James Delahunty
12 Jan 2006 6:59
After announcing at the Consumer Electronics Show that the company will offer an external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 console, Microsoft has now indicated that if Blu-Ray is the favored format for consumers, it may also offer an external Blu-ray drive. Microsoft still remains completely in support of HD DVD however. Peter Moore, head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division was quoted by Japanese web site ITMedia as saying the Blu-ray drive is a possibility.
Sony's next generation console, PlayStation 3 (PS3) is expected to be released later this year, and will include a Blu-ray drive. Due to the popularity of PlayStation, this will effectively put a Blu-ray player in many homes very quickly. The next generation format war is getting increasingly close to the console war, a fact that upset Warner Home Video president, Warren Lieberfarb, who slammed Sony Corp. for its tactics promoting Blu-ray.
A Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360 would be neat though for owners who have no intention to buy a PS3, as it would probably be much cheaper than buying a Blu-ray player. That being said, it would depend on when exactly Microsoft would decide to release one.
Source:
Red Herring