With the recent downpour from various film production companies announcing full support of the Blu-ray high-definition media format, Microsoft seemed, simply put, screwed. As the backers of the rival format, HD DVD, Microsoft created an optional HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360. Most speculated that this feature would be rendered obsolete in the near future. Although, of course, Blu-ray will never work on this particular drive, Albert Penello, director of global marketing for the Xbox 360, stated that the company would be able to ship a Blu-ray drive if Sony’s format became the new standard. Apparently, Microsoft never even considered plans for integrating the HD DVD drive into the 360 itself. Despite opening up this new option, Penello still assures us all that Microsoft will not give up on HD DVD just yet. Saying, “Until Toshiba goes out of business, this war is not over,” he argued that consumers actually prefer HD DVD, and the studios simply made the wrong choice. If, as is currently most likely, HD DVD dies out, all Xbox 360 users can rest assured that Blu-ray will be available for them as well without a standalone player.

via [betanews]