Sony & Microsoft discussing Blu-ray in XBox 360

[Blu Titan]

Well it appears that Blu-ray is gaining the respect of none other than Microsoft. I am 100% in support of this venture.

Report: Sony, Microsoft Discuss Blu-ray in Xbox 360
Author: ERIK GRUENWEDEL
egruenwedel@questex.com
Posted: March 6, 2008
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Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are reportedly in talks to incorporate Blu-ray in Xbox 360 video game systems.

Sony’s rival PlayStation 3 already has a Blu-ray Disc drive in its video game system.

Speaking at a media dinner March 3, Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics U.S., said Blu-ray could be incorporated in Microsoft’s Elite Xbox model or as an add-on, according to a report by the Financial Times online edition.

Until Toshiba Corp. last month withdrew rival format HD DVD from the market, Microsoft had offered a HD DVD drive addendum to Xbox 360 users.

Collaboration wouldn’t help sales of the PS3 or Xbox 360 as much as it would add incremental licensing revenue to Sony’s bottom line.

Glasgow said Sony was in talks with Apple Corp. about possible Blu-ray synergies with Mac computers.

He said HD packaged media was not in danger of being overtaken by electronic HD distribution due to bandwidth limitations.

“Downloading will build over time, but this will be over a period of years,” Glasgow said.

The president said retail prices for stand-alone Blu-ray players should drop $100 to $299 by the end of the year. Retail prices approaching $200 are considered to be the threshold for greater consumer adoption, according to analysts.

The executive said he expected that price to materialize in 2009.

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