No Blu-Ray backup plan for Microsoft Xbox 360
Apparently some folks are talking up a Microsoft backup plan to include Blu-Ray support for the Xbox 360 if HD-DVD dies a slow painful death. The Redmondians have taken notice and provided an official statement on the matter indicating that Blu-Ray has no place in, on, or near an Xbox 360.
In fact, the first draft of the statement is rumored to have a clause that if a Blu-Ray disc came within ten feet of a 360 console, Major Nelson-lookalikes would teleport via an Xbox Live portal to destroy the offending discs with the newest Halo 3 weapon that is yet to be announced. OK, maybe not, but they're really, really serious. If we haven't scared you off from reading the actual statement, continue on with proper caution.
"Microsoft firmly stands behind the HD-DVD format as the best choice for our consumers. As we've said before, we're confident that HD-DVD will bring the excitement of high definition movies to the consumer faster and at a greater value. We believe that consumers have signaled what format they want to enjoy high definition DVD and we're going to follow them down that path. The question of whether Xbox 360 has the flexibility to adapt to consumers' needs is a different issue entirely. Xbox 360 is a future-proofed system -- one that allows us to add features as consumers demand them -- as evidenced by our offering of the HD DVD drive as an accessory," reads the official line.
The statement concludes, "Current reports indicating that we have a back-up plan, which includes Blu-Ray support are incorrect. At this point, we're fully committed to HD-DVD and have absolutely no plans to support other optical formats."
