The war for HD media standard isn't over yet I don't think. Although Sony clearly holds 1st place, and theres no competition. That doesn't mean Microsoft is going to reinforce Sonys dominance in the market. Something better might come along and knock Sony on its butt. Who knows.

I hope purple ray comes along soon.

In other words Microsoft wants to gouge their customers for as much as they can get, eh? Kinda sucks for the customer, but I guess this is what happens when you see your profits plummet.

I think Microsoft is making the right decision here. What would be the point of developing an external blu-ray drive when it would be the same thing and probably the same price as a standalone blu-ray player...

As far as the blue-ray is concerned i really hope Microsoft does not include it in anything to do with the 360 as they have stated no reason for it. But since there is no sign that one will ever be released im just going to buy a PS3 after all thats what the PS3 is good for, movies.

Too bad... I think they should make a new xbox 360 with blu integrated in it and some other new features and it could fill the gap between the current 360 and whatever new console microsoft release. Afterall those xbox's people bought straight away when they come out are going to wear out and break at some stage, if they haven't already, and they'll have to replace them with something. Call it the 360 Ultra or some shite.

Now that the PS3 is not the chapest blu-ray player on the market I guess M$ doesn't feel the need to rush out with an add-on for the X360. On a technical note, would the X360 be capable of playing 1080 movies in 1080 def? I thought it only supported 720 max with its graphics adapter.

And external blu-ray player is just yet more junk in the bottom shelf of your TV stand. If they're going to do it then they should upgrade new 360's internal drive; but I can see why they don't want to.

It dosen't surprise me that MS don't seem to have plans to introduce Blu-Ray into the 360 (for the time being at least). Blu-ray drives are much more expensive than dvd drives. One major selling point 360 has over PS3 is price. Why would MS want to erode that?

Crapbox 360 is old news and needs to fade away. Hell 2008 it was old news!

I think they will use something like HVD discs (Holographic Versatile Disc) for the next console they make in like 2014. DVD wont really start to be completely obsolete for at least 3 or 4 more years. HVD can hold between 500gb to a few terabytes and will be much better than blue ray if the format takes off.

I don't think the xbox 360 will ever have blue ray because that format is owned by Sony and they would have to pay Sony for every drive they sold. This is just bad business, if it can be avoided they will. Also just like with the HD DVD player, it was only for movies. Microsoft said that games would never be on another format because it would force people to upgrade just to play the new games.

Crapbox 360 is old news and needs to fade away. Hell 2008 it was old news!

1080p...i dont many xbox owners have ISP connections that will allow them to enjoy their movies at that format. That kind of bandwith usage is something ISP compaines will try to prevent. Having something like a blu-ray player would be better, given that it will always be there unlike your internet connection. Also you wont have to worry about going over your caps. I am sure deep inside Microsoft is dreaming having Blu-Ray on their consoles but if they did that they would look bad infront of $ony and probalby have to pay some kind of licene fee always. Doubt M$ would do that though. Well i guess it all depends on what kind of ISP is providing you.

I can understand this move by MS.

Doomtomb hit it on the head. With the price of blu-ray falling, it would be cheaper to go out and buy a blu-ray player then get one MS would produce. Why would MS put time, effort, and most important money behind that? Bad business.

i doubt many xbox users have Comcast or TWC

External blu-ray for Xbox360? The idea somehow reminds me of SEGA CD.

Still plenty of people buyin and usin the 360. I don't think any of them care what you think is old news. Maybe you think the PS3 is better. Maybe you're right. No one cares. There aren't enough games for the PS3 and Blue-ray is a bust.

Why does the 360 need Blue-ray anyway?? BR is what is old news. MS has better ideas.

So true, at the same time if they released a Blu-Ray Xbox 360 then some dev might get the grand idea to release a game on Blu-Ray. That leaves all those with a DVD Xbox without any chance to play the game unless they buy a new system or Microsoft gives them a free upgrade, both of which are highly unlikely. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the same reason why they made their HD-DVD player Movie Only.

Depending on the forecast longevity of the XBOX 360 as a current generation game platform, a built in Blu-ray solution in an elite edition model might make some sense. Less or even none at all if the next generation XBOX is already in the works. For that though, it'd be a basically essential component of the mix. Current PC games are running in the range of 12 GB or more per game installed on the hard drive, and that upward trend shows no signs of stopping. DVD is fine for now, but for the future, it's gotta be Blu-ray.

Just makes perfect sense.

[citation] It's quite possible that an internal drive
will be integrated into the next console release expected next year[/citation]
No, thats rediculouse. There are a million reasons against this idea and only one reason for it. The reason for it is to let people watch Blue Ray movies. But why bother paying Sony royalties and charging customers the extra cost of a Blue Ray player when only a small percentage of people would actually take advantage of it? Note that I don't even mention the possibility of XBOX 360 games on blue ray discs. If you don't understand why Microsoft shouldn't allow Blue Ray games on the 360, then you don't really understand the nature of a console. It would break the unified compatibility of the console.

MS understands that bluray is short term and that digital distribution (despite everyone's hangup about tangible products) is the future. BluRay might not even last until the next generation consoles come out.

MS is already about to launch a digital distribution system on the 360.

There are other technical hangups with BluRay that makes it not worth it now. For once, the read speed of the disc is too slow or the player is too expensive. You'd basically have to install the games if they started using BluRay (much like the PS3).

Digital downloads are fine for rentals.

But for those who want extras, better quality of picture (Think a Download is as sharp as a the less compressed video on a 50GB disc?), subtitles, languages, deleted scenes, that DON'T come with DD... well, BluRay is it.

Also... you're paying about the same for a DD as a blue ray disc. $15~20 is typical for a movie. And then its DRMed to your hardware. Want to take it with you on the road and watch at Auntie B's place... sorry, gotta take your 360 with you!
And many 360s still only have 20GB drives. Even with a 60GB drive, how many MOVIES can YOU HOLD?

Lets see... lets say a 1080 2hr movie eats 15GB of space. And with the OS and game content, lets say 15GB is not Usable.

That's means you can hold this many 1080 movies on your Xbox:
20GB = 1 movie
60GB = 3 movies
120GB= 7 movies!

At least with a PS3, the owner can buy a $100 500GB HD and stick it in themselves.

So... the 360 is a replacement for Blu-Ray?!
THAT IS FUNNY! For little kids, yeah maybe. For grown ups with HD-TVs no.

I have hundreds of DVDs. Even those would fill up a 360.
A typical DVD movie may need 4GB of space.

Xbox 60GB drive = 11 movies.... still not close.

MS and Xbox fanboys (I do not own ANY console, yet) are kidding themselves if they think DD will replace BluRay anytime soon. OnDemand / rentals are fine. They make lots of $$$ on the rentals.

Yeah, having seen what just happened to some E-books (I know they apologised but still...) I know a lot of folks who are wary about paying to download anything with DRM, especially if it has killswitch tech built into it.

I don't think another format will replace Blu-ray very soon for one simple reason: Blu ray already handles 1080 rez movies. The next format would have to improve picture quality further. I know to PC users 1080p isn't really very high-def but if you just forked out $1000 on an HD TV you may not want to have to buy another TV, all your movies again and a new player just to see even higher-def HD films. Blu-Ray also has plenty of capacity for console games, won't be needing more than 50 Gig per game for at leat 5-10 yrs (I hope).

get on with it micro$oft. This dang company needs to get over it's cry baby tatics. HDD SUCKED and was nothing special. Blu-Ray is the king and will be for the next 10 years.

The XBOX needs Blu-ray but it'll probably come in an external form. Netflix streaming is not even close to Blu-ray quality. I don't netflix will ever be able to stream 25GB in 2 hours with out some massive bandwidth infrastructure.

Also the next generation of Blu-ray is going to have upto 100GB capacity. Trying streaming that quality of video over the internet. It's just not going to happen no matter what they claim.

I think so many of you guys are missing the point here! whether ms thinks direct download is the future is irelevant - the point is there is no need for a blu-ray player for the xbox because of 1 thing alone - PRICE. its far cheaper to buy a standalone blu-ray play just to watch movies than to design one and the new software from scratch. Plus (just for the PS3 fans here), a standalone player doesnt have the stupidly noisey fans of a games console....so why else would you want a blu-ray player?? games? dont make me laugh!!!

I wish I had an option to pay an extra 100 bucks to pick up a Xbox 360 with a internal Blu-Ray player! I already use my 360 to watch downloaded movies streamed from my PC, Netflix, and DVDs. If It also did BluRay it one be even better. If they can make whole Stand alone players for 200 or less now, I think they could do an internal BD player built in for about a 100 dollar premium.

....And to think I've been using a 2TB external HD hooked up to my 360 to watch full 1080 resolution movies for about 2 years now..... BR AND DD are both a waste of time......

....And to think I've been using a 2TB external HD hooked up to my 360 to watch full 1080 resolution movies for about 2 years now..... BR AND DD are both a waste of time......

Lol Microsoft just want to make more money for not implementing Blu-Ray, they want you to stick with HD-DVD even though there are like only 5 movies in it. They know that once they go Blu-Ray, they will have to pay money to Sony and they want to pinch every penny to themselves. I think if a 360 got Blu-Ray is a great idea, but MS is just too damn greedy. Also MS need to make new Hard Drives... a 120 GB Hard Drive for the same price as a 1.5 TB Hard Drive is just too damn stupid, they are the same design basicly, but cost about 10x more. MS need to get their head out of their asses and look to the future, where people actually help other instead of breaking people's banks. With that said I still love Windows 7 and the Xbox 360, can't wait for the new Halo

I work in a pawnshop, and let me tell you, it amazes me how many more xbox 360's sell than ps3's. WHY? just curious cuz I can't understand it. Lets go over this.
I play both, and i think ps3 graphics are the same as xbox360. I can't tell the difference and i'm actually a pc gamer. I won't own either system, but i'm just curious why?

ps3 advantages-

1. built in blue ray player
2. built in wireless
3. free to play online
4. built in hardrive on every console.
5. no red ring of death

also- comparing prices, if you bought a blue ray, then you bought a xbox360, and bought the wireless, and then a hard drive, I would say that you've spent more then the ps3 for the same ability. PLUS, u still have to pay to play online, and you have to worry about the red ring of death...

Like i've said, i work in a pawnshop, i've seen 4 red ring of deaths in the last 6 months, not including the ones people brought in and "tried" to sell us, haven't yet seen a dead ps3's. But for some reason I would say xbox 360's sold 4 to one over ps3.

Do you own a xbox360? If so, why do you want it more then ps3? just curious.

Well most old 360 don't have BD-player, so the BD would only be for movies, not for the games, so it's better to buy just normal BD-palyer for that. But who knows what next generation console is bundled with. The BD-drives are mature tech then (read cheap enough) and next generation consoles needs more space for graph and sound than today, so Xbox 480 or what ever ir more likely candidate, id all the games allso would be in BD format. But as someone said before, it can be allso some other technic. Maybe you can only get games via internet like steam or impulse for PC games today by using their Xbox Live. It would reguire bigger hard drives, or some net PC consept where actual data is in the net... Somewhat fraigtening idea... They would get better anti-piracy system (maybe)... Something that MS-would really much like.
The problen can be as has been said increasing pressure to throtle internet connections. But for Xbox 360, the DVD is stable destribution system. Maybe when the BD and DVD player cost about the same to produce, it is easier to produce BD-players allso for 360, jost for marketing reasons.

^@ dreamphantom_1977 As far as online play for the PS3 it seems that since you don't pay for much, you don't get much . Alot of gamers, seems like the younger ones, don't use X-Box live and seem happy with the boxes offline. Those to do pay for Live usually seem happy with it. Also most X-Boxes sold don't have a hard drive, Arcade and previously the core version, so none of the games need it. Those that get the hard drive usually do it because they are gonna use it as intend while the PS3 comes with one whether you like it or not.

Anyway, I think Microsoft would rather push the whole downloadable content than a blu ray drive. Considering how much it is to license the tech it's cheaper, and thus more profitable for MS, to sell them a hard drive instead and give them a taste of some HD stuff and Netflix.