Blu-ray not coming. Officially. Until it does. The Xbox Blu-ray drive would be great, if someone would just prove it's real.
It's the rumour that just won't die - Microsoft is planning to introduce a Blu-ray drive for its Xbox 360 games console in the wake of the death of HD-DVD.
Indeed, reports from Taiwan are that Asus had even secured order to supply drives, which would ship as part of the 'Jasper' update for the 360 platform later this year.
But, proving that their line is nothing if not persistant, Microsoft has categorically denied that it has any plans to introduce Blu-ray.
Responding to a query from Gamepro, a Microsoft official said that "As we have stated, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360." That's pretty categorical, although the obvious caveat is that there are 'no plans that this particular PR chump knows about'. What J Allard and co get up to in their own time is between consenting adults.
It does seem unlikely that Microsoft can continue to ship honking quantities of 360s in the face of a very obvious one-up from Sony on the features front. Even if the Blu-ray drive does arrive, don't expect it to be standard, and don't expect any games in the format either - Microsoft has far too many standard DVD consoles out their to even think about cheesing off existing owners.