XBox 360 News
Microsoft to unveil Xbox 360 Blu-ray player by May?
By Stevie Smith
Feb 18, 2008, 6:34 GMT

With the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD format reportedly on the cusp of tumbling into the precipice of defeat at the hands of Blu-ray, yet more rumours have now surfaced suggesting that Microsoft Corp. could be about to join the long list of supporters embracing Sony’s (almost) triumphant platform.

David Richards at Aussie online technology magazine SmartHouse claims “insiders at Microsoft” in the US have told the site that Microsoft has already configured a standalone Blu-ray player fully compatible with the software giant’s Xbox 360 videogames console.

Moreover, there are also suggestions that Microsoft’s emergent Blu-ray player could well hit retail within the next three months -- pursuant to “internal marketing and sales approvals.”

“We would welcome Microsoft to the Blu-ray stable,” said Michael Ephraim, MD of Sony Computer Entertainment, in the SmartHouse report. “In fact it is quite logical for them as the PS3 has been very successful in driving consumers to Blu-ray. In fact we believe that it has done more to win the format war than traditional Blu-ray players.”

Ephraim went on to say that, given the videogame platform rivalry between Sony and Microsoft, it would be “up to Sony Corporate,” as to whether the American software company was granted a Blu-ray license. “I see no reason why they would not do it,” he added.

This latest rumour comes on the back of Microsoft indicating at the CES show in Las Vegas that adopting Blu-ray as the dominant HD format is something the company is fully prepared for thanks to it offering Xbox 360 customers HD via an external player.

While a standalone Blu-ray player would certainly bolster the Xbox 360’s appeal beside Sony’s PlayStation 3 console, which comes equipped with Blu-ray as standard, the unnamed insiders hold that Microsoft -- despite an apparent willingness to adapt its strategy to include Blu-ray -- is looking toward HD media downloads as the future.