The plot thickens: Peter Moore says Blu-ray Xbox 360 possible

So we've been feeling a certain HD DVD, erm, vibe from Microsoft for some time now. Both of our Bill Gates interviews have pointed the way to the support of a single standard, and that standard has been HD DVD with few exceptions. So it's interesting to hear Peter Moore, Microsoft's gaming veep, spill it to the Japanese website ITmedia that if HD DVD doesn't make it through the format war, Microsoft could launch an external Blu-ray drive for the 360 instead of going down with the ship. Sounds like a smart move on their part to keep options open, but with all they've done to ensure that Blu-ray gets killed dead it seems like they'd have to be really hurting to ever ship a Blu-ray drive for their shiny gaming boxen.

[Via Joystiq]

[Garrett @ Jan 11th 2006 9:16AM]

anything they can do to make extra money off people who don't know any better. thats like microsoft goal #1.

[Crazeee @ Jan 11th 2006 9:54AM]

Ladies and gentlemen, here we go...the best gaming system in the world...



oops....sorry it overheats

oops....forgot the new drives. Here yu go...ext. HD DVD

oops....HD DVD just flopped. Here yu go...now yu can buy blu ray.

oops....maxell's just launched the holo drive and it kicks both te format's 'sses



Microsoft can sure milk money from its customers!!!

[Phair @ Jan 11th 2006 10:01AM]

HAHAHAHA Xbox Fanboys really crying NOW

[Alex @ Jan 11th 2006 10:43AM]

Yes, I am crying as I play my Xbox 360 with no problems whatsoever. No crashes, no overheating, no scratched discs.



FWIW, I think MS did it right by making the next-gen drive optional. A lot of people won't want to pay more for a drive they can't utilize. It sucks for people like me who actually would have loved to have an HD-DVD built in, but I understand the reasoning. Also, people like me would prefer a full-featured, standalone HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player anyway, so it's a moot point.



But you're right. I sure am hating playing PGR3 and Call of Duty 2 knowing that a better system will suck the joy out of me when it comes out in half a year. Good call.

[jc @ Jan 11th 2006 11:11AM]

I don't care about them releasing the blu-ray drive for the X360 as much as I wish they would just release some good games...



still waiting.

[HarpMudd @ Jan 11th 2006 11:32AM]

Too bad Microsoft is screwing over tons of Xbox 360 gamers who want to play on Xbox Live. They've charged them $50 for a yr of Gold service. Now the users can't get online and MS has no ETA for a fix! This has been going on since 360 launch (50 days now!!!). Read more here: http://forums.xbox.com/632413/ShowPost.aspx

[MarvinK @ Jan 11th 2006 11:49AM]

Most people could care less about the next gen drive--and given the release schedule of the 360 and the release schedule of the PS3, I'm glad it has regular DVD drives. You know the cost and schedule of the PS3 is suffering severely because Sony knows its Sony's pawn in the HD format wars.



The 360 isnt a great video player, anyhow... it's too loud. I suspect with the power in the PS3, it will have some noise issues, too. Either that or it will be even later and more expensive than they've already said.

[SoopahMan @ Jan 11th 2006 11:49AM]

Put the conspiracy theories down. Bill Gates has stated over and over he prefers HD DVD *because it specifically allows you to copy the disc anywhere you want*, whereas Blu-Ray is meant to lock you out. Gates said if that lockout is removed from Blu-Ray, he'll back Blu-Ray. We should be rooting Microsoft on for that. They don't view it as a religious war of my format/yours, but what the user permissions are.



Admittedly, we're all gonna hack any format that comes out, but if Microsoft is trying to ease the pain, we should be working with them to get Blu-Ray unlocked, or demand HD-DVD in the PS3.

[MarvinK @ Jan 11th 2006 11:57AM]

All this guy is saying is that if HD-DVD dies and BlueRay is the only real HD format left, they'll do it instead. Duh. So will everyone else who supported HD-DVD.



Same is true of Sony.. if BlueRay dies , you can be sure they'll be selling HD-DVD players or they'll suddenly "check their egos at the door" and allow a dual-format player like Samsung wanted to do.

[. @ Jan 11th 2006 12:59PM]

"HAHAHAHA Xbox Fanboys really crying NOW"



Nobody cares, unless they're a subliterate downs-case like yourself. All "fanboys" are retarded. Get back to furiously masturbating over your PS3 "simulated" screenshots while the rest of us wait for the good next-gen games.



Back on the subject, this is certainly expected, and good for current 360 owners. Format wars are (and have always been) shit for the consumer.

[Shin @ Jan 11th 2006 1:00PM]

SoopahMan, exactly. Finally someone who points it out before I do. Microsoft is not the bad guy here.

[DaVinci42 @ Jan 11th 2006 1:08PM]

"Gates said if that lockout is removed from Blu-Ray, he'll back Blu-Ray. We should be rooting Microsoft on for that. "



Well at CES it was confirmed that Blu-ray supports MANDATORY managed copy. So that can't be the reason.



Probably has to do with Blu-ray using Java. OR it could be that they don't want PS3 to have a major advantage over PS3. OR it could be that they actually want BOTH formats to fail so that the download service they're working on won't have deeply entrenched competition when it's eventually released.

[clicclic @ Jan 11th 2006 2:49PM]

The only folks getting "played" here are the suck-up media (yes u Engadget!)



MSFT is using these sites like little pawns to push their weight around the format wars.



Regardless, this whole blu-ray/HDDVD thing is pointless for games at the moment. Do you think there's a game out there right now that can even leverage it?

[kuroshi @ Jan 11th 2006 4:14PM]

All this talk about if hd fails. What if blu-ray fails? It's internal and your ps3 becomes an unsupported format. Don't need an hd or bd drive in the 360 both are unproven formats. Sony chose BD not because it's good for gaming, but because they have a stake in who wins. MS has no finacial satke in either. MS supports hd currently because the copy protection works better with PC applications. Anyway, this news is no news. As a media extender, the 360 will playback any signal sent to it. Not just a 360 branded hd player, but theoretically any brand of hd or bd player. The best media center pc on the market is a sony one. The 200 disc changer will in the future include a sony bd player. It would play that bd on any tv that have a 360 hooked to it. Neither company has a better strategy, they just have different interest.

[William Rezende @ Jan 11th 2006 4:36PM]

Do sameone still thinks that Blue Ray will win?

or even Better:

Do sameone still thinks that Blue Ray will windows?



"A recent white paper published online by Richard Marquardt, an engineer who served in top executive roles at disc replicators for years, predicted that retooling manufacturing plants for Blu-ray could cost up to $1 billion worldwide, while existing DVD manufacturing capacity could be refitted for HD DVD for less than a tenth of that."



Read it Here: (its on page 2)

http://news.com.com/Cost+questions+dog+Blu-ray+DVDs+lead/2100-1025_3-5969815.html?tag=st.num

[Luke @ Jan 11th 2006 4:36PM]

LMAO even MS is falling at SONYS feet

lol spectacular



PS3 will KILL the 360 and MS wont even know what hit em :D

[RazorElite @ Jan 11th 2006 4:57PM]

Microsoft is smart. It may suck that the Xbox360 doesn't include a next-gen drive, but they've chosen a proven format, where production is cheap, and it's guaranteed. It would've been nice if they included a hard drive in all consoles though. With Sony going with Blu-ray, what if the manufacturing of Blu-ray discs and setting up of the Blu-ray plants is so expensive, few manufacturers are willing to invest. With few manufacturers, you could have low production. And what would that mean? Lack of games available?? Now imagine that, everyone is here complaining about Xbox360 hardware shortages, but can you imagine PS3 software shortages. Especially considering the huge demand PS3 will have (that's assuming Sony doesn't screw conusmers over with an over the top price). And even worse, what if Blu-ray fails as badly as Betamax did, and no one really wants to support it anymore, what will happen to that overpriced PS3 of yours? Hard to get games, hard to get systems, and developers not developing because not only is it a bitch to develop for, but their games aren't even being produced in adequate quantities. But of course, all of this is speculation. All I can say is Sony better hope to God Blu-ray doesn't fail. Not their beloved Playstation, will go under, wayyy under.

[tiremfej @ Jan 11th 2006 6:25PM]

All this talk about Sony and MS, the way I see it, I'm playing the 360 now. I love it. Whichever format wins they will support, but in a recent interview Bill himself said it's the last format war, it's all going to be downloaded, so does it really matter? If I can DL a HD trailer, why can't I download a HD movie? Seems to make more sense to me. Perhaps I'm just too old fashioned. Or perhaps I'm just sane enough to realize that this is the future of everything.

[Joe @ Jan 12th 2006 12:04AM]

I believe that microsoft really rushed the release of the xbox360. They only had 15% of control last time. I'm assuming this time they thought if they could get out there first by far, it'd be higher.



I think they made a mistake. They're console is crashing, scratching discs and I've heard it obnoxiously loud at playing dvds. Now they're suggesting they might have a blu-ray attachement? Sure I'm pro ps3 over xbox but I really think that microsoft will end up loosing in the long run by far. They might be doing well now, but this is only the first foot of the mile. Eventualy, I think that all of these errors will catch up and the ps3 will move own them. Of course I really can't say for sure that the ps3 will be flawless at launch but it wouldn't be hard to have a much better launch with much less errors and hardware attachements.

[Mike @ Jan 12th 2006 12:31AM]

Brian, what's the plural of form of 'box?'

'Boxen.'

'No Brain..you're an imbecil.'

'imbucilen.'

[john matrix @ Jan 12th 2006 6:39AM]

i saw a flock of moosen.

[wes @ Jan 12th 2006 10:33PM]

i must be missing something but has anyone actually seen anything in stores that has Blu Ray on it or something that supports it? or is it true that Sony plans to introduce a new media format with the PS3 and if so, won't the games be at an outrageous price? does any think the PS3 will actually succeed with this or are you like me and think that it will go the way of the PSX?...whatever. i'll wait for something i understand like the Revolution where i can play games instead of getting lost in the on screen menus or having to buy a new drive to play new games..and who else thinks the PS3 looks like a VCR?

[jb @ Jan 13th 2006 1:37PM]

techtimesdaily.com spoke to someone and have his comments on this very topic at their site.

[Here comes the Judge @ Jan 20th 2006 3:53PM]

[quote]Microsoft can sure milk money from its customers!!![/quote]

And what about Apple coming out with a new iPod like every six months? Talk about milking customers, oh wait you probably are one of those people.

Regarding your comments and others about the Xbox 360. Funny as I own two of them, one a core and the other a premium, can tell you that funny how neither have had any problems. Each was manufactured on different dates and from different plants.

Basically you're just pissed because you want one but can't find one. So might as well bash it.