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Sony US responds to HD-DVD demise News
PlayStation 3 News by Robert Purchese
Sony America boss Jack Tretton believes 2008 will be a "breakthrough year for the PS3".
He was speaking in the aftermath of Toshiba announcing it would withdraw its HD-DVD format from the market, and so pave the way for Blu-ray to shine.
"The emergence of Blu-ray as the de facto high definition standard is one more reason why PS3 is a great value to consumers," said Tretton in a statement.
"The combination of strong sales, Blu-ray dominance and widely-anticipated games all point to 2008 as a breakthrough year for PS3."
According to reports from the Toshiba press conference, the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive accounted for a third of all HD-DVD player sales in the US.
Overall, the US sold 900,000 HD-DVD players, Europe sold 100,000, and Japan sold 30,000 (10,000 players, 20,000 recorders). That brings the worldwide total to 1,030,000 HD-DVD players sold.
The PlayStation 3 and its built-in Blu-ray drive has sold more than 10 million units worldwide.
Analysts also predict that Toshiba's decision will be an enormous boon to Sony and the PS3 going forward, as retailers try to push Blu-ray on those buying HD tellies.
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convercide
20/02/08 @ 08:48
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I was never really bothered about HD-DVD to be honest as there were no games being made on the format.
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seasidebaz
20/02/08 @ 09:00
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download won't take off until we get at least 50mb downstream speeds, i for one really can't be arsed to wait for a movie to finish downloading before i can watch it.
and don't even say streaming. that's unpossible. there isn't a big enough hole into the intertubes to support streaming at ~50mb/sec for full 1080p and dolby truhd. streaming would require the film to be ~80% downloaded before streaming can start, and not to mention it needs a heck of a lot of storage space. and the fact that distributors *cough*apple*cough* set their prices too high for something that's essentially locked out from most playback devices... bluray ftw! |
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*ApoIogie - yes the high definition disc sales don't even make up 1% of the market compared to traditional DVD disc sales. Most people seem happy with the picture quality they are getting from their upscaling DVD players and the fact that DVDs are relatively cheap.
Also the jump in quality from DVD to HD disc is not as pronounced as the jump from VHS to DVD for the average person so they are not suddenly going to migrate to high definition disc whichever the format. Although we may see some slight increase in player sales based on the fact that some people have been holding off for an answer to the format war. |
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SentientNr6
20/02/08 @ 09:09
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Well they have earned some bragging rights. So I guess we'll have to endure them.
I wonder what the other partners in the BR camp think about the fact that the PS3 is the only player that supports the BR 2.0 spec. Anyway we knew all along that the PS3 was a BRplayer that also happens to support games. |
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seasidebaz
20/02/08 @ 09:14
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why all the ps3 hate? it's a great machine, so to all the people blinkered in with their narrow minded ways:
microsoft are going to shift strategy, and advertise the xbox360 as an inexpensive household heating system that also happens to play games. occasionally. until it inevitably breaks down after a year. bolded so you can see it xboys hehe /runs for cover from the flames |
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tonyferrino
20/02/08 @ 09:16
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"Going forward"? Arrgh, what's wrong with "in the future" like we used to use in the past (going backward?)?
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Artemis_Matsas
20/02/08 @ 09:24
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The only reason that studios want to migrate to Blu Ray: COPY PROTECTION.
DVD is hacked to death, and any kid using his PC can rip DVD movies. I know that Blu Ray is also hacked, at least the earlier disks, but it's not as easy and certainly as cost effective as ripping a DVD. |
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dr_shambles
20/02/08 @ 09:31
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@seasidebaz
With you on the downloads issue. Still reckon that's years away*, and the storage would need to be massive with terabyte drives and such. Doing basic maths let's say a film tops 50GB you'd soon fill a 500GB drive. Also people like physical objects (decent packaging, liner notes, etc) that digital downloads don't provide. Do concede this might be more the case with people who've grown up collecting vinyl, CDs and DVDs. Have a HD DVD drive for my 360 (yeah I know) and a PS3 so I backed both formats. Looking forward to picking up a load of heavily discounted HD DVD titles now. * I mean with ADSL it takes forever sometimes just to download a 1GB demo. |
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The combination of strong sales (LOL), Blu-ray dominance and widely-anticipated games (GLOL) all point to 2008 as a breakthrough year for PS3(LOL)."
/Fixed What exactly is your problem? Do you know how pathetic it is read comments like that? How old are you? Edit: I love the hyperbole, ApologIe, it takes 40 mintes to install a game now does it?
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 20/02/08 @ 09:44
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Moonprince
20/02/08 @ 09:45
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"overpriced or I'd have one by now"*
*If you work at McD's That's a bs old argument now... |
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The more PS3 blu-ray players sold, the lower the game attachment rate will go and it still doesn't change the fact that it takes 4 times as long to develop on the playstation than anything else. By the time 2010 rolls around and Blu-ray is in full swing, the gaming hardware will be archaic. Its almost like Sony has skipped a generation of gaming consoles to sell a disc format.
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most recently on 20/02/08 @ 09:46
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Considering the PS3 is good as both a high-definition home entertainment hub and games consoles, I'd say that Toshiba throwing in the HD-DVD towel early has just put Sony in a stronger position for 2008 than they already were as the console is in a strong position to sell to two different markets, the gamers and the movie buffs.
I just hope that Sony remember that the PS3 will sell better if it is marketed mainly as a games console because it isn't always going to be the best or cheapest BD player around. While it still has to prove itself on the games front, I can't complain about its DVD/BD playback functionality at all because it's the first console I've bought where I haven't felt the urgent need to rush out and buy a standalone player for my movies. Knowing that BD isn't going to be dead in a year makes me feel so much better about having spent £425 on the PS3 (which also has PS2 backward compatibility, more USB and memory ports than the cheaper, cutdown model) although the machine wasn't really up to scratch at launch, requiring numerous firmware updates - too many, in fact - to add 1080/24p support and DVD upscaling among other things. Still it is going to be a good year for Sony... they just need to release plenty of good games and drop the price of the console again mid-year and the machine will just sell itself just like the PSone and PS2 did. Christmas 2008 could well belong to Sony. |
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seasidebaz: You accuse people of being fanboys and in the next line you act like a fanboy yourself. Just because others have no dignity, doesn't mean that you have to lower yourself.
As for the article: I doubt it. Most of the people who own a ps3 don't even know that it plays bluray so I doubt that that group will go out and buy one because it's brd. Especially since neither HDDVD nor BRD have even entered early adopter stage (6% of the market) - last time I checked. The ps3 - and all consoles for that matter - will mostly sell on basis of it's games. Also, it seems like sony hasn't learned anything with them boasting about things that might or might not happen. |
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thiswaynow
20/02/08 @ 09:55
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I have no doubt 2008 will be a massive year for PS3, the sales figures are all on an upwards trend and the Blu-Ray inclusion is starting to make sense now. PS3 is dead-cert for second best selling in this gen for me.
I have a Wii currently, but will probably make the decision to go Wii-PS3 this year, and I think a lot of other people will do the same. THe big question is how far behind will the 360 be by 2010, when the next machines are slated for release? I suspect 360 will go the way of the Gamecube and fall off by the wayside within 18 months . |
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@Luvbeers - Well having the best hardware doesn't guarantee you'll have the best games (unless you think pretty graphics are what make games good in the first place) as both the PSone and PS2 have proven and the latter is still selling strongly despite being over seven years old. The PS2's hardware was considered dated years ago but it hasn't stopped it from getting the lion's share of triple-A games like ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy XII, Okami, Dragon Quest VIII, Metal Gear Solid 3, etc., etc. and it arguably has the biggest selection of good to excellent games of any console to date. With a ten year life span mapped out for the PS3, it's not hard to imagine that machine doing likewise, in fact it's harder to envisage it not doing that IMO. The PlayStation brand is still a big seller worldwide after all and despite all the gaffs Sony make they always seem to bounce back stronger than ever. Seems unfair at times but I guess they have a lot of loyal fans.
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most recently on 20/02/08 @ 10:12
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The big question is how far behind will the 360 be by 2010, when the next machines are slated for release? I suspect 360 will go the way of the Gamecube and fall off by the wayside within 18 months.
Are you serious? The 360 will sell more games than the PS3 no matter how many Sony sells until the next-gen, which Sony will be late entering as well since they've wasted so much energy on other aspects than console gaming. M$ 2010 - An awesome new console which will make games on the PS3 look like PS1 Sony 2010 - In-Game XMB support, FFXIII launch, virtual pop-star idol update for PSN Home (wo0t!) |
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afghan_jones
20/02/08 @ 10:04
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to be honest, yeah, they will do well out of this, cause lets face it, theres fuck all else to do with a PS3 other than watch blu-rays.
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seasidebaz
20/02/08 @ 10:07
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xerxes: i'm no fanboy, i have a ps3 and wii and love them both, i used to have a 360 that never had any problems despite those of my friends red ringing a lot (in fact everybody i know has had theirs redring, mine never did once)
the problem with the 360 though is that it was lacking any fun. games just became a trawl to collect gamerpoints. and trying to play online was a joke, too many little american kiddies who just learned some swear words in the games. i got my ps3 and ridge racer, and for the first time in ages actually played it to the end and enjoyed it. the 360 is a great machine, the fanboys that come with it are just daft. the comments they come out with are more or less the same as were said about the original xbox (like haha thats not a games console cos its got microsoft written on it) bluray and the ps3 are still in their infancy and are an unknown quantity in terms of performance, things will improve over time for both of them. games get better every generation. give it a year or two and things will be done on it that can't be done on the 360. |
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thomastantrum
20/02/08 @ 10:10
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" give it a year or two and things will be done on it that can't be done on the 360."
Didn't they say that a year or two ago? |
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Hmm yes behind your little screen probably at school, don't you have some work to be getting on with?
Although don't you get a little bored with it, trying to wind people up on here, I used to do it myself you know, but I grew out of it as it was like shooting fish in a barrel, no real sport. Still, I've said my piece, and you've pretty much proved my point so I'll move on now. Ta Ta |
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captainrentboy
20/02/08 @ 10:19
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Seasidebaz I think you'll find the fanboys that come with both systems are OTT, not just the 360 ones. And let's face it, not a single one of them are as bad as Apologie, that guy's deadly serious about every thing Pro Sony, whereas a lot of the 360 ones, annoying as they might be to a few of you, seem to be doing it in a more piss taking way.
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most recently on 20/02/08 @ 10:20
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Jesus, some laughable comments on here. At least I can see Apologies anyway.
I'm sure HD-DVD bowing out will help Sony. I'm considering picking up a PS3 just for the BR functionality as it's the best player available currently and one of the cheapest. But that doesn't change the fact that there is a lack of games for it, so attach rate may remain low. I would only consider buy AAA exclusive games. I hate the PS3 pad so would still buy multiformat games on the PC or 360. The 360 needs a price cut badly, it's well overdue, I'm not sure what MS are waiting for. But surely no one can think it's going to go the way of the GC or fade away. It already has a decent install base and the attach rate is high. This makes it very attractive for developers. As I see it all formats are now firmly established and none will be going away. And anyone into games should surely see this is a good thing. We all want choice and competition in the market place no? |
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seasidebaz
20/02/08 @ 10:21
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@apoiogie
are you insane? it was crap on the 360! the two games are completely different! i played the 360 version long before i played the ps3 version, theres just no contest! and in the context of gamerpoints, ridge racer 360 was so stingy with them i gave up trying to play for them, and still couldn't enjoy the game all that much. brand loyalty can go out the window as well, as i have been a loyal nintendo follower for the past 22 years, and raced out to get my wii on launch day. so if anything, i am a nintendo fanboy. and this still doesn't make me as much a fanboy as you |
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MoGamer2006
20/02/08 @ 10:21
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I'm glad the HD war is over, and BluRay seems to be the 'better' format so all power to it.
But you can just imagine the smug high-fiving, whooping and circle-jerking that must've be going at Sony's US HQ when Toshiba made its announcement official. Nobody does self-congratulatory quite like the Yanks... ugh! |
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3william56
20/02/08 @ 10:23
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Sony US responds to HD-DVD demise
"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA" "No really, you can stop now." Bill Gates responds to HD-DVD demise "We at Microsoft are appalled and disappointed by the behaviour of our technology partner Toshiba, selling a high priced electronic item to our loyal fanbase then making it obsolete overnight with no warning. How dare those b*stards treat our valued customers like that? It's clearly our job." |
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The announcement by Toshiba to pull out of the HD-DVD market, effectively killing it, will have a greater impact on X360 than Microsoft can imagine right now.
First of all, it leaves their decision with their external HD-DVD add-on at a cross roads; it's neither for games and now no good for films either! So, I think it will eventually be withdrawn from the market. Secondly, with analyst predictions for this year saying that the PS3 will double its installed base, it has to do this at the expense of some other console(s), of course. If someone planned to buy an X360/Wii and now hears all this about HD-DVD dying and games like GT5, MGS, LBP and KZ2 coming out for PS3, then they might be persuaded to lean in Sony's direction instead. In other words, with the Blu-Ray victory, Sony has an opportunity to sell more PS3 consoles to two different types of markets, just like it did with the PS2 enticing consumers with its DVD playing capabilities. Remember, Microsoft couldn't do that out of the box with the original XBox and again that contributed to its eventual downfall somewhat. I'm sure that when people have a budget to buy a console, they think of buying one, not two or three at once. So, what is interesting is how many people will now shift to buying a PS3? Combine that with those who were going to buy PS3 anyway at some point (perhaps they have PS2 right now and simply have not upgraded yet - like myself) AND those who want it as a cheap Blu-Ray player, well, Sony then definitely has a chance to not only double its installed base but jump into second position and be hot on the heels of Nintendo by Xmas '08. Sony's Blu-Ray trojan horse (the PS3) strategy has worked miracles, just like the PS2 did when DVD was emerging. While Microsoft have some hard decisions to make and find themselves in Sega Dreamcast territory. As for Nintendo, well, they've done a good job pushing themselves out of the hard core games market without the other two pushing them. So what will their next console be? A follow-up to Wii with more Wiimotes/Nunchucks? If not, how on earth will they get themselves back into the mainstream, without alienating all those 'casual' gamers they've found? Whatever happens, 2008 is going to be a VERY interesting year and I can't wait for it to unfold...
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most recently on 20/02/08 @ 14:39
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It's not the toy I get worked up about, It's reading idiotic comments editng a sentence of the article then adding /fixed at the end. Oh how you must have laugh at that, but unfortunately it would seem that you are the only one that finds the joke funny, I would advise you to get some new material.
You are becoming more irritating that the user you are trying to parody. P.S I am actually on your side re. PS3 vs 360, but you are letting the side down. |
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captainrentboy
20/02/08 @ 10:31
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FooAtari is pretty much spot on, I agree with all of it. The fact that Blu-Ray has won this thing means that me buying a PS3 mainly as a means to watch Blu-Ray flicks isn't such a crazy sounding idea any more. Shame they're not multi regional mind as that would be another huge plus point for me.
And like he said MS need to think about another £50 price drop across all of the 360 skus, it's been out for over two years now, it's time to get a bit more competitive. One thing though, as I deal with your average Joe Gamer on a daily basis in work (Game) I still find it strange that Sony's head honchos are sooo overjoyed with this Blu Ray victory even though I'd say 80 odd % of PS3 buyers look at me like I'm talking in an Alien language when I mention it plays Blu Ray films. ''Blu Ray???? Duuuuhhhhhhh?'' |
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