Microsoft's Xbox could consider Blu-ray support
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Microsoft Corp's  Xbox video  gaming unit still fully backs Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) HD-DVD  high-definition DVD format but could consider supporting Sony  Corp's (6758.T) rival Blu-ray technology should consumers want  it, an executive said on Tuesday.
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Giant denies it's working on a console Microsoft will not build an HD DVD drive into a future Xbox 360 because it doesn't want to "limit the user's experience", an insider at fellow HD DVD backer Toshiba has said.â¦
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Toshiba&#39;s announcement to end production of HD DVD players and recorders will not affect the Xbox 360, even though Microsoft offers an optional stand-alone HD DVD drive for the game console, Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday.&quot;We do not believe&#160;Toshiba&#39;s announcement about HD DVD&#160;will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace,&quot; Microsoft said. The gaming function of the console is its main attraction, the company added.The company&#160;did not say whether or not it will stop manufacturing the HD DVD drive&#160;for the Xbox 360.Earlier Tuesday, Toshiba formally announced an end to its support of HD DVD, a high-definition optical disc format meant to replace DVDs. Toshiba was the developer and main backer of HD DVD, and its capitulation handed victory to rival format Blu-ray Disc, which has been championed by Sony.Toshiba said its decision came after careful analysis of the long-term impact of continuing the format war, and said a swift decision was called for to help the high-definition market develop.For game consoles, high-definition discs are growing in importance. Sony put Blu-ray Disc drives in the PlayStation 3 as a way to spread popularity of the high-definition discs. PlayStation 3 owners can play HD movies on the drives as well as advanced games. Blu-ray discs can hold far more data than conventional DVDs, and give players high definition graphics on games.At a recent game show in Taipei, Sony showed off a display of over 100 game titles created using Blu-ray Disc. A nearby Xbox 360 booth displayed the HD DVD logo and showed movies and just a few games made for the format.Recent&#160;changes in the market prompted Toshiba&#39;s decision&#160;to phase out HD DVD. Early this year, Warner Bros. said it would stop issuing movies on HD DVD in the coming months and rely exclusively on Blu-ray Disc. The Hollywood studio was one of three major studios remaining in the HD DVD camp, and its defection created widespread belief that the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc was now over.More recently, major U.S. retail chain Wal-Mart announced it would phase out the sale of HD DVD products, moving to exclusivity with Blu-ray Disc. Electronics retailer Best Buy also said it would back Blu-ray Disc, but it did not say it would stop offering HD DVD.&#160;
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The Xbox video game console and software for viewing movies on TV screens have brought Microsoft Corp.  into customers' living rooms, Chairman Bill Gates said on Wednesday, and new partnerships will help the software maker expand outside the PC arena.
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Efforts by Microsoft Corp. and the PC industry to expand into to the living room will get a boost next week as they show off technologies that try to balance Hollywood&#39;s piracy fears with the appeal of digital media.
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Blu-ray on Wednesday said Microsoft Corp.  has won the DVD technology group's backing of a video compression standard for new high-definition discs, marking an advance for the software maker in an emerging consumer electronics arena.
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Microsoft began offering access to hundreds of television programs and movies through the Xbox Live service Wednesday in both high- and standard-definition. Downloads would range in price from 160 to 480 Microsoft points.
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HD DVD or die! Microsoft today stressed that it believes HD DVD is the best optical disc for consumers and that it has no plans to support Blu-ray Disc on the Xbox 360, despite recent comments from company staffers that it might.â¦
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No matter what Toshiba decides to do about HD DVD, Microsoft says the decision will have little bearing on the Xbox 360 game console, for which the Redmond company sells and HD DVD add-on.
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Sony is planning to launch a Blu-ray Disc player in the middle of this year that's significantly cheaper than many current models on the market.
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Blu-ray owners may be frozen out of developments because their machines are not upgradeable.
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Sony and blue-laser diode maker Nichia have developed a component that they say is vital to realizing support for Blu-ray Disc and DVD discs in portable devices, they announced this week.
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Blu-ray on Wednesday said Microsoft  Corp. MSFT.O has won the DVD technology group's backing of a  video compression standard for new high-definition discs,  marking an advance for the software maker in an emerging  consumer electronics arena.
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Plus: Microsoft to release three versions of Xbox 2. [News.com Extra]
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With the next-generation console battle about to heat up for the holidays, Microsoft Corp. is hoping that going wireless will help draw in consumers to its Xbox 360 system.
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Walt Disney Co. said on Wednesday it would support the Blu-ray standard for next-generation DVDs backed by Sony Corp., but kept open its options for a rival format championed by Toshiba Corp.
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com December 29, 2004, 1:40 PM PT. A new Blu-ray and DVD hybrid disc could bring some relief to consumers weary of the format war, but will it be enough for the increasingly fractured market?