I’m a few weeks behind on this one, but those pesky Xbox 360
Blu-ray rumors came back into the spotlight early this month. Spotlight might actually be the wrong word to
use, as the usual tech blogs didn’t even bother to cover the rumor. I’ve made it quite clear over the past year
that I
don’t think Blu-ray for the Xbox 360 makes sense for Microsoft, but X-bit
Labs hears different.
According to the October 8th article Microsoft is
working with Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology Corp (TSST) to manufacturer
external Blu-ray Disc drives for the Xbox 360.
According to the article the target price is would be $100 - $150 with
an unknown release date. Microsoft
yet again denied the rumor with “We have no plans to integrate Blu-ray into
the Xbox experience.”
Interestingly I’ve actually heard more information behind
the scenes (read: non Microsoft behind the scenes) about this rumor than any
other. Some are saying they have
word from retailers that the product is a-go, but I’m hardly going to believe
that when the source article doesn’t have an expected release date and nothing
from TSST has leaked out.
The only opinion I have to add to this is that with the recent
Xbox 360 price cuts Microsoft could compete with Sony head-to-head by
offering a Blu-ray Drive, but I still fail to see why they would want to. I’ve said several times in my other posts
that the Xbox 360 would benefit from a price cut (and fixing RROD issues) more
than it would from getting Blu-ray, and I
think that was proved a few weeks ago.
The “it has Blu-ray” factor of the PlayStation 3 has kind of died down,
and Blu-ray is hardly busting into the market and likely will not move much in
the next few months given the current global economic outlook.
Cross Posted from Chris Lanier's Blog at
http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/