Microsoft has denied and denied that they will put a Blu-ray Disc drive into the Xbox 360 "ever", despite what numerous sources say. Digital distribution is their focus, it's what they do. We all know that people at Microsoft have openly said that the possibility of a future, external Blu-ray Disc add-on drive is not out of the realm of possibility. However, despite the rampant denials, more and more companies are either slipping information out that they're not supposed to, or they're talking out of their asses, hoping to sway the argument.
The newest rumor comes via Economic Daily News - a Taiwanese news source - who claim that aside from an upcoming price drop on the Xbox 360 Arcade unit, it has heard from a manufacturer that Microsoft is apparently ramping up production of a Blu-ray equipped console. Asus subsidiary, Pegatron Technology, told the news source that they have "recieved an order from Microsoft to manufacture a Blu-ray equipped Xbox 360"; and that the product is aiming to be launched inside of the next six months, most likely right before the Holidays.
Now, take note of that descriptor: "Blu-ray equipped", not "accessory" or "device". Could this mean Microsoft finally has their no doubt been-in-development-for-a-while "Xbox 360 Ultimate" ready for the public? Very possible. It could also mean that they are simply requesting this compamy to manufacture units for internal R&D - which could lead to an eventual consumer product. Or, this whole thing could be a load of propagated nonsense. Microsoft also confirmed a few months ago that they would support Blu-ray "in ways that make sense", be they in the PC market or not. Interesting, to say the least. It's clear, though, that these rumors are not going to go away anytime soon. I guess the waiting game continues, until Microsoft decides to admit that another SKU is coming. It's okay Microsoft, I promise to act surprised when you announce this at E3. Cross my heart and hope to die.
Written by Phil "SempraFi" Meza of Talking About Games
Posted May 2nd, 2008 by Armen Hareyan
Yawn...Yes they are going to
Yawn...Yes they are going to do something, a side car like last time or even internal as bluray reads both dvd9 and hd disks. One thing is for sure games will stay on dvd9 for the rest of this 360 gen.