Xbox 360 to go Blu, says Ballmer
CEO confirms Blu-ray drive incoming
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has promised that an external Blu-ray drive is coming to the Xbox 360.
During a recent interview on the future of Project Natal, the motion-control system for Xbox. Ballmer was asked if Microsoft plans to put Blu-ray into the games console.
Although he told website Gizmodo that he doesn’t know if Blu-ray needs to be integrated into the console, Ballmer added that “you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories”.
Since the downfall of the HD DVD format, for which Microsoft famously produced a now defunct external Xbox 360 drive, the firm has been very cagey about the potential addition of Blu-ray to its console.
In fact, Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s Group Product Manager for the Xbox 360, stated back in October 2008 that Microsoft had “no plans to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience”.
Perhaps Greenberg actually meant that Xbox 360s with integrated Blu-ray drives will never be produced and that external Blu-ray drives will arrive for the console? Who knows - it's certainly been rumoured often enough that one is on the way.
One thing we can be certain of, though, is that – according to the horse's mouth – Blu-ray is coming to the Xbox 360. ®
COMMENTS
What's the point?
If you want to watch movies you won't do it with a 360 which gives a Eurofighter Typhoon a run for its money in the who is loudest stakes. BD players are falling in price all the time and it won't be long before you can pick up a dedicated BD player for DVD like prices - so unless M$ is going to give them away there really isn't a point in releasing an ugly add on drive.
Sony, despite their stupid pricing model, have got it right. The PS3 has BD incorporated, is damn quiet and fails far less than the 360. I know which one I want under my TV for watching movies and playing games ... except I made the wrong choice and bought a 360. D'oh!
@MarkOne
Pop over to Metacritic and have a look at the games scoring 90%+ on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Then have a look at Eurogamers series of comparisons on multiplatform titles across the PS3 and Xbox 360 and rule out those that are vastly inferior on the PS3 (due to the hardware limitations, mostly based round the gfx unit and flawed memory allocation). Once you've done that, count the games that are worth having on the PS3 on one of your hands and slink off into the sunset to wonder why it is you fell for the Sony hype again.
The number of games I've owned on each Playstation has steadily decreased as they've come out. If Sony can afford to make a PS4, there will probably only be a couple of games worth having on it, a far cry for the dozens on the PS1 and PS2 that were must buys.
Could be a good thing
If its an external drive allowing movies or for big games (remember they could always release the game on multiple DVDs for those without BR) then where's the problem? If you're in a place with good download for HD content then maybe you won't need it. Otherwise you can get a nice easy way to good HD movies. And to the fanbois STILL arguing about which console is best please for the love of all that is holy GROW UP and follow my patented steps to console happiness:
1. Find out which console has more of the games you like.
2. Buy said console and games
3. Enjoy.
There, that wasn't hard was it?
@Bod: With music I agree with you - sadly people seem happy to ditch anything resembling quality for convenience but with Video I'm not so sure, HD content is proving a big winner for BSkyB (40% rise in Q1 profits!) so there must be some drive from consumers for better video quality.
Terminator: because one day the consoles will rise up and kill us all just to stop the whining
@MarkOne
Newsgroups have full Blu-ray disc rips -- no compression... if you're willing to download a 25GB or 50GB file.
/AC for obvious reasons
@Mr Brush
Everyone with any sense knows that it's not about the cost on the box, it's the real cost of the console. And PS3 is actually much cheaper to own than a 360 (and better spec'd too).
The same with games, it's only good games that really count. And PS3 has more good games than any other system (PS2 perhaps excluded there). Sure the 360 has more games, but there is also a huge amount of shovelware. It's only got more games because Microsoft rushed it out early to get those early adopters with it's last-gen specs... (sorry but my PS2 had a DVD and no harddrive or HDMI just like the XBox360).
You fail badly at trolling... You must have worked that by now Microsofts mouthpeices (like yourself) 2006 arguments about the PS3 don't work anymore...
