Microsoft: Want blu-ray? Go buy your own!

[GamerMan316]

Many of the who's who of the video game industry was in attendance at Square-Enix's release event in San Francisco on Monday night.  Microsoft was one of the bigger players with a number of Xbox "suits" participating in the festivities.  Luckily for The Game Guys,  Microsoft's director of global platform marketing for Xbox Albert Penello gave his two-cents on the possibility of blu-ray capabilities on the Xbox 360.

His (and seemingly Microsoft's) view on the subject is simple:  "Go spend $150 on one," he told Game Guy Barry White.

It seems that rather than listening to the growing demand of gamers who want to have a blu-ray capable gaming machine that isn't Sony's PlayStation 3, Microsoft would rather not deal with the issue.

Cost, of course, is a factor in this.  The ill-fated HD-DVD technology and the special external player that Microsoft sold as a peripheral for the Xbox 360 console definatly left a bad taste in the company's mouths.

Industry forecasting is another factor.  There is writing on the wall, as it were, as brick-and-mortar video stores begin to become less and less profitable other video services are picking up steam.  Mail-order DVD and blu-ray rental services such as Netflix are very popular but digital distribution is becoming more and more commonplace and it seems that Microsoft is more inclined to embrace such a business model.

Netflix has already started streaming a number of movies and television show episodes on the Xbox 360 (and PS3) and other services are sure to show interest as market demand grows.

But for those dead-set on having an Xbox 360 and blu-ray capabilities, Penello does have a point.  The $150 price-point he stated, however, might be a little inflated; Amazon.com lists a stand-alone blu-ray player for $109.95.

[nCogNeato]

Once developers become more familiar with the Blu-ray format, I'll also want my consoles to use it.  But until then, I prefer the format that is the most efficient, which is still Dual-Layer DVD.

Adding Blu-ray to the Xbox 360 would be no different than Sega adding SegaCD to the Genesis/Megadrive.  And we all know how that turned out.

However, if Microsoft is still using standard Dual-Layer DVDs for their next console, I would be surprised and disappointed.

[Failed]

cheapest ftw thank you