Sure, I could throw a breaking headline at you, but this is all about killing off all those juicy rumours. As we know, Microsoft chose DVD for the Xbox 360, and allowed those interested to go HD DVD. Now, with the HD market turning towards Blu-ray, the rumour mill is working overtime: we"ve heard everything from "a Blu-ray add-on is inevitable", or more shockingly, that "the next 360 revision will support Blu-ray out-of-the-box". Here"s what is really happening. 1UP interviewed Jeff Bell, the Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing for Microsoft"s Interactive Entertainment Business, and got all the facts straightened out.
1UP: In the event that HD-DVD no longer becomes a viable alternative in the retail space, how do you think Microsoft will respond to that? Peter Moore had at once said, before you released the add-on, that he was open to the possibility of releasing a Blu-ray drive if that became the consumer choice. Is that something that"s still on the table for you guys?
Bell: You know, interestingly, we have a long history of partnership with Sony. Obviously, they run our software on their personal computers and other devices, so we have a "coopetition" -- a word I learned at Microsoft when I joined. We"ve been talking to Blu-ray all along because we have the best piece of software in the business, called HDi. It is the backbone that powers interactivity in HD-DVD and we have that available to potentially partner with others. You never say never. I think we"d like to see how things evolve. Our commitment, however, to HD-DVD is profound and consistent, and we have done very, very well in term of our accessory sales. We have 400 HD-DVD movies from great studios available. It"s a long time between now and June.