The synergistic successes of Sony’s PS3 game console and the Blu-ray format have convinced Microsoft that it’s time to play ball.
Microsoft and Sony are now in talks about adding a Blu-ray drive to the Xbox 360, the Financial Times reported. Sony needs to make a move: The Xbox 360 console currently offers an outboard HD DVD player, a cheap plastic thing dedicated to a last-gasp format. (They’re going for about $50 now via Amazon vendors.)
Incorporating Blu-ray functionality into the Xbox 360 Elite would be a great move, strengthening the XBox’s superior video offerings. The Xbox Marketplace already has a robust download service for movies and TV shows, some in HD.
Here’s hoping the Blu-ray drive goes internal, eliminating the pain-in-the-ass aspects of plugging and unplugging an add-on unit, and finding a spot for yet another hdmi wire. Microsoft had no comment, the FT reported.
Sony Electronics U.S. president Stan Glasgow told a media dinner that he did not agree with widespread crystal-balling that has the Blu-ray format being quickly run off by video downloading. Consumers want their shiny discs, he said.
“Downloading will build over time, but this will be over a period of years,” he said.
Apple, which has focused on downloads via its iTunes store and Apple TV, also is in talks regarding Blu-ray, Glasgow said.
Leave a Reply