XBox360/Blu-Ray Tidbit

[David Meek]

I was surfing and found this tidbit:

EDN, May 2; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES [Friday 2 May 2008]
Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, has secured orders from Microsoft to assemble Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc (BD)-ROM drive, with shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2008, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper.

I'm not a subscriber and couldn't get any further, but I thought you'd be interested.

[Hdale85]

I don't doubt it. Could be the reason they are denying that they are working on an addon drive.

[Nolan B]

I don't doubt it. Could be the reason they are denying that they are working on an addon drive.

and they will deny it until the day before then anounce it.

[Hdale85]

Well if its an internal drive then it makes since to deny it because they aren't working on an external solution

[littlesaint]

There are a lot of technical and licensing hurdles necessary in order for this to happen not to mention it would mean putting Java (for BD-Live) on the 360 and we all know how much MS loves Java. I wouldn't count on it anytime soon. Microsoft is very much committed to direct distribution of content to the 360. Blu-ray does not fit into that equation. Even Microsoft's commitment to HD-DVD began and ended with their HDi software, nothing more.

[Hdale85]

Well Microsoft made a comment before the death of HD-DVD that they had a plan to adopt BD if it ended up going that route.

[littlesaint]

Well Microsoft made a comment before the death of HD-DVD that they had a plan to adopt BD if it ended up going that route.

I think it will depend on whether MS believes Blu-ray will be successful long term, and if it helps sell 360s. While PS3 sales are strong, the rest of the BD market hasn't really done anything since the end of the format war, and if anything player sales have declined. Analysts have come out recently stating that Blu-ray may not have as much to do with PS3 sales as people think, and PS3 buyers are actually playing games on them (go figure). If that's the case there may not be an advantage to including one in a 360. Time will tell, but MS is going to do what's best for their bottom line, and the Blu-ray market has yet to really establish itself to give any indication of what advantages it would offer.

[Hdale85]

I don't know how strong PS3 sales really are... I see a ton of them for sale on ebay and craigs list all the time. And I still only know a couple people with a PS3 so may be strong but still not that strong if you ask me.

I'm not saying that for sure microsoft is doing the blu-ray thing but I would not doubt it at all.