Gamertell

Microsoft has officially announced that Blu-ray reading technology will not be added to the Xbox 360. Previously an HD DVD add-on was created and made available for the system, and many speculated that Microsoft would work with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to create a similar Blu-ray device for the console. However Vnunet reports that Aaron Greenburg, the Xbox 360 group project manager, has confirmed that there will be no Blu-ray for the 360.

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Well, it looks like Microsoft is throwing in the towel when it comes to their support of the HD-DVD format. IGN is reporting that after dramatically reducing the price of the Xbox HD-DVD player from its original $179.99 down to $50, and dropping the HD-DVD player’s manufacturer Toshiba back in February, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Microsoft was throwing its support behind Blu-ray. The news is coming from the Las Vegas Mix08 Internet conference.

From a post at IGN: “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. Toshiba has moved on. We’ve moved on, and we’ll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense,“ Ballmer went on to say.

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The high-definition format war has finally come to an end with Toshiba humbly accepting the defeat of its HD-DVD format. The company announced in an official statement on Tuesday (February 19, 2008) that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market the HD-DVD. It stated that it was left with no choice but to discontinue the HD-DVD, while tacitly referring to major movie studios and retailers switching sides to the rival Blu-ray. It can safely be said that Warner Brothers’ recent decision to only support Blu-ray was the final nail in the HD-DVD coffin.

In the official statement…

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When Reuterspublished its article, “Microsoft’s Xbox could consider Blu-ray support,“ on January 8, 2008, rumors began spreading about the upcoming possibilities the Blu-Ray technology could bring to the Xbox 360.

According to GameDaily, Microsoft Marketing Manager Albert Penello said Reuters had mistaken what Penello told them and came to their own conclusions. In fact, he told Gizmodo that Microsoft never even considered supporting Blu-ray for the XBox system.

“It should be consumer choice; and if that’s the way they vote, that’s something we’ll have to consider,“ Penello told Reuters.

Currently, the Xbox 360 system supports standard definition and high definition video output and supports games with 16:9 widescreen, anti-aliasing, and high-definition video (720p minimum.)

Although this rumor has been smashed to pieces, there are those on the internet clinging to the idea that some day Microsoft will consider supporting Blu-ray. For now, its only a rumor.

Read [GameDaily] Read [Reuters] Read [Gizmodo] Site [XBox360]

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Blu-ray has outsold HD-DVD by 2 to 1 from January 1 to June 1, 2007, with 1.6 million Blu-ray discs sold in this period and only 7,95,000 HD-DVD discs. According to Home Media Magazine, lifetime sales of Blu-ray and HD-DVD are 2.2 million and 1.5 million discs, respectively, although both hit markets around the same time.

This is good news for Sony since increasing Blu-ray sales could provide PS3 with a much needed boost. The next-gen disc war is in a relatively early stage and it may take some time for one of these formats to replace DVD as the favorite media disc format. Only when one of these competing formats starts to flush-out DVDs from the market will we see these sales figures truly effect the console wars and give Sony the advantage.

The PS3,  even with its steep price seems to be amongst the cheapest Blu-ray disc players in the market that can play games as well (beat that!). Even Nintendo would be closely watching this disc-format race, mainly because, if the PS3 might overtake Xbox 360 sales, giving the Wii stiff competition for the top spot.

Read [Game Pro] Site [Home Media Magazine]

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Starting August 1, 2007, the MSRP of the 360 HD-DVD expansion player will be reduced from $199 to $179.  In addition, Microsoft will be giving away five free movies through September 2007 with every purchase.  The five movies will be selectable from a roster of fifteen HD-DVD titles. 

Finally, the pilot episode of Heroes will be available for download on XBox Live, and starting August 14, 2007, the HD version of the movie 300 will also be available on demand.  Not coincidentally, both Heroes and 300 will soon be released on HD-DVD. The pricing good news was announced at ...

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