Sony in Talks With Microsoft, Apple Over Blu-Ray
 

From Financial Times:

Sony Electronics US President Stan Glasgow has revealed that the company is currently in talks with software giant Microsoft with regards to the Blu-ray format. No specific products were mentioned, but it is expected that Microsoft will offer a Blu-ray X-box 360 Add-on, similar to what they offered for the now dead HD DVD format. As it stands, Microsoft's gaming console is at a distinct disadvantage to Sony's PlayStation 3 which includes a Blu-ray player in every console.

Sony is also in talks with Apple, who has been extremely quite about offering Blu-ray drives despite being a part of the Blu-ray Disc Association. It was rumored that Apple was prepared to offer a Blu-ray drive with the latest upgrade of their MacBook Pro laptops, but that there were size and power consumption issues. It is expected that Apple will incorporate Sony's new drives, which are much smaller and use less power, this summer when they are released.

Additionally, Sony predicts that the price of Blu-ray players will fall to $299 by the end of the year. This is not much of a stretch, with the upcoming Sony BDP-S350 carrying a retail price of $399 and coming out way before the 2008 holiday season.

not much a disadvantage if you picked a 360 for gaming

Yeah, no kidding. Too bad you know the Sony fanboys will just use an external BluRay player as another stepping stone to force comparisons between the two consoles. The only one that matters to me is the 360 actually has games. My PS3 is just for watching my handful of BR at this point. lol

Sony, Microsoft discuss Blu-ray for Xbox 360
 

From the Financial Times:

Would it really mean a premium edition of a console....hmmmm, do they forget the HD-DVD was an ADD-ON. That is all the BD drive would be. They still cannot have games on BD. Internal would be nice, but I don't see that happening until the next gen ;)

it funny now that sony won the format war the 360 needs a Blu-Ray drive or else it will get left behind in the coming years. I'm not saying this to incite riots but the future is going hi-def and sony holds all the cards in that market.

Microsoft to support Blu-Ray
 

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Blu-ray”/1550

Maybe a BD add-on drive isn't such a pipedream after all...

"We'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense"

I guess that means they won't be supporting Blu-ray PS3 games :) ... (kidding, of course). Can't say I'm surprised at this news, but I still find it a little interesting that we'll be seeing Microsoft supporting the proprietary disc format for one of their direct gaming competitors, even though the media they will be supporting on that format won't be games.

The entire industry has been on the move so their reluctant dicision isn't much of a surprise. Either they make sensible decisions or are left out. And I am sure a certain insider "most likely" never saw such a move.

Hopefully SONY stays as far away as possible from them and when in need of a reason why consults Toshiba.

Ciao,
Pro-B

As someone else said, the Blu-ray drive would most likely be an add-on, not an internal drive for playing games.

Microsoft was supposedly about to release a 360 with a built in HD-DVD. Maybe those plans would be retooled for Blu-ray.

Looking forward to next-gen: I'm guessing Sony's next product will incorporate a Blu-Ray drive has the media can hold a substantial amount.

Microsoft will have to adapt and include a BR drive as well (pending something else doesn't come out by then) or face space limitations of regular DVD media.

So, Sony may have a corner on the videogame market next round.

Ah sorry, Sauce. You said the same thing. :)

Awesome news - I'd much rather pay less than $200 for an add-on to my 360 than drop $400 for a game machine I don't even want to get the same functionality.

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it be a little be funny if Microsoft introduced a Blu-ray Add-on for the 360 and it immediately started out-selling the PS3?

It wont be the same, the Xbox 360 can not do Lossless audio, the PS3 can do 7.1 PCM Lossless. Huge difference.

I would prefer an add-on drive. I don't want to buy another 360 just for blu-ray.

Yeah, it's huge as everyone has a 7.1 SS system these days!

;)

I'll look forward to the possibility of an add-on, but I imagine it'd be pretty expensive if released any time soon.

I doubt I will be buying the add-on anytime soon. Unless a package deal comes along like HD-DVD did with Heroes + 2 free movies or a $50 add-on. LOL

Regardless of whether they make a console with a built-in BD drive, I think they'll still do an add-on.

My 5.1 system doesn't give a shit.

I dunno...a Lite-On BD drive can be had for $130 (at retail). When you consider that MS could probably use the same tooling for the enclosure that they used for the HD DVD add-on, it shouldn't cost that much to make. Of course, we are talking about Microsoft...never mind. ;)

If Microsoft really wants to threaten the PS3, they would include a Blu-ray internal drive to the Elite asap. If they plan to do a Blu-ray add-on, please keep the freaking price reasonable. One of the biggest problems with the hd-dvd add on was the price was ridiculous compared to the Toshiba SAs.

If MS makes a Blu-ray add-on, having both HD format add-ons would be nice.