No Blu-ray for Xbox 360. Seriously. Go Home.

by Stratman last modified March 19, 2008

Despite what you may have heard in the rumor mills... "Xbox 360 is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience."  This according to Mr. Greenberg, Microsoft will be concentrating exclusively on digital downloads for content distribution.

Until recently, Microsoft had been supplying HD DVD add-ons for the Xbox 360, after Toshiba declared defeat, industry hawks and analysts thought it would be logical for Microsoft to move in Blu-ray's direction.

In an interview with Reuters news service, Mr. Greenberg, who happens to be group manager for Xbox 360, denied any future plans between the gaming platform and it's (sort of) once-rival Blu-ray, citing downloads as the only path for Microsoft.

"We're the only console offering digital distribution of entertainment content,"  Mr. Greenberg said in his interview, adding that this will be the sole model Microsoft will adhere to, even for high-definition content distribution. So far, Xbox has one of the more compelling offerings in terms of HD movies and television, though they aren't the only game in town.

Interestingly Microsoft is expecting lower sales number in February due to lack of inventory and financial adjustments, but production has been ramped up, negating any kinks in the retail supply line.  He expects April to be the month where Xbox 360 gets back into the groove - coinciding with the much anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto 4.  Though available to the competition (PS3), Microsoft's version will have exclusive content not found elsewhere.

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leo1058 posts on March 29, 2008 11:58
if you want to watch high def movies on the 360 you can download them. i did and they look great, audio was dd only.
Thunder18 posts on March 20, 2008 20:48
All good points. My title was more due to the endless speculation and rumors more than whether we think they will "never" go Blu-ray.

It would seem that games will continue to "thicken-up" just like other software titles. Remember when loading up 6 floppies was considered a big deal?

Wing Commander II, 8, 5.25" floppy discs! Of course that was slightly before multimeda kits started coming out and for a few hundred dollars you could upgrade to a Sound Blaster sound card and a cd-rom drive.
MinusTheBear posts on March 19, 2008 15:51
I do not have a problem with Microsoft's position on Blu-Ray for this current generation(xbox 360)! When it comes to consoles for video games the only thing that matters is the quality of games and the Xbox 360 has the best games by far! Yes, it is a nice feature to watch hd movies, but for any hardcore gamer, playing quality games comes first and the 360 delivers. This generation, I do not think it is a big deal about Blu-Ray or No Blu-Ray, but in 2010 when the next generation starts I would think it would be a standard for next genearation games because the massive amount of content and information that will be needed to store the information for the games.
Clint DeBoer posts on March 19, 2008 13:52
All good points. My title was more due to the endless speculation and rumors more than whether we think they will "never" go Blu-ray.

It would seem that games will continue to "thicken-up" just like other software titles. Remember when loading up 6 floppies was considered a big deal?
GlocksRock posts on March 19, 2008 13:44
I can understand their position on this, but what are their plans for the next gen console? Surely they don't expect to stay with DVD or expect everyone to download all their games, not everyone plays online, or cares to have xbox live, so hoppefully they won't just say we'll just use multiple dvd's for games, and I doubt they have plans for some proprietary disc format. But maybe by the time they release their next console, blu ray drives will be affordable enough so that it won't be an issue to add them, then they can tout their console as a blu ray player as well.
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