Sony, NEC establish joint venture for optical business

by Ross Miller { Feb 27th 2006 at 10:30PM }

Sony and NEC announced today that they would be combining their optical drive businesses into one entity, dubbed Sony NEC Optiarc--a joint venture benefitting both companies at the same time. So, how does this affect video games?

The connection therein lies with next-generation formats. Sony is firmly embedded into the Blu-ray camp and is somewhat banking the success of the format with its upcoming PlayStation 3 console. NEC, however, supports HD DVD, so on which format will Optiarc focus? Our guess is Blu-ray, since Sony owns a majority (55%) and the joint venture is to be run by a Sony exec. This would be a major blow to the HD DVD camp, who might have just lost a major player.

[Via Engadget; Thanks, SuicideNinja]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

bd @ Feb 27th 2006 11:13PM

This is VERY old.

GamerZero @ Feb 27th 2006 11:26PM

The other NextGen formats couldn't care much about this dumb format war as they are quite happy with cheap game dvd's and a cheap online distribution model.Most ordinary people aren't even interested in paying extortionate money for a HD/BR player that plays a HD film that requires a HDCP enabled HDMI/DVI connector into a HD TV.If you don't have the above you'll get a dumbed down picture negating any reason to upgrade in the first place or nothing atall.If you don't mind being exploited and having your fair rights being stripped away by evil grinning fat cats in shadowy black suits wielding briefcases instead of Scythes then go ahead,buy an AACS Pandoras Box.Just dont come crying to me when you open a gateway to Hell!

fawazr @ Feb 27th 2006 11:47PM

If you can't beat 'em, assimilate them! Sony's Borg-like tactics have been strange as of late. Between the delay of the PS3, the blatant attempts to copy Nintendo (free wi-fi spots and demo kiosks [demos of all those killer aps, of course] announced this week), rootkits, their online venture that will supposedly take on Live, the worst urban viral campaign ever to sell a portable game player (or is it a media player, or nuts, or carpet?), Sony just seems like a scattered mess. They were golden when they were just focused on Playstation iterations, but the PS3's and PSP's only purposes are to advance Sony's DRM efforts and their film properties. I've been eagerly anticipating the wunderdevice that'll be the PS3, but I'm not an eager fan of blu ray tech that has very little to do with games.

And for the record, the BDA was already huge and had the support of corporations like Disney and Apple, so Sony's partnering with NEC doesn't hurt the HD DVD format anymore than HD DVD's own lack of storage capabilities in comparison to blu ray. If you ask me, the only reason why HD DVD is even being mentioned by MS et alia is to dilute blu ray's impact on the market and confuse consumers. That will be achieved whether Sony buys up NEC or not. Blu Ray is one hell of a burden for the PS3 to have to bother with.

TaiZ @ Feb 28th 2006 12:18AM

I thought Sony bought most, if not all, of their drives from Light-On? Anyway, NEC is a great company when it comes to disk drives. I've been using an NEC 3550A for a couple of months now, it's a really stable drive. I just hope they will still manufacture HD-DVD drives too, if/when I ever purchase one of the HD formats, that will be the one for me.

jeff @ Feb 28th 2006 12:22AM

Hopefully this means PS3 ports of PC-Engine classics?? ;)

Jamesology @ Feb 28th 2006 1:47AM

It's funny how ppl keep saying that they don't care about new formats like Blu Ray and stick to DVD but DVD is pretty new. If you love old formats then don't use DVD and stick with VHS or even those big spools of film ( I don't know what they are called )

Also, Ipod is a new format. If you don't like it then go back to 8-tracks or Cassette Tapes.

dsub @ Feb 28th 2006 3:53AM

The same thing's going on with Toshiba/Samsung. They've been partners in manufacturing optical storage technology for a few years now. Toshiba developed HD-DVD and Samsung supports blu-ray. Funny.

http://www.tsstorage.com/index_e.html

Actually samsung attempted to get a dual bluray/hddvd player approved but both camps rejected. After which a samsung VP stated "Until everyone's egos are left at the door a joint format is not going to be agreed on"

Gonzo @ Feb 28th 2006 10:15AM

As long as they keep NEC out of the game making side of business. I still remember the TurboGraphics with it's beautiful looking yet tragically boring games. Splatterhouse and Bonk are the only ones that seem to be worth remembering: well... they're the only ones I remember.
They're going to have a hard sell if the prices are going to be what's currently expected but I thought Microsoft was going to have a hard time selling the 360 at the current price too.

GamerZero @ Feb 28th 2006 11:15AM

Looks like Sony could miss the PS3 Spring launch as Blue Ray has been officialy announced for North America on May 23rd.The only hardware that will be available will be from Samsung on launch day at a hefty price.Link - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=15005
It will be interesting to see how PS3 will be priced against Samsung's top end player and also how they compare when playing a movie,should it ever be released!

SuicideNinja @ Feb 28th 2006 11:31AM

What I find interesting is that everyone jumps for joy about the PS3 being a "cheap bluray player," since Bluray players list around $1000. However, HD-DVD players list around $500. If the PS3 costs more than $500, then does it matter? Consumers aren't going to see the so-called benefit of these high priced items (bluray and ps3) since they don't know what Bluray is, but they know what HD and DVD is. Yes I know the PS3 will play DVDs, but that's not the point. General consumers won't know that, and I bet there will be sales people out there who think it won't.

Personally, I don't think the Bluray vs HD-DVD on current maximum size is an issue. Sure, on paper we'll take 54(?)GB vs 30GB. That's nice and all, but if 30GB will work for many movies, then as far as movies goes, no one is going to care. For data storage it is a difference, but has been said before, don't expect developers to even use 10+GB for a LONG time. It won't benefit them to use that many resources (which includes TIME, they are already in crunches as it is). And it would just give them the excuse to rise the price of games to $75 instead of the already high $60.

I am also starting to think that this format war is actually a waste of time. High Definition is great for video games, but for television and movies it isn't enough of an improvement to justify the costs. Plain old DVD is just fine digitally mastered.

LaughingTarget @ Feb 28th 2006 11:58AM

The average consumer won't be able to identify between the DVD and the BluRay when sitting on the shelf. Sure, one will be in a blue case, but that is about it. The major physical difference between the VHS and DVD gave it a great deal of visibility when sitting on the shelf.

So, if the estimates are right, and new release BluRay titles will run for $30, it won't fare well when compared to new release DVDs which usually get the $15 treatment, especially from major retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. What consumers are going to ask is, "Is the BluRay version really worth twice as much?"

Answer - No. The average consumer won't bite at the BluRay, which is just a minor visual update to most of them, until they are being sold at the exact same price as the DVD, which may never happen because BluRay will cause the price of DVDs to drop.

Furthermore, their movie launch titles are rather pathetic. When the launch lineup is weak (really, Resident Evil, Stealth and xXx as launch movies, who thought up that) as it is, no one will even think twice of getting the BluRay player, killing sales.

BluRay is not launching on the right foot.

Jed Merrill @ Feb 28th 2006 12:45PM

I am SOOOOOOOO excited for Blu Ray! I mean, now for just an extra $115 added to the price of a console I don't really need because it isn't innovative in any way, I can enjoy slightly longer load times AND never have to switch discs in the middle of a game, something that only happens if I play the game to the point where another disc is necessary, i.e., once in a console's life cycle.

Tell me again what the BENEFIT of paying for a Blu-Ray player in a PS3 is? I will have to buy all of my old Sony-owned movies again? Okay, that makes sense.

If I go next gen DVD, it will be HD-DVD.

Jed Merrill @ Feb 28th 2006 12:47PM

Just because. Well, maybe because HD-DVD will probably play in my laptops, not just Sony platforms.

dsub @ Feb 28th 2006 12:51PM

I agree with suicide ninja. stand alone Blu-ray players are going to cost twice as much as HDDVD players. The only difference? Toshiba's inital offering doesn't do 1080p...but is 1080p worth another $500?

The toshiba player is hitting shelves next month, and by the time the PS3 launches in the U.S. next fall, it's price could easily be down to $300-400, essentially making the $500+ PS3 look like less of a deal than we assume it will be. Also, if HD-DVD is selling at $500 initially as opposed to $1000 for blu-ray it's OBVIOUS that HDDVD is MUCH cheaper to manufacture. I expect this to attract the budget brands like Sanyo/RCA, if they pick up HDDVD, we could easily be seeing $200 HDDVD players in wal-mart by next christmas...while the PS3 is selling for $500 and standalone players will probably be going for the same price. What's going to make or break this is which format the non-tech savvy choses to buy. We all know, they buy whatever is the cheapest, they most likely don't even know anything about/care to own a video game system, even if it does double as a player. The key to HDDVD winning this against sony is simple. Get to a much lower price point as fast as possible.

I'm sorry but I don't see sony being able to do this as quickly as toshiba. HDDVD discs can be manufactured on the same lines as DVD's with slight modifications and the players are obviously much less costly to make. The only advantage blu-ray has is it's somewhat higher capacity. In a dual-layer disc HDDVD can hold 30GB as opposed to 50GB from sony, but 30GB is MORE than enough already to house high definition movies (10-15GB) and game content.