During an interview with Reuters at this year's CES trade show, Xbox group marketing manager, Albert Penello, suggested Microsoft would be willing to abandon their HD-DVD backing in place of creating a Blu-ray drive if it were a consumer demand.

"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider," Penello said. "I want consumers to have a voice in this and I think there are a lot of consumers who bought HD-DVD who are going to have a say in how this shakes out."

Warner Bros were the latest convert to Blu-ray exclusivity just over a week ago after the company declared they'd back Sony's format. "I fundamentally don't think... this has a significant impact on Xbox 360 versus (Sony's) PlayStation 3," Penello said in response to Warner's move. "With the PlayStation 2, DVD was a big part in the beginning, but over time, people were not buying it as a DVD player after the first year or two. You can't say it's not a bummer, not a setback, but I've seen this battle declared over so many times."

Given the Xbox 360's built-in drive is still only DVD-based, it makes sense they'd be ready to change their format backing at the drop of a hat. There are currently no plans in the M$ camp to release a machine with a built in HD-DVD drive, either, showing they are probably keeping an eye on how this little war pans out before they consider which way to go for their next machine. My money is on a dual player though, then everyone wins.