Craig Dennis

Xbox 360, Blu-Ray 180?

Microsoft are denying rumours they have done a 180 and are discussing the possibility of Taiwanese manufacturer Lite-On, makers of optical drives, possibly making a Blu-Ray player for the Xbox 360. The rumours suggested initially an external add-on for the console (like that of the now defunct HD-DVD drive) but it now appears to be an INTERNAL drive for use in the next generation of the Xbox 360 as an external drive was seen to pose problems of full HD through USB and with the HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) which might result in movies requiring this being unable to play.

An industry ‘watcher’ has stated that if this is indeed the case, Microsoft would have to sell the upgraded Xbox 360 at a loss. The reason being the current DVD drive costing $20 per unit to Microsoft and the new Blu-Ray drive would cost $100. People would be unwilling to pay more just for the ability to play HD films and may instead turn to their competitors, the PS3, for a better deal.

I hope there is some truth to these rumours. There were also rumours about Microsoft talking to Sony about licensing their Blu-Ray technology for use in their console but they deny this as well.

With the current state of broadband connections it is naive of Microsoft to believe that consumers will be happy with a download only service for HD content. I would turn to the PS3 and play all my existing Blu-Ray movies and have another HD games console.