Daddy Gamer

Hell is freezing over or pigs are flying somewhere around Redmond, Washington. Rumor has it that Microsoft is toying with the idea of producing a Blu-ray player for the Xbox360. I recently ran into articles in the blogosphere that Australian hackers, Smarthouse broke the news. The 180-degree-decision could have come amidst the news the everybody and their mother will be supporting the Blu-ray movie format. I’m also looking into news that Netflix will be streaming Blu-ray movies to a video game console near you soon.

How much will this cost Xbox360 owners though? Everybody, including myself, jumped all over Sony for releasing a $600 video game console with the Playstation 3. I’m eating my words now, of course. A standalone Blu-ray player runs for about $600. This makes the Playstation 3 a damn good option when you consider its gaming, internet, photo and video capabilities. Will consumers fork out a $400 Blu-ray add-on?

Don’t do it Microsoft. There’s nothing wrong with keeping the 360 a video game player only. Take a cue from Nintendo. Just play the games but play them well.

Looks like Sony is on a comeback route. Toshiba announced recently that it will no longer produce HDDVD players. Netflix also said that they’ll only stock Blu-ray videos in their inventory. Movie studios including Warner Brothers and Universal will only support Blu-ray as well. Blu-ray seems to have won the next gen video format battle. This also means that the Playstation 3 became a more attractive option to budget-minded parents looking to upgrade to the next-best-thing in home videos and satisfy the video gamers at home. I purchased a 80 Gb Playstation 3 last Christmas and have been very satisfied with its performance at a Blu-ray player and a video game system. The sound and video quality through a HDMI connection is next to none.