A Blu-ray addon for Xbox 360?

Philip Wong | Feb 19, 2008

Though Microsoft has been maintaining an Xbox 360 addon approach for the benefits of user choice, this may well be part of its foresight for a quick exit in the event that the format war goes either way. Take the S$299 external HD-DVD drive. The Redmond company could easily strike it off its inventory overnight without the burden of a costly console write-off. To further thicken the plot, it has never official denied the possibility of a Blu-ray equivalent, which is probably in the pipeline anyway with the current hostility against its partners' HD-DVD format.

Could it have been a drastically different picture if Microsoft had implemented full HD audio and video support for the addon drive? Think onboard Dolby TrueHD decoding for example. We reckon not only will the console have won the hearts of both gamers and home theater enthusiasts, this might even have given HD-DVD a much-needed boost similar to the advantage that PlayStation 3 has contributed for Blu-ray.

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