With the history of rumored Blu-ray add-ons for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, one would think there's at least a little truth behind them.
But Microsoft has repeatedly swatted down these stories, most recently with Entertainment and Services Division President Robbie Bach offering a lengthy explanation for why there are no plans to add Blu-ray.
.jpg)
First of all, Bach said in an interview with TechFlash, people aren't particularly interested. "When you ask people the list of things they want to see us spending time creating in Xbox, Blu-ray is way, way down on the list," he said.
Also, adding Blu-ray now would do nothing for the 28 million people (he just loves to flaunt that shiny new figure) that already own the console. Since Blu-ray wasn't a built-in feature at launch, game developers wouldn't be able to use the technology anyway.
Furthermore, it's expensive. Without any benefits to the Xbox 360's gaming aspect, Bach said it just wouldn't be worth raising the price of the console, especially when there aren't many requests for Blu-ray to begin with.
Bach is happy with the current combination of downloadable HD video and streaming movies from Netflix, and it appears consumers will have to be satisfied with those options as well.
What's different this time around? Bach's comments are the farthest Microsoft has strayed from a canned PR statement. Xbox 360 product manager Aaron Greenberg offered some insightful comments during the last round of bogus reports, but nothing compared to Bach's well-articulated rationale. If Bach can't kill the rumors, no one can.
