The news that a Blu-ray bolt-on drive for the Xbox 360 might have been flatly outrightly denied by Microsoft in the past, but that doesn't seem to have made a difference to the rest of the world who continue to speculate on the new accessory.

The latest turn of events in the story is that Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, has secured orders from Microsoft to assemble Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc (BD)-ROM drive.

According to Digitimes, who is itself quoting Chinese-language Economic Daily News newspaper shipments will begin in the third quarter of 2008 in time for Christmas.

In March, Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's group marketing manager, stated in an interview that the company will not be producing Blu-ray-flavoured Xbox 360 hardware.

"Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience", Greenberg said.

>> Via - digitimes.com