Rumor: Wii in HD

by Adam Berger

You had had the time to wait online, drop a few Benjamins, and settle in with your respective next-gen gaming system, whether it be a Wii, PS3, or 360, but you just had to know that eventually your system would be out-of-date. Unlike previous generations (PSOne, PS2, Xbox, Game Cube, etc) these machines can be upgraded with new firmware and added capabilities over the internet, and at some point in time the hardware receives upgrades. Given the Blu-ray drive in the PS3, I expect that we won’t see many changes/additions over its life-cycle except for a larger hard drive and a decrease in size. The Xbox 360 may receive an internal hard drive and internal HD-DVD player to compete head-on with the PS3. What is in question is the Wii. Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aime dropped an interesting quote in a USA Today article:

“Tough choices about not including a DVD player at the start, tough choices about not including high-definition capability at the start. That’s because we wanted a mass-market price, and we believe the market will validate those decisions come launch day on this Sunday,” Fils-Aime said.

The key phrase here is “at the start.” Wiis currently cannot play DVD movies, but Nintendo has already confirmed that a new model will be able to in the latter half of 2007 (in Japan at least) — not that big of a deal considering most people have DVD players (originally thanks to the PS2 as well as the sub-$50 prices. I believe there will be a major upgrade of the Wii to a next-gen HD format as well as a HD firmware update of 720p/1080i/1080p support once the format war becomes more clear. Do not confuse this with an official announcement from Nintendo, just my speculation. Even though the company is looking to bring on the “casual gamer,” it just so happens that this person is likely to have an HDTV within the next two years and Nintendo will be the only one on the market without a pretty looking picture.

(c) www.gadgetell.com

HD DVD vs. Xbox Live Marketplace: Why There's No Big Difference

How can an Xbox Live WMV encoded video which has 720p/1080i and only 6.5 Megabits per second (VBR) compare to an HD DVD, which has the potential to go up to 1080p and 36.55 Megabits per second? It can, and it turns out there's not as much difference between the two as you might think.

By recording and comparing two clips, one HD DVD and one XBL WMV, Brandon Wirtz and Jake Ludington came to the conclusion that there's really no noticible difference between the two if you don't have a 1080p TV that's been correctly calibrated. Other than the fact that Windows Media Encoded files can't display true blacks because it's calibrated for NTSC color space instead of ATSC color space, there ain't that much to report.

In short, unless you're a true videophile that spent hours calibrating your TV, have a 1080p set, and have a theatre-lit room, you probably won't notice the difference. – Jason Chen

[original post: www.gizmodo.com]

Blu-ray DVD drive no bonus for some PS3 buyers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gamers love Sony Corp.'s (6758.T)new PlayStation 3 for its graphic capabilities and firepower,but the advanced Blu-ray DVD drive is annoying some by raisingthe cost, slowing production and forcing them to buy into aformat they've not yet aligned with.

Sony's move to put a Blu-ray drive into the PS3 video gameconsole is part of the Japanese giant's plan in a high-stakesnext-generation DVD format war that recalls the fierceBetamax-VHS battle, which Sony's Betamax lost.

This time, Sony's Blu-ray is competing against a rivalToshiba Corp.-backed (6502.T) format known as HD-DVD.

Sony said Blu-ray is part of its long term plan to positionits machine as a home entertainment hub, but some experts saythe strategy may be backfiring.

Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman said that whiledie-hard gamers will buy the PS3 at any cost early on, buyerswho come to the product later will be more price-sensitive.

"Blu-ray is adding $150 to $200 to the product. They'vecreated something that is not for today's market. It's not amarket driver, it's only driving the price higher," he said.

Cymfony, a company which culls trends from posts onInternet sites, reported that positive discussions about HD-DVDwere 46 percent higher than Blu-ray in a survey of almost18,000 posts on blogs, discussion boards and consumer reviewsites from October 1 to November 30.

"Negative Blu-ray conversation indicated a lack of consumertrust in Sony, as well as gamer displeasure with sellingBlu-ray in association with PlayStation 3," said Jim Nail, aspokesman for Cymfony, which culls trends from posts on socialmedia sites.

Hollywood and electronics makers are hoping high-definitionDVDs, with better picture quality and interactive features,will reignite the slowing market for DVD sales. But the formatwar, technical issues and the advent of digital video-on-demandservices are creating hurdles for the new DVDs and players.

Andy Parsons, a spokesman for the Blu-ray Disc Association,called the launch of the PS3 a "turning point" for the format.

"Blu-ray's here to stay. The likelihood of people usingPS3s as DVD players is significant, particularly when you'retalking about millions of consoles Sony expects to sell," hesaid.

There is a good precedent for Blu-ray -- Sony's PlayStation2, currently the dominant game console with more than 106million sold, helped push the standard DVD format. The PS2 cameto market in 2000, about three years after the DVD was firstlaunched.

"We think the same will happen with the PS3 and Blu-ray,"Parsons said.

In the gaming console war this holiday season, Sony's PS3,priced at around $600, faces two main competitors in MicrosoftCorp's (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Xbox 360 at around $400 and Nintendo Co Ltd's(7974.OS) Wii for about $250.

Microsoft recently added an optional HD-DVD player andbegan offering full-length film and TV downloads inhigh-definition via its Xbox Live online gaming service.

Mark Knox, a spokesman for the HD-DVD consortium, saidoffering HD-DVD as an add-on was an important distinction.

"We know that every HD-DVD drive being sold to Xbox usersis being used to watch films. They're not being forced to buyit," he said. "Every PS3 includes a Blu-ray drive, but thatdoesn't mean every gamer wants to watch a movie on PS3."

John Davison, editorial director of 1Up Network, a gamingnetwork with 13 million monthly unique visitors, said mostgamers are not interested in viewing films on the PS3.

"PS3 will live and die by the games it plays. The fact it'sa DVD player is a bonus, but not why people bought it," hesaid.

[original post: www.hitech-news.info]