Blu Ray not coming to Xbox 360 after all, because, apparently, you don’t want it.

Doth Microsoft protest too much?

Last week we reported on a rumour stating that the Xbox 360 would be getting its own Blu Ray player by as early as the end of this year. And there was much rejoicing.

But Microsoft has again banished that rumour to way outside the Garden of Things I Actually Want, and reminded all of us, the consumers, that you bought your 360 to play GAMES on, not watch movies.

As we’ve said before, Microsoft has no plans to introduce an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on. Games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available. (edge)

Hurm. A pretty ballzy quote from a company that wants its console to be the centre of my digital entertainment system.

It is plainly obvious that games are but one facet of digital entertainment that Microsoft is focussing on. The HD-DVD player add-on may have been little more than a competitive stunt, but it was a welcome one. Now that it’s dead, MS’s partnership with Netflix, which allows for streaming of HD content directly to the 360, has the potential to eliminate the need for a hardware movie format altogether. With the online headset and chatpad, it can be used as an online communication device, and with the new Dashboard, you’ll be able to sit in your living room and watch a movie with your friends online. The 360 is certainly more than just a gaming console.

But Xbox 360 group product manager Aaron Greenberg still insists that not only is Blu Ray not coming, we wouldn’t want it if it was. He laid it out for Major Nelson in no uncertain terms:

“We have no plans to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience,” Greenberg told Major Nelson, cementing the corporate response given earlier.

“We believe that we shouldn’t force consumers to pay for things they don’t want. We also believe that the future’s digital, and that’s why we’ve invested in a massive library of entertainment content.”

Despite promising to keep the “gloves on”, Greenberg proceeded to question not only sales, availability and price of the format, but also its long-term future.

“No one knows,” he said, “no one knows what Blu-ray will be. It’s pretty clear it is not the next DVD, right? The days of one physical format being the standard are gone.

“Let’s say right now we’re not sure if it’s the next UMD or the next DVD,” added Greenberg, suggesting “it got Blu-rayed” will be the expression for future products in this perceived grey area.

“I went to Sony’s [TGS] booth, and their Blu-ray presence…It used to be like their whole booth was Blu-ray. It just keeps shrinking down. Now it’s just this little corner and there’s no one there,” he said. (via Eurogamer)

Um, alright. I’m no fancy big-city lawyer or nothin’, but it seems to me that if every major movie studio is putting out their movies in a certain format, then that, my friend, is the format to follow. To say something like “The days of one physical format being the standard are gone” is to do little more than try to steer people’s attention away from the fact that Microsoft backed the wrong horse with its HD-DVD player. I’m also not entirely sure how selling an optional add-on payer is “[forcing] consumers to pay for things they don’t want.” Especially considering, for $150, I want it.

For all of Microsoft’s denials, the rumours of a 360 BD player are not only getting more and more common, but they are also getting more and more specific. When you consider these rumours, as well as the facts that not everyone lives in the US, not everyone is on Hi-Speed Internet, and many of us like to actually collect and own our movies, it seems like a Blu Ray player for the 360 is an inevitability.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

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