Microsoft: Xbox 360 Blu-Ray drive possible
By Jonathan Schlaffer
With HD-DVD support from the studios dwindling rapidly and Microsoft absolutely refusing to integrate an HD-DVD drive into the Xbox 360, the company has said that it will continue to back the HD-DVD add-on for the console but did not rule out the possibility of a Blu-Ray drive add-on.
TECH.BLORGE.com has in-depth coverage of the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD war and here at GAMER I all but said Blu-Ray was a possibility for the Xbox 360 either as an add-on or built-in.
In recent months, it has been shown that Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD but Albert Penello, director for global marketing at Microsoft told BetaNews that as far as the format war is concerned, “Until Toshiba goes out of business, this war is not over.”
Maybe so but I can hear HD-DVD gasping for market space. Here’s how things should have happened. Microsoft could have easily announced an HD-DVD equipped Xbox 360, while still offering the model with the plain DVD drive, the HD-DVD model would also ship with WiFi but Microsoft would have to charge not much more than $350 for it.
It’s no secret that Blu-Ray costs more than HD-DVD but Sony is able to offer up the PS3 for $399 which is a much lower price than many stand alone Blu-Ray players. If Microsoft had done this, HD-DVD may not have been so quick to die off.
If Microsoft released a HD-DVD equipped Xbox 360, it could still offer a Blu-Ray add on if the HD-DVD format faltered any more than it already has. There you go, one console, both formats, how about it Microsoft? Now just toss in WiFi and I’d be one happy camper, a lot of people would, actually.
As things stand, we may end up with both the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray add-on for the Xbox 360. I don’t know about you but having two more external things attached to the Xbox 360 would just make it look, how do I put this, ugly. At least offer a model with one of the drives integrated and yes, that means copying Sony but at this point in the game, what else can a company do?
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January 11th, 2008
It will be funny to see Microsoft kneeling at Sony’s Blu-ray Disc drive. Sony knows business Microsft just likes to rob people Xbox Live perfect example.