Recently Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, commented that Blu-ray drives ”as accessories” would be coming to the Xbox 360 console, but Major Nelson affirms there’s ”no plans”.
Microsoft has also addressed analyst Michael Pachter’s comments that they’ll be increasing Xbox Live subscriptions to around $100. They ”don’t foresee a scenario” in months ahead.
”Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there - you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories,” said CEO Ballmer in an interview with Gizmodo. No they won’t be coming out Mr Ballmer, because your loyal Xbox 360-ite, Major Nelson, has clarified what you really meant.
”During an interview yesterday, Steve Ballmer was asked about Blu-Ray and the Xbox 360. I wanted to clear something up. Steve was referring to Blu-Ray accessories for the PC,” blogged Nelson.
”As we have said in the past, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360. In fact, the future of home entertainment starts very soon when Xbox 360 becomes the first and only console to offer instant-on 1080p streaming HD movies,” he went on.
Okay so those Blu-ray drive dreams for Xbox 360 are smashed once more, but what about Wedbush Morgan’s analyst Michael Pachter and his prediction of Xbox Live price hiking?
Pachter notes that Microsoft will soon be offering ‘tiered’ levels of subscription membership, much like TV packages from providers, and that’ll mean $50 will double to $100 for Gold users.
”I don’t foresee a scenario where we’re going to double the price of Live anytime in the next couple months,” Microsoft’s David Dennis told PC World, which isn’t exactly a denial.
Dennis also touched on the very recent third-party storage device banning, and defended their choices: ”Accessory pricing is certainly something we’ve heard a lot about from consumers,” he noted. ”That said, we go to great lengths to ensure the accessories we’re selling are high quality.”
”The fact that people continue to purchase our accessories over a lot of third-party alternatives in many instances shows that people do gravitate toward the ones they know they can trust.” I’m sure it wouldn’t have anything to do with fearing third-party lockouts…
What does your gaming brain tell you, videogamer? Will Blu-ray drives ever reach 360 shores? Will Microsoft jack up the Xbox Live annual price tag? Will accessory gouging continue?
