During an interview with Reuters at this year's CES trade show, Xbox group marketing manager, Albert Penello, suggested Microsoft would be willing to abandon their HD-DVD backing in place of creating a Blu-ray drive if it were a consumer demand.

"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider," Penello said. "I want consumers to have a voice in this and I think there are a lot of consumers who bought HD-DVD who are going to have a say in how this shakes out."

Warner Bros were the latest convert to Blu-ray exclusivity just over a week ago after the company declared they'd back Sony's format. "I fundamentally don't think... this has a significant impact on Xbox 360 versus (Sony's) PlayStation 3," Penello said in response to Warner's move. "With the PlayStation 2, DVD was a big part in the beginning, but over time, people were not buying it as a DVD player after the first year or two. You can't say it's not a bummer, not a setback, but I've seen this battle declared over so many times."

Given the Xbox 360's built-in drive is still only DVD-based, it makes sense they'd be ready to change their format backing at the drop of a hat. There are currently no plans in the M$ camp to release a machine with a built in HD-DVD drive, either, showing they are probably keeping an eye on how this little war pans out before they consider which way to go for their next machine. My money is on a dual player though, then everyone wins.

This just keeps getting worse...

Damn you Sony

/shakes fist

Why are people bitching about this? This can only be good seeing we have a clear next gen format. There will eventually be a machine that will be region free and everyone will settle the f*** down.

Every time you spell Blu-ray incorrectly, Sony kills a kitten.

DVDs have regions, apparently people didn't die from that. Plus many production companies are opting to not use region encoding or providing multiple region compatibility. In a sense its a step up from what we're experiencing with DVDs now.

lols. digital distribution is the next format nubs!

every time you obsess over nothing, someone masturbates

Alize, What are the advantages of this new regionalisation scheme ? other then if we are lucky some production houses may not use it.

DVDs have regions, apparently people didn't die from that.

Because years ago a couple of HW manufacturers realised it'd be an awesome selling point if they made devices in the favour of the consumers, and then everyone else had to start making them once consumers became educated enough to know that it was an option

Alize, What are the advantages of this new regionalisation scheme ? other then if we are lucky some production houses may not use it.

Well I'm not trying to say there'll be an advantage, it's just that everyone here is ranting like this region thing is a new plague on society when we've clearly been living with it for a long time.

you're silly

Well I'm not trying to say there'll be an advantage, it's just that everyone here is ranting like this region thing is a new plague on society when we've clearly been living with it for a long time.

Man, you are like a corporations ideal target - you've been screwed so long and so hard you're happy for it to be the status quo

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2007/11/sony_boss_says_blurayhddvd_war.html

Man, you are like a corporations ideal target - you've been screwed so long and so hard you're happy for it to be the status quo

Pretty much everything you buy these days has terms and conditions... I don't see why people get so uptight about DVDs.

Not such a big surprising really, I'm sure as much as MS liked to back the winner, at end of the day they still want to make phat lewt so they'll just give the consumers what they want.

uh no.

Microsoft wants both formats to fail, hence why they decided to back HDDVD when more studios were aligning with Bluray. They wanted to draw out the war, so even though they will align with Bluray, they really want the formats to fail as they don't make too much money out of it.

They are trying to get their own digital distribution all going through the Xbox 360 so they will effectively own and license their services to manufacturers.

Also, Microsoft has said they would always back the winner, even before the 360 launched in November 2005 so it's not like its new news that they would suddenly switch format support.

Every time you spell Blu-ray incorrectly, Sony kills a kitten.

Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray, Blue-Ray.

I f***ing hate cats.

Internet distribution is the future.

I think its over and Blu-ray is the winner.

ffs SchlockBuster and VideoSlezy alreeady have the Bluray discs to rent when hardly any c*** has a Bluray player (besides PS3).

Sony chucked lewt around and sucked corporate wang and won!

Every time you spell Blu-ray incorrectly, Sony kills a kitten puppy

There fixed :D

"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider," Penello said. "I want consumers to have a voice in this and I think there are a lot of consumers who bought HD-DVD who are going to have a say in how this shakes out."

Lol... They said the same about HDMI and after 18mths its standard on all new xboxes...

There is a reason the Hd-dvd is an attachment and not built into the 360... Why put your eggs in one basket??? They were always going to release the 360 before the Ps3 and with early uptake of HD-DVD not huge at the time.. Again good move by microsoft to take that idea up but Sony were onto a winner when they made the ps2 with dvd included and the Xbox had to follow...

Pretty much everything you buy these days has terms and conditions... I don't see why people get so uptight about DVDs.

And pretty much all the Terms and Conditions are heavily weighted in favour of the people that sold it to you. They're (usually) designed to do one thing - to limit your right to use whatever you've bought as much as absolutely possible so that if you want to get more value out of it, you have to upgrade.

The music/movie industries don't want you buying a CD/DVD and ripping it yourself to put on your ipod or whatever. They want you to buy the DVD, then buy the HD-DVD, then buy the ipod version, then buy the version that'll play on your computer.

DVD regioning exists because they don't want you importing a DVD from the USA - because they make more money selling it to you in the various regions. But if you want to buy, say, a Japanese anime DVD that isn't published in Australia, you're SOL - because your DVD drive won't play it (except it will, because region freedom is pretty much a standard part of DVD drives now).

The thing is, now the Internet is here, that sort of strategy just won't work - which I think is still a core misunderstanding of these industries. If people can't buy something easier than they can just download it off the internet for free, then well, they're not going to buy it.

So, my point is, you should be getting uptight about terms and conditions, especially when its just a repeat of the same bulls*** that the same companies have already pulled, and failed. It's just going to artificially drive up the costs, make everyone's life harder, and not actually solve any problems.

It should be consumer choice

would be cool if they adopted that attitude toward their software

Lol... They said the same about HDMI and after 18mths its standard on all new xboxes.

Er no they didn't. It's standard now yeah, but they never denied it on the grounds that you should have a choice. It's nothing like a built in HD optical drive, Microsoft have played this one smart IMO.

Microsoft: We're Still Committed to HD-DVD

Er no they didn't. It's standard now yeah, but they never denied it on the grounds that you should have a choice. It's nothing like a built in HD optical drive, Microsoft have played this one smart IMO.

Whatever dan.. At the time HDMI into 360s on mass was reported they ran with the line we're offering another 'choice' for consumers, i'm not saying it at all in a bad light its just an amusing idea that they'd have to offer a 'choice' to consumers regarding a connection or a modification to the console that ultimately provides the end user with a better product and see if its taken up.. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/48351

Its not that they've played this one smart, its the same strategy that they've used since the inception of the xbox.. again not knocking the idea but its not a grand new plan they've just formulated...