2008 Woodie Awards
Wait out the HD v. Blue-ray format battle
Nathan Harrison, Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/21/06
Last Updated: 12/26/07
Still, Sony is poised to penetrate the market since its PlayStation 3, which was released in America last Friday, comes with a built-in Blu-ray disc player. However, the PS3 itself costs between $500 and $600 compared to the Xbox 360's $300 and $400 models (largely because of the cost of Blu-ray technology itself) and Sony execs have stated that its discs may run upwards of $59 in the future, the established price point for Xbox 360 new releases.
Taken together, these price increases (as well as the cavalier attitude that accompanies them) have drawn widespread criticism from the gaming world and earned Sony a powerful base of critics before the system is ever released. As a response, Microsoft released an HD-DVD drive add-on for the Xbox 360 for $199 on the same day of the PS3's to help level the playing field for next-generation media.
User feedback on Blu-ray and PS3-related stories online often accuse Sony of being "the new Microsoft" or "the new Nintendo" in terms of attitude; both companies once sat comfortably in the knowledge of their dominance in their field (operating systems and console games, respectively) and have had to play catch-up when rival companies have taken advantage of their complacency. This may be where Sony finds itself once more with the PS3.
My take on the format war is to sit tight. Both mediums will be backwards compatible with regular DVDs, and the real target market for both formats is home theater owners with high-definition widescreen plasma TVs and the like. When it comes to new technologies, the adage that "all things come to he who waits" usually holds true as prices drop and delicate technology grows more robust. The console aspect of the war makes Nintendo's $250 system, which was released on Sunday, look more and more attractive - even if it is named "Wii."
Taken together, these price increases (as well as the cavalier attitude that accompanies them) have drawn widespread criticism from the gaming world and earned Sony a powerful base of critics before the system is ever released. As a response, Microsoft released an HD-DVD drive add-on for the Xbox 360 for $199 on the same day of the PS3's to help level the playing field for next-generation media.
User feedback on Blu-ray and PS3-related stories online often accuse Sony of being "the new Microsoft" or "the new Nintendo" in terms of attitude; both companies once sat comfortably in the knowledge of their dominance in their field (operating systems and console games, respectively) and have had to play catch-up when rival companies have taken advantage of their complacency. This may be where Sony finds itself once more with the PS3.
My take on the format war is to sit tight. Both mediums will be backwards compatible with regular DVDs, and the real target market for both formats is home theater owners with high-definition widescreen plasma TVs and the like. When it comes to new technologies, the adage that "all things come to he who waits" usually holds true as prices drop and delicate technology grows more robust. The console aspect of the war makes Nintendo's $250 system, which was released on Sunday, look more and more attractive - even if it is named "Wii."
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