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Microsoft CEO Confirms Blu-ray Addy for Xbox 360
Yaris Gutierrez | Oct 22, 2009 | Comments 7
And some of you people thought it wasn’t coming. Tut, tut, tut. It was inevitable and was going to happen sooner or later. In an exclusive interview with Gizmodo, Microsoft CEO’s Steve Ballmer talks Natal and, as some folks have been speculating for over a year, a Blu-ray add-on accessory for the Xbox 360. Say wha?
Yep. Plain and simple. Basically, Gizmodo asked Ballmer whether or not the Xbox 360 will ever adapt a Blu-ray drive to which good ol’ Stevie boy replied “you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories.” When Gizmodo cornered the head-honcho of Microsoft and its Xbox spokespeople regarding time-frames and/or release dates, nothing was given. Everyone zipped their mouths and left it at that.
This was inevitable, though. Ever since Microsoft lost the format war alongside Toshiba to the dominant Blu-ray, it was only a matter of time before both companies decided to join in on the Blu-ray extravaganza that’s been perpetuating itself for the past two years (and Toshiba has already done so). Player prices have dramatically decreased, and Blu-ray movies have dropped in price contrasting, and competing, with DVD. As high-definition becomes the norm in today’s world, consumers will – without a reason of a doubt – want to observe the experience that formats like Blu-ray offers.
Although digital downloads is stagnantly etching forward as the new way to obtain your digital media (e.g. games, movies, and music), I am pretty sure that people won’t be flocking to that form of distribution just yet. There are more reasons to physically own your property rather than have them digitally stored on a disk drive. We can finally say that Microsoft is indeed going “Blu” now. And there’s no reason why they shouldn’t – it is the medium that is dominating the high-definition market at the moment. Why wouldn’t they want a piece of that luscious pie?
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I say it’s about time Microsoft made there desicion to add the blu-Ray device. With both the PS3 and the Xbox360 pushing there digital downloads most of us prefered to have some sort of physical medium just to show off and thats a good thing.
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yea i agree with you Tone, i enjoy using my PS3 for Blu Ray but the load time on the slim is just god awful, i hope the add on for the 360 will clear that up.
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I dunno! I think this might have been a good move about a year ago to launch it, when PS3 exclusives were still minimal and Xbox dedicated users were more likely to be uni-platformers. But now that Sony is getting a lot more exclusives, more people are spreading eagle on their console collection.
Plus, people may also bring into the factor that really, how much longer until the next Xbox is announced? Will people be really willing to drop the $100+ on a BluRay add-on when they might have to replace their Xbox in a few years and/or be picking up a Playstation 3?
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@ Tigresa
Couldn’t have agreed with you more. Being that Sony has now dropped the price on the console, and now that the PS3 is witnessing a huge burst in exclusive titles, I feel that there’s really no reason for Microsoft to adopt the technology on the 360. The console is almost at the end of its cycle, and adding another $100+ peripheral isn’t going to fare well with consumers when the PlayStation 3 already offers this out of the box.
Microsoft, personally, should have jumped on this right after HD-DVD went down the hole. There really isn’t justification now to bring out an add-on – especially when standalone Blu-ray players alone are costing just $150. In my opinion, it’s not a smart business move and I am leaning more towards the “they will end up losing than gaining again” with this one.
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I’m still not a believer, Steve Ballmer and Microsoft have a vision of a digital download only future, adopting a Blu-Ray add on now would only hinder that.
@Tigresa, “spread eagle”, ha! In interesting choice of words! I like your style!
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Thank you for making me realize something i didnt think about. Its microsoft, which over priced products, i say, NEXT!
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Overpriced is right. I see that BluRay add-on player as going for $150-200. Just buy a PS3 and be done with it. I’m willing to bet most Xbox only gamers have either already purchased a PS3 or a stand-alone BluRay player is they really wanted HD viewing anyway.