Recent rumors have all but confirmed that the next Xbox console will not utilize optical media discs such as DVD or Blu-ray. This news has sparked a controversial (albeit probably unnecessary) discussion about retail stores, internet infrastructure, piracy, data caps, cost, consumer need and just about everything else you can think of.
See the article in MCV for full details.
The way I see it, a switch from disc-based media is nothing but a win for gamers.
DVD and Blu-ray drives are sluggish, big, heavy, hot and power hungry with noisy moving parts that will ultimately fail (here’s looking at you Xbox 360 #3, #5 and PS3 #1!). With much better memory alternatives available today, getting off the couch to load a disc tray seems a bit archaic.
Plus, who actually likes discs? Discs suck. They’ve pretty much always sucked. They scratch, chip, break, get stuck in the drive and don’t even fare well as Frisbee substitutes. In addition, a dual layer Blu-ray disc only has a 50GB capacity—not enough space for the complex, graphic-intensive games of the future. Last year’s L.A. Noire filled 3 discs on Xbox 360 and an entire 25GB Blu-ray disc on PS3.
But don’t feel bad for discs. After all, they have been the industry standard since Nintendo made the switch from cartridges back in 2001 with the GameCube. I’d say discs have had a good run, so they won’t be missed by me. Bring on the solid state memory!
What do you think?
