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"Absolutely not" was the response of Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of global marketing for interactive entertainment at Microsoft, when asked whether there are any plans for an HD DVD equipped version of the gaming console.

Currently an HD DVD drive is available as an accessory. By contrast the rival Blu-ray format is in every Sony PlayStation 3, a decision that has doubtlessly contributed to higher sales of Blu-ray movies.

The company has long been the biggest supporter of the Toshiba high-definition disc format. Now it is beginning to accept that consumers have other ideas.

Albert Penello,

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group marketing manager for Xbox hardware says that the company will not rule out supplying a Blu-ray drive for its console.

"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something Microsoft will have to consider," he says.

Penello says that Microsoft does not believe the decision last week by Warner Bros, the top seller of home movies, to abandon the HD-DVD format in favour of Blu-ray should affect sales of its Xbox 360 video game console.

"I fundamentally don't think this has a significant impact on Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3," Penello says.

"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."

He does, however, accept that Warner's decision, which may yet be matched by Paramount, was a setback.

"You can't say it's not a bummer, not a setback, but I've seen this battle declared over so many times," Penello says. "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."