Rumors have begun circulating yet again that Microsoft will soon be adding Blu-ray to the Xbox 360. Several sites recently have claimed insider knowledge and several of the home theater forums across the web are hosting hot debate between fanboys on both sides. As to the validity of these claims, Robbie Bach with Microsoft has squashed these rumors in an interview featured in Sunday’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Our plan continues to focus on high-definition experiences. Xbox 360 has a great ability to deliver those through the Xbox Live (online download) service. It’s a great way to get the high-definition concept because it’s right there. There’s no additional media. There is nothing you need to purchase.

If you look at the Blu-ray player market, you haven’t seen the acceleration everybody expected (since the demise of HD DVD). It’s not as much about whether all the content is in a Blu-ray format or a HD DVD format. You have to look at how fundamentally compelling the difference is between a progressive scan DVD player and the picture that it can produce and what you get on a high-definition player. The reality is there is some difference, but most people look at it and say, “I am not going to pay extra for that.”

So there it is. As many Wii60 readers have said in a handful of threads over the last six months, Microsoft will focus on their IP Distributed media via Xbox Live.

The interview has much more to say about Microsoft’s plans for the future, which you can read here: Source

As always, we invite you to join the discussion and let us know what you think here.

-glitch-

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 11:25 am and is filed under Xbox 360, Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.