PS3 Fanboy

While the news was already technically broken on Saturday by NHK, Toshiba has today held a press conference to tell the world that HD-DVD is being dropped. Toshiba will no longer develop, manufacture or market HD-DVD, bringing the shipping of hardware to retailers to a gradual halt by the end of March. The format war ends today with the much-signposted victory for Blu-Ray. This is obviously great news for PS3 owners (as well as would-be PS3 owners who were sitting on the fence about Blu-Ray).

We suspect we'll hear from Universal and Paramount before too long regarding their schedule for Blu-Ray releases. Finally we can expect to see films like Serenity and TV shows like Heroes on our favourite Hi-Def medium. Obviously, we'll keep you up to date with any announcements these studios make. The "war" is finally, officially, over. How does that make you feel?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Everyone, let's get together. This is (hopefully) going to be the last HD DVD/Blu-ray news you'll ever read (we're saving one post for when Microsoft joins the Blu-ray camp). After the obvious death bells were ringing, Toshiba has finally called it quits. Although HD DVD players will still be sold in stores for now, Toshiba will abandon all new production of players. Most likely, they will be quick to create a Blu-ray player of their own.

According to Reuters, "Toshiba is expected to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders and other steps to exit the business."

That's what happens in a high-risk all-or-nothing format war. Sony must feel pretty good right about now, especially after historic defeats with Betamax, ATRAC, UMD, and more. Blu-ray in PS3 was a risky gamble: it created a price point that many mocked, and generated a good amount of negative publicity for the Japanese electronics giant. However, it was also the Trojan Horse that allowed it to gain such a large percentage of the HD-aware mindset. With this victory, it appears that Sony's plans are finally coming together.

[Thanks, Jason B.!]

HD DVD is officially against the ropes and is getting battered by wicked left and right hooks to the noggin by Blu-ray. But unlike a punch drunk boxer giving it one last shot at the win, it appears that the HD DVD camp is slowly coming to grips with its grim future.

The camp responded to earlier reports that Netflix would only carry Blu-ray titles as well as Best Buy recommending Blu-ray as the HD standard. "We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward," the statement read. "While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail."

Sure, they're not exactly admitting defeat yet, but it's almost sad to see the HD DVD camp attempting to find a silver lining in the fact that Best Buy is still carrying its discs despite promoting its competitor as the superior product. With overwhelming industry support leaning in Blu-ray's favor, it appears the only thing Sony needs to declare full victory is the support of Universal and Paramount. However, we believe it's only a matter of time before they're "seeing Blu."

Popular internet video rental service, Netflix, has just announced it is dropping HD DVD support. Blu-ray over the past few months has gained the exclusive support of a majority of major Hollywood studios, such as Disney and Warner Bros. The embattled HD DVD format is essentially "dead," and Netflix agrees. According to a report by Reuters, "Netflix said that with such a clear signal from the industry, it will only buy Blu-ray discs going forward and will phase out stock of HD DVD by about the end of the year."

As our friends at Engadget said, "good luck renting an HD DVD." With both Netflix and Blockbuster removing HD DVD from their shelves, it's clear that Sony's movie format has won the war.

We've heard it all: Microsoft only supports HD DVD, Microsoft wants the two formats to compete until it can step in with digital downloads to "save the day", but now we're hearing that Microsoft may consider supporting Blu-ray? We're sure they would do so begrudgingly, as it would mean their favored format falling flat on its face, but Microsoft says they're open to it.

Group Marketing Manager for the Xbox hardware said that "It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider" in regards to the 360 gathering up some Blu-ray support. They'll still defend HD DVD until its demise, should it occur, but at least they're starting to pay attention to the numbers. Numbers don't lie.

Update: Microsoft wanted to update their comment. "Microsoft currently has no plans at this time to consider Blu-ray as an option. We continue to believe that HD DVD is the best optical solution for consumers, since it's the only format today that delivers quality experiences at affordable prices."

The HD-DVD group has cancelled its pre-CES press conference as a result of Warner Bros' decision to go Blu-Ray exclusive. In an email sent out to invitees they stated that they are "currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps." This is a clear indication of the gravity of Warner Bros' announcement - to cancel a press conference is an undesirable and, usually, very public action to take.

We're not the type to start going all "Mission Accomplished", but this certainly feels like a turning point in the format war. Blu-Ray's newfound support from Warner Bros and New Line Cinema means that huge future releases such as The Lord of The Rings and I Am Legend will only be available on Blu. This year's CES is definitely one to watch.

Warner Brothers' surprise announcement of Blu-ray exclusivity may have effectively ended the format war. At least, that's what analysts are thinking. Richard Greenfield, the media analyst with Pali Research, wrote a pretty sharp comment about the state of the format wars. It's over. "We expect HD DVD to 'die' a quick death," he said.

According to Greenfield, NBC Universal did not commit to backing HD DVD exclusively, which means their catalog of products can move to Blu-ray in the future. Fans of Heroes and Battlestar Galactica, among other series, can breathe a sigh of relief. Paramount and Dreamworks, on the other hand, do have an exclusivity agreement, but may have a potential "escape clause" to abandon their support of the format.

Toshiba and Microsoft are the big backers of HD DVD in this format war, and it appears that WB's announcement caught the electronics manufacturer off-guard. According to GameDaily, the company released a statement: "Toshiba is quite surprised by Warner Bros.' decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD ... We were particularly disappointed that this decision was made in spite of the significant momentum HD DVD has gained in the US market as well as other regions in 2007."

The next steps are unclear at the moment. Will Toshiba and Microsoft raise the white flag, or will they bust out the moneybags to continue the battle? "We will assess the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluate potential next steps. We remain firm in our belief that HD DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs of the consumer."

[Sources: GameDaily, The NY Times]

In the second most senseless war this century, it appears the tide of battle is still firmly on Blu-ray's side as movie sales have topped one million units in Europe. That milestone gives Blu-Ray a 73 percent share of all HD movies, with HD DVD only responsible for 27 percent of sales.

Adding PlayStation 3 Blu-ray discs into the mix puts total units produced in excess of 21 million in the region, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association.

With sales so much in favor of Blu-Ray, could we see this war ending before the Forrester Research's predicted 18 months?

[Via Gamasutra]

One of the first arguments out of everybody's Anti-Sony mouth when Blu-ray was announced was "Betamax 2" or some similar drivel about the past repeating. Since Blu-ray is still topping the charts, a trend that started with its inception, it's starting to get hard to make that claim. Enter this ad for Blu-ray, which gleefully mocks Sony's past failures while at the same time giving the nod to Blu-ray and the shaft to HD DVD. It's cute, really. Check it out.

[Thanks, Sean!]

It seems that the movie industry is getting tired of the next-gen format war. Or the now-gen format war. Whatever you want to call it, the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD has gone on too long, according to multiple studios. Besides this, backers of Blu-ray have a lot to say about PS3 and their upcoming plans to support the Blu-ray format, including a long overdue update allowing to audio and video tracks to run at the same time. Let's listen in.

20th Century Fox's VP Steve Feldstein spoke highly of both Blu-ray and PS3, saying "PS3 is an incredible gaming platform that just happens to be a really great Blu-ray player, too ... Interestingly, there is a lot of crossover between the early adopter, the PlayStation 3 purchaser and the products that are being released early in Blu-ray's life cycle. A lot of the more male-oriented titles that we're releasing, the sales numbers indicate they're being played on PS3s."

Lionsgate Home Entertainment VP Ron Schwartz added his two cents as well. "I think PS3 is going to be a gift people are going to be giving this Christmas ... The great thing about PS3 is that it's a multipurpose media device that can play in the living room without the purchase of any additional components."

Even Gordon Ho of Walt Disney Studios put the studio's support squarely in the Blu. "High definition on PS3 is really pretty simple ... If you're going to hook up your PS3, take advantage of the movie capabilities." He also said that movie studios need to take the initiative to really educate consumers about Blu-ray and the PS3's ability to play them excellently. We're glad to see more studio heads coming out and voicing support. Not that the HD DVD exclusive studios wouldn't say the exact opposite, but at least there are clear voices on both sides of the fence.

Due to a recent exclusivity deal, Dreamworks' Transformers became an HD DVD exclusive. Michael Bay became pretty distressed at the deal, and threatened to leave production of Transformers 2.

The recent release of the HD DVD has been the best debut HD disc so far -- a significant victory for those in the HD DVD camp. However, that hasn't stopped the outspoken director from declaring Blu-ray as the ultimate victor. "It's short-sighted and it has delayed consumers' moving to HD (home video)," he told USA Today. "As a director, my critical eye is that Blu-ray is where my money is. Consumers are smart, and they are going to wait it out."

The exclusivity arrangement for Dreamworks' catalog expires in less than two years.

[Thanks, AG23!]

While gamers and retail chains have been mostly praising Sony's new cheaper PS3 (aside from the backward-compatibility issue), the European HD DVD Promotional Group has said the 40GB system won't have much impact on Blu-ray sales in the region.

"The European PS3 price cut will have a minimal impact on the adoption of next generation HD formats. The real battleground is in sales of standalone players and HD DVD is out in front by a massive margin," Co-Chairman of the European HD DVD Promotional Group Ken Graffeo said. According to the group, HD DVD accounts for about 70 percent of the European market, and it expects that number to continue to grow.

However, many believe this year's holiday period will go a long way in deciding which format will reign as king, and we think the HD DVD group may be underestimating the impact of the 40GB PS3.

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.

After months of reports proving that Blu-ray sells more movies than HD-DVD, Paramount's parent company Viacom has announced that they are dropping Blu-ray support and going HD-DVD exclusive. According to Viacom, they made this decision based on researching the benefits of HD-DVD, which "confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD." Some of the benefits of HD-DVD that they mentioned included lower sales, a much smaller user base, and limited storage space (okay okay, they actually said 'market ready technology' and 'lower manufacturing costs').

There are rumors of a 150 million dollar payout by the HD-DVD consortium to nab the Viacom exclusivity, which sure would help explain the move more than the officially given reasons. Regardless, we now can look at the format-war that nobody wanted getting strung out even longer. Yay -- thanks Viacom.

[Thanks to everybody who sent this in]

According to Time Warner, 300 has quickly become the fastest selling high-def movie of all time, shifting more than a quarter million copies since its release a little over a week ago. The Spartan epic, easily outpaced The Departed and Casino Royale which both took a couple months to hit just 100,000 sold.

When broken down between format types, 65% of consumers picked up 300 on Blu-ray, while 300 on HD-DVD accounted for only 35% of the sales. According to the USA Today article, this mirrors sales for the year with Blu-ray handily trampling HD-DVD with solid 2:1 sales.

The HD-DVD cabal can pretend that PlayStation 3 sales don't impact the high-def format war (a point they try to make in every single press release they send out), but it's clear that they're wrong. The PS3 has made a huge impact on the ridiculous format war, and this latest piece of info just drives that home. The real question at this point isn't "Who will win?" but instead "How long until Universal and Toshiba just give up and go Blu?".