Toshiba and Microsoft have no Blu-ray plans

With the news early Tuesday that Toshiba is ending the next generation optical disc war by pulling the plug on HD DVD, the manufacturer said it has no plans to support or manufacture Blu-ray players. Likewise, Microsoft said it has no plans to announce.

The companies, who were the sole hardware vendors for HD DVD, are clearly going to be re-evaluating their position on the matter, but at this time they are not ready to shake hands with Sony. Microsoft on Monday said Toshiba's decision will have little impact on the Xbox 360, because games are what drive console sales. In January, Microsoft told BetaNews that it could certainly build an external Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360 if the market conditions made sense.