Xbox 360 Blu-ray to come?

by Victor ‘r0gue’ Vieira

With the news of Toshiba manufacturing Blu-ray players, and with its link to Microsoft with the HDD, rumors are flying around yet again that this will force Microsoft to launch a Blu-ray add-on. The ‘high definition’ battle between Toshiba and Sony came to a sudden ending, with Sony elected the rights to it with their Blu-ray. So with the news of Toshiba, who were the last to go Blu-ray, it is now 100% official that Blu-ray is the undisputed ‘high definition’ standard.

Microsoft offered a HD DVD add-on for the 360, as they have stated that HD video downloads is the future of video at home. So now with all manufacturers producing Blu-ray players, it is somewhat a good assumption to assume that Microsoft will have to follow.

Microsoft were reluctant to adopt Blu-ray is because of its mandatory support of BD-Java interactive technology, while Sony are reluctant to adopt the competing tech called HDi-dvd, which is Microsoft developed, and thus caused the history of Microsoft HDD and Sony Blu-ray. Personally I think this was Xbox 360 secret to success, claiming a huge market share of previously owned Playstation 2 users. I for one was put off the PS3 because of its expensive price, which was obviously a result of its Blu-ray player. Yes PS3 had an upper-hand in terms of you get the standard for ‘high-definition movies’, but on the other hand they lost many gamers, like myself who purely look for a console for gaming alone.

Neither Toshiba nor Microsoft have publicly confirmed the Blu-ray support, but it does make sense to me at least that if Toshiba go, Microsoft will follow, and I would definitely welcome the choice of an ‘add-on Blu-ray player’. I will be watching this story closely as it unfolds. What will the PS3 fanboi’s have to say should this become a reality? Their ‘all-in-one’ media device could loose its shine, with only the legendary ‘RROD’ as ammo to use in their wars.

Thanks to Havok ZA for the heads-up.