Microsoft had the choice before launching the Xbox 360:

Launch the Xbox 360 with a HD-DVD drive built in meaning 2x read speed also meaning doing what you have to do with Sony games and do lengthy installs etc.

Which then means the price would have to be much higher, which then could mean fewer Xbox 360's in people's homes.

Sony launched later did some messing about with hardware configurations but the point being the blu-ray drive is their key element they took the chance with it and prevailed.

Although being originally a much more expensive option due to the amount of technology in the PS3.

Thing is Microsoft has billions and billions of dollars but obviously it will look bad on them if they are selling Xbox 360's at a loss and share holders won't be soo keen either.

Its all about making profits and making the company looking good, and am very surprised that Lite-on blu-ray drives cost that much thats just way too much! Sony must be taking a huge hit on each PS3 sold then!

Either way if Microsoft want to include a blu-ray player in the 360 then it will have to stay as a player only since they will obviously seclude millions of 360 owners if the new machine can play blu-ray games but at the same time meaning a lot more caching and some installing given the 2x read speed.

An add-on would be best in some ways for many but there are many out there like myself that would happily trade in their console for the newer better one.

Today's April 2nd. April Fool's Day is over.

Err, if I'm not mistaken, today's "update" is just speculation piled on top of the rumor of an Xbox BluRay drive...it is neither further evidence, nor does it lend any credibility whatsoever to the initial rumor. I noticed this blurb elsewhere and discounted it as mere theory, much as the Immersion settlement led to speculation that Sony would end up paying MS for rumble technology...it was a sound theory, given the language of the settlement, and if MS' legal department have anything to say about it, may yet come to pass...

Could this actually be a legitimate story? Sure, it could, but I'm not sure it meets that hurdle at the moment, sounds too much like something someone came up with on their own, given the rumor and a few facts. Stepping further away from calling this entire Xbox BluRay deal a rumor was a mistake, until and unless it demonstrably isn't...and it obviously still is, or someone would be screaming from the treetops that this isn't just a rumor.

Same author for both the original rumor (which also included some apparently incorrect factual items, degrading confidence in this information further) and this elaboration, so the base of sources hasn't widened either.

Indeed - hence the question mark in the header and the pouring of scorn on the end... and now the update.

Cheers

tim

Indeed... see the updated story.

Cheers

tim