Blu-ray Disc Gains Gaming Support
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Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games choose a side in the battle of next-gen DVD formats.
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InfoWorld - Supporters of the Blu-ray Disc format came to Berlin armed with key announcements to underscore their commitment to the next-generation movie disc.
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HD DVD or die! Microsoft today stressed that it believes HD DVD is the best optical disc for consumers and that it has no plans to support Blu-ray Disc on the Xbox 360, despite recent comments from company staffers that it might.â¦
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Blu-ray DVD titles outsold rival  HD-DVD titles by almost 2-to-1 in the first nine months of the  year, but analysts expect additional HD-DVD support and new hit  releases to "transform" the high-definition DVD battle score in  the fourth quarter.
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Gamers may be some of the first to appreciate high-definition content.
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Microsoft covers its high-definition derriÃ¨re CES The format wars have taken another turn this afternoon as Microsoft announced its Xbox 360 console might feature Blu-ray in the near future.â¦
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Company is the latest to pick a side in the battle of high-definition disc formats.
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The Blu-ray win means consumers seeking sharper movies on high-definition DVDs no longer have to choose between rival incompatible formats and run the risk of being stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax.
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The International Consumer Electronics Show is turning out to be a celebration party for Blu-ray, the high-definition format that Sony Corp. backed, and a wake for a rival movie disc technology pushed by Toshiba Corp.
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Microsoft shrugged off HD DVD&#39;s demise on Tuesday, declining to say if or when it would support Blu-ray Disc for the Xbox.Microsoft steadfastly backed HD DVD, selling an external drive for the Xbox for $129.99. That offer was still on the U.S. Xbox Web site as of Tuesday, despite the news that&#160;Toshiba will scuttle the format. Toshiba had been the lead electronics manufacturer in a coalition of companies pushing that format but content producers have thrown their support to Blu-ray.Microsoft&#39;s decision to make the HD DVD drive external rather than within the console &quot;was quite a strategic move on their part,&quot; said Paul O&#39;Donovan, principal analyst with Gartner.However, it&#39;s inevitable that future Xbox versions, as well as other gaming systems aimed at tighter integration with entertainment systems, will incorporate Blu-ray Disc drives, said O&#39;Donovan. The Xbox currently has a standard DVD drive.Sony gained momentum for its Blu-ray player by putting it in its PlayStation 3 console, according to research company IDC.The PS3&#39;s &quot;dual roles as a gaming console and a next-generation DVD player have made it an important part of the format war,&quot; according to the report.Prior to Toshiba&#39;s announcement, Microsoft downplayed the rumors of HD DVD&#39;s death, contending buyers are more interested in gaming functions.&quot;We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace,&quot; the company said in a statement. &quot;It is premature to speculate but we do know from market data that HD movie playback is not a primary purchase driver for consumers buying video game consoles.&quot;Microsoft, which started selling the external drive for $199 in late 2006, has dropped the price twice, to $179 last August finally to its current price, which varies by region.O&#39;Donovan agreed the company likely won&#39;t face declining sales of its Xbox gaming console. But Microsoft&#39;s greater problem may be getting rid of the external HD DVD drives in its inventory.HD DVD is &quot;dead and gone&quot; now, O&#39;Donovan said.&#160;
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The Blu-ray format has gained the upper hand in the battle for next-generation DVD supremacy, Japanese press said Sunday, after Warner Bros. said it would only support the technology developed by Sony.
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Gamers love Sony Corp.'s new  PlayStation 3 for its graphic capabilities and firepower, but  the advanced Blu-ray DVD drive is annoying some by raising the  cost, slowing production and forcing them to buy into a format  they've not yet aligned with.
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(InfoWorld) - Supporters of the Blu-ray Disc format came to Berlin armed with key announcements to underscore their commitment to the next-generation movie disc. The announcements included a flood of new Blu-ray Disc releases, a decision by Acer and China Huala GroupÂ to join as hardware partners, and the establishment of a Blu-ray Disc authoring center in China. They were made Thursday at a news conference organized by the Blu-ray Disc Association at the IFA consumer electronics show. Among some of the big-name movies to appear in the Blu-ray Disc format in the coming weeks are Spider Man from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 300 from Warner Home Video, and a special edition of Sleeping Beauty from Walt Disney. "We've been involved with Blu-ray Disc from the very beginning," said Stephen Foulser, vice president of marketing and business development for Disney in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region. "We will be launching 30 new titles in the format." More than 300 movie titles are currently available in the Blu-ray Disc format, a number that studios plan to nearly double by the end of the year, according to David Walstra, vice chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Eight manufacturers of consumer electronic products are now on board, he said. The number of studios supplying content and manufacturers building players are key to the take-up of any new disc format, according to Danny Kay, executive vice president of research and development at 20th Century Fox. Based on the numbers of both of these groups, "the market for Blu-ray Disc is very compelling" he said. "We believe Blu-ray Disc is really the only way to go." Kay declined to comment on the decision of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation to throw their support behind rival HD DVD, saying only that both studios had access to the same market data as Fox and the other studios. On the device front, Acer will join Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and LenovoÂ as contributing members to the Blu-ray Disc Association, said Walstra, a Sony executive who is also deputy chairman of the association. Huala, a major manufacturer of consumer electronic products in China and supplier of content, has also agreed to become a contributing member, according to Walstra. In addition, the company will team with the China Film Group to establish a Blu-ray Disc authoring center in China, he said. None of the industry executives associated with the Blu-ray Disc Association were prepared to answer a question on whether the expansion into China could lead to greater concerns about software piracy
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This is fantastic news and could possibly make the HD-DVD format the winner over the competing Blu-Ray technology.... Two Japanese companies said Tuesday they have developed a DVD that can play on both existing
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DECEMBER 01, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - TOKYO -- The group supporting the HD-DVD optical disc format for high-definition video has received a boost in its battle against the rival Blu-ray Disc format with pledges of support from a number of Hollywood
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Prototype Blu-ray Disc, HD-DVD players were shown at CES.
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La Blu-ray Disc Association a publiÃ© hier un communiquÃ© de presse donnant la liste exacte de ses membres. Cette derniÃ¨re est assez impressionnante et ce sont 73 constructeurs, dÃ©veloppeurs, Ã©diteurs ou