By David Carnoy, CNET.com
05/05/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/others/0,39037627,62040962,00.htm

Following HD-DVD's demise, there's been a lot speculation that Microsoft would add a Blu-ray option to the Xbox 360. The latest rumor has a subsidiary of Asus, Pegatron Technology, making a premium Blu-ray-equipped version of the Xbox 360 that will arrive in time for the holidays. This one follows on the heels of a report that Lite-On was going to be the one making the Blu-ray drives for Microsoft's game console.

If you speak Chinese, you can translate the Asus rumor from Economic Daily News, a publication that Gizmodo calls a "Taiwanese rag". While we may not have tremendous faith in the specifics of the rumor, Taiwanese companies aren't known to keep secrets all that well (that's a gross generalization based on a few comments we've heard from industry insiders, but we believe it). And it does seem logical that Microsoft will add a Blu-ray option to help eliminate any perceived advantage that Sony might have with the PlayStation 3.

All that said, don't expect Microsoft to put out any games on Blu-ray anytime soon. With the current Xbox 360 installed base having only a DVD drive to play with, Microsoft would be looking at movie playback, not gaming.

Of course, the rumors could be wrong and Microsoft could simply put out an external Blu-ray drive similar to its discontinued HD-DVD drive offering. Or perhaps there will be a premium Xbox 360 with Blu-ray, as well as a separate Blu-ray external drive for current owners. Sounds inevitable, right?