Are Microsoft planning a Blu-Ray drive add-on?
The console war between Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3 could take an interesting path if the Blu-Ray format is more successful than HD-DVD. The Playstation 3 comes with an internal Blu-Ray player, which Sony hope will sway consumers into purchasing their entertainment console over Microsoft's Xbox 360, whereas Bill Gate's company sided with HD-DVD and released an add-on at the back end of 2006. But, according to Japanese website IT Media, via Pocket Lint, Microsoft may well be looking at creating a Blu-Ray add-on for their next gen console.
ITMedia recently interviewed Microsoft's Peter Moore and according to Pocket Lint's translation, "Moore suggested that offering a Blu-ray drive for the 360 would give consumers a choice of which high-def DVD format they'd prefer to go with."
Recently, figures in the US showed that betweem January and March this year, 70 per cent of the high definition discs sold were in Blu-ray format, and 30 per cent were HD-DVD. The backing of 5 of the major 6 film studios, including Sony, Disney and Fox, appears to be the main reason why Blu-Ray is taking an early lead in the format war. It's still early days, but if Microsoft do go ahead with a Blu-Ray drive add-on for the Xbox 360 they'll be taking a big p*ss on Sony's bonfire.
Source :: Pocket-Lint
UPDATE : According to a Microsoft blog, the company has no plans to release a Blu-Ray add-on.
'Just want to clear up a few things surrounding several erroneous stories regarding alleged comments from Peter Moore about Xbox 360 supporting Blu-ray. Simply put...These reports are completely incorrect.
Some online media outlets have picked up this story and are citing Internet speculation of an alleged Associated Press story that does not exist, along with comments taken out of context from a story in ITmedia that appeared back in January. This information is being reported as news and as a result of a recent interview, neither of which are true.
In an interview with ITmedia back at CES in January of this year, Peter said Xbox 360 has the flexibility to adapt to consumers' needs, allowing Microsoft to add features as consumers demand them - as evidenced by the offering of the HD DVD Player as an accessory.
It is important to understand the context in which that statement was made. We firmly stand behind the HD DVD format as the best choice for consumers. Current reports indicating that Microsoft has a back-up plan, which includes Blu-ray support are incorrect. We're fully committed to HD DVD and have absolutely no plans to support other optical formats.
