SABS Files Official Complaint About OOXML Approval Process
The South African national standards body has become the first to file a complaint with ISO about the fast-tracked OOXML voting process, despite numerous outstanding issues. This is obviously great news and hopefully more will follow.
South Africa launches formal objection at OOXML | The Register
Fresh Xbox 360 Blu-ray Rumors
Various news sites have been reporting on new information about a possible Blu-ray console from Microsoft. Quote from Tom's Hardware (my emphasis):
The PS3 had the ability to draw both gamers and audio/video enthusiast, and this was proving to be a major advantage over its XBOX rival. It is estimated that 85% of Blu-ray players in use are PS3s.
Many expected the death of HD-DVD would trigger a growth in Blu-ray hardware sales. However, to the dismay of the industry, acceptance and adoption of Blu-ray has been dismal.
In a previous post I speculated that it is unlikely for the Xbox to get a Blu-ray add-on. But the recent spike in PS3 sales might have convinced Microsoft to update their optical drives.
The trouble with Blu-ray right now is that it is still of marginal benefit to the majority of consumers out there, thus prices of both hardware and software (well, physical media really) will remain high for some time. The only serious buyers right now are the home theater enthusiasts and Microsoft will have to address quite a few issues to please this group of people.
The biggest issue with the current Xbox 360 in the context of home theater is the amount of noise generated. A transition to a newer chip fabrication process could do a lot to reduce the need for active cooling; a potential Blu-ray transport mechanism would also have to be quieter than the current DVD drives. Another issue I see with the HT crowd is the Xbox remote - it is nowhere near as slick as the Sony Blu-ray remote. And that's before we even consider the substantially bigger pull of the Sony brand when it comes to home electronics.
It remains to be seen whether the entire range will be updated or if only a high-end model will get the Blu-ray treatment. Xbox 360 games are released on regular DVD, so I suspect Microsoft will want to keep their price advantage at the low end and stick to DVD drives for the Arcade/Core consoles.
The big question, is are there enough HD afficionados out there who have been holding out for a Blu-ray Xbox that don't already have a PS3? (Or at least would be keen to trade their existing 360 for a Blu-ray model?)
Update: Taiwanese trade press reports on an updated 65nm Xbox GPU being manufactured on behalf of Microsoft. With last year's 65nm CPU revision, this should finally make the Xbox 360 a cooler (and hopefully quieter) beast.