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Desperate times require desperate measures and this sure is desperate! They can't fire back at Blu Ray with sales stats because Blu Ray is ahead, it's the number 1 HD format in sales and $ revenue. HD-DVD is dead, the quicker everyone accepts that the better for us all.

The adult industry will have no bearing whatsoever on this. Good write up about it all over at TheDigitalBits.

"Well... as expected, I've received a flood of e-mails over the last day or so in response to my high-def format war comments of yesterday. And as expected, those who have firmly attached themselves to HD-DVD weren't terribly pleased with my arguments. The interesting thing, however, is that none of these people could logically refute my reasoning, and very few even attempted to do so. In fact, while some of the responses from HD-DVD supporters were polite and thoughtful, most were defensive, overly emotional or even downright hostile. A couple e-mails were so nasty that I can only wonder at the mental stability of their authors. All of this suggests to me that even these people are starting to suspect that the writing is on the wall for HD-DVD.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, at how many readers responded to say that they generally agreed with my assessment of the situation. And it wasn't just Blu-ray supporters who reacted positively. A surprising number of retailers and industry insiders expressed relief that we had finally said what they WANTED to say, but weren't in a position to do so. I was also struck by how many people that agreed with my comments said they hadn't yet adopted either format, instead having decided to remain neutral until a choice was more clear. But many of those folks told us that they were now close to jumping into the high-def arena, and Blu-ray was where they were headed. The responses as a whole were certainly fascinating, and they have done nothing but convince me further that this format war needs to end now, before the early adopter market gets even more fractious and divisive.

So what, or who, could end this format war? Simple: Universal. If Universal were to suddenly announce support for Blu-ray Disc in addition to HD-DVD, or if they were to adopt Warner's TotalHD combo disc, that would be the end of it. You would suddenly have every major studio in town releasing Blu-ray titles (except for DreamWorks, and our sources tell us that the studio is simply waiting for one of these formats to start selling serious numbers before getting involved). By the end of the year, cheaper second generation Blu-ray hardware will available, and that's the ballgame. That's not to say that Microsoft and Toshiba would stop pushing HD-DVD anytime soon. And I'm sure some of the HD-DVD supporting studios would continue releasing titles, at least for a while. But why would any average consumer want to buy an HD-DVD player, even a very cheap one, when you can't get Disney movies, you can't get Pixar films, you can't get the Bond films, you can't get the Spider-Man films, etc, etc, etc. Universal has the power to end this format war tomorrow.

While we're on the subject, here's more evidence of Blu-ray's advantage: Blu-ray almost completely dominates the Japanese market now (click here for more on that), and has a clear edge in the Australian market as well (click here). In fact, one of Australia's leading consumer electronics retailers, JB Hi-Fi, has announced that they won't even carry HD-DVD in their stores (click here). Why? Because they, like many others, simply don't see how HD-DVD can overcome the overwhelming studio support behind Blu-ray Disc. JB's marketing director, Scott Browning, put his company's position this way: "We don't want to be selling $1000 clocks." Ouch. Any way you slice it, this whole format war situation is just getting silly.

By the way, for you HD-DVD fans out there who are running around online today claiming that I'm somehow getting paid to endorse Blu-ray (rather than coming to the rather obvious logical conclusion all on my own), I'll bet you this: If, in the next few months, the HD-DVD camp suddenly gets all those Blu-ray exclusive studios to start releasing titles on their format, and if all those electronics manufacturers who have released Blu-ray players start releasing HD-DVD or combo players too, I'll will happily and publicly revise my opinion. I'll even exclude Sony on both counts. But I'm betting it isn't going to happen."

LOL another classic joystiq thread.. i don't see it mentioned anywhere that Lost Planet2 is in fact heading to the PS3. Funny that.

As for MGS4, if it does come to the 360 then it will be months after the PS3 release and it will be on multiple DVDs. The last i read on the matter Kojima didn't want to compress any of the data so Blu Ray's 50GB was a must for him. Of course it's possible on the 360 but whether it's practical and worth the effort is another story, hence the survey.

Adult industry won't make a blind bit of difference to this, they will go with whoever wins.

The balance has already shifted significantly towards Blu Ray based purely on US and Japan sales of the PS3, when it's also released in Europe the gap will be enormous.

When movie studio execs look at the facts and figures it's blatantly obvious who they will go with, Blu Ray is number 1 in terms of players sold and dollars revenue. Work it out for yourselves or continue to stick your head in the sand.

HD DVD is already dead. Moan about Sony all you like but Blu Ray is gathering pace and with the upcoming European PS3 launch Blu Ray sales will continue to outsell HD DVD by an ever increasing margin. Downloads won't have a major impact for at least a few years yet. I, like millions of other consumers, would much rather own a physical disc that i can play anywhere and anytime.

Disney have just announced their Blu Ray titles including Cars, Pirates of The Caribbean 1&2, Chicken Little and others. The Pixar movies will look amazing on Blu Ray.

Blu Ray (non PS3) players have now overtaken the sales of HD DVD players, Blu Ray players sold = 439,000 against 438,000 for HD DVD.

A very significant fact from the NPD:

"NPD also reported that Blu Ray as a format is No.1 in both dollars and units"

See this Trade magazine for details:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom021107/

Won't make a bit of difference. PS3 pre-orders are proving very popular at least in the UK.

To 29, you sir are an idiot.. i suppose you also believe the only people who play on Nintendo consoles are kids. There, i said it.

Fantastic news and a real boost for the PSP, for once i'm finding myself agreeing with Joystiq:

"Seeing as how Rondo of Blood is regarded as one of the best in the series, this is an absolute no-brainer for fans. The inclusion of Symphony of the Night serves to make it one for fans of video games, period."


"18. One of the few series that could possibly make me want a PSP. Why can't this be for the DS, PSP is almost dead now."

Almost dead? PSP sold almost a million units in the US in december alone, idiot.

That's right it's very smooth, maybe the sad losers on here should actually play the retail version before spouting crap.. all the sheep follow each other in bashing the PS3. Go read the review over on Eurogamer. Baaaaaaaaaa

Reviews have been very positive for the Japanese version even without online play.. having played this myself it's a lot of fun and looks fantastic.

He he, Fantavision was ok.. long live innovation! :P