Microsoft Corp"s Xbox video gaming unit still fully backs Toshiba Corp"s HD-DVD high-definition DVD format but could consider supporting Sony Corp"s rival Blu-ray technology should consumers want it, an executive said on Tuesday. "It should be consumer choice; and if that"s the way they vote, that"s something we"ll have to consider," Albert Penello, group marketing manager for Xbox hardware said when asked whether Microsoft would support a Blu-ray DVD accessory in the event that HD-DVD failed. Microsoft does not believe the surprise decision last week by Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros, the top seller of home movies, to abandon HD-DVD format in favor of Blu-ray should affect sales of its Xbox 360 video game console, Penello said.
"I fundamentally don"t think ... this has a significant impact on Xbox 360 versus (Sony"s) PlayStation 3," Penello told Reuters in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "With the PlayStation 2, DVD was a big part in the beginning, but over time, people were not buying it as a DVD player after first year or two," Penello said. The Xbox 360 supports a plug-in HD-DVD accessory that is bought separately, while Sony, hoping to give its next-generation video format a leg up, built a Blu-ray player into its PlayStation 3 machine. "You can"t say it"s not a bummer, not a setback, but I"ve seen this battle declared over so many times," Penello said of Warner"s decision. "I want consumers to have a voice in this and I think there are a lot of consumers who bought HD-DVD who are going to have a say in how this shakes out."