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It was only a matter of time until the bug guys over at Microsoft decided to go along with Toshiba and every other company out there to stop production of HD DVD items. Microsoft just issued this statement today.

As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD.  Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market.  As we stated earlier, we do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. 

HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own.

Blu-Ray wins. Horray! Now give me The Kingdom on Blu-Ray please. Thank you...

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Digital Leisure, a company that makes casual DVD-player games, has announced the upcoming release of Space Ace on Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats on April 8th. Similar to Dragon's Lair, Space Ace is a sort of interactive movie. Fully animated (hand-drawn animated lead by Don Bluth, of An American Tail and The Land Before Time fame) sequences are controlled by the player/viewer at certain junctures in the story, sort of like those "chose your fate" novels of yesteryear, except they're movies, or games.

The gamemovie...moviegame will have special features shot in 1080i, with an exclusive "Head 2 Head" online multiplayer type thing on compatible HD DVD players.

Thanks for sending in the tip, Robert!

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CNN Money is reporting that Toshiba is slashing HD DVD player costs and pairing the price drops with an "extended campaign of TV, print and online advertising to promote the format."

Toshiba has lowered the cost of its HD-A3, its cheapest player, to a mere $149.99 from $299.99; the HD-A30 has received similar treatment, going from $399.99 to $199.99 while the HD-A35 has dropped from $499.99 to $299.99.

You can bet that the price drops are Toshiba's attempt to bolster the HD DVD camp, now backed by two studios - Paramount and Universal (and shakily at that) - while Sony's Blu-ray format has received a recent surge of support from Warner Bros. abandonment of the HD DVD format as it moved to join four other studios in the backing of Blu-ray.

Said Yoshi Uchiyama, group vice president of digital audio and video at Toshiba America Consumer Products, "While price is one of the consideration elements for the early adopter, it is a deal-breaker for the mainstream consumer."

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If you haven't already seen it, here's the video of Sony's presentation given at CES 2008 as provided by Sony. It's 51 minutes long and includes content on (in order):

• The Rolly (a dancing music player with 2GB flash memory)
• PSP (at 8:00 minutes)
• The Mylo 2 (now redesigned to look almost exactly like the PSP)
• VAIO (a new Hi-Def "entertainment center" option that allows for recording in Blu-ray format)
• Digital noise canceling headphones
• The Sony Reader (which now supports Adobe PDFs unlike some new readers...)
• GPS devices
• Sony Ericsson (at 14:00 minutes covering Walkman phones, even a gaming version with "tilt controls")
• Various Sony camera recorders and cameras along with wireless imaging transfer devices
• Blu-ray, Blu-ray players, and Blu-ray drives (at 27:00 minutes; this gets interesting if you've been following recent developments)
• New Bravia technology
• Standard sales talk (at 38:00 minutes), recycling, McDonalds' hotspots for Mylo 2 (funny given yesterday's comment), and various other company alliances (Ford, CBS)
• OLED televisions (at 47:00 minutes)

Sadly there was only limited talk of the PlayStation 3 (I think the PSP was mentioned more), but if you're into fancy gadgets it's a go. You can view it at the jump.

Continue reading...

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In more Blu-ray news, Reuters is claiming that Microsoft would "consider" switching to the Blu-ray camp if "consumers want it".

Said Albert Penello, group marketing manager for Xbox hardware, "It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider."

As far as the rumor of Paramount switching sides in the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war, Penello stated that he didn't think that Paramount's decision (to abandon HD DVD) would have a "significant impact" on the Xbox 360 as it continues to go up against Sony's PlayStation 3.

I find this humorous because the PlayStation 3's 40GB model looks a hell of a lot more attractive as the most affordable Blu-ray player on the market. Plus it plays games, too (surprise!) and the PlayStation brand is still powerful despite the PS3's lackluster first year.

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Though yesterday we reported that The Financial Times broke a story on Paramount abandoning the HD DVD camp in favor of Sony's Blu-ray format, Paramount has since declared that "[its] current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format."

Funny, because it looks like the "current plan" is changing and that Universal Studios will be left as the sole film studio backing HD DVD.

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Sony recently made an announcement confirming that Playstation 3 and PSP users will be able to directly transfer Blu-Ray content onto the PSP memory stick's for portable viewing. It was shown at the company's CES booth where they demonstrated step by step this new method of disc-copying. They put the Blu-Ray disc into the Playstation 3 and were able to copy the film onto the memory stick duo for their PSP.

One thing left unmentioned was the size of the copied film. Will it be suitable for the small memory stick sizes now? It isn't surprising that Sony also released a new 16GB Memory Stick Pro Duo. Hopefully the size isn't too big because it might hamper the usage of this newly announced feature.

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Various sources, including the Financial Times, are reporting that Paramount will soon be following Warner in abandoning HD DVD support whilst turning to Sony's Blu-ray format.

The rumor goes that Paramount is relying on a "get out" clause in its exclusivity deal with the HD DVD camp - a similar clause to the one Warner used in making its switch.

From the article, "Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD DVD after Warner Brothers’ recent backing of Sony's Blu-ray technology, in a move that will sound the death knell of HD DVD and bring the home entertainment format war to a definitive end."

The news follows Sony's holiday sales announcement and lots and lots of PlayStation 3s getting off those shelves and joining the user-base since Christmas.

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In more "I sold more units than you" news, Sony has confirmed that it has sold 1.2 million PlayStation 3 consoles in North America alone during the holidays; the company is quick to remind us that every PlayStation 3 sold also equates to a purchased Blu-ray player that helps consolidate Sony's base in the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD format war.

Summarizes Jack Tretton, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, "The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008. The strong PS3 sales also further establish Blu-ray's dominant position as the high-definition medium of choice for games and movies."

Talking numbers, the PlayStation Portable has reached the 1.4 million mark in North America (receiving a nice sales boost over the holidays, no doubt) while the PlayStation 2 clocked in at 1.3 million units; all totaled, that's 3.9 million Sony machines discovered under trees this Christmas.

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According to a story on the The Hollywood Reporter, Sony CEO Howard Stringer has commented that the PlayStation 3 "[is] not behind the curve compared to PlayStation 2 in terms of momentum. The amount of bandwidth and the processing power of Cell give game manufacturers a lot more work to do to use this system to its full benefit -- and it's taken awhile to do it. The same was true of PlayStation 2."

He continued, "The momentum shift and the energy behind PS3 in time for Christmas is extremely fortuitous. It was planned by the PlayStation group, but I think this momentum now -- particularly the number of games coming out, including our own as well as third-party -- is the same as it was with PlayStation 2."

Continue reading...

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