Xbox to trim the waistline and go Blu?

The Blu-ray train rumbles on with rumours that Xbox 360 is about to get its very own Blu-Ray drive. Even though Microsoft has constantly denied such claims, the rumour mill is once again running hot. One such claim is from a manufacturer called Lite-On, who is supposedly developing built-in Blu-ray disk drives for the “next generation” of the Xbox 360 console. Personally, I don’t know which bit is more exciting – the fact that Blu-Ray is coming to Xbox or the fact that we could be getting a slimmed down 360 sometime soon.

MyTake – Never forget that success in the games console industry comes through mass-market saturation – obvious right? But, you only get that when you get the console to a price that is right for the average Joe/Josephine and that’s just what Microsoft could be doing here. As the PS2 and the PS1 before it underwent a face lift and price drop, so too could the Xbox 360. The genius part will be if they can get Blu-Ray drives in a slimmed down machine and still come in at a lower price point than the PlayStation 3 – then we’ll have a fight on our hands!