Microsoft to Support Blu-ray

Chief executive of Microsoft Steve Ballmer has confirmed that his firm is looking at ways to back the HD format Blu-ray.

While Ballmer avoided linking his announcement directly with the Xbox 360, he admitted Microsoft is ready to move on following the demise of HD-DVD.

"We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on," said Ballmer at the Mix08 conference.

"Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on, and we'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense."

Recent news of Sony holding talks with Microsoft has led to many industry insiders expecting the US firm to announce an add-on Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360. An integrated player isn't out of the question, but seems highly unlikely given the makeup of the Xbox 360 gaming software needs and reticence shown towards an integrated HD DVD player in the past.