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28 March 2008 18:36 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz
| 49 comments
Although the format has been technically dead for over a month, HD DVD is now officially dead, as the HD DVD Promotion Group has formally dissolved itself, marking a quiet end to the High Definition format.
After Toshiba's decision last month to abandon the format, other big players involved have all pulled out as well, including Microsoft, Universal Studios, Paramount Studios and more recently, Best Buy.
The Promotion group, the organization in charge of persuading the world to adopt HD DVD, has now voted to disband, leaving HD DVD and its branding to the DVD Forum.
The question still remains however if the world will go Blu or move to flash memory and HD downloads as internet speeds get faster and flash capacities get larger.
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| Topics: Blu-ray HD DVD
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Related articles:
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Paramount maps Blu-ray roadmap (30 April 2008)
Best Buy completely drops all HD DVD stock (28 March 2008)
BCI drops HD DVD (27 March 2008)
Best Buy starts $10 million USD HD DVD refund program (19 March 2008)
New AnyDVD HD release from SlySoft targets BD+ (19 March 2008)
HD DVD cost Toshiba a billion (13 March 2008)
Circuit City extends HD DVD return time (6 March 2008)
Toshiba CEO talks out about HD DVD's fate (4 March 2008)
Microsoft finally pulls plug on HD DVD add-on (24 February 2008)
Sony paid Warner Bros. $400 million USD to go Blu-ray exclusive (22 February 2008)
Toshiba confirms dropping of HD DVD (19 February 2008)
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| nopcbs (Newbie) 30 March 2008 9:58 |
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Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by ZimHosein: Originally posted by nopcbs: I like watching HD-DVD's much more than I like watching Blu Rays. The HD-DVD human interface is just more polished, easy to use and friendly. By comparison, the Playstation 3/Blu Ray is really awkward and annoying to use.
What do you mean by the "human interface" nopcbs? Are you talking about the movie menu systems or the player itself menu systems?
Thanks for the clarification nopcbs; I do agree that using a game controller does such when navigating anything but games.
I mean just the movies. The console itself is a seperate matter and I don't play games. I do use the Sony $20 remote, by the way, not the game controller which would truly suck.
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It may well be a consequence of the Playstation being a combo game console/DVD player, but, in any case, there is a definite lack of polish in the DVD player interface compared to that in Toshiba HD-DVD players.
There are also annoyances like the fact that fact that the one PS3 game I have (Blazing Angels) can only supply sound via HDMI (which I send direct to the TV since my receiver is non-HDMI) and I use optical to feed sound to my receiver for movies.
That means that whenever I switch from that game to watching a movie I have to go into the PS3 very clunky menu structure to switch which audio it is outputting - because you cannot have noth optical and HDMI sound at the same time (so much for the power of the Cell processor). If Sony had used a normal IR remote interface, I could use my programmable remote (via macro) to do the changing, but they supply BlueTooth only capability, so forget that.
This kind of Sony nonsense just enrages me no end. They are really dumb in terms of making products user friendly. A huge shame that Blu Ray won as Toshiba is much better at engineering their products for use by humans.
- nopcbs
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| SProdigy (Junior Member) 30 March 2008 10:11 |
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Originally posted by core2kid: I knew Blu-Ray was going to win as soon as I saw that Sony supported it. What Blu-Ray did in its steps to victory was:
1. Make a Game System/Blu-ray Player to push format, like the PS2 pushing DVD and putting the Dreamcast out of business.
That's technically incorrect. Lack of support for the Dreamcast killed it. EA was not behind the system at all, and if you recall, that's where 2K games came from originally, as Sega's answer to Madden and other fare. The only publisher outside of Sega that gave alot of support to the DC was Capcom (which had pulled away from N64 at the time.)
The original PlayStation was still very hot at the time, and the Dreamcast ultimately died not when the PS2 came about, but when Xbox and Gamecube launched, their run was officially over.
I believe the DVD playback ability had very or little part in Dreamcast's "doom", rather, it just gave consumers an extra benefit to purchasing a $300 PS2 at the time.
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| juankerr (Member) 30 March 2008 10:52 |
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Originally posted by nopcbs: It may well be a consequence of the Playstation being a combo game console/DVD player, but, in any case, there is a definite lack of polish in the DVD player interface compared to that in Toshiba HD-DVD players.
It makes no sense at all to compare the interface of a standalone HD DVD player to a PS3. The PS3 is a multifunction device and as such will give you a different feel.
If you want to compare interfaces then it would only be logical to compare your HD DVD player to a standalone BluRay player. I have both the Toshiba HD-A30 and the Panasonic DMP-BD30 and I see no significant difference in the experience.
If you want to compare apples to apples then get yourself a BluRay standalone.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30 March 2008 10:55
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| core2kid (Senior Member) 30 March 2008 13:48 |
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Quote:
Originally posted by nopcbs: It may well be a consequence of the Playstation being a combo game console/DVD player, but, in any case, there is a definite lack of polish in the DVD player interface compared to that in Toshiba HD-DVD players.
It makes no sense at all to compare the interface of a standalone HD DVD player to a PS3. The PS3 is a multifunction device and as such will give you a different feel.
If you want to compare interfaces then it would only be logical to compare your HD DVD player to a standalone BluRay player. I have both the Toshiba HD-A30 and the Panasonic DMP-BD30 and I see no significant difference in the experience.
If you want to compare apples to apples then get yourself a BluRay standalone.
Many people feel, Why get the Blu-Ray standalone when PS3's were originally cheaper and now about $50 more.
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| core2kid (Senior Member) 30 March 2008 13:49 |
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sorry, double post.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30 March 2008 13:50
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| tripplite (Inactive) 30 March 2008 14:02 |
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i think i'll just continue to ripp blu-rays and reburn dem to dvd....eventually when blu-ray drives are cheap enough i'll get one:)
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| core2kid (Senior Member) 30 March 2008 14:12 |
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Originally posted by tripplite: i think i'll just continue to ripp blu-rays and reburn dem to dvd....eventually when blu-ray drives are cheap enough i'll get one:)
What software do you use to rip them? I wanted to rip my King Kong HD DVD onto a normal DVD for my uncle to borrow.
My PC: Core2Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz|Asus P5K-E Deluxe Wifi|4GB RAM|6800GT|250GB|200GB|
My Game Systems(Order of Release): Atari 2600|GB Original|PS|GB Pocket|N64|GB Color|Dreamcast|PS2 w/ HD Loader|PS2|XBOX Halo Edition|GBA SP|Slim PS2|DS|PSP @ 3.90M33|GB Micro|XBOX 360 HD DVD Player
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| nopcbs (Newbie) 30 March 2008 15:33 |
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Originally posted by juankerr: Originally posted by nopcbs: It may well be a consequence of the Playstation being a combo game console/DVD player, but, in any case, there is a definite lack of polish in the DVD player interface compared to that in Toshiba HD-DVD players.
It makes no sense at all to compare the interface of a standalone HD DVD player to a PS3. The PS3 is a multifunction device and as such will give you a different feel.
If you want to compare interfaces then it would only be logical to compare your HD DVD player to a standalone BluRay player. I have both the Toshiba HD-A30 and the Panasonic DMP-BD30 and I see no significant difference in the experience.
If you want to compare apples to apples then get yourself a BluRay standalone.
Let's see, my two HD-DVD players cost a total (new) of $180. My Playstation 3, after Sony $100 bribe, was $300. That Sony is the ONLY semi-afordable way to get a Profile 2 Blu Ray player, so it is, in fact the cheapest Blu Ray player available. I compare on the basis of comparable (as far as possable) price things that produce comparable image quality.
However, in the interest of accross the platforms cooperation, if you can suggest a Blu Ray standalone player that cost as much (for one) as my two HD-DVD players cost together, I would pleased to take a look at it and, perhaps, alter my view. I do need Dolby TrueHD capability, mind you.
- nopcbs
nopcbs
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| NexGen76 (Member) 30 March 2008 16:44 |
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Originally posted by nopcbs: Let's see, my two HD-DVD players cost a total (new) of $180. My Playstation 3, after Sony $100 bribe, was $300. That Sony is the ONLY semi-afordable way to get a Profile 2 Blu Ray player, so it is, in fact the cheapest Blu Ray player available. I compare on the basis of comparable (as far as possable) price things that produce comparable image quality.
However, in the interest of accross the platforms cooperation, if you can suggest a Blu Ray standalone player that cost as much (for one) as my two HD-DVD players cost together, I would pleased to take a look at it and, perhaps, alter my view. I do need Dolby TrueHD capability, mind you.
You got your two HD-DVD players at that price because the format was dead not because that was the base retail price.The HD-A2 & HD-A3 were the lower model thats why they was cheap but if you wanted to compare apples to apples when HD-DVD was alive there HD-A35 & HD-A30 & HD-AX2 was on the same level as Blu-Ray standalone s & was priced closed to Blu-Ray players at that time.
I don't know how your experience is better with HD-DVD when the only differences between the two is the disc media & HD-DVD had a more polished online service far as extra content but everything else is the same.But if your one that love extras then you are one of very few.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30 March 2008 16:46
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| error5 (Senior Member) 30 March 2008 16:56 |
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Originally posted by nopcbs: However, in the interest of accross the platforms cooperation, if you can suggest a Blu Ray standalone player that cost as much (for one) as my two HD-DVD players cost together, I would pleased to take a look at it and, perhaps, alter my view. I do need Dolby TrueHD capability, mind you.
You have to be absolutely kidding, right???
A sub $200 profile 2.0 player at this time??? Give me a break. Be realistic and take your Toshiba firesale-induced expectations elsewhere.
The only reason why you were able to get a $90 A3 was because Toshiba desperately deflated prices to the point that it was impossible for other manufacturers to even consider making a player. They even undercut Ventureer's player by at least $50 to $100. ( I wonder how pissed thye must have been.) This expectation that high-def players can be this cheap this soon is merely a fantasy fostered by Toshiba's desperate firesale pricing.
A profile 2.0 player for less than $200? Maybe Christmas of 2009 - and that's a big maybe.
For the record: I have TWO HD DVD players - an HD-A1 which cost me $500 a few months after it was released, and an HD-XA2 which cost me $700 on sale also a few months after it was released. I also own close to 80 HD DVD titles. I expect to buy a Profile 2.0 Panasonic DMP-BD50 when it comes out and I'm pretty sure it will cost less than what I paid for my HD-XA2.
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| juankerr (Member) 30 March 2008 17:23 |
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Originally posted by error5: For the record: I have TWO HD DVD players - an HD-A1 which cost me $500 a few months after it was released, and an HD-XA2 which cost me $700 on sale also a few months after it was released. I also own close to 80 HD DVD titles. I expect to buy a Profile 2.0 Panasonic DMP-BD50 when it comes out and I'm pretty sure it will cost less than what I paid for my HD-XA2.
error5: I know you love your role of early adopter. LOL!
I thought you were going for the Denon but the Panasonic DMP-BD50 should be a good choice. With both onboard decoding and bitstreaming of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA PLUS DivX/DivX HD certification it's a great upgrade. It has an MSRP of $599 (comparable to the upcoming Sony 550) so street prices should be about $499 to $549 - still cheaper than your XA2.
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| domie (Member) 30 March 2008 19:39 |
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not wanting to bash any HD-DVD fans at all but even some studios seem to have a hard time accepting facts - despite their press announcement, Universal is still plugging away with its HD-DVD stock including all the publicity hype about how fantastic it is and there isn't a single mention of blu-ray anywhere on their website - still, they have only had 6 weeks to extract their digits from their arses .
http://www.nbcuniversalstore.com/index.php?v=nbuuni
it's a similar story at Paramount - a search result produces not a single link to any info on blu-ray but at least in their case they have eliminated the pro HD-DVD advertising
http://www.paramount.com/paramount.php
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30 March 2008 19:48
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| gmontalc (Newbie) 31 March 2008 0:39 |
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Quote: excuse me? whats dead? did i spend 100$ dollar on nothing, i dont think i did!! things that exist aren't DEad? no....no i can't and wont except defeat......because i have a vision.....I will buy a hd-dvd burner.......buy direct from china all the left over unburned HD DVD media......i shale then ripp all the blu-rays and.....you guessed it....reburn them to HD-DVD MEDIA.......yes yes its so perfect.....people will be like "hey i didn't know they still made those retro HD-DVD things" and ill be like *ripps eyes out of socket* me says:"they're can you see any difference NOW"
Quite humorous, but on the serious side burn BR on HD-DVD is simple pointless not to say impossible, just because the BR has much larger content to fit into a HD-DVD media, (and wait for a BR-RW Double Layer of 100GB disk), besides what would be the point to degrade the quality of media content?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 31 March 2008 20:50
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| ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 31 March 2008 3:57 |
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a shame its much cheaper than BR and would be a great mini portable medium,maybe someone will pick it up as a console medium, nintendo likes its antaquited and cheap mediums it might go for it in 4 years..
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| maryjayne (Junior Member) 31 March 2008 8:44 |
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I have been waiting for the format war to officially win before I made my investment into HD content. Now that the war is over, I still feel that HD is too overpriced just to obtain better picture quality. I am still satisfied with DVD upscaling.
Currently I have moved into flash media and streaming. Unless Blu-ray gets rid of DRM and/or drastically drops in price soon, they probably wont be getting me as a customer until the PS3 drops to $100 in price.
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| core2kid (Senior Member) 31 March 2008 8:51 |
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Originally posted by maryjayne: until the PS3 drops to $100 in price.
Thats not happening in the next 8 years... The PS2 is still $130.
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| glassd (Newbie) 31 March 2008 9:20 |
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I guess if people are going to use the price argument about Blu Ray which is 4X the price of a average good DVD player, then HDTV's are never gona make it as they are around 7X more than a good Tube TV.
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| rgsgww (Newbie) 31 March 2008 10:58 |
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eh who cares? hd-dvd was too out of date....with blu-rays larger capacity we dont have to compress that hard
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| kubapolak (Junior Member) 31 March 2008 14:06 |
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I'm just glad its over!
I hated the idea of having to choose which format I want. It was the dumb to release 2 formats.
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| jove (Newbie) 1 April 2008 11:04 |
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you guys take this too seriously. i bet the half of you just picked a side for the sake of it and dont even own any hd players. and about the future of optical media, you might as well say toyota and gm and ford etc. should exit the car business because cities are moving towards pushing for mass transit and vertical cities with mixed used buildings... get real
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| locobrown (Member) 1 April 2008 17:37 |
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Its a sad day, it feels like when an undefeated heavy weight champ lose and realizes that it does not matter how many fights he won, his career is over.
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| goodswipe (Senior Member) 1 April 2008 17:40 |
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Just let it go loco, just let it go...

"look honey, it said goodswipe! oh wow, that's amazing."
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| nopcbs (Newbie) 1 April 2008 22:13 |
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Quote:
Originally posted by nopcbs: However, in the interest of accross the platforms cooperation, if you can suggest a Blu Ray standalone player that cost as much (for one) as my two HD-DVD players cost together, I would pleased to take a look at it and, perhaps, alter my view. I do need Dolby TrueHD capability, mind you.
You have to be absolutely kidding, right???
A sub $200 profile 2.0 player at this time??? Give me a break. Be realistic and take your Toshiba firesale-induced expectations elsewhere.
The only reason why you were able to get a $90 A3 was because Toshiba desperately deflated prices to the point that it was impossible for other manufacturers to even consider making a player. They even undercut Ventureer's player by at least $50 to $100. ( I wonder how pissed thye must have been.) This expectation that high-def players can be this cheap this soon is merely a fantasy fostered by Toshiba's desperate firesale pricing.
A profile 2.0 player for less than $200? Maybe Christmas of 2009 - and that's a big maybe.
For the record: I have TWO HD DVD players - an HD-A1 which cost me $500 a few months after it was released, and an HD-XA2 which cost me $700 on sale also a few months after it was released. I also own close to 80 HD DVD titles. I expect to buy a Profile 2.0 Panasonic DMP-BD50 when it comes out and I'm pretty sure it will cost less than what I paid for my HD-XA2.
*********************************************************************
OK...and the only reason that Blu Ray won was that Sony bribed Warner $400,0000,0000 to go Blu ray exclusive. Sony spent their money bribing a studio. Toshiba spent their money discounting HD-DVD players cost to customers. As a consumer, I like Toshiba's approach a lot better than Sony's. You may prefer Sony's approach, although I have no idea why you would.
On my 50" Pioneer 768p plasma, the picture from my A2/A3 players looks every bit as good as the picture from the PS3. At my 9 foor viewing distance, it cannot be otherwise even with a 1080p set.
You are lucky to have that HD-XA2, by the way, for it's excellent up-converting.
One amusing fact: now that Sony has killed HD-DVD, they are introducing a $150 PS3 w/o Blu Ray. I guess those people who claim that a major reason that Blu Ray won, in addition to the bribe(s), was that they stuffed it down the throats of people who wanted to play games on a PS3 were right.
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| core2kid (Senior Member) 2 April 2008 6:29 |
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Originally posted by nopcbs: they are introducing a $150 PS3 w/o Blu Ray.
What??? Where did you hear this?
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| juankerr (Member) 2 April 2008 7:06 |
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Originally posted by core2kid: Originally posted by nopcbs: they are introducing a $150 PS3 w/o Blu Ray.
What??? Where did you hear this?
nopcbs fell for an April Fool's joke.
http://www.pspsps.tv/2008/04/sony_set_to_unleash_150_ps3_be.html
Quote: Sony set to unleash $150 PS3! Best gaming April fool of the day
April Fools day is always a fun time for gamers. There's a plethora of gaming sites eager to prey on the somewhat daft with their intelligently crafted offerings, and there are usually a few really crap examples too.
This year - since I wasn't up early enough to knock anything up - the winner has to be PSXExtreme with their lofty claims. Taking yesterdays sneaky discovering of yet another PS3 SKU, they went and claimed that Sony were due to unleash a new version of the console at a pitiful $150.
But, this price came at a, erm, cost. There's to be NO Blu-ray drive, meaning that games would have to be downloaded instead of wandering down to your local gaming store and picking up a physical copy.
Alright so it was a quite blatant fib, but its still a well worked idea, especially with tying into yesterdays news. And lets be honest, downloading all our game IS the future, so it might not be too long before this is truthfully the case.
This was a classic response:
Quote: I guess those people who claim that a major reason that Blu Ray won, in addition to the bribe(s), was that they stuffed it down the throats of people who wanted to play games on a PS3 were right.
;)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2 April 2008 7:10
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| nopcbs (Newbie) 4 April 2008 6:08 |
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Quote:
Originally posted by core2kid: Originally posted by nopcbs: they are introducing a $150 PS3 w/o Blu Ray.
What??? Where did you hear this?
nopcbs fell for an April Fool's joke.
http://www.pspsps.tv/2008/04/sony_set_to_unleash_150_ps3_be.html
Quote: Sony set to unleash $150 PS3! Best gaming April fool of the day
April Fools day is always a fun time for gamers. There's a plethora of gaming sites eager to prey on the somewhat daft with their intelligently crafted offerings, and there are usually a few really crap examples too.
This year - since I wasn't up early enough to knock anything up - the winner has to be PSXExtreme with their lofty claims. Taking yesterdays sneaky discovering of yet another PS3 SKU, they went and claimed that Sony were due to unleash a new version of the console at a pitiful $150.
But, this price came at a, erm, cost. There's to be NO Blu-ray drive, meaning that games would have to be downloaded instead of wandering down to your local gaming store and picking up a physical copy.
Alright so it was a quite blatant fib, but its still a well worked idea, especially with tying into yesterdays news. And lets be honest, downloading all our game IS the future, so it might not be too long before this is truthfully the case.
This was a classic response:
Quote: I guess those people who claim that a major reason that Blu Ray won, in addition to the bribe(s), was that they stuffed it down the throats of people who wanted to play games on a PS3 were right.
;)
*********************************************************************
Yep, took the bait on an April Fool's Day prank. Good one, too, I think.
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