[News] The Death of HD-DVD

We all saw it coming. Blu-Ray has demolished its competitors and companies are falling like dominoes in the wake. Not too long ago, retailing giant Wal-Mart announced that it would no longer carry HD-DVDs, deciding to align themselves exclusively with BR. That was just the beginning of the inevitable downfall.

Just yesterday, Microsoft had this to say on the matter ~

Quote:

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. As we’ve long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry. We will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room along with playback of the DVD movies they already own.

LOL YA OK

Sure, they make a good point. It's the games that sell consoles. Still, this gives Sony a notable and clear advantage, despite their lack of choice in games. Microsoft can still compete, though.. Right? RIGHT?

Well, this morning Toshiba dropped the bomb ~

Quote:

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tuesday February 19 - Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.

Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.

Full Article

As if that wasn't enough of a kick in the pants, Gamestop also announced (today) that, "the major gaming retailer will no longer accept HD DVD items for trade-in. That includes used HD discs or Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drives. The policy – which virtually ensures that your additional HD drive will become a dinosaur in your own living room – takes effect today." (sauce)

Man, M$ just can't catch a break! Personally, I think it would be astoundingly idiotic for Microsoft to continue the production of their HD-DVD players. It would be damn difficult to retain their market share without producing a Blu-Ray player.

How do you think they will respond to this coup d'etat? Will this finally give Sony the edge it needs to succeed?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Microsoft wont really care. HDDVD was just an optional gimmick for the xbox, the console still uses regular DVDs which is to this date the best format - and it CAN hold high def movies and in proper quality as well (unlike divx did). Fuck both Bluray and HDDVD by the way, until blank discs become 2$ max, both formats are total pieces of useless shit.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Plarom, I cannot forgive you for using M$. That acronym is fucking old and annoying.

Anyway, the fact of the matter is that yes, it will increase PS3 sales as the people waiting on the fence about BluRay go and find the cheapest player. However, I don't see it increasing GAME sales very much, because the logic people have that "Oh they'll buy it for the movies but they'll start playing games" doesn't hold much water. If someone doesn't currently play video games, it's highly unlikely they'll bypass buying movies for $25 and skip straight to the $60 games that Sony would need them to buy to start making money with the games.

The lack of HD-DVD does make the choice easier for consumers, but I really don't see the market being that big for it yet. It really only matters when you have an HDTV, and what a lot of the console geeks forget is that the average Joe Consumer doesn't have an HDTV yet. They're getting cheaper, but the market required for massive DVD-style penetration (the people who will pay no more than, I'd say, $100 for a player) isn't being wooed yet.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

That was literally the first time I've ever used 'M$'.

You make a solid point, and one I considered mentioning. I definitely don't think there is a market for Blu-Ray yet, and there probably won't BE one for quite some time. Also, it is unlikely that game sales will increase, just sales of the console itself. In fact, I don't even know many people who exclusively use their PS3 or 360's to play movies, so it's likely that folks will just go ahead and buy the players.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

This has so little to do with actual games that I'm very, VERY tempted to move it to Media Center. (And the whole "M$" thing is gonna become a bannable offense. I swear to God.)

HD-DVD never was a HUGE FUCKING SELLING POINT for the console. No one bought the damn add-on anyway. BR's success has helped the PS3 a whole hell of a lot, and that's been a major point of sale for many triple buyers, but HD-DVD's failure itself hasn't really hurt the 360 all that much. (In this context, BR's success and HD-DVD's failure aren't the same thing. Should be pretty evident considering the console's sales despite the poor retail performance of the media.)

lmao at "total pieces of shit", though. A+, would laugh at boris again.

This won't give Sony any more of an edge than they already had, honestly. It's up to them to capitalize on it now, which we'll have to wait and see about.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Why the fuck is this in the video game section?

http://www.gamingforce.org/forums/me...on-thread.html

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Colonel Skills

This has so little to do with actual games that I'm very, VERY tempted to move it to Media Center.

That may not be a bad idea. I just noticed the 'HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Discussion' thread.

Overall, I doubt we'll notice the repercussions of all this anytime soon. Blu-Ray is still budding, but now it can do so unhindered.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Megalith

Why the fuck is this in the video game section?

I love how worked up 'lith gets whenever this topic gets mentioned. He's all butthurt because his preferred format got its ass handed to it. Adorable.

I'm with Skills, though. I don't know how much of an effect this will have on game sales, though console sales will probably tilt a little higher on PS3s end with people purchasing the cheaper/better/can play games if you want to option for BR.

It's also mentioned that not a lot of people are rocking the HD TVs yet, but the market is certainly going in that direction. Don't forget that all Sat/Cable in Canada will be going high def by, I believe it's 2012 or 2015. I'm sure the US has the same sort of thing in practice. So that's certainly an incentive for people to start moving over sooner rather than later. And let's be fair, people who are buying new TVs are being wooed by flat screen LCD or Plasma HD televisions. No, not everyone has an HD TV kicking around their house, but I can see it being the norm within a few years. Early adopters are hopping on BR now. I've got a whole whopping 6 BRs, and will replace probably a dozen or so of my old collection of DVDs with BR (I don't see the point in needing them in high def unless they're gorgeously shot flicks. I really don't see the point in owning, say, Clerks in BR for instance). But I'll probably buy a lot of newer flicks in the BR format.

So yeah, it'll sell more PS3s, and I'm glad the market decided this early which format to push so there wasn't some long prolonged fight that fucked half the population. But until Sony actually starts producing more games that I care to play, I'm not exactly popping champagne for the triple yet.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

A lot of people bought PS3s exclusively for movies because at one time, they were the cheapest (by several hundred dollars) blu-ray player available. And now people are realizing that the PS3 is one of the easiest to update the firmware on, making it more flexible than some of the other stand-alones out there. The only reason I own a PS3 is because back in July, I really wanted to step up to high def movies and after reading all that I could on the way the market was moving, blu-ray was the safest choice. I figured that eventually the triple will have some games that I want, and I could go ahead and start enjoying movies in HD, so win-win. So now I own 36 blu-rays. And 3 PS3 games.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

This reminds me of something that's bothered me about the internet for years now: Since when does selling consoles at a loss count as winning? Other than incessant fanboys who have nothing better to do than bitch about a big number going up or down each week, who actually seriously thinks that having a bigger console sales number matters?

Bigger SOFTWARE sales. I won't believe the PS3 is a success until I see the dominance of the software sales charts that 360 and Wii currently share.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Mo0

This reminds me of something that's bothered me about the internet for years now: Since when does selling consoles at a loss count as winning? Other than incessant fanboys who have nothing better to do than bitch about a big number going up or down each week, who actually seriously thinks that having a bigger console sales number matters?

Bigger SOFTWARE sales. I won't believe the PS3 is a success until I see the dominance of the software sales charts that 360 and Wii currently share.

Uh. I don't think anyone here was talking about the PS3 winning anything there, Lunch Box. Settle down. I think the argument has been about how Blu Ray toppled HD DVDs.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well, since this has devolved past any direct involvement with video games, and Megalith has a very good point of having an existing thread for this discussion in the forum it belongs in, this is now VERY CLOSED. (Sorry Plarom. You know I <3.)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?