Steve Ballmer Hints at BD Drives for Xbox 360 (Update)

During an interview that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave to Gizmodo, he was asked about adding Blu-ray to the Xbox 360. Ballmer replied, "Well I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there—you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories," hinting at the possibility of a BD add-on for the console. Gizmodo followed up by asking Xbox spokespeople about this, and got a now-familiar no-comment response: "Our immediate solution for Blu-ray-quality video on an Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming. As far as our future plans are concerned, we're not ready to comment." To be fair, Steve Ballmer also reiterates in the interview his opinion that the future of movie-watching is on-demand, not on a physical disc. Update 10/23 Major Nelson (that is to say, Larry Hryb, Director of Programming for Xbox Live) has denied the rumor in the following terms: "During an interview yesterday, Steve Ballmer was asked about Blu-Ray and the Xbox 360. I wanted to clear something up. 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 very soon 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."
Source: Gizmodo | Permalink	Relevant for:

saprano  » Oct 22, 2009

That on demand streaming will NOT be bluray quality. you cant get 40mbps video over the internet at current speeds, if at all. and it wont even have lossless audio. and it wont even have sony movies. thats 50% of your movie library gone, just like the XBL video market place. (not counting netflix, thats the only way they got around to getting sony movies) Adding a BD add on will fail just like the HDVD one. Stay away from bluray MS, thank you. EDIT- I just watched the video, they took it the wrong way. he didn't mean a BD drive specifically for 360, he said "you can buy bluray accessories" im sure he meant bluray players. Moving along.

Barion  » Oct 22, 2009
Well sure, Ballmer is right that the future of movie-watching at home is on-demand... But that future is at least a decade or more away. As far as I'm concerned, it's still science fiction until bandwidth can handle true HD quality video with no buffering time at all. I don't need Blu-ray capability on the 360. That's why I own a PS3.

bhampton  » Oct 22, 2009
Who needs Microsoft? I don't want the legendary unreliability of Microsoft to deal with when enjoying Blu-ray. There's much better options.

Tempest  » Oct 22, 2009
Microsoft has already ruined the computer world with its crappy OS and software...... we don't need them ruining the home movie industry as well..

BlackLightShark009  » Oct 22, 2009
That line about they don't think they need to put blu ray in the system kind of sounds like they are afraid to do it lol. Ok guess they want to be making 3 disc games....don't care bout data capacity. But whatever...keep acting stupid ms.

Mobjack  » Oct 22, 2009
It would be stupid for MS to not adopt the Blu. What a bunch of idiots. (And yes, I have a 360. ;o) )

andyn1080  » Oct 22, 2009

Here is my 2 cents, MS ruines everything! You honestly can't touch a PC without having a virus or some sorta crash, the 360 breaks and try do not fix the red ring of death for free anymore like they said they would. BUT consumers still by pc's and 360's. Personally I love my iMac and iPhone, once you go to a iMac and iPhone you NEVER go back, ppl complain about the price but look at the quality and no headaches and no viruses and my mac is afew years old and can still do things current pcs can not. Anyway MS is stupid to think streaming movies beats bluray, first off downloading a HD movie you will not get true 1080p or losseless audio or extras and you can't own the damn movie and if you can or could your hdd would run up in no time, then what? I have over 200+ bds and I can say it feels better knowing I have a physical disc over a download. I'm glad MS isn't pursuing bluray bc that's one of the selling points for ps3s. Now the problem is that 3rd party games always, atleast 9 outta 10, look and run better on 360, playstation needs to fix that now!! 1st party games on ps3 blows xbox away....just look at motorstorm or uncharted or infamous. But vac to the point, if MS would add a bluray add on to the 360 it goes without saying that bluray would get another huge wave of consumers, sadly more ppl own xboxs over ps3s. Ad for the record, Steve ballmer..."nobody loves ya monkey boy!"

PeterTHX  » Oct 22, 2009
Judging by the above comment Apple ruins spelling and grammar ability... Not to mention Apple itself wanting to push iTunes/AppleTV and other proprietary formats rather than supporting Blu-ray. Any time anyone commits to Blu-ray it's a good thing for the format.

eagle61397  » Oct 22, 2009
What's the point of getting a blu-ray drive as an add-on? Why not just buy a blu-ray player? I'm sure the X-Box 360 drive would cost about 2-3 times the amount of stand-alone, since Microsoft is involved.

Mr Bluray  » Oct 22, 2009
eagle61397---I so agree with you thats one of the reason I never bought a Hd dvrive along time ago. As for everyone saying Microsoft ruins everything it didnt ruin Live because Live is 10 steps aheadd of the Psn.Like another post said I dont need blu ray on 360.i HAVE A PS3.

mpstjohn  » Oct 22, 2009

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I could care less what the morons at MS want. As far as comparing Apple to MS, Apple has a better operating system and isn't open to viruses like Windows. I'd take my Mac Pro over any crappy PC. My XBOX 360 is fun for streaming but otherwise useless to me as all my favorite games already run on my PS3. I only use my XBOX 360 if I want to stream some cheesy b-movie I'm too cheap to rent at blockbuster.

b2009  » Oct 22, 2009
No one should even post a comment on this, so that will show that we don't even care what they do, ..WE GOT THE PS3 baby.....................

Creeper79  » Oct 22, 2009
Ya even if they do decide to put one out it's to late i own an xbox and bought the PS3 for Blu ray when HD DVD crashed and i'm sure there are alot of other people who have done the same. The PS3 is far superior to anything MS will bring out, so MS don't bother.

stefanjos  » Oct 22, 2009

MOVIES ON DEMAND IS THE BIGGEST BS I HAVE EVER HEARD. I ALWAYS GET SICK WHEN I HEAR SOMEONE SAYS THAT. IF IT EVER COMES TRUE I WILL RESIST TILL I DIE. I WILL EVEN STOP WATCHING MOVIES. I REPEAT WILL NEVER WATCH A MOVIE OVER THE INTERNET. I am sure you blu ray fans can understand this. although you are the people who collect box sets as do i. and like spending more money than you can afford on something you really want. my uncle also agrees to this. he always talks about the times were you would wait for an LP or CD to come out. not just download it. same thing with movies. i hope and truly believe optical discs will and should always be here. if someone wants to stream content do it. but dont go not making other alternatives.

stefanjos  » Oct 22, 2009
sorry about the grammar or vocabulary. my english is not so good.

Titanicfave  » Oct 22, 2009
BOOOO! I don't like that idea, because my 3 brothers like XBOX 360 and I don't share my blu-ray collection!

bhampton  » Oct 22, 2009	Show comment Hide comment
Quote "Any time anyone commits to Blu-ray it's a good thing for the format." I agree unless the anyone happens to be Microsoft. As someone else said they simply ruin everything. Sooner people start taking other options the better for everyone including MS themselves. Someone needs to let them know they should make a reliable product for once.

ryoohki  » Oct 22, 2009
This as nothing to do with the fact that their OS work just fine of you're not an A**. Apple is DOING the exact same thing with their MAC. Put all their effort on their Itunes Video solution.

Raiders12  » Oct 22, 2009
Why is everyone so bitter towards MS all the time? Like all the time. Is it their software dominance that has everyone wishing they could have created the same empire? Or just general anger, because its "down with huge coporations?!" MS can dip their hands into bluray, I would have no issues with it

DMC86X  » Oct 22, 2009
I can GAURANTEE Microsoft will NEVER put an external or internal BD drive.

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