Microsoft may ship Blu-Ray drives for XBox 360

[PapaZeb]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01...x_360_blu-ray/

Microsoft has said it may ship a Blu-ray Disc drive for its Xbox 360 games console should consumers prefer that next-generation optical disc format over HD DVD.

Speaking to Japanese-language website ITmedia, Microsoft's Peter Moore, head of the company's Interactive Entertainment Division, also said that the console will never sport an integrated HD DVD drive.
Click Here

There's no surprise that Microsoft might entertain the possibility of shipping a BD drive for the 360. After all, if it can hook up an external HD DVD drive to one the console's USB ports - as it announced last week at the Consumer Electronics Show that it will - it can likewise connect an external Blu-ray Drive.

Microsoft clearly - and very understandably - doesn't want to risk lumbering Xbox 360 with an internal drive format consumers don't want, and while it's favouring HD DVD by announcing an external drive that can read that disc format, it wants to ensure it's free to support the BD if it has to.

As Moore himself points out, Sony is taking that risk. If BD fails in the market, Sony is going to look weak. But of course, Sony is hoping BD will not fail precisely because the format is so tightly a part of PlayStation 3.

Indeed, the PS3 is arguably BD's strongest advantage over HD DVD. Both have benefits to offer that their rival format doesn't, but beyond factors like storage capacity (BD), cheaper manufacturing costs (HD DVD), it's likely to be BD's presence in the PS3 that pushes it ahead.

If so, Microsoft will want to ensure that BD support isn't one of the advantages Sony can say its console offers over its rival's product, and so an external BD drive will be forthcoming. ®

The award for playing it sensible goes to MS here.

[Bobzilla]

so there could possibly be 3 versions of a game for the 360?
Seems a bit silly to me as a consumer. I can see the point of MS doing it but in a console all i want to do is pick a game off the shelf and stick it in teh machine. I dont want to have to start checking the version ive picked up will actually work in my machine ala PC's.

[Griever]

Maybe the Revolution will have Betamax compatibility.

[PapaZeb]

Potentially 3 versions of games for it - but realistically, I'm in the Blu-Ray camp (50gig of storage? Yes please), Sony is, 60% of the porn industry is, and Fox studios is releasing the first Blu-Ray films in March (yet another version of Terminator 2)

[GoddamnElectric]

Originally Posted by PapaZeb

60% of the porn industry is

Sold!
Although I do wonder how you've arrived at '60%'. Did you ask 10 pornographers and extrapolate the result?