Microsoft Again Dismisses New Blu-Ray Rumors

"Technology company Microsoft has again quelled rumors of an up-and-coming Xbox 360 running on Blu-ray technology.

A released statement denying the rumors counts as the second time the company has battled against hearsay, all of which circled around the assumption that the Xbox 360 will be adapting to the newer Blu-ray upon the death of its original HD DVD format.

The rumors this time involved technology manufacturer Lite-On, which would supposedly be creating the Blu-ray format products for Microsoft.

"Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray devices for Xbox 360," said a spokesperson for the company, as quoted by Bit-Tech. "As we have stated, games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available."

The spokesman went on to say that Microsoft consumers will be provided with "premium movie experience" by the library of HD content, as well as the playback feature of DVDs shown in high definition.

According to TechRadar, Official Xbox 360 editor Jon Hicks stated that he was "not surprised" that Microsoft adamantly denied the rumors.

"If they were going to announce something like this then they would certainly not do it right now," he said. "As I've said in the past, they haven't ruled out Blu-ray on 360, and if we ever were to see anything, then I would imagine it would be announced much nearer to Christmas."

The Blu-ray format has quickly been raking in supporters, from technology companies to video retail stores, ever since it quashed the competing HD DVD in the format wars a few months ago."

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Xbox 360 Blu-ray Drive in Development?

"Quoting inside sources, DigiTimes yesterday reported on a story that the Taiwan-based company Lite-On is currently in development of an internal Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360 game console. The same sources state that shipments of the drive will begin in the second half of 2008 along with the "next-generation of Xbox 360 game consoles," fueling speculation that a console more powerful than Xbox 360's currently high-end model, the Elite, could be on the way as early as this holiday.

Microsoft has made conflicting statements regarding their Blu-ray intentions over the past several months and have neither confirmed nor denied DigiTimes' claims. Stay tuned to IGN DVD for more."

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