Remember the HD Wars? Yeah, you know – the one where Sony insisted on outfitting their console with a Blu-Ray drive, while Microsoft backed Toshiba’s HD-DVD, even releasing an HD-DVD accessory for the Xbox 360? That worked out particularly well for them, didn’t it?
Since the HD-DVD ship sunk, Microsoft have been heavily punting digital distribution of HD content, categorically stating that in no way, shape or form might the 360 see a Blu-Ray drive add-on. Seems they may have reneged on that a little…
In an interview with Gizmodo, when questioned about the possibility of Blu-Ray showing up on the Xbox, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, implied that such an add-on may actually be on the way.
"Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there-you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories. I think mostly the future of movies is on-demand, actually, as opposed to distribution via physical media," said the sweaty, angry looking executive.
It’s entirely possible that Ballmer’s just misspoken and that there is no pending accessory – which I certainly hope to be the case; If you’re looking for a high definition home theatre experience, at the presumed cost of a 360 plus an external Blu-Ray drive it really would make much more sense to just buy a PS3.
Source : Gizmodo
Last Updated: October 22, 2009
Fred
October 22, 2009 at 11:32
If you can’t beat them , join them.
janrik
October 22, 2009 at 13:07
1080 P streaming after 5 Nov. You wont need BluRay.
😎
batman
October 22, 2009 at 13:36
I’d like to see you try to stream 1080P.
Derick
October 22, 2009 at 15:28
I’d like to see the bandwith costs while you stream 1080p..
easy
October 22, 2009 at 15:56
apparently you could get away with just a 4mb line, but my 4mb line never reaches it full potential for anything international.
lame duck for south african’s until our beloved incumbent gives us better QoS.
Super_Bonk
October 22, 2009 at 16:20
Surely streaming audio can’t be better than blu ray
easy
October 22, 2009 at 16:34
with a fat enough line, i don’t see why not?
but at the moment you can’t beat physical media for hi-def content… especially in this country.
janrik
October 23, 2009 at 09:01
Remember ZA is not even on the road map for any kind of HD rollout.
+ I only need 720p and 5.1 dts, 4mb should handle that fine.
Will def try the 1080 p part at work (100mb international line 🙂 )
Reaver
October 22, 2009 at 15:55
I’d like to see boobs
WitWolfyZA
October 23, 2009 at 07:52
MS should of bitten the bullet lllllllllllooooooooong ago and just switched over to Blu Ray. After the format war.. Its because of Blu Ray that the PS3 is gonna dominate sales from now on
janrik
October 23, 2009 at 09:02
Blu-ray is really not a selling point for me at all, I don’t buy HD movies anyways.
lans
October 23, 2009 at 15:10
it is for me janrik are you a pc gamer you sound like one