"Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD DVD after Warner Brothers' recent backing of Sony's Blu-ray technology, in a move that will sound the death knell of HD DVD and bring the home entertainment format war to a definitive end.
Paramount and DreamWorks Animation, which makes the Shrek films, came out in support of HD DVD last summer, joining General Electric's Universal Studios as the main backers of the Toshiba format.
However, Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, is understood to have a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner Bros backing Blu-ray, according to people familiar with the situation.
Paramount is set to have a bumper 2008 with several likely blockbusters, including the latest instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise.
Paramount joining the Blu-ray camp would leave HD DVD likely to suffer the same fate as Sony's now obsolete Betamax video technology, which lost out to VHS in a similar format war in the 1980s.
Warners decision last week to throw its weight behind Blu-ray saw it join Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as backers of the Sony format.
The Warners move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood's output, although the format's grip on film content will increase further when Paramount comes aboard.
It is unclear whether DreamWorks Animation has the same get-out clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp.
However, Paramount and DreamWorks have a close relationship, with Paramount distributing DreamWorks Animation films. The two companies also signed their HD DVD contracts at the same time. Meanwhile, Universal has declined to comment on its next-generation DVD plans since the Warners move.
Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, on Monday held out an olive branch, saying the company would be "open to dialogue" with the HD DVD camp to "grow the market". The move came as new figures showed that Blu-ray had opened up a decisive lead over the rival home entertainment format.
Sir Howard said: "We are not going to push people around. We'll talk to anyone ... we have a lot of work to do to grow the market. We'll be systematic and open to dialogue at all times."
He added that Sony still had "a lot of work" to do to get Blu-ray "widely accepted" among American consumers.
"With Warner's support you saw billboards going up in different places and you saw television commercials getting more and more sophisticated and that's what we'll continue doing," said Sir Howard."
From school politics to ping-pong, pistols to police procedurals, let’s dive into the best that Rockstar has to offer.
Saif from eXputer inquires, "Despite the everlasting popularity of the genre, why hasn't there been a good AAA horror game in a while now?"
Even when they do it's first person trying to copy Outlast, Five Nights, P.T etc
I think the Dead Space / RE2 / RE4 Remake and the Evil Within 2 showed you can have a good story based, third person survival horror game.
I feel like we haven't had much in the way of horror games for years, I think it became rare after the PS2/PS3 gen. Maybe i'll pick up that Crow Country that recently came out, that looks good.
Yet another leak for the ASUS ROG Ally X points towards as much as 8 hours of battery, but how does that compare to the competition?
Honestly, I really like this updated version. But it doesn't solve the biggest flaw that the original had for me: the Z1 Extreme APU. Yes, it's an extremely powerful part, but it is not part of AMD's Adrenalin driver update program, so it's dependent on Asus for driver updates. And unfortunately, Asus doesn't have a stellar record of support for their devices.
Up to 8 hours basically just means the least demanding games. AAA gaming at highest wattage would probably be about 2-3 hours which is good compared to just about 1 hour with the current ally. The OLED Deck can do about 2-3hrs.
With much less performance so that makes sense.
The Steamdeck shines at the lower TDP end but gets absolutely mopped at the high end.
Similar longevity with much better performance is a big win for the Ally X
They used to be the best when it comes to motherboards, now I will never buy anything from them again.
Nope. The only improvements I want to hear is better customer support. Otherwise, I can't be bothered.
Do it Paramount do it.
this may happen i just want this thing to be over with. you know theres still people out there that have no ideal what blu ray is lol.
I thought they would remain with HD-DVD.
they already said they are staying with HD DVD. the story was posted on this site already
http://www.n4g.com/tech/New...
@joevfx they never signed a contract with HD DVD
if paramont does this, well things will then be even bleaker for hd-dvd, with no chance of surviving