100°

Report says Blu-ray/HD DVD war to run another 18 months

Reuters, New York: Sales of next-generation DVD players are not seen as likely to take off for another 18 months as consumers are still waiting for prices to fall and for the battle over two competing technologies to be resolved.

Referring to the high-definition DVD format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, Forrester Research said in a report on Monday that while the two camps have "been fighting what seems to be a war of attrition for consumers' hearts and minds", few consumers are warming to either type of device.

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today.reuters.com
MK_Red6050d ago

"another 18 months": Thanks to Paramount's stupid move. God I hate this war. At first it was helpfull with prices falling so fast but now I actually want Casino Royale, Transformers, Bourne Ultimatum and Pirates of Caribbean 3 on HD and they are divided between two expensive formats.

cuco336050d ago (Edited 6050d ago )

cuz HD DVD is ready NOW for the market unlike BD

If there is anyone one to blame it is Sony and the BDA. They NEED the 18 months to finish and finalize their spec as well as to eliminate manufacturing issues with BD50 replication, releasing the 1.1. profile as well as the 2.0 profile, get BD-Java to work as good as HDi without any major issues, etc etc etc

Think about this, all BD players released in Q4 use the 1.0 profile and most are said to be non upgradeable. 18 months is about the time it should take BD to be where HD DVD is now (sans the higher costs)

In terms of players BD is expensive, HD DVD is not.

archpsyker6050d ago

everytime I see an article about this I'm reminded of what an employee at a local Suncoast said. The war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD will be decided by the side the porn industry sides with. From what he said this is how the previous formats of VHS and DVD have been decided over their competing formats.

Whether this is true or not hasn't been confirmed by myself.

Both formats look good and I think will be good for people who want high-definition movies when a winner is declared, if one is at all. In the end though, my money is on Blu-ray.

Kholinar6050d ago (Edited 6050d ago )

The porn industry is largely online now. I doubt they're going to have much to do with it.

*edit* also, dvd really didn't have comparable competition. Look at how long it took them to overcome a visually inferior product. Physical storage space (dvd case size) was probably one of the biggest reasons for adoption. To be fair, vhs did have one advantage: Recording. Something that consumers still desire and something this gen (like dvd's) fights against viciously. Which is part of why adoption will be slow.

BIadestarX6050d ago

This should teach Sony a lesson or two about forcing new formats on people. Sony really though that blu-ray adoption was going to be smooth when they added it into the PS3 and is turning to be a 3-4 war if not a never ending war. If sony wouldn't add blu-ray into the PS3 then they wouldnt have so many enemies such as Microsoft which by the way have pretty big pockets. This reminds me of Hitler... Why did he lose the war? simply becase he declared the war against the world. Why not fight one battle at a time? Why risk everything by trying to fight the console war and the format war at the same time?
By the look of it, Sony's plan back fired... Blu-ray is hurting the PS3 and the PS3 is hurting blu-ray... good job Sony... let's see how long it takes for digital distribution to pick up and all the money and resources you are spending goes down on history as the what not to do in business 101.

archpsyker6050d ago

Sony didn't force a format on anyone. People have a choice from Blu-ray or HD-DVD. Blu-ray players can play dvds also, so it's not like they are losing anything. By adding Blu-ray to the PS3 I think Sony was looking at two things: 1) amount of data that can be stored on Blu-ray and 2) adding a high-definition format to the console. Either way, this can possible be a win/win for Sony.

If Microsoft would of put an HD-DVD drive in the Xbox 360 would people feel the same way about the Xbox 360 as they would the PS3? Business is business. Companies take risks, they have to look to the future not just the present.

RealityCheck6050d ago

To be fair, a format is created by hardware manufacturer. In this case Blu-ray is supported by Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, Philips, Denon, JVC, Marantz and some obscure chinese vendors whereas HD-DVD is Toshiba and some obscure chinese vendors. So in this case, it is Toshiba who is going against the industry and by your analogy Toshiba is Hitler.

As far as the PS3, Sony just followed a normal progression PS1->PS2->PS3 with CD->DVD->BD. The biggest issue with the PS3 right now is that it is still < 1 year old and doesn't have enough games for it yet. Anyone who has a PS3 and has seen a Blu-ray movie on it will not count Blu-ray as a bad thing to have.

Kyur4ThePain6050d ago

Keep it up, Blade.
Soon we'll see 3 bubbles, then 2....keep it up.

cuco336050d ago

You forgot that HD DVD not only has Toshiba but also Venturer, Alpine, Onkyo, Integra, and other China manufacturers just to name a few...

Denon stated they are not exclusive to BD. They are especially not happy about the lack of 1.1 profile and don't want to be the guinea pig for it (hence their delayed BD standalone, their first HDM player and BD's first 1.1 profile player).

and if you're so confident in the BD list than I ask why is LG and Samsung (amongst others as well as rumored which I won't even get into) making a dual format player that plays both HD DVD and BD? Looking at the laptop realm adds others like HP, ACER and LG that offer HD DVD drives as well as BD drives. Seems like your own board of BD manufacturers aren't so confident in BD afterall.

Now watch all the disagrees since this is all truth I speak ;).

RealityCheck6050d ago

Digressions aside, the main point of my reply to post #5 is that the analogy used to try to portray Sony as the sole supporter of Blu-ray was quite unfounded when in fact they had more support.

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130°

70 percent of devs unsure of live-service games sustainability

With so many games fighting for players' attention and interest losing out over time, time sink games are at risk of eventually losing steam.

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gamedeveloper.com
thorstein1d 4h ago

It was worrisome to begin with.

It's a niche genre with only a handful of hits that can stand the test of time.

Cacabunga7h ago

I like the sound of that!! I will for sure never support these gaas games.
Sony must be shocked at gamer's reaction, making them cancel a few of these and hopefully go back to the good heavy hitters they had us used to..
now bring on that PSPro reveal and show us some SP 1st party awesomeness.

CrimsonWing691d 4h ago

What’s to be unsure of!? Look at the ratio of success to failure!

DarXyde11h ago

It's pretty ridiculous.

Imagine having a breadth of data at your disposal to see the statistically low success rate of these games, only to be laser focused on the exceptional case studies.

shinoff21831d 2h ago

Yes. Stop all the live service bs.

jznrpg1d 2h ago

Only a few will catch on. You need a perfect storm to be successful in GaaS and a bit of luck on top of that. But a potential cash cow will keep them trying and some will go out of business because of it.

MIDGETonSTILTS171d 2h ago

Helldivers 2 manages just fine…

Keep production costs low… don’t just make custscenes until the mechanics and enemies are perfected first.

Make so much content that you can drip extra content for years, and the game already feels complete without them.

Most importantly: make weapons, enemies, levels, and mechanics that will stand the test of 1000 hours. This might require more devs embracing procedurally generated leveled, which I think separates Helldivers 2 from Destiny’s repetitiveness.

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60°

The Battle Pass Is The Worst Thing To Happen To Modern Gaming

Nameer from eXputer: "Some exceptions aside, I don't think the battle pass is a net positive for gaming with how they're implemented in most live service titles."

got_dam1d 6h ago

Battle passes AND meta gaming both.

DivineHand1251d 4h ago (Edited 1d 4h ago )

I like the way Helldivers 2 does battle passes. It allows you to make purchases on each level of the battle pass and gives you the option of choosing which item to unlock first. The more purchases you make using medals the further you progress. There is no timer and you can earn medals towards purchasing stuff via personal orders and Major orders.

I haven't played much live service games that have battle passes but I remember some games that have battle passes where you progress through it linearly using an exp system. What makes it really bad is that the battle pass will have like 50 or more levels with the cooler stuff being closer to the end. They also have an in-game shop that sells exp boosters so you can reach the end of the pass before it refreshes. Everyone ilse will have to grind their way through.

lucian2291d 3h ago

battle pass in fortnite is perfect; buy one and it buys the rest for every other season as it gives you more money than the first cost. so 8.50 and season ends with you getting 13.00, it pays for the next and you have some pocket change to save up for cash shop. All of which is optional

470°

PS5 Pro specs leak video taken down by Sony

Sony is taking actions as video by Moore’s Law is Dead, has been issued with a copyright claim.

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videogameschronicle.com
andy852d ago

And people say it's all fake because Sony haven't said anything 😂 conveniently forget the PS4 Pro was only announced 2 months before release.

BeHunted1d 23h ago

It's fake. There's no factual evidence other than his own made up specs.

Hereandthere1d 23h ago

What were the specks Sony was afraid of showing?

Shikoku1d 22h ago (Edited 1d 22h ago )

Digital foundry put a video out saying what he leaked was exactly what they also knew about the PS5 PRO. So no it's not just stuff he made up

Babadook71d 20h ago (Edited 1d 20h ago )

If it’s fake what copyright does MLID infringe upon?

😂

andy851d 19h ago

Aye because they'd go to the effort of copyright claiming it if it didn't exist 🙃😂 you'd have to be a special kind to be thinking its not a thing by now

Cacabunga1d 19h ago

They need to reveal it with uncharted killzone or a heavy hitter like this

Ironmike1d 19h ago (Edited 1d 19h ago )

U mean the specs that we'll established digital foundry which said these are the actual specs published a video on 2 weeks ago I mean they are only one of most trusted sites for tech information but they just made up a video for the sake of it

Christopher1d 5h ago

I would love for it all to be fake, but lots of people are saying they've seen/heard the same thing. But, man, we 100% don't need mid-gen upgrades when we're failing hard to optimize current hardware.

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Seraphim1d ago (Edited 1d ago )

if I recall Sony lowered sales expectations for PS5 earlier this year. if that is the case we won't hear anything about a Pro until next year or shortly before/when it's dropping. After all, if the Pro was dropping this year/fiscal year they wouldn't have lowered expectations.

As for squashing rumors. Yeah, shit like this prevents potential buyers from adopting now, just like slim rumors in the past. It only makes sense to keep things under wraps from a business perspective. Despite living in a technological age of unfettered access to information we don't need to know whats going on behind closed doors be that at Sony, Nintendo, MS, or amongst any development studios. When the steak is done we shall feast.

JackBNimble1d ago

By the time games are actually made to take advantage of the pro spec's the ps6 will be released or close to it.

jznrpg1d 23h ago (Edited 1d 23h ago )

Just announce it already! I want to preorder one asap. But in reality they don’t want to lessen PS5 sales until Pro is ready to launch so I understand the business part of it. September is probably when they announce it with an early November launch like the PS4 Pro

Ironmike1d 19h ago

Pro won't lessen sales sames ps4 pro never and the ps4 pro was more relevant at the time cos move to 4k this not needed

RaidenBlack1d 12h ago (Edited 1d 12h ago )

Yea, my brother got his PS4 (coz of a good deal) after the PS4 Pro's release.

darthv721d 9h ago

^^same here. I got a base 4 for only $100 off a guy who bought the Pro. then a few months later I found a guy on craigslist selling a pro for $100 because it was left behind by his former roommate who moved out. That was the beginning of my obsession to buy up the different variants of the PS4 that were released.

As of now I am really only missing the 500m one and the gold slim but otherwise I have pretty much all the other retail ones. https://consolevariations.c...

BoneMagnus1d 7h ago

@darth - Nice collection!

crazyCoconuts1d 2h ago

Anyone with 4K that appreciates 60fps is gonna disagree about it not being needed.
DLSS is a god send for Nvidia, and there's been nothing like it for AMD...yet ...

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DeadlyFire1d 7h ago

They will announce it around E3 timeframe about May-June whenever they do a showcase for the year.

neutralgamer19921d 22h ago

Just announce it this thing will sell well

Ironmike1d 18h ago (Edited 1d 18h ago )

I don't think it will pll still haven't seen the potential of ps5 yet

Cacabunga1d 5h ago

agreed, but it might sell if they announce some 1st party games to lead the way. if people see the difference with the base version they can move on. for my sake I am still gaming mainly on PS4 (still not finished with RDR2 due to lack of gaming time). I have a huge backlog on PS5 I am hoping to get into.

mark3214uk1d 14h ago

why? game makers havnt even come close to maxing out current spec yet, were getting al lthese new TFlops and game maker are making crappy remakes not worthy of the ps3

Minute Man 7211d 9h ago

The guts of the 5 and X are 5 years old

fr0sty1d 2h ago

People keep saying that, yet we still have games running at near HD resolutions, 30fps, and ray tracing features turned off.

PRIMORDUS1d 19h ago (Edited 1d 19h ago )

I would take that video and upload a torrent of it, fuck that copyright bullshit. If your going to do something that has a chance of being taken down, make a torrent first share it. Then Sony or any other company is helpless and you can laugh in their faces, taunting them to try to take it down 🤣

LoveSpuds1d 13h ago

With kind of analysis and advice, you could be a lawyer for Trump!🤣

tronyx121d 12h ago

As much as the PS4 Pro didn't represent a major % in the playerbase, announcing a 'better' model will hinder sales from the 'base' model. They are right, business-wise.

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