I would like to posit two questions to your response. It's not like MS knew HDDVD was going to fail when the 360 launched, just lke Sony had no idea bluray would be successful. So why would a forward thinking company like MS who pushes things like digital downloads not go with a media oltion that has far more space? And yes, going bluray was definitely an option. Yes its Skny, but its a totally different branch of the company from the gaming division. Its no different than MS licensing their dvd drive from Phillips or another electronics company.
Do you really think that MS will stick with the dvd format with tbeir next console?
You are not getting it. They simply CANNOT bow down to Sony in this case, which is what they would be doing if they started rollling out 360's with Blu Ray.
Furthermore, anyone with a HDDVD blu ray would then be fucked? All these new blu ray games won't work on their consoles.....kinda poses a problem don't ya think?
It is NOT the same as them taking a Phillips drive and putting it in their system, because Phillips is not competing with them in the game console market.
Lastly, no, I think it would be stupid for MS to continue with HDDVD and I'd say that was ruled out long before the format died. I don't see them rushing into a new generation of console because of how much they lost due to the RROD fiasco, they will need to get as much out of the 360 as they can. I think this duration pushes us into the digital age where discs are no longer involved.
I'd imagine some sort of design like a USB key for offline users w/o broadband to go into retailers and acquire digital games. Just a guess, but I don't see physical media making it into the next generation. The reduction in production costs would help offset the increasing rise in game development costs.
Regardless of what the future consoles do to deliver their content, HDDVD clearly isn't going to be the future because the media failed and the discs can't hold enough content, but I'd wager good money that Microsoft will develop (or go in on someone else's) tech that trump's (or tries to) Blu Ray.
I don't believe that Blu Ray will ever be adopted by Microsoft.