Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has promised that an external Blu-ray drive is coming to the Xbox 360.
During a recent interview on the future of Project Natal, the motion-control system for Xbox. Ballmer was asked if Microsoft plans to put Blu-ray into the games console.
Although he
told website Gizmodo that he doesn’t know if Blu-ray needs to be integrated into the console, Ballmer added that “you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories”.
Since the downfall of the HD DVD format, for which Microsoft famously produced a now defunct external Xbox 360 drive, the firm has been very cagey about the potential addition of Blu-ray to its console.
In fact, Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s Group Product Manager for the Xbox 360,
stated back in October 2008 that Microsoft had “no plans to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience”.
Perhaps Greenberg actually meant that Xbox 360s with integrated Blu-ray drives will never be produced and that external Blu-ray drives will arrive for the console? Who knows - it's certainly been rumoured often enough that one is on the way.
One thing we can be certain of, though, is that – according to the horse's mouth – Blu-ray is coming to the Xbox 360
Xbox 360 to go Blu, says Ballmer ? Register Hardware
Xbox 360 to go Blu-ray 
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