Microsoft said (over a year ago) that if HD-DVD were to fail they would consider bringing a Blu-Ray player to the XBox 360. This isn't particularly surprising.

Alright, first of all, of course Microsoft is going to look at adding Blu-Ray to the XBox - the format war is over, the winner has been decided. Like it or not, Blu-Ray IS a major bonus to the Playstation. Second, of course people watch movies on their game consols - that's why having Blu-Ray is a bonus. And it's not at all like taking picture with a phone - it's more like buying a $39 DVD player at Walmart - you know its not a permanent solution, but its cheap and effective. Finally, physical discs have a long way to go. Wireless is sketchy and internet connections that are actually fast enough to download whole movies are still really expensive - plus, most people simply do not want to wait days for a movie to be ready. Not to mention, what other cost effective solution for data backup is there for regular consumers? I couldn't care less about HD movies, I am waiting for Blu-Ray burners to be cheap so that I can replace stacks of DVDs with a few discs (like I did when switching from CD to DVD).

Why is it, when these kinds of stories come up, everyone talks like Sony owns Blu Ray?

Now, what's so bad about opening a can of worms? It should really be a can of bees, because that would be a problem.

I've owned a PS3 since last September, but I yet to watch a Blu-Ray disc movie...All of my favorite movies are still on the regular DVD, so what is the rush of getting all Blu-Ray disc's, where I only have 1 machine to work it on, but have a DVD movie which can play on, 5 regular DVD players (one of them is a DVD Recorder), 1 Portable DVD player, my Computer and including the PS3? I still also have a VCR to record things off TV and watch movies that i do not have for DVD...Maybe in a year or two when all new released movies will be going to only Blu-Ray, I am going to have to start buying those....So all of you Xbox users, unless you are those people who want the lastest, greatest things, I'd suggest you wait around till that Blu-Ray add-on is actually needed, and/or is cheaper than what its going to be priced as.

This is probably going to kill the Xbox 360's firm grasp on the console wars if they swap from HD DVD's to Blu-Rays. If previous Xbox 360 owners are going to need to BUY this add on Blu-ray player, many Xbox 360 users are going to end up selling the console. I could see some staying if the Blu-ray player came free of charge, but to pay for it seems a little out of line. Whats the point of having a console that can't play the games with the current hardware settings and configuration? Seems rather depressing to me.

One of the main reasons why video game consoles placed these DVD/ HD DVD/ Blu-ray features is to avoid a chord mess and to free up connections going in to your TV. The thing is; yes, people do use their video game consoles to watch movies on. I know because I do myself, especially since I have an Xbox 360. I can watch a movie and keep an eye on my messenger or video gaming buddies to see what they're up to.

Garet brings up a valid point as well. Blu-ray isn't part of Sony. I' didn't see Samsung or Microsoft owning HD DVD's did we? This is going to cause some unwanted attention and maybe another war. Sony needs to be careful at this stage of the war, or it could cost them everything. This, to me, is the beginning of the console wars 2008.

The "console wars" of previous generations is nothing more then hype and public relations nowadays. The market as demonstrated over the years that it can easily support three different platform, none of them are going to "die" and go away.

I am skeptical in regards to MS introducing another add-on for blu ray discs on there console, its simply bad bussiness, too many people bought , what is now useless, a hd dvd drive. People dont like add-ons on there gaming consoles, the consumers want a closed box, nothing to add and nothing to take away.

Do you think most Xbox owners would jump at the occasion of buying yet another add-on ? I highly doubt it.

The Xbox didnt sell like it did because you were able to buy an additional hd-dvd drive but because it offered an amazing user interface, solid games and the best online service ( Xbox Live ).

If you want a blu-ray, buy a ps3, it works great as a media center.

It's been suggested:
"If previous Xbox 360 owners are going to need to BUY this add on Blu-ray player, many Xbox 360 users are going to end up selling the console."

I completely disagree with this statement. In my mind, it's no different then having to BUY an HD-DVD add-on, which is precisely what Xbox360 owners had to do if they wanted to play HD-DVDs on their consoles. To my knowledge it didn't have any significant negative impact in console sales for MS.

If anything, I see the ability to add a Blu-ray player to my Xbox360 as a sweet bonus. It will undoubtly be cheaper than a stand alone Blu-ray player and will help reduce the clutter on my entertainment centre.

Of course, there will be the few disgruntled Xbox360 owners who will feel burned for having purchased the HD-DVD add-on but the rest of us should be feeling pretty good that the choice to add a Blu-ray player is now there.

"If previous Xbox 360 owners are going to need to BUY this add on Blu-ray player, many Xbox 360 users are going to end up selling the console."

...Okay, so people are going to sell their consoles if a situation which is guarenteed to not happen happens? I bet people would sell their consoles if, through alchemy, there was a way to turn the console into solid gold as well.

Re: the HD/Blu-ray introduction

It puts my knickers in a twist when I realize this is the largest planned obsolescence a corporation has ever inflicted upon us.

We recently bought an HD TV and digital box, and while there's no doubt the picture is better, it certainly wasn't _enough_ of an improvement to justify blowing a couple of grand on a tv, and doubling our cable rates.

We purchased a 47" tv, and that's a mind blowing improvement in and of itself, but when I look at my 200 DVDs, purchased for an average of $15-20, replacing them at even that price will be a minimum of $3000. But no, "better" quality means higher pricing, a Blu-ray movie being nearly twice the price a DVD one. Burns me.

The HD/Blu-ray introduction

It puts my knickers in a twist when I realize this is one of the largest planned obsolescence a corporation has ever inflicted upon us.

We recently bought an HD TV and digital box, and while there's no doubt the picture is better, it certainly wasn't _enough_ of an improvement to justify blowing a couple of grand on a tv, and doubling our cable rates.

We purchased a 47" tv, and that's a mind blowing improvement in and of itself, but when I look at my 200 DVDs, purchased for an average of $15-20, replacing them at even that price will be a minimum of $3000. But no, "better" quality means higher pricing, a Blu-ray movie being nearly twice the price a DVD one. Burns me.

Well people I bought the PS3 80gb. just mainly for the Blu-Ray drive, and got a bonus game console and more for a heck of a bargain as Sony took a hit on them from the beginning of the platform. They new they were loosing money on the drive just to flood the market and win the war, which makes sense and now thats made history! The Blu Ray drive format holds far more information than the Hd format could ever. Microsoft on the other hand you should know you will always have to upgrade one way or another, look at your windows O.S. and the bugs you get. Remember he is the second richest dude in the world, do you think he cares its all about $$$. As far as the pricing, you have to be patient and wait for the deals to show up as their are great deals on blu-ray movies already. BluRay is here to stay now till something else is better, and that won't be for a while now. The internet streaming is too slow and choppy for everyone at this time and takes too long for downloading. Then again, their is always Video on Demand service..lol.

I'm not happy hearing that the big companies like Microsoft and Apple are hinting that discs are on the way out and downloading is in. Have they even though that most homeowners don't have tv's that are connected online? or even want to put them online?

Besides, there are a lot of homes that have the PC in one room and the TV in the other. I'm not sure about what anyone else thinks, but I am not going to rewire my house or buy extera wireless equipment to purchase (not rent)and view downloaded movies.

Toshiba threw in the towel to Sony, do you think Sony won? I don't. Toshiba has just finalized a near monopoly in flash drive memory devices including buying all of Sony's tech & manufacturing. There are 128 Gb Flash Drives that will hold about 740 hours of video. If the price on them comes down to a reasonable level I can record or buy entire libraries of video on them. Do I want to use fragile, scratchable Blue-Ray ? Not on your life. Prediction: In five years Toshiba buys Sony.

I personally think that microsoft will be going to the blue-ray side, of the game. But i do think blue-ray is a little waste of money, right now because there are not many movies out for it. And i still dont know why apple said that discs are not in. but i do have my own idea for that. :D