PS3 Fanboy

With the online movie rental service Netflix going exclusively Blu-ray, it was only a matter of time before the company announced that it was boosting their library volume for Blu-ray titles. Currently, Netflix has 400 titles in their catalog, but it plans to triple this and increase the number of titles to 1,500.

While this sounds like great support for Blu-ray, the cost of such a large scale move may cause Netflix to increase their fees. It shouldn't hit too hard on the wallet though, and besides, an upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray HD is well worth it.

In their latest poll, our good buddies over at EngadgetHD beg the question: What Blu-ray player will you be picking up? With the death of HD DVD ending the format wars, there is only one choice left for high-def needs: Blu-ray. New buyers and HD DVD refugees alike need to make a choice; so what Blu-ray player did they choose? Why, the PS3 of course!

Even though polling is still going on, the PS3 is the clear winner at 56.6% of the total votes. The next closest Blu-ray player is the Panasonic DMP-BD50 at 8.3%; we suspect it's not likely that the DMP-BD50 will catch up to the PS3's massive 48% lead. What does this mean for the PS3? It means that sales can only go up from here.

[Thanks Aaron!]

• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
• Bram Stoker's Dracula
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Halloween
• Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
• Dawn of the Dead
• Day of the Dead
• Galapagos
• A Room with a View

Any time two George Romero and Sam Raimi classics are released in the same week, you know you're in heaven. Do yourself a favor and at least pick up Dawn of the Dead; it's the best zombie movie ever made.

It's probably fair to say we're all tired of hi-def movies coming on two formats, and we just can't wait until this silly war is over. Thankfully, the end is in sight, according to Forrester Research, which released a report stating it believes the high-def movie format war will finally end in 18 months with Sony's Blu-ray eventually coming out on top.

However, Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder said Sony still has some work to go before it can be crowned, beginning with cutting prices. "Blu-ray needs to offer a viable hardware model at the $250 price point by Christmas 2007," he said. "Failure to alter strategy would open up Blu-ray to a possible upset defeat at the hands of HD DVD."

Although Paramount's defection to the HD DVD camp certainly was a blow to Blu-ray, companies have been ramping up support of Sony's movie format, both with increased movie support and shelf space. Either way, we just hope it comes to an end long before their prognostication.

Just imagine werewolves, cowboys and the Japanese doing battle against vampires, Nazis and Yankees as Halle Berry comes on screen to spout some nonsense and just looks pretty. You really can't get any better than that.

• Underworld: Unrated
• Black Book
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Tekkonkinkreet
• The Wild Bunch
• Wyatt Earp
• Gods and Generals
• Gothika

But if this week's releases don't satisfy you, just wait until next week when we're invaded by the undead – now that's something werewolves, vampires or Nazis just can't kill.

It looks like Sony and the rest of the Blu-ray crew are ensuring our feelings aren't still hurt from that fiasco a few weeks ago as we're getting 13 titles to choose from this week.

• Troy: Director's Cut
• Smallville: The Complete Sixth Season
• Alexander Revisted: The Final Cut
• A Few Good Men
• The Condemned
• We Are Marshall
• Deliverance
• House of 1000 Corpses
• Viva Las Vegas
• The Best of Blu-ray, Vol. 1
• The Best of Blu-ray, Vol. 2
• The Best of Blu-ray, Vol. 3
• Jailhouse Rock

Not only does this week's releases feature a great assortment of movies any guy would love, it also includes three volumes of The Best of Blu-ray, which feature four classic movies in each set. What really makes these collections great, though, is the incredible savings you get. Each set is currently on sale at $58 at Amazon - that's like getting two movies free!

Beginning in October, savvy Target shoppers looking to jump onto the Blu-ray bandwagon can join the party with a standalone Blu-ray player. The Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player will be offered in addition to the PS3, providing consumers with a decision for their Blu-Ray movie watching. With another "tug" in the HD tug-of-war, Blu-ray gets a bonus as being alone on the shelving space for standalone players. Target has yet to announce plans to begin offering HD-DVD standalone players (not counting the already offered Xbox 360 add-on drive). As far as retail space for HD discs, Target has still confirmed they will continue to sell both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs, alongside the standard DVD movies.

[Via Engadget]

With the clear advantage going to Blu-ray as the high-definition movie format of choice by the technology-savvy or trend-setting consumer, it's only natural something like this would come along. The only exclusive movie studio for HD DVD, Universal, is getting pressured into supporting Blu-ray. A lot of persuading is going on, apparently, for them to release their films on Blu-ray.

There are reports that, in Europe, standalone HD DVD players outsell standalone Blu-ray players by 70%. Of course they do. The PS3 is a cheaper alternative with more capabilities, so that's a pretty unfair report. To further offset that report, actual movie sales dip the 70% advantage towards those lovely Blu babies. Even so, HD films are still a niche market and moving to support their "competition" isn't high on Universal's list of priorities. Their standard DVDs still sell just fine and since the PS3 can upscale those, we're not too hurt if Universal decides to stick to their guns and support HD DVD to the bitter end. Although we really wanted some Blu-ray Heroes.

[Thanks, Joe!]

So we're in the midst of a game drought. No big deal. By a lucky coincidence the PS3 can also play Blu-Ray discs. Did you know that? Now, with a recently introduced "3 for 2" promotion at Amazon US and DVD Empire, getting your favourite films in High Definition has never been so cheap.

The list of films available in the promotion is limited to 34 of the less popular titles. Even so, there should still be some decent movies there worthy of your hard earned cash. Some of the more notable films include Casino Royale, Big Fish, Memento, Silent Hill and House of Flying Daggers. While it would have been nice to have seen Pirates of the Caribbean I & II in the mix, they seem to be selling well enough as it is.

Alternatively, you can save 20% on all Blu-Rays and DVDs over at deepdiscount.com by using the voucher code "USATODAY". With a combination of these two promotions, you'll never have to pay full price for a Blu-Ray disc again. Maybe.

[Update: Corrected wording. "3 for 2," not "2 for 1."]

We sound pretty certain that this isn't the start of Disney defecting over to the Dark-Red Side (HD DVD, in case you need it spelling out), don't we? How can we be so sure? Well the Sony Protection Group said it well enough themselves, but we'll paraphrase.

Two weeks ago the head of Disney extolled the virtues of the Blu-Ray disc. He gave reasons why it will win the format war and so why Disney will be supporting it with its huge archive of film content and upcoming releases. It would seem strange, then, that so soon after saying all of this the company would suddenly change their release philosophy - and especially without sending out some sort of press release stating this fact. If this was the case, however, it is safe to assume that a revelation such as this would warrant more than just one line in a news blurb, without any elaboration. Stranger still, most other sites have this release pegged for Blu-Ray only. Because of all this we can safely say that we firmly believe this to be an error on IMDB's behalf.

To be honest, though, we'd rather this particular film wasn't coming to either format. It's not exactly on our top 100 most anticipated High Definition releases.

[Via PS3Forums]

[UPDATE] It looks like we got our wish. Badder Santa will not be released on either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD according to HiDef Digest. Disney have also reaffirmed that they have no plans to support the HD-DVD format. We told you so.

Sometimes this webpage can look like a hodgepodge of news -- random previews, bad news, slighty unrelated articles, and positive press. Well, Thomas Barton has done the smartest thing possible and took every piece of positive press that had been covered here at PS3fanboy and wrote up a feature. The feature covers everything from new pieces of hardware that have been revealed (the PS3mote new eye-toy peripheral), to quotes from third party developers and other big names in the electronics business.

It's a very nice read to recap everything we have to look forward to, or to understand that we shouldn't be too afraid -- the PS3 is going to be fine, even if it takes a year or two. Even if it's getting pieces modeled after the Wii or XBox Live, that doesn't mean they are bad ideas. Would you rather have a laser cannon (Wii), an army (XBox Live), or a cyborg army equipped with laser cannons (PS3)? Taking the best from all systems is smooth, though admittedly slightly dirty. Check out the article and remember why the PS3 is worth our casual nod of approval.

[Thanks to James for bringing this to our attention!]