News.blog: Microsoft, Sony talk 360 Blu-ray drive

CNET.co.uk's sister site Gamespot.co.uk posted a news blurb on a report that "Microsoft has entered into talks with Sony to bring Blu-ray to the Xbox 360". The report comes from a Financial Times story that quotes an unnamed "senior executive", who says that Sony and Microsoft "are not simply discussing a successor to the Xbox 360's now discontinued, dirt-cheap external HD DVD drive", but that "there is also the possibility of an internal Blu-ray drive being incorporated into a new, more expensive 'premium' 360 model".

At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Xbox group marketing manager Albert Penello alluded to the possibility of a Blu-ray option for the 360. However, Penello wasn't talking today and Microsoft denied that it had made any official move to Blu-ray.

While you could argue that having a built-in Blu-ray drive is now a competitive advantage for the PS3, Sony stands to make millions in licensing fees for the technology if Microsoft adopts it. That possibility presumably trumps the potential edge Blu-ray might give the PS3.

As for Microsoft, at a certain point it has to consider going Blu -- partially because premium game titles are beginning to push the limits of a DVD's 8.5GB storage capacity. The PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4, due out in June, apparently fills an entire Blu-ray disc, though it's unclear whether it's a single-layer 25GB disc or 50GB dual-layer disc.