Joystiq

Pioneer develops 16-layer, 400GB Blu-ray disc

Kyle Orland — 2008-07-07T21:30:00+00:00

Dual-layer Blu-ray discs are so 2006. The new hotness is Pioneer's just-developed, 16-layer Blu-ray disc (pictured above) with a whopping 400GB of writable storage space. For reference, that disc could hold roughly eight copies of Metal Gear Solid 4, 187 copies of Final Fantasy VII, or 1.25 million copies of the original Super Mario Bros.

The new discs require a special "wide-range spherical aberration compensator and light-receiving element" to detect the weaker laser signal, so don't plan on sticking one of these data-bloated monstrosities into your existing PS3. That said, the next generation of game consoles could support this new disc system, which is fully backward-compatible with existing Blu-ray discs. Of course, by the next generation, game systems might not be using optical discs at all, so who knows what the future will hold.

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Smash Bros. Brawl not working on some Wiis, Nintendo responds

Griffin McElroy — 2008-03-09T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Fighting

While we're sure most of us would describe Wii fanatics as the most lighthearted of the console enthusiasts, we can only imagine that being forced to wait nearly two years for the most highly anticipated game on your console, only to come home from a midnight launch to discover you cannot extract the frenzied multiplayer mayhem stored on the disc you've purchased might incite one's dander to "get up". Alas, many a brawler-to-be recently found themselves in this lamentable situation, as Super Smash Bros. Brawl has reportedly had performance anxiety in a number of Wii consoles.

Nintendo has swiftly replied with a North American repair form, explaining that the double-layer disc can only be read by a squeaky-clean disc drive lens. They implore you not to try to clean said lens on your own, and to send in your crudely adhered Gamecubes to Nintendo HQ for a thorough purging. We're sure they'll get your newly spruced console back to you in a timely manner -- which will likely offer little consolation to a Nintyfan scorned.

[Thanks to all the unlucky souls who sent this in. Our thoughts are with you during these trying times.]

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Consoles make up bulk of high-def movie player sales

Kyle Orland — 2007-06-26T13:29:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

There are more game systems that can play high-definition movies than standalone players that can do the same, according to sales numbers culled from recent media reports.

In the HD DVD realm, a Microsoft representative told CNet UK that the company had sold 155,000 units of the Xbox 360's HD DVD player in the States, making it the best-selling add-on in the system's short history. Compare that to the 100,000 standalone players that the HD DVD Promotional Group said had sold through April and you can see that it's primarily gamers driving adoption of the format.

The results are similar in the Blu-Ray realm, where the million-plus PS3s sold in North America dwarfs the "less than 100,000" standalone players sold according to a Business Week article. It's unclear exactly how many PS3 owners are actually using their systems to play the high-def movie format, but strong Blu-ray disc sales would seem to indicate that at least some of them are taking advantage of the feature.

What's more, the sales of high-def discs seem to finally be making a dent in the traditional DVD market. Sales of standard-definition DVDs were down eight percent in the first quarter of this year and analysts predict they'll begin to level off as more high-def game systems are sold.

Read - HD DVD Posse: "There's Room for Both Formats" (CNet UK) [Via Xbox360Fanboy]
Read - In DVD war, body blows for Toshiba (BusinessWeek)

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Microsoft's 'elite' HCCB barcodes to contain promo extras

James Ransom-Wiley — 2007-04-19T18:29:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

High Capacity Color Barcode: Microsoft's solution to the storage-deficient UPC. Up to two-pages of data can be stored in the four- and eight-color geometric patterns. That's double the amount a traditional UPC can store, according to BBC.

The HCCB will find its way onto Xbox 360 discs (and standard DVDs) by the end of the year as a 'partner' barcode. "The UPC barcodes will always be there. Ours is more of a niche barcode where you want to put a lot of information in a small space," Microsoft Research engineering director Gavin Jancke told BBC. But why?

It seems that camera phones have the iddy biddy keys to unlock the jumbled mess of triangles. Snap a photo and you've got yourself a web address. Hit up the website and you'll find a pot of digital swag. Viva free wallpaper!

Eh, anything to turn the tide of a console war, right?

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Decrypted Blu-ray & HD-DVD movies on PS3, no disc necessary

James Ransom-Wiley — 2007-02-17T19:28:00+00:00

Filed under: Hacks, PC, Sony PlayStation 3

This isn't so much a PlayStation 3 hack as it is a Linux operation. The process, as outlined by author "hacked2123," involves decoding and ripping movies from Blu-ray (or HD-DVD) discs onto a Linux-based PC, and then re-encoding the files into an unencrypted MPEG format that could be played on the PC, or further tinkered with and transferred to PS3 -- and with a little more effort, we suppose, also made compatible with Xbox 360 (as a WMV file).

Of course it's possible that, as Linux support evolves on PS3, Sony's console could become fully capable of exploiting high-definition movies on its own; and thereby become one of Blu-ray (and HD-DVD) manufacturers' worst enemies. And to think some still accuse PlayStation 3 of being nothing more than the Blu-ray peeps 'Trojan horse'...

[Via Engadget]

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A much better Wii Sports DVD case

Kevin Kelly — 2006-11-21T17:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Hacks, Nintendo Wii, Sports

Tired of that cardboard Wii Sports sleeve that came with your system? Want to jazz it up to match your other Wii game cases? Remember that Target Wii DVD for a penny? Tired of all these questions?

If the answer to all of those is yes, then you've come to the right place. The Cover Project has created a far superior cover for Wii Sports and, if you go into Target and snag one of those white DVD cases, you can be rolling your own custom cases off the presses. The only caveat: PlayWii explains that you'll need to be able to customize your printer margins or use 8.5" x 14" paper to accommodate the custom cover. Pretty swanky.

[Thanks, Tim; via PlayWii]

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