Dual-layer Blu-ray discs are so 2006. The new hotness is Pioneer's just-developed, 16-layer Blu-ray disc (pictured above) with a whopping 400GB of writable storage space. For reference, that disc could hold roughly eight copies of Metal Gear Solid 4, 187 copies of Final Fantasy VII, or 1.25 million copies of the original Super Mario Bros.

The new discs require a special "wide-range spherical aberration compensator and light-receiving element" to detect the weaker laser signal, so don't plan on sticking one of these data-bloated monstrosities into your existing PS3. That said, the next generation of game consoles could support this new disc system, which is fully backward-compatible with existing Blu-ray discs. Of course, by the next generation, game systems might not be using optical discs at all, so who knows what the future will hold.

Well, it's tomorrow, and despite yesterday's rumor that Microsoft would be announcing a Blu-ray equipped Xbox 360 today (that's yesterday's tomorrow, for those of you confused by that first clause), so far we've so far heard bupkis. In fact, we've heard less than bupkis if you take into account the San Francisco Chronicle interview with Robbie Bach, in which the Microsoft Entertainment & Devices president downplays disc-based movie formats and stresses Microsoft's HD video downloads.

"Xbox 360 has a great ability to deliver [high-definition experience] through the Xbox Live (online download) service," Bach said. "It's a great way to get the high-definition concept because it's right there. There's no additional media. There is nothing you need to purchase ... You have to look at how fundamentally compelling the difference is between a progressive scan DVD player and the picture that it can produce and what you get on a high-definition player. The reality is there is some difference, but most people look at it and say, 'I am not going to pay extra for that.'"

The full interview also includes Bach's thoughts on in-game ads, the next-next-gen Xbox, and motion-sensitive controllers. Check it out.

Tech blog CrunchGear is reporting that an inside source at Microsoft who was a former member of the company's HD-DVD department has confirmed that the company will announce that the "Xbox 360 will get Blu-ray before Christmas" via a press release set to go out at 9 a.m. PDT. Details about the supposed system are slim, though the tipster confirmed that the new model will cost less than an Elite model ($449.99).

The announcement is supposed to drop one hour before the opening of the Worldwide Developer's Conference in order to steal the spotlight from Apple's annual event. Kind of a bizarre move on Microsoft's part -- we doubt announcing a new model of your gaming console will overshadow an entire conference-worth of Apple-related news stories. As per usual with rumors (especially ones involving Blu-ray 360s), we'll keep our standard level of skepticism at heart as we refresh our mailboxes tomorrow morning.

[Via X3F]

The UK's "semi-official" PlayStation blog, ThreeSpeech, has posted up an interview with SCEI head honcho Kaz Hirai, covering a range of topics including those little things that make a console stand out to consumers: exclusive games.

Hirai says it's no longer a question of paying publishers for exclusives, but rather whether third-parties can afford to release a game on only one platform, period. Sony's role, according to Hirai, is to work with publishers to make the PS3 releases of their games "more compelling for the consumers than any other version." Hirai says that Blu-ray Disc is the key to this, since its capacity for huge amounts of data makes it perfectly suited for movie-style bonus features and "maybe additional levels."

With third-parties "going wide" with their biggest releases, Hirari believes that internal dev teams will play a pivotal role in defining the overall PlayStation experience with "envelope-pushing, genre-defining content." Bring it on, Kaz.

[Via The Escapist]

We've absolutely lost count of how many times Microsoft has had to deny rumors of an Xbox 360 with Blu-ray drive, but here's another one. Following a resurgence in the rumor last week, GamePro was told today by a Microsoft official that the company continues to have no plans of introducing a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360.

The statement goes on to say that "games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and [Microsoft] remains focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available." OK, that's good and all, but if the Blu-ray thing is out, could the NetfliXbox 360 idea still be on the table?

[Via Engadget]

Here we go again! This time around we've got the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reporting that Pegatron (an OEM subsidiary of Asus that handles "motherboard and component OEM manufacturing") has been tapped to assemble "Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc ROM drive." The admittedly unreliable language indicates an internal drive as opposed to another external attachment but, with shipments expected to begin in Q3 of this year, we'll now soon enough: internal or external; true or false.

[Via Engadget]

Microsoft has again flipped the 'light off' on the glowing promise of Blu-ray for Xbox 360. Of the latest reports spread from Digitimes that Lite-On would begin shipping Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360 later this year, Microsoft told Techradar: "Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360. As we have stated, games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster game available."

Additionally, Microsoft used its swift denial as an opportunity to plug Xbox 360's Video Marketplace, saying, "For our customers who want a premium movie experience we offer the largest library of on-demand HD content available" ... and oh, don't forget, a budget-priced HD-DVD player! (While supplies last.)

[Update: Sounds like Microsoft still isn't having any of this "Blu-ray on Xbox 360" nonsense, despite the ever-churning rumor mill's insistence to the contrary. In a prepared statement, Microsoft stated (rather unequivocally we must say), "No. Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360." Speculation over? Something tells us that's unlikely.]

If you believe yesterday's rumor from Digitimes that Microsft is looking to integrate a Blu-ray drive into future revisions of the Xbox 360 console, then you'll want to hear their followup: their source claims that "Sony, as a main global producer of BD-ROM pick-up heads, may decide to combat the market competition by selectively reducing the supply of key BD-ROM components to OEM makers partnering with Microsoft on the new Xbox 360 drives."

What does this mean? Since the BD-ROM drives are roughly $95-100 "according to industry sources," and since the current DVD-ROM drives in the Xbox 360 are only $18-20, Microsoft would ostensibly be selling the console at a loss or risk selling a Blu-ray equipped 360 for more than a PlayStation 3. (Here, we'll do the math for you: $350 Xbox 360 Pro + $80 price delta > $400 PS3). So what happens if Sony jacks prices or withholds components, making that margin even less palatable to Microsoft? We're really not sure ... competition is always good for consumers, but Sony controlling the means of production is certainly an x-factor. Oh yeah, that is if Blu-ray is coming to Xbox 360 at all.

[Via Engadget]

We're beginning to get a little dizzy amidst all this tête-à-tête action between Microsoft and Sony regarding the Blu-ray format. Sony says Microsoft's building a Blu-ray drive, Microsoft says it's not. MS CEO Steve Ballmer says the company's thinking about it, then another MS exec says disc technology's on its way out. Now, Digitimes is reporting that manufacturer Lite-On IT is amidst development of Blu-ray drives for the Xbox 360, to be included in future iterations of the 360 hardware.

According to Digitimes' sources, the BD-ROM drives are due to ship out to Microsoft in the second half of this year. Lite-On has previously developed internal DVD-ROM drives for the Xbox 360, leading us to believe that Microsoft may plan to include internal BD-ROM drives in future 360 iterations (such as those including the Jasper, Opus and Valhalla chipsets). No need to fear, however: Such an inclusion would likely be solely for Blu-ray disc playback, and not for Xbox 360 games pressed on BD-ROMS (we hope).

Tired of your Blu-ray copies of Saw IV and War not pulling their own weight? Good news: You can now force them to give up all of their BD-Live downloadable treasures via a new update to the PS3 that went live last night: Version 2.20. Go, download away, see all the secrets they have to reveal! And then go buy some better movies.

If you've got more discerning theatrical tastes, the update offers other benefits like the ability to play bigger DivX files, Remote Play music with the PSP and Mosquito Noise Reduction (and just in time, too, the eternal flapping of their wings has become maddening). See what else you're getting right here.

While we hear Sony has kept the party going non-stop since HD DVD's demise, the US International Trade Commission has stepped in as the role of the party pooper. Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, a former Columbia University professor, has filed a complaint with the ITC over what she says is infringement for patent she owns on certain light-emitting and laser diodes contained in Blu-ray players and other electronics.

The commission has voted to investigate the claim, though they have "not yet made any decision on the merits of the case." Rothschild's complaint lists over 30 companies, including Sony, Samsung, Toshiba and Nokia.

Sony has announced that an upcoming PlayStation 3 firmware update will enhance the system's Blu-ray playback capabilities. Tucked into firmware update 2.20 will be support for Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, otherwise labeled as BD-Live. The feature enables certain Blu-ray movies to connect to the internet and enable download additional interactive content -- movie DLC, if you will. Sony notes that the update will make the PlayStation 3 the first BD-Live Blu-ray player on the market. Oh, sorry, the PLAYSTATION 3.

Other enhancements included in firmware 2.20:

• Music and photo playlists can be exported from the PS3 to the PSP.
• DivX and WMV files larger than 2GB can be played.
• DVDs and Blu-rays will resume playback from the moment you last stopped them.
• The PSP can be used as a remote control to play music on the PS3.
• The web browser will feature faster page loading times and the ability to save linked files and stream linked videos.
• "Mosquito Noise Reduction" will be added to the AV control panel for Blu-rays and DVDs.

The update will make its way onto the PlayStation Network "in the next few days."

According to the Nikkea Business Daily, Toshiba is learning this lesson to the tune of a ¥100 billion loss in revenue this year (to grasp the magnitude of this loss, here it is in numeric form: ¥100,000,000,000) or roughly $986 million in U.S. cash. We usually leave the economic speculation to the experts, but we're pretty sure that's a large sum of money that Toshiba would rather not part with. But as they say, in order to make an omelet, you've got to break a few eggs; though sometimes, you have to break 100 billion eggs, only to find that nobody wants to eat your omelet. Okay, nobody says that.

If Euro Xbox boss Chris Lewis is to be believed, a dramatic consumer shift to digitally distributed media is due to occur "sooner than any of us think." With talks of an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on now muted, the manufacturer appears to be distancing itself from the Sony-backed high-def format. "Going forwards, digital downloads is really where it's at," Lewis told GamesIndustry.Biz. "More and more people's ongoing and ever-increasing downloading of music and movies is becoming the de facto. I think that's going to happen in very short order; people want to consume that way."

We definitely don't want to consume anything past its sell-by date either, as Lewis suggested we'll "look back wistfully at shiny discs as something that was somewhat a historic phenomenon in a way that we kind of think about vinyl or VCRs today." Though we don't outright disagree with Microsoft's same ol' song and dance, predicting a large change within the "next 12-18 months" seems overly optimistic. DVD doesn't look to be going anywhere soon, and neither does the sales traction granted to the PS3 by Blu-ray's recent victory.

Well, this is awkward. Just a week after a Sony executive told the Financial Times that Sony was "in talks with console rival Microsoft about offering a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360," console rival Microsoft corrected the record. Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360 (and all around pleasant guy), told Reuters rather unequivocally, "Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience."

Considering a not insignificant portion of the Xbox 360 owning audience has a now obsolete drive tethered to their 'box, we're unconvinced that the "Xbox experience" couldn't use a high-def optical format. Greenberg is quick to point out that Xbox 360 is "the only console offering digital distribution of entertainment content" which, to our continued great surprise (don't you own a movie studio, Sony?), is still true ... but for how long? We can't be sure of what makes sense to Microsoft bossman Ballmer, but we think just talking to the Blu-ray Association might be a good start.

[Via Engadget]