I think Microsoft will eventually come around and support Blu-ray.  It will probably be painfully slow, but they tend to give into consumer demands.  I really don't think it will help their sales when the next generation of consoles comes out and they are STILL using regular dvds for their games.  If they realize that they will eventually have to concede to the new standard, there is no reason not to implement on the xbox 360 sooner rather than later and give consumers a reason not to buy the PS3 for the gaming and Blu-ray support.

I think it will happen to Microsoft was quoted during ces saying if users demand it they will add it. I can't see how they can't do it at this point with their competitor doing it.

I think it will happen, although it will take some time to get it out to consumers.  However, one wildcard which remains to be seen, is how long ago did Microsoft start working on the BluRay Drive device?  There have been rumors of this over the past year, when along at the same time HD-DVD sales have lost their lead in sales.

I'm not sure about the standalone drive within the next 3 months,  but I'm sure within the next 6-9 months we will see a BluRay drive.  If they do not do this, it gives PS3 another virtual incentive for possible Gamers who may also want to watch HD movies outside of Microsoft Live.

Lastly, just because we have not seen a HD-DVD integrated Xbox 360 hit the market place does not mean they have not been working on it.  In the same sense that we know Microsoft internal can stream DVD's to Extenders, but they have not released it to the public.  A lot of work goes in at the R+D level to see what can be created, and many of those devices will never make it to the marketplace due to a variety of reasons.

Only time will tell!

The reasons given seem to assume Microsoft cannot change its stance on anything ever. I find this to be untrue - they've very much reversed positions in the past when there was profit to be had. For example, the Zune and 360 didn't support quite a few codecs in their release incarnations - yet later on, gained quite a bit of support. I just don't think Microsoft is as inflexible as you think, even when it means competing with their own technology.

Besides, not liking BD+ or BD-J does not mean they won't implement it. Consider the following:
1. They'll need Blu-Ray support for a next-gen console (if they use optical media).
2. They'll need Blu-Ray support to keep Media Center feature competitive.
3. They'll want a Blu-Ray drive and associated support for the 360 to keep competitive with the PS3, and on its own as a good high-margin peripheral.

There should be a _lot_ of internal support for developing in-house support for BD+ and BD-J. That's not the same as an imminent release of a BR-D drive for the 360 - but it does indicate that your premise of "Microsoft will never do it" is dubious.

erwos
1) Sony themselves said the nextgen Playstation won't have an optical drive.  It will all be digital download
2) and 3) Microsoft said they will add Blu-ray IF CONSUMERS DEMAND IT.  I don't see huge consumer demand.  There are 10.5 million PS3s yet they've only sold a couple million Blu-ray dics.  Blu-ray adoption has actually been slower than UMD at the same point in their life cycle's.  HD-DVD/Blu-ray format way will likely go the way of the SACD/DVD-Audio war.  SACD "won" but even Sony removed support for it from the new PS3 models.  It's their own format, it "won", and it costs Sony nothing to have it (it requires no additional hardware in the PS3), yet they gave up on it due to consumer apathy.  Most consumers can't tell the difference between upscaled DVDs and Blu-ray anyway and are ignorant of the particulars of HD in general (my local Best Buy actually demos Blu-ray on an HD set hooked up to the PS3 via the included COMPOSITE cable) so they won't pay a premium for the priviledge any more than they did for SACDs.  MP3s and iTunes (with its inferior audio quality) ended up winning where SACD couldn't because consumers liked the convenience.  Blu-ray doesn't offer a substantially different movie experience the same way DVD did to VHS.   Improved image quality alone wasn't enough to make VHS owners go to Laserdisc.   Price, convenience, novelty, new features, audio/video quality.  On a typical consumer system (Wal-mart $600 HD set, two built-in speakers), Blu-ray offers nothing new except maybe two minute menu loads on any Pixar title that dares to use BD-J.  

BTW, the BDA better hope there isn't a huge surge in standalone Blu-ray sales by Joe Sixpack because of this announcement or they'll be in for a PR nightmare.  All those affordable $200-$350 Blu-ray players at Best Buy and Circuit City are obsoleted Samsung/LG/Sony 1.0 players, half of which won't even play BD+ discs without a firmware update if at all (see the class action lawsuits) and have massive problems with Java.  While early adopters have been somewhat forgiving of Blu-ray's profile changes and growing pains, the average consumer isn't likely to be and won't take "Go to our website, download an ISO, burn a CD-R, then flash the firmware, but be careful not to brick it" answer they'll get from customer support.

To say MS will never offer hardware/software that will support Blue-ray is too bold a statement.

If BD takes off in the market, MS isn't going to shoot themselves in the foot and absolutely refuse to sell competative products.  I can see them trying once again to get some other format to work (likely over the internet), but if the BD becomes even a small fraction as popular as DVD in the future, MS will definitely sell products that support BD, including future Xbox's.

The reason for this is money.  Money ultimately drives everything that MS (and every other large company) does.  Many of us are convinced that MS is often highly misguided (no softsled, no DVD streaming to extenders, etc.), but if something is clear (like the popularity of DVDs), they will most certainly do the right thing and make sure their product can compete.

If MS isn't willing to offer what consumers want, they may as well give up on this entire market segment (Media Center, Extenders, etc.) right now.

I still predict that the future of Media Center/Extenders/etc. will either start to align with what consumer wants (worldwide HD TV sources for MC, shared DRM'd Recorded TV with other Media Center PCs, mpeg-4 extender support, DVD streaming, Blue-ray support, etc.) or Media Center will ultimately be dropped altogether.  MS can't keep being so stubborn without dropping out of this industry all together.  Upper management will only support product lines that aren't making money for so long...

Re: Money

Interesting, because the addition of Blu-ray to the Xbox 360 (being internal) would cost Microsoft a significant amount that they might not recoop before the launch of the next Xbox.  Xbox finally is making a profit, spending millions on integrating Blu-ray into a 2+ year old game console might not be the smartest move in terms of money.  Remember, this would be for playback only you can't publish games on BD because then you lose out of the existing ~18 million units out there.

Also, DVDs are popular, but Blu-ray Discs are a very small % of sales.  Xbox 360 supports the most popular format now.

The Xbox vNEXT/720 is likely ~2 years off.  Do you spend and lose money now, or wait and reevaluate when in years when the market is larger and when you have a new Xbox on the way anyway?

I'm conflicted.  I see everyone's points, but I just don't see it making sense for the Xbox 360.

Well, look at it this way:
1. The HD-DVD add-on sold about 300k units. If they had anything resembling a margin on that, they actually did make millions of dollars. BR drives should only get cheaper, so it's not unreasonable to expect to see those become profitable, too.
2. A lot of the work for BR-D is already done on the AV side. It should not be overly expensive to get the BD+ and BD-J stuff working in comparison. In a pinch, they can license it from someone else.
3. BR-D's market share now is small, but so was DVD's in comparison to VHS at first. It will get bigger, and the first people to demand it are going to be the Media Center crowd, and then the console users.

Really, if it was worthwhile to make the HD-DVD drive, it's going to be worthwhile to make the BR-D drive. IMHO, I still like digital downloads better, but no one has stepped up to the plate to make them quality-competitive with BR-D or HD-DVD (eg, high-bitrate 1080p H.264 video with full-bitrate TrueHD tracks). Until that happens, optical media is here to stay.

1.  The HD DVD add-ons sold for well below what they cost to build at the time.  This is why retail PC HD DVD drives where significantly more than the Xbox add-on.  Toshiba lost money, Microsoft lost money.  Toshiba lost billions all around.  The idea of a successful format is not to make money upfront, it's to have it succeed in the market so you can collect on your IP.

2.  Well, you have to license the technology to begin with.  Microsoft can't build their own and forget about licensing.  They did so with iHD but it was theirs to start with.

3.  Exactly my point.  It will get larger, so why put development time and thought into an old console when the market it small?  You lose money by wasting time on development, early licensing of technologies like BD+ and BD-J, and you have to find an OEM who can supply low-cost BD drives.  Your not going to make an external BD drive for under $200 and still be profitable.

I completely disagree with all of this.  I'm not saying I don't want to see BD in the Xbox, but the idea for including it in the Xbox 360 was to count Sony including it in the PS3.  It was a poor counter, but pushing the HD DVD format was what mattered.  With Blu-ray the clear winner, putting force behind it in the Xbox 360 isn't needed at all.  It does nothing from Microsoft's point of view.

You folks talking about a Blu Ray drive making sense for 360 aren't business persons, I'd wager. :)

MS already has a mature digital delivery system in place that is only going to gain more marketshare as time goes on.  Blu Ray is a stopgap that will never even get close to DVD's ubiquity.  The only reason MS even released the HD-DVD add on was to try to hurt Sony; they know that just as happened with music, digital downloads will before long (within 2 to 4 years I'd say) be competitive with and and trending towards dominance over, optical discs (DVD for the most part, and some Blu Ray).

I'd agree with Chris that Blu-ray for the Xbox360 makes no sense.

Besides, there are those that think that MS backed HD-DVD so heavily to try and prolong the format war and delay widespread take-up of Blu-ray in order to strengthen their own position as hi-def downloads become more common place.

MS didn't really care who won the battle, they just wanted them to keep slugging while they crept round to the back door.

I’ve gotten a fair amount of reaction to the various articles I’ve posted on Microsoft and Blu-ray, and

I’ve gotten a fair amount
of
reaction to the various articles I’ve posted on Microsoft and Blu-ray,...