The Video Game Critic

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]

So unless the Game Informer guy straight up lied to the people at Kotaku, its not a rumor.
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My money's on the Game Informer guy straight up lying.  Now, if you had the choice between a 360 with a 120 GB HD or a PS3 with a blu-ray drive, which would you choose?
 
Me, I'd go with forking over an extra $20 for a blu-ray drive.  Sure, it's only got a 20 GB HD but you've got a cheap blu-ray player out of the deal.
 
Now, I'd definitely fork over the extra cash for 120 GB hd for my existing 360 but I'm not buying a brand new one. 
 
Lastly, why on earth would you have 3 SKUs?  Talk about confusing the market and it's not like a 120 GB drive actually costs $180 compared to the core system priced at $300. 

[QUOTE=ActRaiser]My money's on the Game Informer guy straight up lying.  Now, if you had the choice between a 360 with a 120 GB HD or a PS3 with a blu-ray drive, which would you choose?[/QUOTE]
 
The problem is Game Informer isn't the only one saying it now.  It has been brought up now by Gamespot and Joystig.
 
Personally I believe it's true.  And I definitely hope it's true.  As I pointed out, there are several TVs that won't process 1080p from Microsoft's 360 component link.  My TV will do 1080p from other component links, but not the 360's for some odd reason.  The best I can do on that is 1080i.  Having HDMI links instead should fix that problem.

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]

[QUOTE=Atarifever][QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven] 
 I just got done reading an article saying that Blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD 3 to 1. 
 

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So, if my math serves, that means they've sold about 3 Blu-Ray players.
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yea...something like that.
 
Actually the 3 to 1 ratio was the blu ray discs not the players.
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Well in that case I vote it's a case of UMDism.  The buyers of the expensive PS3, while waiting for the library to be worth the money they spent on the console have to buy something to avoid buyer's remorse.  Given that there are 1 million PS3s sold to consumers, and that HD-DVD and Blu-ray are new and haven't really been sold in huge numbers period, I'd imagine that can more than account for the difference.  Still, UMD isn't exactly a universal format because of that situation arising early on the PSP, so this will likely be temporary.

[QUOTE=Atarifever]
Well in that case I vote it's a case of UMDism.  The buyers of the expensive PS3, while waiting for the library to be worth the money they spent on the console have to buy something to avoid buyer's remorse.  Given that there are 1 million PS3s sold to consumers, and that HD-DVD and Blu-ray are new and haven't really been sold in huge numbers period, I'd imagine that can more than account for the difference.  Still, UMD isn't exactly a universal format because of that situation arising early on the PSP, so this will likely be temporary.
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Normally I would agree with you, but there are a few differences between Blu Ray and the UMD format.  First the UMD could only be used in the PSP.  Second who wants to watch a movie on a tiny ass screen?  Nobody...had they waited until the PSP had a decent install base to start making movies it might have faired a little better.  Probably not though.  Putting movies on UMD "seemed" like a good idea, but financially it wasn't too well thought out.
 
Pretty much everybody has a DVD player by now...if Blu Ray "wins" this so called format war it isn't going to die off.  You are correct in saying that people with new PS3 are buying Blu Ray disc, but its also people with new HDTVs.  Blu ray offers something better than what is available right now and as more people get into HD quality television they are going to want their movies to follow suit.  If HDDVD is no longer around they will have to choose Blu Ray movies.  This probably won't happen for 3-5 years, but in theory the Blu Ray format could survive and even become a new standard. 
 
Of course it could still go down the toilet and Sony's executives will be begging on the street for spare change...

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]

[QUOTE=Atarifever]
Well in that case I vote it's a case of UMDism.  The buyers of the expensive PS3, while waiting for the library to be worth the money they spent on the console have to buy something to avoid buyer's remorse.  Given that there are 1 million PS3s sold to consumers, and that HD-DVD and Blu-ray are new and haven't really been sold in huge numbers period, I'd imagine that can more than account for the difference.  Still, UMD isn't exactly a universal format because of that situation arising early on the PSP, so this will likely be temporary.
[/QUOTE]

Normally I would agree with you, but there are a few differences between Blu Ray and the UMD format.  First the UMD could only be used in the PSP.  Second who wants to watch a movie on a tiny ass screen?  Nobody...had they waited until the PSP had a decent install base to start making movies it might have faired a little better.  Probably not though.  Putting movies on UMD "seemed" like a good idea, but financially it wasn't too well thought out.
 
Pretty much everybody has a DVD player by now...if Blu Ray "wins" this so called format war it isn't going to die off.  You are correct in saying that people with new PS3 are buying Blu Ray disc, but its also people with new HDTVs.  Blu ray offers something better than what is available right now and as more people get into HD quality television they are going to want their movies to follow suit.  If HDDVD is no longer around they will have to choose Blu Ray movies.  This probably won't happen for 3-5 years, but in theory the Blu Ray format could survive and even become a new standard. 
 
Of course it could still go down the toilet and Sony's executives will be begging on the street for spare change...
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Well I'm not saying it will definitely fail, just that the current difference is likely due to PS3s.  Actually, Ive had a bit of a conspiracy theory for some time about this.  It goes like this:

Sony knows that the PS3 will do fairly poorly as a console, because of the expensive Blu-ray inclusion.  They have known this from the start.  However, they know that even a modest selling Sony console (say 40 million) would become the dominate High def. movie player.  As Sony owns patents out the yingyang for Blu-Ray they stand to make a lot of money from movies, computers, software, etc that use the Blu-ray format.  If it really becomes standard, they may even make money on the next next gen. consoles if they all have to use Blu-ray not to seem obsolete.  In the end, Sony "loses" a round of videogame systems (while still staying alive in there), and gains entire markets elsewhere.  Then, it'd just be a matter of trying to battle back into the top spot in videogames, or at least holding on until they're in a position to try at it again.

[QUOTE=Atarifever]Sony knows that the PS3 will do fairly poorly as a console, because of the expensive Blu-ray inclusion.  They have known this from the start.  However, they know that even a modest selling Sony console (say 40 million) would become the dominate High def. movie player.[/QUOTE]

I think there's truth somewhere in the middle, and I definitely don't think it's this black and white.  Sony included the Bluray player to push the Bluray, but it wasn't the only thing they had going.  It was a bi-directional push, i.e. they were hedging their bets a bit.  If Bluray becomes the defacto standard (with or without help from the PS3), then suddenly owning a PS3 for the Bluray isn't such a horrible deal.  To Sony, it doesn't matter which one pushes the other.  A little bit of both may be what they were actually hoping for.

That could easily help it become the leader in the gaming market it again, in the same way that having a DVD player as part of the PS2 helped the PS2 gain a lot of initial sales.  This move of including a Bluray might actually end up PUSHING sales of the PS3, should this trend of outselling the HD-DVD format continue.  It's those types of sales which made the PS2 a sure bet for 3rd party publishers.

[QUOTE=m0zart]

I think there's truth somewhere in the middle, and I definitely don't think it's this black and white.  Sony included the Bluray player to push the Bluray, but it wasn't the only thing they had going.  It was a bi-directional push, i.e. they were hedging their bets a bit.  If Bluray becomes the defacto standard (with or without help from the PS3), then suddenly owning a PS3 for the Bluray isn't such a horrible deal.  To Sony, it doesn't matter which one pushes the other.  A little bit of both may be what they were actually hoping for.

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I don't know.  I just have the feeling if you'd asked the people in charge early on what they thought the likely outcome would be (and they were honest I mean) they would have given the chances of Blu-Ray pushing the PS3 low odds.  Meanwhile, even with very slow sales, the PS3 is pushing Blu-Ray past HDDVD.  I don't think it'll be a mutual thing, as the one market is slower and much younger than the other.  DVD was getting ready to completely break out when the PS2 hit and was facing the vastly, vastly, vastly inferior VHS.  Blu-Ray is dependent on the adoption of an entirely separate product (HDTV), which itself still isn't in 30% of homes; add to that that Blu-Ray is facing a fairly similar competitor, and has, for many people, no benefit over the older DVD format.   The order will have to be
fairly nice PS3 sales--> improved Blu-Ray disc sales - and-> more upgraders to HDTV (which leads to more blu-ray disc sales).

 I can't picture it being that Blu-ray is so awesome it sells people on PS3 and HDTV. 
There is a very large gaming market.  The market of complete technophiles who see blu-ray as a big deal as of right now, is very small.  Sony couldn't not know that, so I have to assume they chose to use the PS3 to push Blu-Ray knowing it wouldn't go the other way.

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]I guess the reason that HD-DVD wasn't included is because the format is dying.  I just got done reading an article saying that Blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD 3 to 1.  Walmart has slashed the prices on the 360 HD DVD player to $129.99.  The store has also apparantely stopped selling HD DVD players in general.  From what I read it stated the format is struggling to stay alive.[/QUOTE]

"The Matrix Trilogy" has just been announced for HD-DVD, with a Blu-ray version tentatively scheduled for "sometime later this year": [url]http://www.homemediaretailing.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?sec_id=2&&article_ID=10426[/url].  And Toshiba just cut the price of its HD-DVD decks down a couple of hundred bucks.  News of HD-DVD's demise have been greatly exaggerated.  The reason Microsoft didn't include an HD-DVD drive in the XBox 360 Elite was that it would have increased the price of the system even more than it already is (tentatively).  As with the regular Premium 360 the HD-DVD add-on is an alternative for those that want to buy into the format.  Unlike Sony shoving a Blu-ray into PS3 owners' home whether they want to or not MS at least is giving them an option to have or not to have HD-DVD in their gaming gear.

I'll take your word on the HD DVD stuff...honestly I haven't heard much except for a few articles recently.  I know that Microsoft didn't want to include it in the new SKU because it's a "unproven format"...
 
Most of the major movie studios are backing Blu Ray and it seems to be a safe assumption that it will be around for at least a little while.  You can't blame Sony for trying to force Blu Ray onto consumers...it worked with the PS2 and it still might work for the PS3.  I know alot of 360 owners that wish the HD DVD drive was in the system, because they don't want an attachment.  Throughout the history of videogames, an attachment to a console is pretty much doomed from the get go.  For some reason people refuse to buy things to add onto their console.  I can't even think of one exception to this rule at the moment.

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]Throughout the history of videogames, an attachment to a console is pretty much doomed from the get go.  For some reason people refuse to buy things to add onto their console.  I can't even think of one exception to this rule at the moment.
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The coleco 2600 expansion module?
The entire PC gaming industry (especially at it's peak)?