By Blake Snow
October 09, 2008 08:04 AM PST
Company says it has "no plans" to launch an external Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360, contrary to a new unproven report published Wednesday."As we've said before, Microsoft has no plans to introduce an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on," a Microsoft representative told GamePro on Thursday, killing persistent rumors suggesting otherwise. "Games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available."

Yesterday, a story by the unknown X-bit Labs reported that Toshiba and Samsung had been "contracted to manufacture external Blu-ray disc drives for Microsoft Xbox 360 game console," although a release date was reported as "under consideration."

This isn't the first time Microsoft has denied rumors of supporting Sony's high-definition disc format. In March, Xbox vice president Aaron Greenberg said, "Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience."

Toshiba terminated support of HD DVD in February, consequently making the external Xbox 360 HD DVD drive obsolete.