most renown AV experts? No? Ok...

Moving right along then...

[Kaz Hirai]

Who does this ARROGANT PIG think he is? He thinks he can undermine Lord Stringer's vctory?
I shall send a squad of Elite Sony Soldiers to dispose of this BUMBLING IMBECILE!

MWAH-HA-HA-HA!!!

[brothersimon]

dude its movies, not games

360 has the best game, and ps3 has movies? f that ill download them whilst u pay 500bux on a machine you'll never use as much as a 360

[BLUR111]

tuki kie miisa ufuki keiso chi powa.. kia!!!! yaaaahh! :(

[actas123]

....

[butterfinger]

So you'll download them and watch them until Microsoft doesn't let you anymore I suppose. I'll just be watching Planet Earth on Blu Ray whenever I want for years to come...

[TheExodus]

Funny, but I heard no mention of DD in this podcast. What I heard was, "HD DVD lost, but that doesn't mean Blu-ray won." Yes, Blu-ray won the HD disc format war against HD DVD, but Blu-ray is still far from displacing DVD as the standard media format for video distribution & it may never. SACD & DVD audio while both superior formats for audio distribution never managed to muster enough consumer support to displace CD. The same has been true for Blu-ray & HD DVD. Frankly, it isn't far fetched to imagine Blu-ray meeting a fate similar to SACD & DVD audio.

[Vertius]

DVD will be replaced, whether the consumer likes it or not. The movie studios will see to that.

[AceLuby]

Studios make too much money on a new format. They did the same thing w/ VHS -> DVD and while there were 'more features' in that jump, there are enough new features in this jump (simply w/ hi-def video and more storage) that the consumer finds it beneficial to upgrade their player. Studios make more money off of BR. New tech means higher price tag and bigger return per disc sold. I would not be surprised if in 2-3 years new movies are only released on BR which would in essence force the consumer to upgrade.

BR has taken a big enough portion of the DVD market to make it profitable to keep producing movies and stay in the market. No reason to abandon it.

The BR market isn't getting smaller. For titles released on both BR & DVD, DVD purchases have lowered compared to titles released only on DVD. Those who go BR aren't going to say 'well, I actually just want SD, so I'm gonna sell my BR player...'.

Unlike VHS->DVD (and DD for that matter), upgrading to BR does not make your DVD collection obsolete. In fact, it will allow you to watch your movies in higher quality, which is even more incentive to upgrade. This was a HUGE reason why the adoption of DVD took so long.

DVD will still be around for a while (esp since BR players can still play them), but to think that BR is going anywhere because of DD or DVD is pretty ridiculous.

[Marty8370]

The guys an idiot. Blu-ray won fair and square.

P L A Y B 3 Y O N D

[hella whip]

Is their any places where you can download movies to own not just to rent? And even then can you have them on any computer or portable device?

[t-0_ot-]

Kaz Hirai - Uhm, "I shall send a squad of Elite Sony Soldiers." Who are these supposed "Elite Sony Soldiers?" Can you give me some of the names of your 'slaves?' I'm just curious as to who these people are, or if you can actually name some..

[TripleTags]

Its inevitable .. we are a goods in hand kind of society still. digital downloads are REALLY convenient but there is a very large segment of the population that still buys DVDs that will eventually buy blu-ray discs .. its really simple actually which his why this kind of format war is a big deal to these companies and why they put MILLIONS in resources into it even though they are not making money on it.

Will digital downloads become a competitive business to hard-copy software, yes of course but not until ownership is tangible and portable .. major nelson should try porting his movies and content from his xbox to another one some time.

[moparful99]

If you think about it dd music didnt become popular until ipods and mp3 players came about.. People that download music dont just store it on a hard drive.. They either burn it onto a cd or place it into an mp3 player so its portable... If you download a movie to your 360 or ps3 its just on your hard drive.. However sony has announced that when you buy cetain blu ray discs they come with a digital download version that you can put on a memory stick and watch on your psp.... This is the future if you ask me... I dont think digital downloads will get rid of physical medium anytime soon.....

[meepmoopmeep]

i'm pretty sure Major Nelson was an avid HD-DVD supporter. Sore loser.

[Revvin]

He's just towing the company line, they were all promoting HD DVD a few months ago but now its "download content is king" If you listen to podcasts by paid company employee's then expect company propaganda. Download content may well go that way which is why Microsoft and Sony are working on it. Lets not forget how Sony got their hands slapped years ago over their first DRM which shows how long ago they were working on this form of distribution so its nothing new that Microsoft is doing.

Blu-Ray will be around for a long time yet because for download content to work there must be better infrastructure across the world to handle the increased traffic. The UK is like a third world country in terms of internet connectivity with its mainly copper based infrastructure. BT can barely give me a decent broadband connection nevermind stream media across their aged copper lines which is why I'll not subscribe to BT Vision. Even when the infrastructure improves there are a larger number of film fans who like to have a DVD collection in their hands - something tangible and not just something saved on a HDD somewhere. With Apple, Sony and Microsoft's visions of DRM it makes me shudder to think about handing over my money and then one day not being able to access my films because Apple, Sony, Microsoft don't think I should be able to anymore.

[actas123]

What an idiot!

[Meus Renaissance]

Major was the one encouraging people to go out and Buy HD-DVD only two weeks ago when the price was around $120, saying how great of a deal it was despite the format pretty much dead after the Warner announcement. Now it's dead, and Blu-Ray is the standard format but according to Major, that means nothing. So we should stick to downloading movies despite most of us not having the capability, either by download speeds or ISP bandwidth or even costs, to download true high definition movies.

Although we get the man can't be hyping Blu-Ray or speaking that well of it, he shouldn't embarrass himself and negate his own podcast by such bias nonsense. But we've seen this before from Major, in regards to the console wars. He's an A class idiot who tries to put himself across like an intelligent Microsoft employee. But when you're own site members mock your podcast for your Blu-Ray comments, you know you did bad.

I bet he'll have some Blu-Rays at his home in a few weeks as well that sly cat lol

[callahan09]

Not to mention hard drive requirements. Microsoft has very prohibitive HDD specifications, what with having only proprietary devices to choose from, available in only 2 different sizes, both being outrageously overpriced and difficult to obtain other than with the purchase of a new console. I have a 20 GB HDD that came with my 360, and it's filled with game saves, downloadable content, downloaded games, some music and videos and demos. I don't have room to be downloading movies. Not only that, but it's only rentals you can download. What if I want to own a movie?

[callahan09]

I think it's a bit sad that Major Nelson even feels the need to issue a statement like this. What's the point? I mean, a nice farewell to HD-DVD, sure, fine... I was an early adopter of HD-DVD, unfortunately. But to say that Blu-Ray didn't win is not even true. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray were competing formats. One was discontinued, the other's still around. Face it: Blu-Ray won.

[alba]

whatever helps him sleep at nights.

[spandexxking]

why is that evryone is adopting blu-ray? il tell you why its because they know that blu-ray is here to stay for a while. microsoft needs a wake up call. just accept it and start making money off of it.

[Hell-Reaver]

"dude its movies, not games

360 has the best game, and ps3 has movies? f that ill download them whilst u pay 500bux on a machine you'll never use as much as a 360"

I bought a 360 after I picked up my ps3, and lets see, if not for the fact that i have GH3 i wouldn't turn on the POS, it's loud, overheats and ugly. It's RROD 2 times in 6 months. Sounds like reliable equipment. Glad i wasted my money on a POS hardware that really, doesn't have a lot of great games, and the ones that are decent are over hyped. I own 5 games for it (Halo3, Orange box, PGR4, GH3 and Rockband) and played the rest of the supposed great games. All this from the "massive selection of games" lol

PS3 I use everyday, love navigating with it's nice interface, the controls are bang on, I have 11 titles for it from a smaller selection of games than the 360's. I also play tons of great HD games from the online store which are worth every penny. Not some second rate cheap-a$$ "arcade" games. I guess it helps to put our quality games instead of quantity. But you wouldn't understand that would you?

And in the coming year, i see maybe 1 or 2 titles i may get on the 360. And well the list is too long on what I'll get on the PS3.

So maybe instead of being a MS Bot do some research, play the competitions console, and you'll finally understand why the PS3 reached 10Mil sales quicker than the 360 all under the veil of verbal bashing that PS3 sucked.

Get a real system, not some broken trash that MS rushed out to hope to beat sony with. This year will show the real winner, he just got out of the gate a little late, but he's catchin up quick.

[whoelse]

t only that but the 360 had no competition (except PS2) when it reached 10mil and the PS3 has had the 360 AND Wii.

[rawd]

Looks like someone got stuck with an HD-DVD player

WEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[THE_JUDGE]

tool. XBL doesn't allow you to OWN the movies. DL won't beat hard disk, deal with it.

[Ashta]

So I'm going to make an analogy here:

Major Nelson = "HD-DVD lost but that doesn't mean Blu-Ray won!"

that as smart as ff Gabe Newall said:

Gabe Newall = Sure, I weigh 400 pounds but that doesn't mean I'm fat.

[Mc187]

lol

[MikeGdaGod]

what a sore loser

[v1c1ous]

did he lose?

[MikeGdaGod]

you can't say he isn't bias. and now after everything has been played out and Bluray won, he's still trying to down play it like it won't have any impact.

i don't care what anyone says. there's no way DD will replace bluray any time soon. not at least another ten years. as hdtvs gain popularity, so will bluray players. for this guy too still play bluray off to the side like it doesn't matter, after the format his company was backing lost, just shows how much of a sore loser he is.

[Bleucrunch]

sounds like a paid set of comments....I guess money always talks.

[bootsielon]

Look at the X-tard spin. You can tell that Jason with his "POOF!" and "TaTa" and revealing his douchebag personality while writing... it's almost as annoying as the Mart!

It's funny how Xtards think that everyone should hop on the DD bandwagon just because they're sour from a Blu-ray victory. Blu-ray won, and even if it doesn't reach DVD level success, it will still be successful because technology isn't out there for everyone to make DD their standard, not to mention the willingness to physically own a copy has yet to disappear in many.

Who the hell wants to pay 5 bucks each time they want to watch a movie at home? Who the hell wants to bother in upgrading HDD every time you need more movies, and or moving them from HDD to HDD in case you bought them, just so that in case anything fails, your movies are lost forever? That's what the average consumer thinks, and he would like to thank you, but no, thank you.

DD has yet to achieve Blu-ray quality.

[themyk]

if i could give you two bubbles i would sir. it's about time somebody said something smart.

[whoelse]

In other words, he scared that the PS3 will/is taking the limelight away from the 360 because of Blu-ray.

[Thursday]

Say what you want about downloads and online services, but they will not rule the consumer market for another ten years, at least. If they are to be a really viable competitor, download speeds all over the world need to go up and huge investments in infrastructure need to be made. Wireless infrastructure, such as 4G networks, preferably.

Claiming anything else indicates either a lack of insight or an ulterior motive. Not sure what Major Nelsons sin is in this particular case, but either way, it's not good.

[wow4u]

Did you miss the news of the explosion in Digital Download services?

iTunes is the 2nd largest music retailer on the planet, soon to be the first. Xbox LIVE Markeplace has Movies and TV - today.

Half the world's internet traffic is *already* digital distribution of media(!).

Are you guys new to the internet? Ever hear of BitTorrent, Napster, BearShare, IceWire? Zune.net? Rhapsody?

Come off it. Digital Distribution is the format of today. Not just the future, but now.

[Thursday]

OK, so after this "explosion", how many percent of all purchased media is bought digitally, over the Internet? 3%? More? I seriously don't know, but if you do, please tell me.

iTunes might very well be the SINGLE largest retailer on the planet, but that actually tells us absolutely nothing, since there are a great many retailers out there.

I would have guessed though that more than half the traffic was digital distribution of media, but is this legal distribution? And how many percent of the worlds population actually have access to this distribution, do you think?

What we're talking about here isn't all the illegal options out there, but legal ones. The illegal options and how well they do isn't a concern. This IS the future, as I said, but already even considering that a physical media might be doomed because of digital distribution is just pure madness.

[LJWooly]

The thing is, while Microsoft may be pushing DLC, their console, the 360, isn't best suited for it long-term. Lack of standard HDD, reliability issues, heavily restricted DRM... the list goes on.

Besides, none of it matters anyway, because DLC won't be a viable alternative to Blu-Ray until, say, ten years from now.

In fact, I don't think DLC and physical media will ever be directly competing. If anything, they'll co-exist.

[wowsauce]

Why do you assume the 360 is going to be the primary device for it? It's more a tool that allows it to get people used to the concept. It's not the spearhead that's going to keep DD going for the next 10 years.

More than likely M$'s next console will be the device that's going to be the major contributor to DDs (as well as PC obviously) and IPTV. 360's only going to be around for 2-3 more years, and likely will start being overshadowed by the next gen system in the next 1-2.

[LJWooly]

Well,I suppose you're right. With DLC becoming the media standard seeming like it's a fairly long way down the line, I can't see how MSFT would expect to further their agenda, in respect to DLC, with their current-gen console.

Bubbles for you :)

[Bowzabub]

Movie downloads will never be the same as music downloads. Why? How many people actually download an entire CD from the internet? Better question..how many artists actually make a good CD from front to back? Yeah, you can leave your shoes on for this headcount. Music downloads are to counter the simple fact that artists are putting garbage out on the regular wrapped around 1 or 2 good songs. Now tell me how this works for movies? "Yeah, i think there's a couple good parts in a movie? Let me download chapters 1,5,6,12,21,26 & 32, then. Come on people..think about things. That will be $50. See you next week. LOL Major Melvin.

[stuntman_mike]

tell this guy to wipe his arse, i think hes got verbal diaorhea again.

i thought some of the fanboys were bad but this guy takes the biscuit.

[Bowzabub]

Why yes Major Melvin, i'd like to download chapters 4,6,21,23 and bonus features today. Retard. It will never be the same as music.

[DJ]

Their HD-DVD format is dead, and sales of the 360 continue to steadily decline. If DLC is, as Major Nelson claims, the distribution model that will ultimately win, it definitely won't be spearheaded by Microsoft. Apple has a much better chance of pulling that off.

DLC has been around for quite a long time, but HD movie distribution is an entirely new problem since almost no one on this planet has the ISP bandwidth capable of streaming uncompressed Full HD video. I'm sure once everyone has a standard download speed of 15MB/s (rather than the average speed of 768KB/s) and 4 Terabyte Hard Drives become the norm that downloading high-quality HD flicks will definitely be feasible.

But physical format's like Blu-ray still have a massive advantage. They're small and portable, require no data transfers, have no DRM locks (only copy protection), and don't require a blazing fast (and very expensive) internet connection. You just pop it in and play.

[aiphanes]

Bluray will be around for at least 10 years...just like DVD.

Bluray is 1080p 50 GBs at the moment...and will be 100GB by end of this year...and maybe up to 200GB by 2010.

Full 1080p HD with 7.1 sound uncompressed is way better than 720p highly compressed video and sound which is what is offered in Apple TV and XBOX Live.

Also do people really think sony is gonna sit back and not have online distribution of 720p movies like Apple and Microsoft? They might trump them all and go full 1080p online distribtution...but since there is no online bandwidth to support 1080p online distribution...its not gonna happen.

Bluray Won....DVD is about to lose... but no be completely replaced...digital distribtion will be an alternate way to watch movie but will never totally replace bluray or physical media.

Microsoft will have to support bluray in its next console because there will be no other physical standard media in 1 to 2 years since people are now saying the next Xbox will be out by then.

Sony did the right thing about using industry standard items in the PS3...bluretooth 2.0, bluray, user replaceable SATA harddrives, USB 2.0, 802.11G wireless.

[giososc]

digital dls are never going to become the mass preference. These guys should just be quiet, because they don't know sh!+. Why don't they look at the music industry, sure theres the apple store and other places to download music, but cds are still selling. same's gonna happen with movies hard copies are still gonna be popular, but there will be an option that is digital downloads. theres no way in hell hard media will be replace.

[Revvin]

Downloading CD's and films is nothing new, music especially has been here years but physical media is still the choice of the consumer. Music is an easier proposition because as BaalZevuv has said you can break it down into individual songs that do not detract from the overall experience of listening to the music. Now go try and download a HD film, for starters a music track is 5mb, a Blu-Ray disk can hold 50GB (and will increase to 100GB) so even if the film takes a quarter of that thats still a huge download even when compressing it further. Who would download the first few scenes of a film? you want the whole thing at once to watch now where as you can download a few tracks of an album in minutes. For a film you have to plan ahead, leave it download over night. We're at the limit of what copper cable can give us, lets not pretend the phone providers of the world are all going to dig deep and suddenly festoon the lands with fibre optic. Game publishers have a hard enough time convincing gamers download services are the way to go nevermind joe public who can't even decide on whether they wanted Blu-Ray or HD DVD. On top of the infrastructure issues which are still a long way off you have to win the hearts and minds of consumers who for years have displayed their VHS and DVD film collections on shelves. To ignore all that is truly naive.

[InYourMom]

work for me and have kept me from buying any Blu-ray disc's.

So from my perspective he is right, but as far as the main stream consumer I would say no.

[Ri0tSquad]

An Elite? I couldn't imagine how you would have a collection on a 20gb HD.

[FKN Unbelievable]

WTF does thishave to do with gaming?

[Fux4Bux]

Yeah right. Blu-ray might not ever be as big as DVD's peak but it is the HD standard and once prices come down will be the standard disc format. And even if a good popular download service starts up (there isn't even really one yet) the majority is still going to want to own a hard copy. My guess is we're 20 years away from downloads becoming the standard and even then Blu-ray will still be around for the people who want hard copies.

[Eric1970]

actually blu-ray did win. these people that continue to try and push DLC as the real winner or next thing are blowing smoke. As a movie fan I will always want to own my DVD's - blu or not. DLC is a "free" service because the movies are worse quality. If they think a 50GB movie with extra's, audio options etc can be downloaded, then they are nuts. That will take all damn weekend to download. And then what, I can't burn or back it up and it will only play for a week or something. screw these DLC blogs as they are all bogus.

[eagle21]

what a dumb ass....according to him...Just because the Patriot's lost, doesn't mean the Giants' won......Just because xbox lost, doesn't mean the ps2 won....yeah whatever prick....

[ack591]

It sounds every family has a highspeed internet.

[Citizen Cook]

I love my 360, but F*CK M$ for not giving me Blu-Ray!

HA HA HA HA!

[Bizmal]

Yes Blu-ray won, it beat HD DVD let it go. So lame how people just won't let it go. Maybe blu-ray will go away maybe not. It still won the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray end of story. gota run now. I'm going to pick up 30days of night on blu-ray.

[califbob]

I cannot wait for this game to come out for my XBox360. I've read about it and heard the podcast and now I want my own copy.

[Genki]

Seems like the only ones tooting their horn about Blu-Ray now are the disgruntled folks in the HD-DVD camp. Who cares, really? It's a bloody disc format, big whoop.

Talk about sour grapes, the spin doctors are in full force.

[cmrbe]

I didn't know it was a 3 way battle between Blu,HD-DVD and DD. This guy just lost all credibility. If i was a x360 fan i would be ashame to be associated with this guy. Blu won. DD is not going to be main stream AROUND THE WORLD in another 10 years or so. Some of you people still don't realize its a big big world out there. Those that have high speed internet probably only represent about 3% of movie fans. Are movie content providers going to go all DD and risk loosing 50%-90% of their movie watching public?. This is just absurd.

[Bull]

Xbots are saying they dl movies online, but certainly not HD movies. Blu-ray has won but xbots won't admit defeat. That's the definition of a sore loser.

[Monty_The_Great]

how some people try to say DD didn't kill the CD, yet the 2nd largest retail of music, just recently was announced to be iTunes, only behind Wal-Mart. DD will be the future in about 3 to 4 years. Yes there will be the minority that wants the physical disc, but there will be the majority that want the movie right then through digital download. Most people don't want the physical disc, they just want the movie as fast as they can get it. Download speed are onl going to become faster as time goes on. Dont think they will slow.

[Cryptech]

He probably thinks global warming causes global cooling as well.

[JasonX43]

Ever since Toshiba woke up and realized they were losing in the catagories of movie studio support and consumer support and pulled the plug on HD-DVD, all we've heard about is Blu-Ray really didn't win this, and Downloadable Content that! Downloadable Content is a LONG WAY from being a replacement for any hardcopy format, especially with stupid DRMs and internet speeds being what they are! Give it up!

[Ghost-Face]

I just wanted to say Blu-Ray won get over it...
Secondly: we're so faraway from the downloadable era it's not even funny and I got to say, hard copy of HD movie >>> downloading HD movies in the next decade or more. do I need to give countless reason why?
Lastly: the sore losers in here (most likely the people that invested in HD-DVD) are acting like it will be some kinda exclusive feature that they will only use, when in fact Sony would gain way more from HD download seeing as though the have a lot of movies studios and would be able to cut out the middle man (no royalties, more content on there psn faster, can afford to charge cheaper and better prices and not to mention all the countless partnership Sony Pictures have made over the yrs with huge studios) need I say more ?... This guy is a tool...End rant...