Blu-ray will be history, says Microsoft

Blu-ray may have won, but Xbox Europe boss Chris Lewis reckons "shiny discs" will look as rubbish as boring old vinyl records and those hilarious Video Cassette Recorders before long.

Speaking to the factcracking newsbusters over at GamesIndustry.biz Lewis said, "Going forwards, digital downloads is really where it's at," word.

"More and more people's ongoing and ever-increasing downloading of music and movies is becoming the de facto. I think that's going to happen in very short order; people want to consume that way," he continued.

"Before very long we will look back wistfully at shiny discs as something that was somewhat a historic phenomenon in a way that we kind of think about vinyl or VCRs today." Or the original Xbox, perhaps.

According to Lewis, the shift away from using discs to store media and towards using them as coasters will happen "sooner than any of us think". Except him, presumably.

"That's the future direction, and I think that's going to be the case in the next 12-18 months," Lewis predicted. "I think we're going to be talking much more about that than anything else. Do I think that this Christmas will somehow be defined by DVD playback? I genuinely don't think that will be the case," inspecda.

What about the material impact of the demise of HD-DVD on your console velocity, Chris? "I do not think that [the demise of HD DVD] will have any material impact on our console velocity." Oh okay.

"And I think other factors, specifically our architecture around downloads, is far more advantageous and important for the future. We are best placed to offer that, we already offer that, our online pedigree is such that we will offer the best and most seamless experience."

You can read part one of a full interview with Lewis over on GamesIndustry.biz, where fact is where it's at and no amount of rumour affects the news velocity.