Xbox 360 to go Blu, says Ballmer
CEO confirms Blu-ray drive incoming

By James Sherwood • Get more from this author

22nd October 2009 11:23 GMT

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has promised that an external Blu-ray drive is coming to the Xbox 360.

During a recent interview on the future of Project Natal, the motion-control system for Xbox. Ballmer was asked if Microsoft plans to put Blu-ray into the games console.

Although he told website Gizmodo that he doesn’t know if Blu-ray needs to be integrated into the console, Ballmer added that “you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories”.

Since the downfall of the HD DVD format, for which Microsoft famously produced a now defunct external Xbox 360 drive, the firm has been very cagey about the potential addition of Blu-ray to its console.

In fact, Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s Group Product Manager for the Xbox 360, stated back in October 2008 that Microsoft had “no plans to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience”.

Perhaps Greenberg actually meant that Xbox 360s with integrated Blu-ray drives will never be produced and that external Blu-ray drives will arrive for the console? Who knows - it's certainly been rumoured often enough that one is on the way.

One thing we can be certain of, though, is that – according to the horse's mouth – Blu-ray is coming to the Xbox 360. ®
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/10/22/ballmer_bluray_xbox/

[ October 22, 2009, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: jiswegweg ]

So

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Gizmodo has an exclusive interview with Microsoft CEO's Steve Ballmer going up in full this Friday. Until then, they're releasing little clips from the interview and the one they have up right now sees the CEO talking about Natal, and more importantly, a Blu-ray add-on accessory for the Xbox 360.

Gizmodo asked Steve Ballmer on whether we'll see any Xbox 360s with a Blu-ray drive to which Ballmer replied by stating that "you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories." No time frame is given for when we'll see this Blu-ray accessory and Xbox spokespeople avoided answering the question when Gizmodo pressed for further information.

So after all this time, a Blu-ray accessory is coming to the Xbox 360. Neato? I don't know about you, but I'm just going to sit back and watch as the entire Internet collapses from the fanboy war that's about to unfold.

[via Geoff Keighley's Twitter]

[Update: Stop the press! This looks to be a misunderstanding, with a Microsoft representitive issuing this statement to us on the matter:

"Steve was referring to Blu-ray accessories for the PC. As we have said in the past, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360. In fact, the future of home entertainment starts this fall when Xbox 360 becomes the first and only console to offer instant-on 1080p streaming HD movies. With a library of thousands of TV shows and movies to choose from, Xbox 360 owners can instantly watch the movies they want, when they want, in the highest form of high definition."]

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Yeah Major Nelson issued a statement pretty much as soon as this first hit the Internet.

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It is very interesting to play games in free time.
Can Anyone show me how to download xbox 360 games?
I want to download xbox 360 games.
Pls help me. THanks.

quote:

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Originally posted by michaelrunefeld1514:
It is very interesting to play games in free time.
Can Anyone show me how to download xbox 360 games?
I want to download xbox 360 games.
Pls help me. THanks.

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Look at this mastery of UBB code.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Meat_Grinder:
So

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GO MEAT!

[ October 27, 2009, 02:12 AM: Message edited by: Meat_Grinder ]

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