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.

You stepped into the Twilight Zone Tony.

Pro-B

Were these the same analysts who came up with the fancy 360 with an HD-DVD drive built in?
Microsoft's statement after that post seems pretty clear to me that they will back it in general (as they should and I'm guessing already were with drivers for Media Player and what not), but I highly doubt we'll see a 360 add-on. Why would Microsoft now enter a market where they will be putting out an inferior add-on long after the PS3 has established its market? Sure, PS3 is behind on console sales, but I don't see this add-on boosting the Blu-Ray market at all, nor Microsoft's 360 sales.

Microsoft has a comfortable lead in the console gaming market over PS3, why mess with it with a half-assed add-on?

If there are people out there really buying PS3's primarily as a Blu Ray player, then this move makes sense as it'll take away some potential sales. I own a PS3, and I'll sell it in a heartbeat if I can buy a add-on for my 360. I don't even own a game for my PS3. My PS3 will be gone the second OPPO or the 360 Add-on come out.

Hi-def is like 1 or 2% of the DVD market. If it ever tops 10% I'll be surprised.

There are no cards being held by anyone, other than whoever figures out the next media delivery format/system and capitalizes on it.

+1

And, I have at least 3 other friends who own 360's that would buy the blu-ray add-on day 1 of release.

Wonder what kind of price point they are looking at? If they put out an add-on that equals the cost of a PS3 (or better yet a little less), then it makes sense. If your total cost is going to be more than a PS3, why even do it? Nevermind console sales numbers, the 360 is absolutely destroying the PS3 in software sales. With few big name exclusives for the PS3 coming this year, I don't see that changing at all.

So it is questionable whether this is really needed or not...at least until the next gen's systems. If they can do it at a decent price then fine. I like the idea of a box that does everything but I personally wish gaming systems put all their concentration on games (and yes...that includes the 360's media downloads). The Nintendo Wii did it and it has become a blockbuster in console sales (not so much in software yet).

I really don't think an add-on would be more than $200

But if you add that with the cost of the 360, the PS3 becomes that much more of a bargain.

Another 200 dollars to make the 360 the best possible dual-format player? I think it's a pretty good bargain compared to the ones that are available now.

:hscratch: I already own the 360. I don't even want a PS3 for gaming.

Not until you realize that the 360 has a much, much better selection of games. There's about 2 ps3 exclusive games that are worth a darn, and the rest can be bought on the 360 and a whole bunch of worthy exclusive games...but that argument is best left for videogame talk.

I bought my ps3 for blu-ray only and will never buy more than 5 games on it (only own 1 - Time Crisis 3 - that I have had for two months and have played exactly one time. My 360 gets used on a near daily basis.

There are something like 18 million 360's sold worldwide. In theory that would allow 18 million people to get "Blu" compatible for around $200 if they wanted to. Unless I've missed something, there is no Blu player close to that price point.

Actually, last year HDM was .58% combined...Blu-ray would be somewhere around .38% of that.

Considering that 200$ is a hypothetical price point produced by this forum the analysis offered thus far is nothing more than wishful thinking. So, unless I missed something such a scenario is quite unbelievable.

Pro-B

The HD-Add on retailed for $179.99 when it came out on the market.
Is it so hard to believe that a blu-ray add on wouldn't be similiarly priced?