Sony, Microsoft Talk Xbox 360 Blu-ray Support

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Sony said that it is in talks with Microsoft concerning Blu-ray movie playback functionality for the Xbox 360, according to the Financial Times.

Sony Electronics US president Stan Glasgow stated yesterday that the companies were discussing the possibility of Microsoft adopting the format. Whether or not this would take the form of a hardware revision with a built-in Blu-ray player or an external add-on peripheral similar to Microsoft's HD DVD player was not specified.

Speaking at the Mix08 Internet conference in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that plans for Blu-ray were in the works—but how those plans will manifest remains to be seen.

"We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on," Ballmer said. "Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on, and we'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense."

The Blu-ray format, which was developed by Sony as well as several other companies, was crowned the victor of the "format wars" when hardware manufacturer Toshiba ceased production of HD DVD players and recorders. A week later, Microsoft announced that it would cease production of its Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on.

Rumors have been circulating of a Blu-ray player add-on coming as early as May. Though Microsoft has not discounted the possibility of Blu-ray support for the Xbox 360, the company has not yet made any official announcement or plans concerning the format.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 7, 2008 12:09 PM

    if it's an addon to the 360, I hope MS will toss a bone to us HD-DVD addon buyers. Like $100 off or something.

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      March 7, 2008 12:09 PM

      although now that the drives can be had for $40, I don't see this happening.. :(

      • reply
        March 7, 2008 1:00 PM

        They went $40-50 at a specific time though. They can just say must have been purchased before [date]

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      March 7, 2008 12:35 PM

      I'd rather just buy a PS3. :-) (YES I already have a 360)

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