780°

Blu-ray & HD DVD Have A New Challenger HD VMD

As if high-def DVDs weren't already a consfusing enough sell to consumers.

Starting in September, home media buffs in the U.S. and Europe -- Denmark, Finland, France, Poland and Sweden, specifically -- will have a third HD disc format to choose from, the HD Versatile Multilayer Disc VMD).

Debuting a full year and a half behind HD DVD, the fledgling HD VMD -- being championed by U.K. technology company New Medium Enterprises -- is starting almost from scratch in the U.S. in terms of both distribution and content.

No major U.S. studio has aligned itself with HD VMD yet (although one indie has). And so far, just one U.S. retailer, Web site PCrush.com, has formally agreed to sell the HD VMD player.

Diselage6152d ago

Oh please god no, No more HD formats PLEASE. Can we stop beating the dead horse already. Bury it please the whole thing is starting to stink.

ThisIsWaiting6152d ago

I could not agree more.

Just give me one format thats going to be around for the next 5-7 years and I will be a happy happy man.

kingofps36152d ago (Edited 6152d ago )

@Diselage
Be kind now.

@HD Versatile Multilayer Disc
Welcome to the format wars. Even though, in my opinion, the war is kinda over pretty much now.

Edit: @Diselage(below)
We gamers need to stay strong during these difficult times of format wars. lol

Diselage6152d ago

This is like the 6th HD format though isn't it?

Lord Anubis6152d ago (Edited 6152d ago )

if it has strong securities then it will be embraced by Hollywood. If it doesn't it becomes a causality of free HD movies on the internet.

which defeats the purpose of new formats, besides HD and deeper storage.

OutLaw6152d ago

I just got rid of my HD DVD add-on for my 360 and finally excepted blu ray as my choice of movie viewing. There is no way that I'm going to start over after the decision I made and adopt a new way of viewing movies and I hope that the film industry does the same. Enough with this bullsh!t of what is going to be the best way to look at HD movies.

TriggerHippie6152d ago

I completely agree with you on that 1. I'm tired of early adopters getting jerked around about which format to buy and then introducing new ones. I think HD VMD is to late into the war to be able to have an effect when most conmpanies have already decided which format to use.

TheXgamerLive6152d ago

Why if you really even have an Xbox 360 or two as you say, why even buy the HD-DVD add on and then sell it after just a short time? There are great movie for it and NO blu ray hasen't won anything.

Hmmm, something smells like a lie to me.

AGAIN PEOPLE: Dont make up sh1t just to sound cool, M'kay?

OutLaw6152d ago

My Gamertag is Snakeyez100 for the xbox 360 so there is no lying here.

I did have the hd dvd add-on from day one when it came out with King Kong. But I also have a PS3 and when I compared the two (Blu Ray and HD DVD) on my 61" hd tv. I felt that the quality of the blu ray just looked better. So I decided after awhile to support Blu Ray, that's it. So save that "something smells like a lie" for somebody else. Unlike alot of people on this site I don't bash the 360 or the PS3 I feel both systems suit me fine. But when it comes to the movies in my opinion Blu ray is better and that has nothing to do with the two gaming systems. What is your reason to think one is better than the other? Or maybe you just don't have neither and you are giving your opinion on hating? Let me know who's the liar now.

IBLEEDBLU6152d ago

this will sink sooo fast its not even funny

Show all comments (72)
230°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv7219h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle6h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18813h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio3h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Cacabunga5h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff21835h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga3h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

purple1018h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos8h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

XBManiac7h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple1016h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic5h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

Show all comments (23)
140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein17h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno14h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k412h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson12h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu13h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson12h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

120°

This Gigabyte GPU is now among the cheapest RTX 4090s on Amazon after a hefty deal

On Amazon, you can't get an RTX 4090 for less than this one from Gigabyte, which now offers great value after an eye-catching April deal.