Official statement: Warner Bros to back Blu-ray DVD format exclusively

New York/Los Angeles, Jan 4 (Reuters):

Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros studio on Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp's Blu-ray format, dealing a big blow to Toshiba Corp's rival HD DVD technology.

Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement, "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

Warner said it would continue releasing in the HD DVD format until the end of May, although those releases would follow the standard DVD and Blu-ray releases.

[tethered]

Game over.
Thank God!

[cloud360-7th_account]

PS3 Era 2008
░░░░░░░░░░
Day.░░░░░░4
Win.░░░░░░1
Loss░░░░░░0
░░░░░░░░░░

[TheTwelve]

Warner Bros logo in Blu color...haha. Awesome.

12

[The Brave 1]

This is great!Finally a company choosing the superior format instead of bribes.Go Blu!

[gamesR4fun]

at least in regards to b/r vs hd dvd

[marinelife9]

I'm going to miss this format war. It was a lot of fun. Oh well back to the old PS360 thing.

[sonarus]

yall can keep buying the goin out of business hd-dvd player sales. It was tempting and for all yall that fell to temptation sorry but really wasnt your fault 99 dollars is a very good deal. Once again blu ray has the best movies. Universal should go neutral soon and hd-dvd will probably be considering forfeiting now. Xbots can still try to save it and keep buying xbox 360 add ons or they can be sensible and seek a quick end to the format war buy saying no. Hopefully msoft didnt put hd-dvd in their new xbox...what a waste that would be. They could shock us with a blu ray drive though lol that would be hillarious.

[w57cpd]

Why are people blogging about how Blu ray is destroying HD DVD in total sale until Blu ray or HD DVD lower the price of their respective releases DVD will remain King. The winner will be the one that begins to match DVD price wise. Companies follow trends so just because a Studio decides to go with Blu ray now doesn't mean one should count out HD DVD. If HD DVD lower the price of their releases trust me when I tell you the outcome maybe different. People are always looking for a bargain that is why Black Fridays are so successful.

[TANOD]

Future is indeed BLUE

[f7ss1]

i bet bloodmask is crying so hard right now haha

[rofldings]

LOL, yeah ... where is Bloodmask?

Anyway, this is a HUGE victory for:

the Consumer
Sony
and Movie studios

[n_n]

wow, does Paramount & Dreamworks feeling dumb yet? take the Toshiba bribe $ and spend it wisely on producing future Blu-discs... hehe

[Mr PS3]

Do you hear that toilet flushing

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

[Andronix]

This is major news. Warner Bros realised the format war was preventing sales growth.

But what does it mean for the PS3?
It means the machine has legs. Shops will now push Blu-ray exclusively meaning the PS3 will sell a little bit more.

Does this mean that the Xbox 3 will have a Blu-ray drive?

[diatom]

No More blue-ray HD-DVD news/flamewars on N4G!!!! All we need now is a Sony/Microsoft merger...

[Omicronn]

This the biggest news we have seen in awhile on here.

"Game over" is pretty much right if you think about it.

Warner was a seriously big hit to HDDVD.

[Pain]

about time this crap war was done with!

the world go's Blu (insert Rick Flare voice) Woooooooooooo!

[cuco33]

That's what it cost to get WB to go Blu and to apparently start the end of the format war

I wonder how many PS3 fanboys are going to keep buying Blu-ray movies. My guess is BD sales will start to drop after HD DVD is put away.

[Omicronn]

Yes of course it took 400+ million because you know the facts.
And of course every ps3 fan bought these bluray movies to promote the ps3 and not for the games.

Give it a rest young man, Bluray won.

PS3 helped, and every other movie studio that supported Bluray and not HDDVD helped also.

If you think ps3 helped the Bluray war so much, then you should have bought a ps3 to go next to your xbox and Wii like the rest of the men.

PS3/XBox360/Wii are not what this is about....
this is about format..
Blu-ray Won. You lose.. End of story.

Adios!

[technology]

Only 5 hours passed for this article and there r nearly 300 comments ?! WOW Blu rocks ur world

[s1lens3]

Word man!

Now I can buy my blu ray movies in peace, I'm just hoping for more rentals in hd to enjoy, I'm tired of upscaled dvds.

[s1lens3]

if people buy ps3s to watch blue ray in japan, just like they did to watch dvds for the ps2, i feel the 100,000 consoles sold coming.

[godofthunder10]

i never cared for any of them till now.it seems that br has won the hd format war but they need to drop the price to put a dent in hd sales.already dvd sales are slowing down because of people renting dvd through the mail and people down loading movies.i still want buy a br player yet unless it's cheap because i'm not willing to pay $30 for a new movie on br when i could get it for $14 to $16 on dvd the first day at best buy,circuit city or walmart but every now and then if a good sci-fi or fantasy movie comes out i might buy it on br.
the majority of people isn't willing to jump to blue ray just yet because of the price of the movies.i'll admit that if a br player goes on sale for $200 or less i'll buy it because it will still play regular dvds but i will not buy a br disc because of the price,hell why pay $30 for 1 movie when i could buy 2 or 3,hell i wouldn't and the majority of the world wouldn't either,but if they drop them to around the same price as regular dvds i start buying all my movies on br but not till then.
like i said i never cared for br or hd till now,i wanted to see who wins and i didn't care who it was but i've read some post where people are saying that br is superior to hd dvd and that's far from the truth,the truth is that they are exactly the same picture and sound,as a mater of fact it was hd dvd that was superior to br till br added the internet conection for the movies like hd dvd had since the bigining.br fans were saying that br don't need all the extras like hd had because people don't even look at them.the truth is that the majority of people like to see the extras on the dvds and sony knew it and that's why they upgraded br to do the same thing that hd was doing and if people didn't care sony wouldn't have spent all that nmoney to upgrade br .but now that it seems that br won,people can buy br now and not worry about it loseing.

[MK_Red]

It is... DONE.
300, Matrix, Batman / Dark Knight, Harry Potter, I Am Legend... now only on Blu. Time for Paramount to reconsider the bribe it recieved.

[TriggerHappy]

Man this Round Peg Guy actually posted a good post in his life. I concur with you MK_REd

Now am going to get my PS3

[cloud360-7th_account]

No Wrong. That guy does it because he is battling with MK_RED for the money, i will support my fellow PS3 "nakama" to win most of the money.

sayonara for now

Yes each letter in the Language has to end in a vowel and did you know 78% of Japan is mountains

[sonarus]

thats why blu ray wins cus the best movies are on blu ray. I just hope hd-dvd see's this as defeat and apologizes and just strikes deal with sony so we can all move on with our lives

[rofldings]

I wonder if Warner is still scheduled to speak at the HD-DVD booth at CES. LOL!

[resistance100]

'I wonder if Warner is still scheduled to speak at the HD-DVD booth at CES. LOL!'

Yep, just to say, you can have some films up until May, then go F**k yourselfs xD

[unlimited]

someone havin a heart attack after reading it...i can assure you ..

[UnblessedSoul]

Goodnight Hd-dvd it was fun :)

[travelguy2k]

And it means that there will be alot less mud slinging here on N4G.

It aslso means that there may be an increase ion PS3 sales due to this news.

All Early adoptors of Blue Ray and the PS3 can now breath easier.

[Led Zeppelin]

Sony has success with a new format.

Third time's a charm I guess...

[aslucher]

lol actually its been a couple more failures than three.... just to name a few:

Betamax
MiniDisc
Hi-Md
Atrac
UMD

I will stop there... lol i love Sony but man they pick the wrong stuff!!! i am so happy to see this one a success for Sony!!!

[Neurotoxin]

I`m going to do an impression of Zhuk.

"Only with the true power of Sony`s Blu-ray will High Definition viewing bring us into the future with flying cars and magical unicorns, rejoice rejoice rejoice".

End impression...

.... Now for the real comment... I actually don`t care who wins.

[gamesR4fun]

ya but what would Danger Mouse rather watch?

edit ya and we all now you can only get the good kitty porn on b/r now ;)

[Neurotoxin]

A kitten orgy.

[Tryst]

lol about the Zhuk statement :)

[Real gamer 4 life]

I can hear corks poping off the champaing bottles over at SCEA SCEE and SCEJ. Sony has finaly cracked the format market. And i hope that microsoft scarps tha 36o ultimate. You know how embarrasing it would for microsoft to release a hd-dvd drive on the 360.

[travelguy2k]

it actually going to be a blue ray drive in the ultimate

[jwatt]

Yea congrats to Sony, they lost with Betamax but I think they deserved to win this time.

[ravinash]

They would have to wheel Bill Gates out to explain this one.

[Merovee]

How everyone forgets that Sony was a major player for CD and DVD creation and pretends that they get no money from those 2.....

[UnblessedSoul]

I told you it was decided as soon as sony put blu-ray in it's Playstation 3

[Neurotoxin]

Had MS stuck a Hd-drive in the 360 to start with it would have been a completely different outcome.

Good Foresight by Sony, not only by delaying the PS3 for a year to stick a new media capable drive in, they gave the opposition a 10 million unit lead in what the console`s real use is.... playing games. Lmao, but kudos on winning the blu-ray battle.... well done ;).

[TheTwelve]

True, but this lead is shrinking, and rapidly. One war at a time.

12

[rofldings]

"Had MS stuck a Hd-drive in the 360 to start with it would have been a completely different outcome."

How so? If MS had stuck in an HDDVD drive, it would've delayed the launch of the 360 and increased the price of the console. It wouldn't have its user base it has today.

[Ju]

^^ Yep, I agree. They tried to win the console war over time and price. Nice try. Didn't work out. Now they have to back paddle pretty badly. But actually, and Ultimate with HD-DVD would be Xbox's grave, IMO. Would be curious to see, what impact an "Ultimate" with a BD drive would have :) Pissed current and HD-AddOn users? But even then, it needs to price match the PS3 and needs to be as reliable. 2008 started off interesting. LOL.

[Makroyale]

The 360 couldn't put an internal HD-DVD drive in their unit. Their strategy was to go early and release the 360 to get a jump on the PS3 and win with console and software sales.

Sony decided to wait and put a BD drive in their unit and so far it has paid off, as they won the format war.

[rev20]

I sure hope those ultimate rumors werent true, as microsoft will be in a bit of trouble lol :D

Massive boost for the ps3 this and sony as a whole :p

[jackdoe]

Surprising move on WB part. Anyway, all I want is for WB to fvcking release Batman Begins on Blu-ray right now.

[heroman711]

+ we get dark knight on blu ray wen it comes on blu ray

[scrillakiller]

suck on that xbox is thebest,the mart, bladestar, zhuk,and all the other xbox/hd dvd chearleaders

[Ri0tSquad]

Right on the money with that prediction.

Time for the gamers who are looking for a Blu-Ray player and don't own PS3 to buy one.

[christopher6453]

Crap

[heroman711]

lol yup. sux for hddvd adopters

[Jason 360_Niglet]

GAMEOVER.... I'm surprised to say.

[Xemnas]

is the war over now can i go home ? please?

[Meus Renaissance]

What's interesting now is how the other studios react. Most likely they'll jump the HD-DVD ship and put on their "I Love Blu" shirts on.

And I hope Sony refuse PARAMOUNT entry into the Blu-Ray association. Punish them into releasing a public apology to the consumers they sold out because of that $150million payout.

[TheTwelve]

THAT won't happen. But it would be funny if it did.

12

[tordavis]

Meus, you are always a reasonable poster who doesn't really on FUD but fact in your comments. This statement here: "And I hope Sony refuse PARAMOUNT entry into the Blu-Ray association. Punish them into releasing a public apology to the consumers they sold out because of that $150million payout" is fcking a stupid one to make and I hope you aren't serious. If Sony refused Paramount into the Blu-Ray market who would that hurt? The consumer! We want all the studios to go with one format so this market split will end. Jesus man I hope you weren't serious about that statement.

[Shankle]

Why on earth shouldn't paramount have 'taken the bribe'? It's good business sense. It's not like they have some sort of sacred duty to back blu ray. And sony forget that sony isn't the boss of blu ray. Whereas HD-DVD is most prominently backed by toshiba, Blu ray is far more a shared property. Sony are pulling a heck of a lot of weight for it though.

[SRuN4]

no longer a rumor is it?

[vloeistof]

the dark knight why so serious ???

http://youtube.com/watch?v=...

^^must see !!!!!!!!!!!!

[MK_Red]

Why So Serious indeed :)

[Prismo_Fillusion]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

You'll get a laugh out of that one! :)
Dark Knight trailer in 1989

[Guwapo77]

Oh my... First time seeing the trailer for DK. Now I can't wait for this to come out. Thanks for the link.

[hella whip]

People said 2008 will be the year of Sony and its PS3 and in the first four days they appear to of won the format war.

[power of Green]

Its probably it(the end) for HD-DVD. My HD-DVD player will still be good for upconverting DVD's lol.

[Jason 360_Niglet]

ahahahaha!

[shelbygt33]

And it will be good for playing all the HD-DVD's I own. I mean, this is great news for BR (I own a ps3, too), but seriously, there are still exclusives for each side, and as such you can't watch everything unless you own both. That won't change overnight, not by a long shot.

But kudos to BR.

[Ri0tSquad]

It might not be your personal preference but you should get one if you plan on buying a blu ray player.

[gamesR4fun]

Best movies and the greatest console games ever made...
+ the ps3 does a better job of converting your dvd's to hd than any hd dvd player Ive seen..

[Account deleted]

you made me laugh this time, even if we are not on the same side, bubbles for you this time

ps: a good sense of humour should always be aprreciated

blu FTW

[TruthBTold]

Wow, surprised you still have a sense of humor after this. Good to know you're not a sore looser. To be honest though I am so glad this happened that way people wont to too uncertain and confused about going HD. This war was just holding everyone back. I felt a little worried sometimes buying Bluray movies but now I feel a lot better about going out and buying all those great movies I have wanted for a long time.

[Covenant]

PoG:

Nice comment, esp. from a vocal 360 supporter. No fanboyism, or angry tirades of denial, as some would have done.

It's over. I don't like that fact that a Sony proprietary format won, but I'm relieved that I can now choose one and feel safe with my decision. Unless, of course, download services replace discs altogether.

[Daewoodrow]

assuming HD-DVD does still fail (which admittedly looks likely now) you can still benefit from the ultra cheap HD-DVDs when the stores try and shift the stock. So it's not a total loss really.

[Tarmgar]

Balls for posting and humor when news severely doesn't go in your favor. Bubbles for you and thanks for the chuckle :).

[BattleAxe]

We all knew that this would happen sooner or later. I'm glad to see this war come to a conclusion.

[FunnyBone]

Pretty silly statement after Sonys past debacle's. Let me just list some

1.MiniDisc

2.ATRAC ( Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression technologies under the ATRAC brand, against the more widely used MP3)

3. SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound)

4. Betamax

5. UMD

SEE I dont have to hit disagree on you.Even thou I do disagree...

[hella whip]

UMD only failed as a movie format, as a format for portable games it is a success.

[Shankle]

Sony has had many failed ventures, but they did create the CD, which makes up for a heck of a lot of it, especially seeing as this is what the DVD and HDDVD+Bluray are derived from. Also, while it was in fact toshiba who developed the DVD, when Sony abandoned its competing MMCD format and started supporting DVD, it was undoubtedly the company which did the most work in getting DVDs in homes. We really owe a lot to Sony.

admittedly this isn't really much of a response to anything, but it's worth mentioning.

[RUF1]

Well, if it is true, then both the format war and the rampant fanboyism can finally frigging STOP!!! Hallelujah! At least the prices for players have come down.

[Mercutio]

08 is here !

[HelghastYid]

The pstriplle aighttttttttttt

[nice_cuppa]

.

[bym051d]

Same author too. He knows how to game the points system.

[bym051d]

Maybe MS and Toshiba can write off that $150,000,000 bribe they payed out last year.

[hella whip]

If this story wasn't posted twice it probably would of reached the highest temperature in months.

[xSithx]

I guess it's a good thing I didn't run out and buy the HD-DVD drive for my 360. I was sure this was going to drag on at least until the Paramount deal was over. I guess this means more blu-rays for my PS3!

[FunnyBone]

Even thou I will still stream my Wmv HD movies to my 360...(Looks just as good)as Spiderman on my PS3 or King Kng on my MS HD DVD drive..Would like to try streaming to the PS3 but when I turn on Media Share in setup my connection goes out.Cant connect to PSN when media share is turned off my connection is fine...WIERD

[SJL480]

There was something funny that happened after firmware 1.81 that caused the problem. I found two workarounds on the internet. One was extremely complicated (for me at least). The other was to go in to the admin settings in your router and turn off UPNP the other I don't remember but if you search 1.81 you should be able to find it to. I don't know how tech savy you are but I hope this helps.

[FunnyBone]

Thanks I will try that out today..

Bubble for the help

[SKUD]

One more step closer to ending the format war.

[TrooGamer]

Oh well. Move on MS!

Blu Ray drive in the next MS console.

The irony!!!

[BigBadPolo]

FINALLY!!!

I've been an HD-DVD supporter since day one and just recently a dual-format supporter. I am glad to see one of the big companies finally make a move. As much as I have enjoyed HD-DVD and will continue to do so as I won't rebuy any HD-DVD I have I am glad to see something of a sign of the end. I could careless who wins I just want my movie media in HD and it looks like with a move like this that BR will be the media.

I'm interested in seeing how Universal/Toshiba/Paramount respond to this big announcement. Here is to Toshiba and HD-DVD's very valiant efforts and here's another to finally gaining some real ground in have one format.

[Devr]

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.

Ps3 just gained huge momentum. :O This will be so, so VERY interesting to watch! Awesome!

[Xemnas]

ROTFL *SINGS ALOUD*

[pompoms]

:)

[MetalProxy]

Drink some real beer "Moose Drool"!!

[f7ss1]

i live like 15 mins away from moosehead breweries

[Phantom_Lee]

funny....I just got 300 on blue ray like 10 mins ago....

[f7ss1]

YOUR PURCHASE DETERMINED THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR!! lol jj

[jorellpogi]

Very funny punch line. LOL

[Phantom_Lee]

O~~RIGHT~~~...............

[hotshot127]

im entering into the highdef format

so now next holiday, sony will be selling to the high def market AND the gaming market.

@nuerotoxin. the ps3 is more like 7.8 million behind, NOT 10MILLION.

but anyway, its not hard to catch up to that at all, they already outsold the 360 this holiday and its gonna continue for a LONG LONG LONG TIME.

but looks like sony isnt going anywhere, (niether will the 360)

but sony will definetely kick all arse next holiday and on. so what happen with all those people that said the ps3 would fail along with (betamax)bluray? where did you go?

where are the ones that said ps3 would get outsold by more then 2 to 1 this holiday? (im looking at you MART)
just wondering because it looks like you guys have been alittle quite lately. and no dont come and use the sorry excuse.............PLAYING GAMES because you know your not and you guys have just got owned.

looks like everything i said is coming true, so im gonna continue my prediction even further and say that by the end of 09, the ps3 will be back on top(360)and will continue to dominate the industry starting 09

[Elginer]

Well that's the end of HD DVD, it was a nice run folks. Now comes the fire sale and I'll stock up on flicks for mad cheap. Good to know this retarded format war is over. So my question is; when does the stand alone blu-ray drive for the 360 ;) hahaha

[Meus Renaissance]

If the Ultimate Xbox 360 is real, it probably has a Blu-Ray drive in it (which is ironic as it helps Sony lol). If it has a HD-DVD drive in it, that has to be a joke from Microsoft. Seriously. No way can it have a HD-DVD drive in it.

[resistance100]

I irony of that being is that sony will get money for every 360 Ultimate sold

If this 'new 360' was actually true

[tordavis]

Every time a 360 owner buys a Bravia Sony gets money. What's the difference?

[TehRadge]

A 360 owner has the option of buying a Samsung, or a Panasonic, or whatever

[MaximusPrime]

Yep xbox 360 Ultimate is going to be ULTIMATE DISASTER. GOOD BYE HDDVD!

We will welcome back you, paramount, you know you made a stupid move.

[jcgamer]

:)

[zakupilot256]

The consumers have spoken. Ps3 owners do buy Blu-ray, its too late for the (i bet very over priced) xbox360 ultimate with its built in HD-DVD. I guess "forcing" consumers is the right way to go. HD-DVD, just tap out, go to sleep, commit seppuku.

[nice_cuppa]

they said they would support it if it won so i guess about 6 months.

[heyheyhey]

this is a sort of cath 22 for sony- if they do release the add-on then blu-ray sales will increase which is good but then they would be helping M$, their console rivals which is bad for them- so i wouldn't be too sure about whether sony releases a blu-ray add-on for the 360

[Lumbo]

I think you are mistaken with your catch22 idea there, cause it is a win win situation for Sony to license a BD add on for the 360.

1) they get BD movie sales from MS users
2) they get license fees from MS for the BD player
3) the likelihood of ANYONE buying a XBOX360 only because of the add on is around nill, only existing Xbox users would buy the add on as the PS3 is cheaper than the 360+the add on combined and does not provide yet another brick like add on next to the powerbrick ....

Clear win-win case, your competition paying you with license fees and royalties from the movies.

[Primetimebt]

Let it be written in history books.. The HD DVD and Blu Ray format war ended because of "The Playstation 3."

[Rice]

The war is over, i feel sorry for those people who spent money on a HD DVD player!!!!

[MetalProxy]

Dont feel sorry! They made that stupid decision because of M$. Its time to Laugh not feel sorry..hahahah!

[heyheyhey]

man i will laugh if M$ started production of xbox ultimate prior to this statement it would= major embarrassment for M$ (and with RROD i dont doubt they can take any more) anyway this spells bad news for M$ and their future consoles (not SKU's i mean the successor to the 360) because now that sony owns the definitive hd large-capacity disk format they will never ever allow M$ to use it in their consoles and therefore if M$ want their games to be produced on high-storage disks then they are gonna have to go with hd-dvd (now AKA the failure) or create an entirely new format and given M$'s "success" with hardware i doubt that format would be any good- while over at sony camp, they can rst safe in the knowledge that they own the THE hd disk right now and they can use it however they want in consoles or anything else. now all we need is for mac to take over as the leading OS and we can say goodbye to the monstrosity that is M$ (and if M$ release another failure like vista that would become very likely)

[Meus Renaissance]

Although I support Sony, I hope Microsoft don't become this stupid. It's not even funny

[Wonderbhoy]

The buttons on your keyboard that don't have letters on them... they're for punctuation!

[moveteam]

Sony can't decide who to join them. If MS wanted to, I'm sure they get allowed. Blu-ray is not Sonys format, but a member of the Blu-ray Association.

But this is sure a very good move, the war is nearly over.

[heyheyhey]

erm are you retarded? blu-ray IS sony's format- they made it, they own the rights to it and its completely their choice whether they let M$ use it or not

[ravinash]

Don't forget these companies are always doing deals with each other.
Toshiba for example helped witht he dev for the Cell, and yet were on the other side on the format war.
beside, BlueRay on 360 can only be good for Sony and then there are more people who will buy BlueRay films.
Unfortunatly for the 360 owners, its unlikely the games produced for 360 will be able to take advantage of the extra space as this would force the current 360 owner to get a plug in....Something many 360 fanboy would get very up set about being forced to buy a Sony product.

[The_Engineer]

but a little birdie told me MS wont be around in another ten years.

[carl ps3]

Poor Bill Gate$$$$$$$$$$!!! ;-D
Don't think i'll buy a xBox360 Ultimate! with it's built-in
HD-DVD(Beta-max)Drive now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-D
(er i wouldn't buy one if it was 10p anyway!!!) ;-D

[power of Green]

Agreed! I was going to report it as an Duplicate story but whats the point?. Its going to posted many more times anyways.

(((shelbygt33))) I did say Probably.

Its not like if HD-DVD turns things around studio's won't support HD-DVD again.

BD wins because of the way they got all the retailers to buy into the format. All the smaller towns etc can't find HD-DVD movies to buy due to retailers not carrying them Blu-rays winning software sales because HD-DVD backers can not get the mvies as easy in small town etc.

Toshiba and pals need to find a way to get their movies as in as many retailers as Blu-ray movies so their are just as available.

The HD-DVD players sell(the best) but no one can get the movies as easily. Thats the biggest problem perhaps the only problem.

[gamesR4fun]

Neither format was doing well both had about the same product placement n here in canada at lest it seemed to favor hd dvd especially after the Paramount deal. I think most were just waiting for the war to die b4 committing their hard earned cash on either format...
Still not over tho it looks pretty good for b/r

[lonestarmt]

thats not true. If you count ps3 as blu-ray players then blu-ray out sells HD-DVD. Plus thats not the only problem. They don't have enough movies. There is more selection for blu-ray, plus the biggest movies of the year are on blu-ray. Think about it. Spiderman 3, pirates, and disney movies are all only on blu-ray. That and add in every one who has a ps3 buys blu-ray, HD-DVD didn't really have a chance.

[Cyrus365]

I think HD-DVD problem isn't as simple as you put it, this really rings home what HD-DVD problems are, and why they'd never was going to win:

http://www.n4g.com/industry...

[heyheyhey]

actually dude there is practically now way hd-dvd can turn this around now because now that WB has gone exclusive, so will universal and paramount (soon enough) and that will mean that in about a year or so toshiba will completely abandon the format and go back to work on what they were doing before (toshiba laptops FTW)

[captainpwn]

It's all going Blu now!

[Bender]

PS2 beat Xbox
Blu Ray beat HD-DVD
PS3 is already outselling Xbox 360 worldwide

[Regret]

Finnaly.

[Nameless]

How does this spell bad news for Microsoft HeyStupidHey ? With all of the money they have this will not effect them one bit & The Console Wars is far from over.

[heyheyhey]

this is what comes from being ignorant- i didn't actually say that M$ would get affected financially (well they will but not too much) i said that this will cause them embarrassment and it doesn't help them that sony owns blu-ray because sony probably wont let M$ use the format in their future consoles- christ cant you learn to understand what your reading but what can you expect form a guy who's best he can do is something as pathetic as "heystupidhey"

[Ju]

Undecided customers might prefer the PS3 now. Until now, BD might no have been a deciding factor. Now it will have more weight.

[power of Green]

Hahahahah You think if MSFT really was working on the Xbox Ultimate it would be too late?. lol.

Theres been polls in Europe saying they buy PS3 because of the next-gen DVD format is built in. HD Movies sell like sh*t compared to DVD's Hd-DVD could make an Easy comeback with a Xbox with HD-DVD built in. lol

[TrooGamer]

Yea mate with no films.

Go figure.

Also price of Ultimate? Too little too late.

HD DVD will be dead by the end of the year.

[Cyrus365]

How is it going to do well, with only 2 studios backing it now? And basically top 4 movie studios backing the other format.

If Universial was say Fox or WB it might be different...

[gamesR4fun]

Look how many guys who have a 360 r gonna trade it in for the new model? not too many how many 360 owners have the hd dvd add on Not very many at all. Putting out this new sku with hd dvd built in will probably hurt M$ more than not imo
Since they cant make games on the format either without pissing off the majority of 360 owners who dont have hd dvd... Now that b/r has the most and the best movies who wants hd dvd? Well other than the blind fanbots?
Still M$ has more cash than most nations so they could give away a hd dvd drive to every 360 owner and crank out more cash on bribes .... Doubt it tho with Vista flopping and the 360 failure rate they are hemoraging money almost has fast has they are making it...

[Account deleted]

now i feel bad about giving bubbles above, but you can't help it, you must protest i know,
and you know just to make you feel a bit happier
i will give you an agree,,, even though i highly disagree,

why would the europeans(i am one of them) be convinced now of buying the hd dvd.... just one good reason, for arguments sake

[TANOD]

COD4,AC,PES,FIFA all SOLD more on PS3 than X360 in EU despite the ps3 having 3/4th of X360's total consumer base

You can clearly see that PS3 outsells the X360 in EU both in terms of softwares and hardwares

x360 sales have disappeared in EU . It will disappear this year in NA too

[solar]

if this truly is the end of HD DVD, wonder if bill will still bring out this rumored "ultimate" with a HD DVD player? i know its a rumor, but ya know. i wonder...

[Devr]

I think if they were really planning to announce it... Well, it just got canceled. Which is actually good for MS, since the 360 Ultimate would have been an abomination costing easily 600$ or more.

[Ju]

"CES M$ press conference canceled" :) LOL. Wouldn't that be funny, he he :)

[Green-Hag]

It is actually a win-win situation for everyone except MS and Toshiba I guess. Until the format war ends, standard DVD will continue to dominate the market.

[Covenant]

Agreed. Most people only recently adopted standard DVDs, and only a small percentage of homes have an HDTV.

DVD will be the standard for a while longer, but for those who want HD movies, it looks like Blu is the way to go.

(Wow. I managed to use all ten bubbles on this thread!)

[Ju]

What will happen, is, that they will take off DVD players from the market and replace 'em thru BD players for the holiday season 2008. The same way they did that with tube-TVs vs. flat panels this year. Nobody makes any profit anymore on DVD players. Only the cheap Chinese no name brands will stay. But the big brands will now all dump out BD players before the end of the year. Guaranteed! War out.

[Nameless]

Even when there is one format regular DVDs will not be going anywhere for a while.

[wangdiddy82]

I feel sorry for those people who bought a hd dvd player... Now they have to buy a blu ray player.. WB has a bunch of good movies about to come out.. The 2nd batman and i am legend to name a few..

This is huge news.. Really huge for blu ray.. This is bigger than paramount going to hd dvd exclusively.. Now blu ray is backed by every movie studio exclusively except for paramount and universal. I smell universal making blu ray movies very soon. Cant wait..

Warner brothers alone makes better movies than paramount and universal put together these days.. WB has a lot of big named movies under there belt which will most likely bring the format war to a end. I dont see what hd dvd can do now to save them from going under.. Why would anyone in there right mind buy a hd dvd player instead of a blu ray player??? Im glad i chose blu ray baby.. I own about 55 blu ray movies..

[Shadow Flare]

Funniest things about this:

- According to Xbots, Sony has forced consumers to purchase a fully hd console with the winning HD format. As opposed to microsoft forcing consumers to buy a semi-hd console with the old dvd format. OWNED.

- The Xbox 360 Ultimate has an absolutely, completely USELESS HD-DVD drive. Can't play games, can't play movies. Completely useless. So the ULTIMATE xbox 360 is fitted with a DEAD format. OWNED.

- Once again, xbots were speaking out there buttcheeks when they said blu-ray would fail because apparently 'every' other sony format has failed. OWNED.

- PS3 is the ultimate, future-proof fully HD console. Xbox 360 is a semi-HD, dvd playing piece of crap that has a 33% failure rate, a console whose company, aka. Microsoft has yet to make a single PENNY of profit throughout their entire xbox franchise. OWNED

-For once the best format actually did win. HD-DVD, OWNED.

-The Xbox 360 "Ultimate" might as well be fitted with a betamax. OWNED.

Once again its the sony fans who had the logical reasoning to back sony. Its the playstation fans who support sony because you know what, they know how to actually run a gaming cooperation properly, and make an awesome console THAT WORKS

Toshiba, Microsoft....i think you both just got owned

[zakupilot256]

no my friend, they got serived

[The Dude]

You still don't get it. Your the ones that got served you don't have any games to play. So go back to your movies biotches.

[hella whip]

I'm pretty happy with the 10 games I own for my PS3 along with my 3 Bluray films and Planet earth bluray.

[mistertwoturbo]

Haha the dude. Don't got games to play? bwahahahah. looks like someone's feelings are hurt dreadfully.

Come 2nd quarter of 2008, PS3 owners will be basking with MGS4 glory, and Killzone 2 Glory, well and even GTA IV Glory (yeah and 360 owners get to bask in that glow too at least), but Secondly enjoying BLU RAY EXCLUSIVE movies from WB, Fox, Sony Pictures, Disney, hell every movie studio except Paramount and Universal.

And once HD-DVD starts to really die out and PS3/Blu Ray sales pick up even more. Video game developers are going to recognize that Blu Ray is THE format to develope on.

[bootsielon]

At least for Blu-ray movies and the occasional exclusive game. If not now at least wait 2 years. It'll have so many games, be so cheap and useful that it'll be one of the best entertainment products ever. Maybe it'll sell like the DS if Blu-ray wins?

[Snukadaman]

Ill wait until they fix the kinks in the ps3 right now....im quite happy with my hd-dvd add on and a couple of hd-dvd movies... i wont be moving onto blu-ray...ill wait it out....im sure if hd-dvd would of won the format war most of you would of done the same.

[fenderputty]

I hope the Blu camp can now pull off some of the other HD supporters. It's going to be interesting to see how companies/studios react to this. This could be the catalyst speeding up the reaction that was inevitable in the first place. I just want BD to win now so I can start getting all sorts of movies. Bring on Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Matrix and soon when Paramount gives, Transformers.

[tethered]

List of upcoming Warner movies.

http://www.imdb.com/company...

[RudeSole Devil]

HA HA Microsoft didn't see that coming.....

[SIX]

If the 360 "ultimate" will now be equiped with BR players?

[Covenant]

Maybe that's the big announcement for the CES...maybe Gates and co. knew in advance.

[Jandre02]

From using Blu-ray drives in the Xbox, or having add-ons. This is just one more advantage for the PS3, which already outsold the Xbox360 last week by 100,000.

So, if you wanna rent HD movies, you can with Microsoft. If you want to own hard copies of movies, the PS3 is the only all in one media center.

Period.

[hella whip]

I don't think Sony should block Microsoft from bringing out a bluray add-on. Imagine when the next generation of consoles come out Sony could refuse to let any other company to make a console with bluray. Personally I think Sony would be happy to let Microsoft bring out a Bluray add-on.

[fury]

2008 will be a great year for blu-ray. will the sales double, triple or even quadruple?

[Fragking28]

Now that this war is all but lost the intersting thing is to see how long it will take hddvd to bow out the longer it takes the worst for sony. Not because of people buying the hddvd players but the longer it will take for microsoft to perfect digital distribution. Because once hddvd bows out sony will now have to fight digital distribution which is a battle i doubt they'll be able to win. With everything becoming easier to get through the internet. The battle is about to begin once again.

P.S. stop making this a 360 related topic because it really hasnothing to do with the 360. Because that ultimate was only a rumour nothing more until proved which i beleive is not true.

[TheExecutive]

It will be at least 5 years before digital distribution even considers the mainstream technologically illiterate public a target audience. People still like hard copies of their movies and always will.

[TheExecutive]

It will be at least 5 years before digital distribution even considers the mainstream technologically illiterate public a target audience. People still like hard copies of their movies and always will.

[Kyur4ThePain]

display the PS3 in both the gaming AND DVD player section.
What better way to let people who don't know understand that it is one of the better Blu-Ray players around.

[TheFatOne]

The beauty in this is that now the PS3 looks like an attractive option for those movie buffs (spelling ?)

[HelghastYid]

Hahahah where are you Zhuk??? THe mart??? anyone???

[Bender]

Ha Im sure the APES will turn up, once they're finished crying

[MaximusPrime]

Attention HDDVD supporter:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[jcgamer]

:)

[Shadow Man]

Microsoft will release a blu-ray drive for my 360.

[Tarmgar]

That won't happen because Sony is part owner of the Blu-Ray technology. No blue for your 360. They don't want their competition having their awesomeness.

[cmrbe]

Business is business. Toshiba help developed the Cell which is the PS3 CPU and yet they Toshiba new the PS3 was blu main weapon.. I am sure these mutlinationals are not childish.

[Covenant]

Tarmgar--

If the money's there, it will happen. MS may have to swallow some pride, but they could always remind Sony of their need for Windows for Vaio computers...a little quid pro quo, if you will.

Money talks. Always.

[IGNFTW]

THIS MEANS,SONY NOW HAS ALL THE FUTURE HARRY POTTER,BATMAN,SUPERMAN,AND SPIDERMAN MOVIES,APPEARING EXCLUSIVELY ON BLU-RAY.

I THINK IT'S SAFE TO SAY HD DVD NEEDS A HERO RIGHT ABOUT NOW

[Zool 08]

and don't forget the Lord of the Rings trioligy as well

[Mercutio]

I DO BLU Because BLU is DUE

[MK_Red]

The Dark Knight is now Blu... nuff said.

[Bonsai1214]

its great that warner has gone blu-ray exclusive, so it basically cements blu-ray's victory. what i don't understand is why everyone here is bashing the PEOPLE who bought a hd-dvd player. have some class guys. if you're going to knock something, hit on hd-dvd, not the people who bought into it.

what would have happened if the announcement went the other way? (granted, the chances of that were virtually nil) but do you want people to call you a moron and retard for buying into another format? didn't think so. have some class..

i'm probably get a bunch of disagrees for this, but oh well. if i can raise the standard here a little, then its worth it..

[The Wood]

its hard to show humility to people who constantly talk sh*t about a format that most gamers on this site actually owned and had an invested interest in. Ill stick my neck out and say that ALL of the 360 fanboys (sorry) sided with hddvd even though some of them didn't even want or own the add on. As far as format wars go, this was a landslide victory after previous failed attempts and thank f*ck its all over. No more denial, no more BS, this sh*t is over and its better for consumers in general. Seems WB couldnt give a f*ck about fanboys (sorry) speaking of which, where they at??

[jorellpogi]

I'm with you bro. Nice words.

[Dann7978]

Hey guys i've been reading your comments but i finaaly made a account

BTW -Good news im so exicted this war is going to be over Bluray is the future indeed it will be very funny if bill gates annouces a bluray drive for Xbox

[jcgamer]

I remember when I had 5 bubbles, 0 Tracks and 0 Ignores...AHHHH, those were the innocent dayz....lol...now I have 9 bubbles, 9 Tracks and 12 Ignores...lol...enjoy...

[jorellpogi]

the next generation format is BLU-RAY! Kudos to Blu-ray Disc Association!

[harv052]

Zhuk, TheMart, and all our "regular", are still missing on this thread...

Edit: Good example of people disagreeing for nothing. I have yet to see them on this thread...

[J@D]

So WB goes Blue? Now give me the Charmed serie on Blu-Ray and I will love WB 4 EVER!.

[wil4hire]

1. BLOODMASK
2. THE MART @ XBOT KINGS
3. POWER OF GREEN
4. BLOODYSINNER
5. FIRST KNIGHT (WHERE ARE YOU?)
6. ZHUK ( I know you are just a satire character but come up with something :) )
7. MESH1
8. Achievement Unlocked
9. Jenzo
10. Eamon
11. 4d zangief

am i missing any?

[scrillakiller]

u forgot XBOX IS THE BEST

[Account deleted]

charlie2688

[Bender]

Jason 360 and Bladestar

[speed_demon]

Well there you go its almost finally over and like I always said, "Blu-Ray will win the high definition format war because the Sony Playstation 3 is selling and will continue to sell because it is a work of ART."

I don't feel sorry for all those dumb asses who stood by MS and Hd-Dvd because --well their dumb asses thats why.

[resistance100]

..

[TheFatOne]

Ohh and another thing HD DVD wont be dead I think until Blue Ray players hit that 100$-199$ sweetspot.

[Boink]

kiss HDDVD good bye.

as bluray fanboys collectively wet themselves...lol:)

guess that will put an end to the 360 having an internal hddvd drive.

[hiptanaka]

we'll miss you HD-DVD

.......NOT

[scrillakiller]

i rememmber when u were on the 360 hard.glad u woke up the smell of ps3 in ur cup

yeah whats ur psn?
mine is jayboy anyone can add me just send me a message with it also so i know ur from n4g

[jcgamer]

lol...well, you know...new year, new console...since it is 2008...lol...I'm enjoying my PS3, seriously...hit me up if you want my PSN...

[cmrbe]

JC is one of many normal gamers that i know that just favors the x360 for the simple reason it offers games they like. No need to call him out.

[Valik21]

this is how a normal dude should be, i am a lot pro PS3 but i don't hate the 360, it has it's good things and games, but i hate those fanboys who are always talking sh-t about the ps3, it was them and the media that created an inferno in the ps3's first year(here in eurpoe only 9 months) without even let it prove itself, know i'm really glad that the blu ray is winning, maybe there is this thing called karma after all, lol

bubbles for you man.

[The Wood]

third times a charm

[coltsfreak18]

maybe fifth times the charm... I am glad this monstrosity is finally over. Time to get some GAMING news on n4g :). Not that i am not interested in this news.

[undacovabrothe]

My PS3 becomes worth a whole lot more. Also idk why ppl say ms will get a blueray drive instead Sony will never let that happen. THey will just sit back and watch them rot. Also if you have a ps3 you can still get both movies on both camps in hd since it upscales. Idk if the stand alone players do that does anyone know?

[TwissT]

Phew the war is over... Sorry Hd-dvd you had a good run (not really =P)
but I guess Blu-ray wins the battle and the war. Personnaly I would like to say...

NA NA NA NA, NA NA NA NA, HEY HEY HEY GOOOOD BYE!!
NA NA NA NA, NA NA NA NA, HEY HEY HEY GOOOOD BYE!!

[GamingNtek]

In your face Microsoft.
Poor Paramount.

[undacovabrothe]

My PS3 becomes worth a whole lot more. Also idk why ppl say ms will get a blueray drive instead Sony will never let that happen. THey will just sit back and watch them rot. Also if you have a ps3 you can still get both movies on both camps in hd since it upscales dvds. Idk if the stand alone players do that does anyone know?

[pwnsause]

its ok HD-DVD your heart will on forever.
www.riphdvd.ytmnd.com

[nismo]

I hope this puts an end to this non sense

[Boink]

I'm sure toshiba will come up with something. they won't give this up without a fight.

but i gotta say, it's looking pretty bleak for them right now.

[Covenant]

As little as I like to see one of Sony's cram-it-down-your-throat proprietary formats win out, this officially makes it game over for the format war.

Sorry, HD-DVD...nice knowing you.

A memo to the fanboys on both sides: This doesn't make Sony the "superior" company, as they have a loooong and VERY troubled history of botched proprietary formats, but it looks like they finally got one to stick. Bear in mind that Sony isn't the only backer of Blu-Ray; it's a whole consortium. Also remember that disc-based formats may--MAY--be obsolete within a few years, making this all moot.

Three disagrees already...what are you disagreeing with? Just curious.

EDIT: I received a polite PM from one of my disagrees, and he made a valid point about bandwidth limiting digital downloads for the foreseeable future. So I'll say this: Disc-based formats will be valid for a while longer, but digital downloads will also make inroads into the industry as a whole.

Once our infrastructure changes to accommodate larger downloads--and this is true of the US and other countries--THEN discs may become obsolete, or at least limited. But that may be five or ten years in the future.

[cmrbe]

Sony always release a new PS with a new storage format. Why would the PS3 be any different?. Isn't is possible that in this age of hi-def content this gen games need hi-def storage. If not then why don't we just keep using DVD for the next 5 years?. People always think one dimensional and generally only think that Sony cram this format to win the format war.Why can not be that sony also included Blu for future game storage?.

[Guwapo77]

Digital Downloading will not be the norm in the next couple, 5 or even 10 years. Could it be in Japan...I would say yes as they have been working on that for years upon years. When I was stationed in Okinawa Japan in 2001 I had a T1(1.5Mbps) connection going to my house. Now Japan has 100+Mbps downloads. Just take time to think about what the US has in place and how long it would take to upgrade 190+ million homes with something that can deliver that.

Then everyone isn't in to streaming. I hate streaming (especially porn, *winks), if I seen the movie at the theater, I might want to skip to the action part of the movie.

Also, I don't want to wait 1-5 hours for a movie to download. I much rather wait 1-5 seconds for the movie to start.

Enough with this bogus DD. As it stands today I know of only one country in the world ready to embrace that. I don't think the rest of the world watches that many Japanese flicks.

http://www.washingtonpost.c...

Us American's should be one of the last people screaming disks are dead. Japanese company makes the disk even though their country is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the world in internet access.

[sephy 9 2 5]

Unfortunately, Sony is a major player; BR fails, Sony fails. Yes, they're a member of the BDA just like other companies, but obviously Sony has influence. So yeah....not anytime soon.

[DJ]

This isn't even timed-exclusivity; it's permanent. I'm sure some of the fanatics over at the HD-DVD forums are gonna buy 30 titles each just to 'prove' that Blu-ray isn't the most popular format, but they'll barely make a blip in overall sales.

Now it's just a matter of Fox and a few other major studios going exclusive as well. Universal will probably take about another year to even begin doing dual-format releases though; oh well, their loss. Paramount gets to do dual-format again after 2008 as well, though they probably already regret taking such a small amount of money for HD-DVD exclusivity. If I was in charge, I would've been like "Give me 500 Million G's, B1tches!". 150 Million is nothing.

[The Wood]

30 titles

+1

[Lumbo]

In case you missed the memo, 20th Century Fox is BluRay exclusive from the very beginning.

[arika]

the ironic part of hddvd loosing the battle to BLURAY is the fact that it is all microsofts fault, because they only think of making quick money and overlooked that the future is where the real big bucks are.
if only they had integrated a hddvd player on xbox 360 then it would have been another story.
that is why sony's ps3 won because it is the only console right now that is future proof! thanks for the most part for it being the best bluray player and also an awesome gaming machine.
remember the trojan horse effect this is actually the result, so kudos to sony for a very strategical move. congratulations for a job well done.
BLURAY FTW!!!!!

[achira]

but when ms had have included hd-dvd from the scratch they would have been too expensive, and noone would even care about the 360.

[The Wood]

that attach rate that 360 guys always rant about (which is impressive) might just of made this a fairer fight. Ar well. MS didnt want either anyway. DD will not be the mainstream any time soon and even if it does become a reality people will still need a media to burn or write to and that media seems like it will be blu ray.

+1

[achira]

go blu ray, go ps3! nice day today! thank you warner brothers, a wise decision. i hope ms brings blu ray to xbox user also.

[moolox]

Probably why the ultimate 360 rumours have died. probably rethinking the design very quickly.

[Covenant]

I'm just glad it's almost over...as a consumer, I saw this as an unnecessary and messy format war that alienated more people than it won over.

[Kugar77]

for sony and for the industry. a uniform format reduces consumer confusion

[pwnsause]

I told you that forum rumor was true,
http://forums.highdefdigest...

[pwnsause]

I told you that forum rumor was true,
http://forums.highdefdigest...

[Salvadore]

They are finally starting to realize that the HD War is hurting consumers.

[pompoms]

The Hairdressers at Blu-Ray.com have also made hints about Universal coming over to Blu very shortly too :)

[Zinger]

Don't be surprised if within the next couple of months Blockbuster announces that it will be going Blu Ray exclusive as well for instore rentals. When this happens you will see Blu-Ray Sales skyrocket through Blockbuster purchases. Hopefully Paramount and other HD-DVD exclusive companies have a contract clause that lets them back out if the market share for Hi-Def swings far enough in a certain direction.

I'm sure Paramount already has in storage copies of Blu-Ray movies ready to ship once this is all over. They must be itching to release them to the public.

[Bonsai1214]

their version of this thread is imploding on itself... you can read one page, refresh, and 3 more pages will be there.. haha

[Bender]

More proof that 2008 truly is the year of the PS3

[unlimited]

so many good exclusive coming out for the ps3..and blu ray winning the format war..Sony must be really happy right now..

[ip-student]

I don't mind Bluray winning (thought it would happen because of the number of PS3 sold - that simply dwarfs the number of HD DVD players sold) but I had hoped Time Warner would hold out until after the HD DVD extended version of the LOTR trilogy was released - now it looks like I will have to wait until I get a $200 BR player to watch the extended version in HD - not going to buy the theatrical release - the extended version is much better.

Oh well, at $200 I could afford to take the chance the HD DVD format war would last another year. Still, you have to wonder, is it too late for either format to matter? For the most part I do movies on demand in HD and I only "buy" 2-3 movies a year. So I wonder if the consolidation on BR matter anymore - the digital download may take over.

Edit: Not sure I understand about the production costs but my point is that I think people are going to continue to buy less and rent more - I can watch a movie on demand for $6 in HD - while it is not the quality of 1080p you get from a BR or HD disk - most people will not see much difference. Hard to justify $30 if I want to watch the movie once.

[harv052]

And lose all that money for production costs? I don't think so...

[Ju]

But I pay $10 (or so) a month and have "unlimited per month 1 at a time". Way cheaper then on demand and way cheaper then buying. My disk turn around time is 3 days, and I usually get 2 disks a week.

[harv052]

And with this move, I doubt we'll see any studios moving away from blu-ray...

Still no sign of the following: BLOODMASK, THE MART, ZHUK and company....

[Covenant]

Time to decide...

Which Blu-Ray player will sit next to my 360 and my new HDTV?

[jcgamer]

well, since you are a gamer....a true gamer at heart...and you're into hi-def movies...plus you have a spankin' new HDTV...why not go for a PS....well, you know what I'm about to say...decisions, decisions...lol

[big_tim]

get a PS3. No need to feel like you are cheating on the 360. It opens up more options for you.

[Covenant]

Sorry, JC...I can only afford games for one system at a time...and I've invested a lot of money in my 360...but that would give me an excuse to play more of Uncharted and Ratchet!

But I'll probably just get a stand-alone BR player, for now. I'll watch for a sale, or a really good deal on free BR discs.

But once the PS3 drops below $299...ya never know.

BTW, thanks for the "true gamer" comment.
Games FTW.
Fanboys FTL.

[blacsheep]

im with my boy jc on this one,as a true gamer your not harming your 360 by getting a ps3 your just being a true gamer.

the amount of titles coming out for ps3 in insane so hop on!

i have nutin against 360 i just dont have one or want one but i wont deny its got good games thats just being a silly fanboy.

[aiphanes]

This is what bluray needed...and they got...HD-DVD is now dead...you can not survive on just 2 studios! That is why you do not see any xbots of people saying anything negative because they know it is over. Universal and Paramount will both announce laster this year they are going bluray exclusive.

Its done!

There is no way digital distribution will talk over...the US does not have the bandwith for 1080p movie downloads...at least not yet. Until we get fiber to the home router...it is not gonna happen. Remember the HD downloads on xbox live are only 720p...and the movie only last for a few days at most. People want to build a library...you can not do this with xbox live.

Once bluray has totally won the price of bluray movies will be like DVDs...less than $16 for the first week release. This will all happen before the end of 2008.

[ip-student]

You cannot do 1080p over the current bandwidth - true - but you could do 1080i, which gets converted to 1080p okay. And who needs a collection if you can access 1000 movies anytime you want for $6 each time you want to watch something. Seriously, how many movies do you watch 5 times? There are few but the number is pretty low.

So I think digital downloads are going to catch on sooner then you think. But we will see.

[Ju]

^^ you can do that now. Its called Netflix (or w/e). Choose from a library of 1000 of movies and pay $10 flat rate (per month). Next day delivery (the 3rd is is the day to send the movie back).

[Solotov]

Sony won this one. Good thing for the consumer and for me. HD-DVD is DEAD. Glad I stayed out of the format war.

[TwissT]

I wanna see you make a witty comment on this little old topic =D.

[Ridrick]

I want to blue room !

[THE DUKE]

like discs are going to be around long anyways, movies over the internet is the future, (once they get their as* in gear and deliver 100meg connections)

[niall77]

you get the Trash can.

[Covenant]

eBay, more likely...might as well get something out of one's investment.

[Covenant]

Remember how the first Ratchet review reached 500+ comments? This may exceed that...over 200 comments in an hour.

[unlimited]

Sony and their supporters say "im rich bit*h"

[coltsfreak18]

sony and the BDA didn't have to pay warner $150,000,000...

[athlon770]

Score one for the coltsfreak!

[unlimited]

No one should doubt Sony..i feel bad for the hddvd owners they wont have any new movies to watch.

[JenovaXD]

very nice, blu ray ftw!

[sanjay09]

Game over !!! it would be funny if HD-DVD quiets before may :)

[big0]

Warner was selling way more blurays than hddvds it was only a matter of time and they said ps3 owners weren't watching blurays.

[Raptors]

Actually everyone was saying that people were using their ps3's for movies, not games.

[paracardium]

Good I knew Blu would win.. finally some more room at our stores for Bluray movies.

[PS3n360]

Well that just justified my PS3 purchase. Glad i sold my hd add on a month ago. I only use my ps3 for divx and photos etc. now looks like i got one kick ass media player with bluray being the next gen format. I am sad that HDDVD lost as I just liked it but I am glad that this stupid format war is over. At least we will finally see some decent movie releases when the players hit a reasonable level of adoption which should increase after this news.

[PStriple703]

Great way to start the year off sony!

[Raptors]

RIP HD-DVD. We hardly knew ya....

Well, I own both ps3 and 360 and I've made it no secret that I prefer my 360. But you'd have to be very ignorant to deny that this is going to push the ps3 to the forefront of the gaming console war. Sony took a new format and put it in their most powerful franchise (A gigantic risk) and it is now going to pay off for them. Well, as HD DVD will be leaving us soon I have only one comment:

BRING ON THE MATRIX TRILOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

[Yosking]

][_, {()] ][_,

[ROCCOZILLA]

did anyone really think hd dvd would live longer then beta back in the 80s.cmon.blu ray is 5 times clearer than a reg dvd.blu ray is the only movies i rent or buy now.WATCH B3YOND!

[Jen5en]

"Nothing is over. When the market sees the 360 as the true winner of the console wars, the world will jump in and buy HD DVD add-ons. Just wait. Blu-Ray never stood a chance!"

Gosh, it's on occasions like these I really miss the fanboys. Then again, I just wish we could all live as normal people and not have our day ruined by some corporate statement...

[GITPWNED]

Blur-Ray

[Dmack79]

Can't say I didn't see this coming. Sony must be breakin out the champagne right now if they haven't already. It's FINALLY DONE.
300, Matrix, Batman / Dark Knight, Harry Potter, I Am Legend and more.... are now only on Blu-Ray. Time for Paramount to reconsider the bribe it received. 4 day into the year and Sony's Blu-Ray has practically won the format war!

2008 is truly Sony's year! And There truly has never been a better time to get a PS3!

[Daewoodrow]

well, I'm glad I haven't bought an HD media player yet. I'll keep waiting until there is a clear winner.

[bizi6498]

Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaha. .. That's too much... I can't keep up... This is too funny... 2008 is going way too fast...
Now the new xbox ultimate will need a blu-ray add-on... LMAOL!
Peter Moore, come back! the fellowship is in complete disarray!

This is a huge deal guys, I bet you a lot of people in the industry are feeling very uncomfortable right now. This is the nightmare scenarios for those who hoped to kill sony and based all their strategy on it.
Now that it is dead obvious for everybody who actually had something of a vision for this generation, the entire gaming media is gonna have some explaining to do about their collective indulgence in sony bashing. They screwed up massively, they ridiculed the dog which took risks and respected their customers while covering up for the dog which screwed up their customers and can't get its act together unless it has a master to copy.

[athlon770]

The real question with this news is if the bribe a couple of studios took to go exclusive HD-DVD will have to be given back if they are released out of the contract early? Think about it, they know that the PS3 is going to help the BD format, but take Toshiba's $ with the clause that if market saturation gets above 80%, they can go back to neutral. So they take the money, go (red) exclusive for a couple of months, (blue) hits market saturation and they are released from the contract...Do they get to keep the money?

They may have been smarter than we thought...

[Tryst]

"“Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want,” said Meyer. “The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers.”"

Thank god we have some decency in this world. A decision made with the best intentions in mind. A big thumbs up to Warner Bros.

[Figboy]

i haven't seen anyone address this issue:

now that Blu Ray has Warner backing it exclusively, those consumers out there that were "waiting for a winner" will probably choose to back Blu Ray in more confidence that it will be the winner.

Sony, Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros are four of the biggest movie distributors in the industry. they are now Blu Ray exclusive (huh, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be Blu Ray exclusive; kind of bad for those HD DVD consumers that bought that box set with 1-5 in it. they won't be able to complete their HD DVD collection, and will have to buy the last two in Blu Ray).

my point is that, with their being *MILLIONS and *MILLIONS of movie fans out there, and most of them will be upgrading to HDTVs (especially in 2009, when television starts broadcasting in HD), they will be looking for something to play their Blu Ray movies on.

the Playstation 3, with it's now affordable entry price of $399 (with more price drops assured now that Blu Ray will become the high definition standard medium), isn't too bad of a choice for those looking for an "all in one" machine. the PS3 plays Blu Rays, upscales existing DVDs, surfs the net, supports mouse and keyboard, headsets, voice and video chat, and of course, plays games, and has upgradeable hard drives. it really is the best option for your money if you want a multimedia device with flexibility (no real add ons necessary, but it supports them anyway).

on the gaming side, fence-sitters, or those who were convinced that Sony was *WRONG for putting Blu Ray in the PS3, will also feel more confident in purchasing a PS3. meaning more console sales this year. meaning Sony may very well meet (and possibly *EXCEED) their 11 million by March 2008 goal.

basically, they've got it covered on *BOTH ends:

gamers who weren't sure about Blu Ray's ability to win the format war should be cool with buying a PS3 now.

*AND

movie buff/gamers who were uncertain about Blu Ray's ability to win the format war should be cool with buying a Blu Ray player or a Playstation 3.

more sales of the PS3, means more developer support as the numbers rise. more developer support means more games. more games means happy PS3 owners.

i'm not going to make any wild declarations like, "PS3 is going to win the console war!" but Sony is in a surprisingly good position now. i mean, they've been backing Blu Ray from the *BEGINNING, while now, on a public perception level, it will look like Microsoft has backed the "wrong" horse.

couple that with Vista's medicore reception, and you could see X Box 360 sales *SLUMPING as public trust in the brand declines due to *PERCEPTION. not to mention their problems with the Red Rings, and disc scratching.

people were avoiding the PS3 because of perception:

1. they perceive it to be expensive (even though it has dropped in price)

2. they perceive it to have no games (despite the number of quality games out for the console right now)

3. they perceive that whatever format Sony backs fails.

*NOW, that perception could change:

1. Sony is advertising the PS3 like mad, and declaring it's new $399 entry price point loudly

2. Sony is advertising all the existing games, and upcoming games (in the same ads as the $399 declarations)

3.) thanks to Warner Bros, people will actually say, "wow, Sony was right about Blu Ray," instead of "whatever format Sony backs, fails."

meanwhile, on the MS front, you have them

1. releasing a flawed console (scratched discs, Red Rings)

2. loudly backing the format that is *NOT winning the format war; HD DVD

3. Windows Vista isn't performing like they'd *LIKE it to.

all that adds up to a negative perception of the company, and by association, the X Box 360.

basically, everything that Microsoft has done *RIGHT with the 360 will be overshadowed by the negatives.

it happened to Sony, why not Microsoft?

all hope isn't lost, but now Microsoft has a harder road than before. they were coasting on a lot of positive perceptions for the past 2 years, while Sony was coasting on a *NEGATIVE perception for the past year since the PS3's launch. that has turned around now, and confidence in the Playstation brand has been restored with Warner's move to Blu Ray exclusivity.

i'm interested to see how this affects Playstation 3 sales in the coming months.

[socsca]

Never has this comment before been so well deserved: Trophy won - Fanboy Frenzy!!!

Do you work for Sony? Come on, why would a normal (sane?) person write like a page of propaganda? Strange stuff, indeed.

On subject: You think way too much of the average consumer. Oh and congrats to BluRay, absolutely ZERO surprise for anyone outside of the US (since HDDVD basically only exists there), but oh well.

[Figboy]

answer me these questions:

1. do some 360's scratch discs? answer: yes
2. do some 360's Red Ring? answer: yes
3. is Windows Vista not selling so well? answer: yes
4. does Microsoft support HD DVD over Blu Ray? answer: yes

point - all these negatives can add up to a negative perception of the company, in this instance, Microsoft, and can lead to consumer trust in said brand being lost. marketing is all about perception. negative perception is most often bad. positive perception is always *GOOD.

for example, most people *PERCEIVED that the 360 had "the best games," and the "best online service." because of this perception, the 360 is considered the best console in the universe by a lot of gamers here in America.

Microsoft supports HD DVD. they created add ons for it, and pimp it as much as possible. *BECAUSE HD DVD is not winning this format war, by association, people will think, "well, Microsoft backed HD DVD, and HD DVD lost, so what *ELSE have they been wrong about? not to mention that a lot of 360's break and scratch discs." it's called a snowball effect of negativity. once the ball gets rolling, it's hard to stop it. prime example being Sony's PR since E3 2006, when they announced the $500 and $600 price points for the PS3. since then, it was a snowball of negativity and negative perception, even when something positive would happen, there was an undercurrent of negativity from the gaming press, and media at large.

which brings me to the Playstation 3, and some more questions for you to answer:

1. does the Playstation 3 play Blu Ray movies? answer: yes
2. does the Playstation 3 play Blu Ray based games? answer: yes
3. does the Playstation 3 support things like Hard Drives, Linux, USB periphials, Wi Fi, internet browsing, and other multi-media features? answer: yes
4. did Warner Bros drop HD DVD support and go Blu Ray exclusive? answer: yes
5. did gamers and media everywhere criticize Sony for including Blu Ray in the Playstation 3? answer: yes

point - there was no propaganda in my previous comment. the Playstation 3 *DOES include a Blu Ray player, and people jumped down Sony's throat for including it in the machine. it made the machine too expensive, and people didn't want to support a format that was going to *OBVIOUSLY die. with Warner's move to Blu Ray exclusivity, Blu Ray is not going anywhere anytime soon, but HD DVD is now on shaky ground, with the only two studios supporting it are Paramount and Universal, and Universal *COULD go Blu Ray at any moment; Paramount is locked down to HD DVD for another 16 or so months.

one of the biggest deterrents a lot of consumers had regarding the format war, and by association, the Playstation 3 (because it has a built in Blu Ray drive), is that they didn't want to take the risk on buying a format that could *LOSE. Sony's past history with formats didn't exactly endear them with faith that Blu Ray would win.

*NOW, however, it looks like Blu Ray will win. so, is it not a logical assumption to presume that, because Blu Ray looks to win, and the main reason why some consumers were holding off on the PS3 was *BECAUSE they were uncertain Blu Ray would win, that those very same people would now feel more confident in purchasing a Blu Ray player (possibly a Playstation 3)? *I THINK SO. as a result, sales of the Playstation 3 will increase, while sales of things like the HD DVD add on for the 360 would *DECREASE.

there is no propaganda here at all. just facts, and simple speculation based off of those facts.

and no, i don't work for Sony, but i do hope to work for Insomniac soon (i had an interview with them before the holidays, so my fingers are crossed that i'll get the job). even so, i simply state my opinions based off of whatever facts i have.

[Exia]

Finally! This HD DVD war is over! Now let's see if MS will still want to put an HD-DVD drive into the 360.

[andron]

they started dumping the price of HD-DVD hardware. So it's no big surprise that Warner jumps ship.

All in all it's better to have 1 next gen. disc format.

[Ogrekiller]

$ony and the gang had the sense to bribe WB to their side.
I wonder how much they had to pay?

Edit: Huh, so they didn't get a payoff. As the tiebreaker I would've thought they would at least demanded some money, considering the leverage they had deciding the outcome.

[blls]

I hope some of those great HD-DVD exclusive movies soon become available on BD. xD

[resistance100]

Just give me the bourne trilogy and Transformers and im more than happy. Oh and for American Gangster to be realised on blu-ray aswell

[HarryEtTubMan]

The Playstation 3 just more than doubled in value.... The Xbox can't beat Sony just becausae they rushed out first. Sony isn't on Microsft's schedule and Microsft is finding this out more and more everyday. Playstation 3 will when. 9 more years FTW!

[flyer1111]

i have never really commented on a article, but have always been interested in technology and news around it. i am so happy that blue ray has the backing of warner. A great start to the new year.

[SilverKiller]

the world is going to be blu :P

[davez82]

we all knew this was coming it was just a question of when. It was inevitable even if ps3 was guaranteed 3rd place it was still gonna sell more hd discs than standalone players, and disney pretty much turned the tide in this war. Now where the hell is matrix on bd.

i doubt MS will cancel any hddvd drive they had planned unless toshiba totally forfeits the war, im more worried about ms putting in a bd drive, that might hurt sony in the long run when it comes to console sales, assuming xbox ultimate sells at all.

[jwatt]

xbox 360 external HD-DVD drives are nowhere to be found on Amazon's top 100 list now, Or maybe because the holiday season is over.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/be...

[stennexxx]

FINALLY! THIS STUPID HD-DVD CAN BURN. THE REST OF THE WORLD USE BLU-RAY THAT INCLUDES THE HI-TECH COUNTRY JAPAN. WHY WOULD AMERICA NOT USE BLU-RAY FORMAT TO BE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE REST OF THE WORLD. BLU-RAY IS NOT ONLY SONY. ITS JAPAN AND AMERICA. ITS UNIVERSAL. EVERY OTHER COUNTRY MAINLY USE BLU-RAY. GOOGLE IT. M$ LOSES.

[DaEnforcer]

Haha game over xbots

[gano]

It was always a good system, smart people know quality, thirsty people
take whatever. It was sad because of the promotion america put on
the system, it was more about we 're better then u, u know it. The xbox
is hot, but unstable, faulty, and unreliable. They had the time but rushed and didn't even care about the product enough to make sure it functions prop. Not everyone can be bought. Microsoft take note treat your customers better. Congrats.....

[NoxiousD]

HD DVD lost, I am not surprised. I mean everyone knew it was going to win even HD DVD supporters. Now, if the blu ray disc would drop in price lol

[rob6021]

Well makes you wonder If Sony selling Cell to Toshiba was a consolation sell off (I wonder if they shaved many millions off the real worth), because no matter how you think of it, Toshiba will want PS3 to win over 360 now more than ever, and to help it do that, it can mean backing down on its own HD-DVD format. If PS3 dies, The Cell processor will likely die out as well.

BLu-Ray winning was inevitable, maybe They invested all that money in promoting/Priceslashing HD-DVD just to make Sony offer them a bigger payoff to back down. Funny to think maybe Microsoft payed 150mil, thinking that the money would just end up being forcibly matched by Sony in some form (As a consolation for Toshiba to back down), Hurting PS3, and Strengthening 360 in the process, And of course helping Downloadable Movies.

HD-DVD owners will get HD movies at a huge discount(to sell out stock), so atleast they will get something - But really, who if anyone would be keeping that HD-DVD drive/xbox360 HD-DVD drive in thier living room 4 years from now.

Well It seems MS will have to use blu-ray for their next machine, Unless (Surprise) thier next machine is download-only (Maybe a small chance of DVD for backward compatibility) attemting to make it the download-only superstation for music(?)/movies/games (focusing on the EAsy to use Download nature of the device). It seems plausible to me. And given MS's lack of showcasing first party 2008/2009 games it may be much sooner than we all think. Knowing microsoft, I dont think they want to linger too long and let Cell's progression bypass them graphically - 2008 is the year Its gonna happen(if you think it hasn't already)(Killzone2, Resistance2 and a few others will really make this no longer an argument). MS even seems to always back off the question of Console Lifetime. What if this is MS's new big announcement...

With HD-DVD dead, PS3 sales will pick up hard without a doubt. What was it Patchter who said that Sony would win this console war with the main reason being Blu-ray would win. Think about it PS3 is now THE best way to get into HD-Movies (considering you get a game console out of the deal).

MS and a download-only console for 2008??? Id put my money on it. If not 2008 i'd say 2009.

[Blkdraft]

HD-DVD still has Paramount,Universal, NewLine Cinema,and the Porn industry..M$ still has a 8mill lead on PS3 if they would of added an HD-DVD drive into the ELITE, I believe it would of been a different situation by now..(but the 360 is all about games right???) and do we really want the format war to end....Competition is good for the consumer$$$$....Thats like asking M$$ to monopolize the gaming industry(and u know we dont want big M to do that)

[resistance100]

New Line are expected to follow Warner, however New Line themselves are too small to make a major impact

The porn industry no longer backs HD DVD exclusively.Porn films are appearing on blu-ray and are selling extremely well (if recent reports are to suggest).

[Lumbo]

Sorry to bust your bubble, but NewLine is mostly owned by Warner, hence NewLine announced Blu exclusivity, too.

Therefor you can now count LOTR as a BluRay exclusive release for sure.

As of now HD-DVD has Paramount/Dreamworks in a timed exclusive contract (that surely has a dropout clause in case of a mayor shift in studio support) and Universal.

Considering that BluRay disks will most likely sell at a 80:20 or better rate for BluRay coming May it will be a no brainer to see Universal shift to neutral or even BluRay exclusive, leaving HD-DVD with ... Paramount/Dreamworks ... thats not worth to continue.

[jordan8445]

J.R.: Bah GAWD and the champion is down, he's bleeding like a stuck pig.

*360 Ultimate with HD-DVD drive announced*.

J.R.: Wait, whats this??! BAH GAWD! He's beating him while he's down, will somebody stop the damn match!!

[Xbox is the BEST]

not pull all movies now WB, why wait till May? Is there an incentive in the contract? This format war is far from over.

[Winters89]

Does this mean the war is over?

[shaggyjb]

Blu-Ray taking over the format war will not have a significant effect on the console war. The console war is all about games and software sold (and the PS3 is absolutely getting killed in this regard and must have a stellar 2008 to turn the tide). People buying a PS3 solely for Blu will not help Sony win the console war. Last time I checked, the 360 did not come pre-equipped with an HD-DVD drive so, M$ loses no more $$$ per box b/c of the format war changing tides. Sony's decision to equip the PS3 with Blu won the format war, but the added cost of doing so ($$$ plus delays) likely cost them the console war. Ultimately, winning the format war may prove more profitable for Sony than the console war. Don't confuse the format war with the console war.

[Figboy]

you mean like, if games like

Metal Gear Solid 4 - classic franchise
Final Fantasy XIII - classic franchise
Gran Turismo 5 - classic franchise
Killzone 2 - this game does everything the first *COULDN'T do
Little Big Planet - set to appeal to casuals and hardcore
Playstation Home - ditto
Infamous - Sucker Punch has proven to be a great developer with the Sly Cooper games
Haze - from the guys that brought you a little game called Goldeneye on the N64 and the fun Timesplitters series
Heavy Rain - from the makers of the incredible Indigo Prophecy
LA Noire - from the makers of Grand Theft Auto (a classic franchise)
God of War 3 - classic franchise
White Knight Story - from Level 5, one of the best, if not *THE best RPG houses since Square and Enix (before they merged)

it's fortunate, then, that most, if not *ALL of these games are coming to the Playstation 3, and *EXCLUSIVE to boot. and those are a just a few of the titles i could think of.

i'm not saying i disagree with you 100%, but i don't think you're giving Sony's 2008 lineup enough credit. i also don't think that you're taking into account that there are two significant factors as to *WHY gamers and movie buffs alike would buy a PS3 now.

1.) Blu Ray is winning, so it is no longer a risk to run out and buy a Blu Ray player.

2.) at $400, the Playstation 3 is the cheapest combination games machine and Blu Ray player on the market, so it's a no brainer that for the "value for money" proposition, the PS3 is the best bet.

movie buffs may buy a PS3 because, as a Blu Ray player, it doesn't go out of date because of software updates, and with it's internet browsing capabilities, it can be used as *another PC, to look up videos, or movie news, without having to get up and move to the PC (i know i often check my mail, and even this site, from my PS3 and HDTV, when i don't feel like getting up and going to my computer).

at $350, the Premium 360 pretty much matches the 40gig PS3 (minus 20gigs of HDD space, and Wi Fi), but it *STILL doesn't come with an HD disc playing capabilities unless you buy the $150 or more HD DVD drive, and honestly, there's not much reason to do that now, considering that HD DVD could be a "dead" format by the end of this year. if you *REALLY WANTED HD disc playing capabilities, however, it would run you $500, $100 more than the 40gig PS3, but the exact same price as the $500, 80gig PS3, which has even more functionality than the 40gig PS3 (ie, PS2 backwards compatibility, more HDD space, and memory stick readers).

once again, the value for money proposition the PS3 offers is pretty solid, and with Blu Ray winning the format war, it's *EVEN MORE of a value.

the 360 as a *GAMES console, however, is quite capable (barring any RROD and disc scratching issues), and i plan on picking one up this year, but PS2 owners that were holding out because of uncertainty about Blu Ray, don't have to now.

no one is confusing the format war with the console war, because they are *LINKED because of the PS3.

if the PS3 *DIDN'T use Blu Ray, then it would be a non-issue, as Blu Ray and HD DVD had *NOTHING to do with it.

but *BECAUSE the PS3 has a Blu Ray drive, and Microsoft decided to bring *ONLY an HD DVD drive to the 360 via add on, the fate of both formats indeed rested on what the consoles did.

Blu Ray won because of the PS3. not the other way around. people are more inclined to use things that are included in the machine, instead of running out and buying extras. PS3 owners used Blu Ray, not because there were "no games" on the console, but because, well, why *NOT? a Blu Ray drive is there, some of them have HDTVs, so why not?

i got my PS3 before i got my HDTV, but once i got my HDTV, i started to buy Blu Ray movies in force. i had the machine with the functionality, and i finally got the TV (i got the TV primarily for High Def gaming, however; the movies are a bonus), so why not give it a try. i did, and i haven't looked back to SD since (that is to say, i don't buy DVDs anymore if i can help it).

there are *PLENTY of gamers, and PS3 owners like me, who use the functionality because it's there. Sony Trojan horsed Blu Ray, but didn't that tactic *WORK back then too?

and Microsoft *DOES lose a bit of money. afterall, they *PAID to manufacturer those X Box 360 HD DVD add ons that will now just sit in warehouses because retailers won't *ORDER them anymore. they probably won't manufacture any *MORE add ons, but the ones they already produced, and have in stock in warehouses, have cost them money. i expect a fire sale on HD DVD add ons in the coming weeks to clear stock, but they will be sold at a discount rate, which will still lose MS money.

also considering that the PS3 has sold *BETTER in it's first 12 months on the market than the X Box 360, with, apparently "no games," and a high price tag, means that Sony hasn't "lost" (if there is such a thing), the console war at all.

the PS3 has survived it's first year (the toughest for *ANY console) on the market. it is now moving into year two, with a software lineup of some pretty classic, and exclusive franchises.

i'm not going to make any declarations about who's going to "win" the console war, but all i know, is that the original X Box had 25 million users (i was one of them), and the Playstation 2 had 115 million users, about 8 million of which have bought a Playstation 3. 8 million Playstation fans...out of 115 million.

if games like Bioshock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, and Gears of War haven't swayed those Playstation faithful to the 360 yet (and 360's have *ALWAYS been cheaper than a Playstation 3), then i don't know *WHAT will. it's got to be something else keeping them back. and i have a feeling, that something is the fact that the games i listed above have *NOT come out yet.

the X Box 360 has sold 17 million units, out of a potential X Box fanbase of 25 million (based off of those that bought an original X Box).

just food for thought.

[pshizle]

its funny how many consumers did not have the chance to decide this one

[Shakkan]

Pardon me? The ONLY company looking for becoming a monopoly is Microsoft. Sony innovates and supports its products (PSX, PS2), despite having made some stupid moves. They're not like Microsoft, throwing away billions just to kill everyone else.

Sometimes, money alone can't help. Engineers do. =)

[Xbox is the BEST]

what happened to the deal between Nintendo and Sony reguarding the Super nintendo CD add-on. History lesson, Sony wanted to name it the Playstation and recieve every single royality from it cutting Nintendo out. That is a Monopoly. If the OS that comes in your computer you don't want feel free to buy another one.

[SILV3R_]

http://www.xbox360fanboy.co...

I have both system so no fanboy here.

I just want to know how would other xbox 360 users who bought hd-dvd add-on re-act??

If ..only If..Gates will do reveal HD on New Xbox 360..But it's not HD-DVD drive.. it would be Blu-ray on Xbox 360..

[turbogeek]

NO HD DARK KNIGHT FOR YOU LOSERS! LMAO OWNED!

[DeZimatoR]

Never sounded so good :p

Xbots am cry

:D

[Bathyj]

C'mon Universal. Jump over and leave Paramount feeling very foolish.

And the bots are nowhere to be seen, just the way I like them.

[mirroredderorrim]

ROFL

[Azures]

Digital distribution in high definition is still years from being mainstream enough to replace equal quality motion pictures. Domestic download speeds aren't anywhere near fast enough to download hi-def movies at a respectable rate, perhaps when new 100mbps cable internet starts getting supported later this year it will begin the pave the way...but its a long road. Add DRM issues on top of that and you've got your years till mainstream...

Blu-Ray is the high definition future, some people might not like it but you gotta deal with it. The more studios support the change the quicker it all goes blu, which will lead to lower prices and cheaper players once everyone is invested in the same technology. Some people think Sony was stupid for putting the PS3 on the line for this format war but it is working out exactly like they would've hoped. The PS3 is not only a great blu-ray player, it benefits from firmware upgrades which keep it up to date for the format's growth; something other players cannot do. With PS3 as the best choice for blu-ray and continually dropping prices for the system its sales will skyrocket in 2008; add to that all the high profile games that are set to release on the system this fiscal year and you've got a monster.

Hope you enjoyed 2007 xbox fans, Sony is baaaaack. :)

[NoxiousD]

Sony knew this was going to happen lol

[Tyler Durden]

and you are aouta here

[pshizle]

by putting a bluray player into the ps3

[Azures]

how is that delaying the war? did you make this statement because you feel they delayed (and ultimately killed) HD-DVDs chances of becoming dominant?

[SIX]

I'm just happy a don't have to buy an HD add on for the 360. Honestly though, now hopefully Sony can concentrate on just games alone.

[TheExodus]

WB is going to support HD-DVD until the end of May which means the format war isn't over, it's ON! Is WB's announcement a change of heart or outright deception? MS & Toshiba can still bleed Sony dry by slashing prices on 360 & HD-DVD players with the sweet irony being that Toshiba can cut their losses by increasing margins on Cell processors sold to Sony for their PS3. Yeah, I wouldn't go popping that cork just yet because this war won't be over until MS & Toshiba surrender.

[Azures]

Surrender what? Wait a couple more months and they wont have anything left to surrender. Paramount is gonna run out on hddvd the second that contract is up.

Universal is gonna be left the odd man out and they'll have to switch over just by default, no one will continue buying the format of just one movie studio. Then my dream of Back to the Future on blu-ray shall be complete!

[Lumbo]

"slash prices" you mean slash the prices even more??? The standalone HD-DVD players (99% Toshiba, no other could loose that amount of money on every single unit cause Toshiba charges the movie comps toll for using their GREAT media) are already at bargain bin price range, down to sub $100 in sale deals, including up to 10 (TEN!!!) free HD-DVD when you buy one. And it was all for nothing, BluRay still outsold them in movie sales 60:40 even though the lowest entry price for BluRay is $399, full $300 more than the cheapo HD-DVD player deal.

There is no room for Toshiba to slash prices, hey they could go and give away players for free, but what does this tell the average customer? Exactly, this are desperate attempts to avoid a nasty formatdeath.

Consumers sat on the fence for the war to end and a winner to emerge, current studio support indicates that BluRay might emerge as that winner in 4 month. _Hence only ONE HD format, no more confusion, consumers can buy the HD media that will stay, everyone wins (except Toshiba)

[djroberts]

I happy to see this thing finally make some progress. Paramount will come back 17 months after they went HD-DVD exclusive and that will be the final nail in HD-DVD's coffin.

[ITR]

Well rumors are going around 500 million was on the table and WB took it.
I guess HD group didn't put up enough or got out bid.
Toshiba has said WB is in breech on contract..which they might be depending on how it's written.
Toshiba will probably sue for the 500 million.
Kinda wondering now if any 360/HD DVD unit will come out now.
I wouldn't be surprised now if the HD DVD group is trying to make another offer to win back WB.
Probably around 700 mil range.
Would I buy a BD play not until 2.0 profile players hit. Which will be awhile.
It's funny you pay more for the BD player and it does less then the HDA30 which costs less...oh well.
I'm defiantly not buying HD DVD now..unless something changes...and I'll waiting BD...maybe 2 yrs down the road because it's not final yet.

[Shakkan]

Sorry, no payoff was involved. Warner Bros. just got smart. Only the customer was losing in this. Blu-ray was the imminent winner regardless.

[Mikey_Gee]

I returned my Christmas PS3 since I still was not sure if it was what I wanted. Well, with this little news blast, I will be heading out tommorow to grab another one.

XBOX 360 with HD-DVD add on ( I will get movies cheap no dout)
and
PS3 for Blu-Ray (and KZ2 and LBP not to long from now)

Cool .... I WIN

[Tru2U]

1)SONY wins the format war.

2)XBL - still continuing to have problems with match making online and login issues

BOTH ARE MAKING NATIONAL NEWS TODAY. As I was reading this article the Chicago news reports M$ to give away a few game to XBL users to make up for all the online problems. Funny thing about the ill informed media is that they didn't mentioned it was a XBOX live arcade game is what M$ is giving away. Looks like this could lead to more consumer confusion and bad press. I can just here it now. I thought I could get ANY game for FREE!

2008 - the year M$ gets all the bad press.

and another thing - I can't get into a single online game in Madden tonight! Thanks M$. My PS3 is getting much more use than my 360 these days. Is this a trend for 08 ???

[Lord_Mike]

Lets hope xbox360 ultimate comes equipped with blu-ray

[Spinitus]

the irony lol

[Tru2U]

PS3 already has the 2.0 Blu-Ray profile!

Do you really think the war is not over? Your choice to wait 2 yrs I guess. Maybe this year you can buy that Sony discman you've had your eye on.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Now we can get this format crap off our "gaming sites". Over the past two years all I ever seen was HD DVD vs Blu-Ray, when I didn't even want any of them. I'm DLC supporter and always have been, I wish for the demise of both, one down one more to go.

[Lumbo]

OH YES, that will be a refreshing change i look forward to.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

They need to increase broadband speed here in the US before to long bucause as the digital download age creeps upon us the US could lag the rest of the world behind. Japan and Europe have such great speeds it's not even funny, the US is so far behind. Whats funny to me is networking in the US is advanced and online gaming is more advanced but our speed in two gens behind. I'm jealous of EU and JPN with their lightning fast connections.

[Xbox is the BEST]

about this for a second there are 8 million Blu Ray players in the world and not a single movie has sold over a million copies. Very slow adoption if you ask me.

[brocool]

R.I.P HD-DvD

Jan 4 2008

it was fun

[panda456]

the war will be over soon. but expect HD dvd to figth back i don't know how or why but maybe to confuse the consumers to prolong the war...

POWER OF BLUE! hahaha!

[Tyrael]

Now get the 90% of consumers to ditch DVD and ease into high def. Before that can happen, however, we need to get the remaining 50% of America to adopt a high definition television. Slow but steady progress.

[hardmetal]

Well, I knew bluray would win. the question is WHEN?!!

It's January 4th 2008.

This is living.

[kidd2446]

does this mean that microsoft will now put blu-ray drives in all upcoming/360 ultimate systems?...blu-ray is now the standard hd format....WOW... big news

[tatotiburon]

yes that probably microsoft will do, a blu-ray add-on just for movies, an option for people who want it but if you don't want it, doesn't matter you still getting the best games of the year

[tatotiburon]

keep calling all xbox supotters...any PS3 game got a GOTY but all sonykids feel winners cause MOVIES will now all in Blu-Ray?...funny, when gaming and movies are the same?. the format war is over, that's great but the console war is another story, remember wich games got GOTY award...

[Antiomo]

And a Salesperson who said straight out hd-dvd is a better format I prefer it because it is cheaper in price, hence better than blu-ray.

The customer then pointed at a display with casino royale playing.... is that hd-dvd . Response nooo but you can get an hd-dvd player and get the dvd version and upconvert it.... it looks just as nice.

Then he would go on saying wait and see hd-dvd will be the smart choice and they will prevail in the coming months.

[mrguru]

what an idiot. i really refuse to sell anyone an hd dvd player. the remote on the is so crappy. but other than that, its very hard to ignore the ps3 factor. if they sell thru 7 million+ world wide and only 5% use blu ray its more than any standalones for hd dvd.

and hd dvd was always confusing to people beacuse of the up converts, many times people will buy hd dvd discs and they dont play, and the find out they need a new player.

blu ray just made it self diffrent, so people know what the diffrence is.

[RudeSole Devil]

Sony will for sure win the format war, but what really confused me is why Microsoft let this happen. Sony will also win the console war, because no matter what people say the Xbox 360 really needs a larger format to replace the current DVD 9 drive, and Blu-Ray is Microsoft only choose. On top of that developers need to really start papering for Blu-Ray being the next-gen format for future consoles drives, and PS3 will start being the industry primary SKU when developing cross platform games. Microsoft where's your balls when it really mattered.

[mikeslemonade]

Format War is over pretty much. A big FU to those stupid articles that either say Blu-ray and HD-DVD will not catch on, Blu-ray and HD-DVD is too close to call, Blu-ray and HD-DVD will not beat DVD, or Blu-ray and HD-DVD will both be successful. It's Blu-ray that is going to win.

[Lionsguard]

WOW so where is Cdzie and Bloodmask in all this? No where to be found I see. At least PoG had the balls to come out admitting HD-DVD's defeat.

[GITPWNED]

Wait B3yond.

[marcindpol]

i am praud and happy PS3 owner!!!

[Killer Cop]

HD-DVD is dead! Dead man! DEAD! DEAD!!! This just made my day. Or the frickin whole month! HAHAAAAA!!! Wonder what my Xbots "friends" say about this back at my old home! xD

And yes! No Xbots to be seen! The way I like it. IN YOUR FACE XBOTS!

[shaggyjb]

Yes, the PS3 has a good chance to vastly improve its software sales in 2008 with big games such as you have mentioned. Everyone needs to realize that console sales are secondary in the console wars. The point of selling a console is to sell software (that is why companies take a large $$$ loss on every console). The PS3 must sell a ton more software to have a chance of catching up in the console war. Thus far, this has been the PS3's biggest failure, and it is the core reason for being in the console business. This has been the 360's biggest success so, the PS3 has to out pace 360 software sales by a considerable amount in 2008 to catch up (and this will be difficult given the 360's 2007 software success). I stand by my statement that selling a PS3 for primarily Blu-Ray movies will do nothing for its success in the console wars. Only selling PS3s that will in turn sell gaming software help (and yes, there will be more households that will do both now that Blu appears to have won, but I am skeptical this will dent the console war).

Also, don't forget that the PS2 was completely dominant and Sony allowed M$ to catch up this generation b/c of their effort to win the format war. This was a calculated risk that appears to have paid off for the format war outcome, but has had horrible results for them in the console war (no way Sony sniffs PS2-like dominance with the PS3).

From total profitability of the format war + console war, I believe Sony is going to come out happy. I am attempting to give people an objective view on how victory on one front won't necessarily help with victory on another front and how the other front is more precarious for Sony.

[mistertwoturbo]

you know I honestly understand what you're saying. but look at it this way.

people... like you and me... who happen to watch movies... ok now listen... are also people... like you and me... who also happens to be the same people... here it comes... who will play a video game!

okay in all seriousness, something you have to consider. if a person who can afford a $399 PS3. will most likely be able to afford a $299 standalone blu-ray player. but let's say that person looked at both the PS3 and the standalone player. if that person happens to buy the PS3 for blu-ray watching. chances are, they'll be exposed to it's other feature. a gaming console.

how? well it's quite simply more than obvious. LOOK AT THE BACK OF THE PS3 BOX. it's advertised as a game machine. secondly, if that person was going to buy a PS3 just to watch blu-rays, i'd say a 90% chance that person will buy at least 1-2 games in they're life time. and if we're talking about the general general middle minded consumer here, they might pick up something like Madden '09? or maybe they're kicking back, watching TV and see an amazing commercial for something likeeee... Killzone 2? Commercial has amazing graphics, gun-toting gameplay, and at the end of the commercial it says "Playstation 3."

So that amazed PS3 buyer who intentionally bought a PS3 just to watch blu-rays, happens to be intrigued by the commercial. And happens to be curious enough to go out and buy Killzone 2.

Now multiply that sort of situation by let's say, 15 million people in 2008. And let's say theoretically only 50% buys a single game. That's 7.5 million software games sold, in addition to hardcore PS3 gamers who will buy at least 3-10 games a year.

What does that all mean? Tons of software sales.

Yes it looks like fanboy math and mindset. But hey, the same was said about Blu-Ray. And look where we're at today, and where we're headed.

[Ital50Stal]

I came across this interesting link....this guy does have a point about blu ray.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=...

I dont get all these Xbot n Sorny fans supporting "their" products as if they had a hand in making it. I understand supporting a sports team because its usually your nation vs some other one...but come on, ppl actually care about this way to much...I want HD dvd to win cuz i got the 360 add on...and one day when sony focuses on making ps3 games, ill probably get on the blu ray player bandwagon...for now, torrents!

ps....HD dvd stand alone units still out sell Blu Ray stand alone units ;)

[mirroredderorrim]

Count all hardware, drives, PS3, standalones. Then your picture will be painted differently. You could even do the same with HD-DVD. 360HD-DVD addon, drives, standalones.

And believe that it IS over. Think of it as a nuclear bomb and you're waiting for the shockwave.

[DFresh]

That's big time bad news for Toshiba
their main supporter just switched sides.
Blu-Ray has been winning for the last 2 years over HD DVD by a landslide and it takes people this long to realize they don't know where the future is heading.
Same process will happen in video games
right now people are having issues about HD Gaming between the 360 and PS3 and eventually producers will realize that the future of gaming will lie with the PS3.
2008 will be evidence that the PS3 will own the market in video games.

[tatotiburon]

jajaja when HD-DVD bcome a Microsoft product??, last time i check HD-DVD was a Toshiba product...Microsoft the only problem they have is what to do with all HD-DVD units that didn't sell, a minor problem or you sonykids thinks that they have millions and millions of hd-dvd units eating dust in a warehouse??? jajajaja keep dreaming, maybe a thousand but millions never. So a thousand HD-DVD units lost, is nothing to Microsoft. Right now the hd-dvd add-on cost US$169 but in a few months it prpbably cost US$100 or US$60 with six movies free and goodbye the thousand of units left......so the problem is?? last time i check Microsoft will open the CES, not canecelling any event in the CES like HD-DVD group did, so in other words Microsoft give a S**** about BR victory.

[mirroredderorrim]

You are right. Microsoft dosn't care about Blu-Ray, but with today's connections, is Hi-Def content a reality for download? Yes. Is it practical in the sense of efficiency? Not yet, not for a long while.

Microsoft had very little to offer at CES. Microst had a good year, but towards the end of the year we saw a change, Microsoft is no longer dominating with their 1 year lead, infact the PS3 has done better in it's 1st year than Microsoft did, even with the extreme pricetag.

I'm not blasting Xbox, though..I really tried to get my hands on an Xbox 360 this year, but I did not want the Halo 3 edition nor the idiotic arcade (which is selling poorly, btw)

I have been to 9 gamestops in Oklahoma and 3 in California, as well as a bestbuy in both states, both PS3 and 360 are selling like hotcakes, 40 gig..eh..yeah. 80 gigs are flying off the shelves..but one thing all those stores had in common...they all had MANY Xbox 360 arcades in stock. No one wants to buy it because it lacks a hard drive. what I call the "364 xbox" because it costs about that much at each store. I was willing to "jump in" but were sold out everywhere!

So.. both hardware manufacturers are having a profitable year..just wish I could get a damned 360 already, maybe in a week.

[BubblesDAVERAGE]

Now you 360 owners offically have the most worthless add on in less then a year....next is the 360...that will take a year its all in the numbers jsut look

[The Dude]

I am done with Warner Bros even if I decide to go blu-ray they have lost my business. WB should of announced this before the holiday season not after.

[Kirstenlottesovs]

Stick THAT in your high-def pipe and smoke it!!

I kinda hoped it would come to this, seeing as i already have a ps3 and blu-ray movies.

[The Dude]

I own a ps3 I just don't want anything to do with blu-ray. In the end the gamers are in it for the games and the ps3 sucks in that area bad.

[TruthBTold]

Doesnt seem like you're a smart consumer in the sense that you say you own a PS3 but their games are bad. Why would you buy something you dont like? You should sell it and buy a game system you actually enjoy and do research before you go out and spend money. Or maybe you're just bitter about the HD war.

[RudeSole Devil]

You must of bought the wrong games, like what TruthBTold said do some research.

[speed_demon]

Blu-Ray supporters A.K.A PS3 Supporters are the champions.

[moolox]

No suprise as they are a sister company but they do have a say

http://www.blu-ray.com/news...

[SSCOOLCHEA]

THIS IS FUNNY , I HAVE A PS3 BUT THIS IS FUNNY YOU GUYS ARE ARGUING OVER BULLCRAP ALL OVER THE INTERNET. HA

[aceman7]

NEW LINE CINEMA JUST DROPPED HD-DVD TOO!!

It's over man, phucking over!!!!

[Cynical-Gamerzus]

Bluray wins on merit innovation and quality.
Proving that having quality innovation and design is a must,Sony wins!!!
They DIDn'T! have to throw shareholders millions around to confuse the consumers like (Cough Microsoft) they did it with poise,and smarts PS3 is a excellent and always will be a excellent buy.

Sure its expensive but overall we will all benefit from the massive storage and the technology that it represents!!!!
Oh what a future for PS and BLuray!!!
I cant wait for FFF13 and GT 5 !!
and possible 100GB blurays disc!
BOo Hoo HD-DVD!

[TruthBTold]

this was unexpected but very happy about it. Just the beggining of a very exciting new year. Congrats to Blu

[wallace1000]

It would have been nice if warner had done this a month before christmas instead of screwing many consumers over. I just returned my A3 and got store credit for my HD DVDs so i am safe. Just have to wait for the panasonic bd30 to come down in price a bit. I do feel sorry for early adopters though. At least there is only one HD format now.

[ben806]

im so glad this format war is drawing to a close. this will give me more of a reason to buy a ps3 and there are some nice games on the way too.

[harv052]

If you want a good laugh, go on HD DVD forums. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. Online petitions against WB. Like f*ck!! If it would've been the other way around, we wouldn't see them complaint. Adopting new tech at it's birth IS risky, everyone knows that, it's a gamble. Also, about whatever money was thrown in there, we didn't see them complain when Universal/Paramount took some money from the HD DVD camp...It was there win at the time and they were flaunting it around too. IT'S BUISNESS PEOPLE!! It's only natural that this stuff happens

[Ps3ShellShock]

if u see some1 buying a HDDVD movie WARN A BROTHER(warner brothers) LOL

lame joke i know lol

[Wicked Sick]

a smart move by WB

[mirroredderorrim]

Finally.

[sonyfanonly]

I DONT KNOW WHY THE XBOTS ARE MAD BECAUSE THERE IS OVER 16 MILLION XBOX 360 SOLD AND YOU CAN BUY A ADD ON BUT THE THING IS THE PS3 HAS ABOUT 9 MILLION AND BLU RAY IS SELLING MORE THAN HD DVD ITS NOT NOBODYS FAULT BUT XBOTS IF THEY WANT HD DVD TO BE THE WINNER BUY HD DVD MOVIES BUT ITS TO LATE KNOW BLU RAY IS FUTURE PROOF OF SONYS DOMINANCE IN THE VIDEO GAME WORLD AGAIN

[Nathan Drake]

I come from the future,where BluRay is winning,Wii is the console marketleader,and John McCain is back to square 1.