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Radioactive IT A Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360 ready to roll
Radioactive IT A Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360 ready to roll | A Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360 ready to roll |
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| by Mike Bantick | |
| Thursday, 09 October 2008 | |
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With the demise of the Toshiba and Microsoft (amongst others) backed HD-DVD high definition disc format earlier in the year, there have been many a murmur and sighting of a mysterious external (or in some cases internal) Blu-ray disc (BD) drive to replace the HD-DVD option. This time around the story comes from the Xbit Labs site via ‘market sources’ that there are plans afoot to release an external BD drive if demand is realised. According to the report: Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology Corp., a joint venture between Samsung Electronics and Toshiba Corp., has been contracted to manufacture external Blu-ray disc drives for Microsoft Xbox 360 game console. While the exact specifications of the product are unknown, it is rumoured that Microsoft aims at $100 - $150 price-point for the device in order to compete against Sony PlayStation 3 with Xbox 360 + external Blu-ray drive combination. This looks like a safe bet, that is, a company suggesting they might join a market if they are able to AND demand is there. So the question of a Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive manifesting looks to be more around the sale of Blu-ray HD movies rather than any particular failing seen with the current Xbox 360 platform. With Blu-ray movie sales still seen as sluggish, I wouldn’t hold my breath for an Xbox 360 add on to occur. Microsoft are reluctant to admit any Xbox 360 functionality deficiency using the current DVD9 drive for games. Compared to the theoretical 50GB limit of a dual layered Blu-ray disc, the current Xbox 360 drive relies on the tried and true multiple disc solution to large games. Generally this is not an issue, and compared to the load times of (especially earlier) PS3 BD based games, is almost favourable. But the BD drive is most definitely a selling point for the PS3, and attempting to capture at least some of this market – in the event the high definition format truly takes off – must be high on the agenda of Xbox executives at Microsoft.
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