Deja Vu All Over Again
Hmmm… There’s something familiar about this press release:
Sony, Warner’s To Release 200 Movies in Blu-ray High-Def - 1/10/2007Judging from announcements made Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a veritable flood of movies will be released this year on Sony’s Blu-ray DVD format. Sony’s own corporate sibling, Sony Films, said that it plans to release up to 100 movie titles this year. Warner Bros. said it is likely to reduce a similar number of films, while the smaller Lionsgate Studios said that it plans to offer about 40-50 titles.
Hold on, wait for it…
Sony, Warner Team Up To Release Over 100 UMDs Through 2005/06 - 11/1/2005Warner Home Video became the latest major studio to announce that it will release products using the Universal Media Disc (UMD) format. The news bolsters what has been an impressive series of events for the PSP (PlayStation Portable) and it sibling UMD format in recent weeks.
Hmm… closer. Getting much closer.
Sony Excited For Release Of LV-1901 Trinitron/Betamax Console - 4/1/1975Akio Morita, patriarch of Japanese giant Sony, announces that the Betamax format is “here to stay,” and that competing technologies will be crushed under its might.
There. That’ll do.
January 9th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
4th one, and counting.Pile of updates today, Sharkey-- don't have a lot to do?
January 9th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
...Maybe someone needs to send a press release to sony telling them that Blu-Ray is dead. I mean don't PS3 sales alone tell them as such?I heard on one of the cable news channels that Sony sold 1 million PS3s in December, whereas MS sold 10 million 360s.NO ONE WANTS YOUR OVERPRICED SHIT, SONY. Give me a HD DVD, 360, and Wii any day of the fucking week.Oh and one of those apple cellphones too.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
200 gigsSorry but hd-DVD is a terrible format and will not work. I don't want to update my movie collection every 5-10 years. FUCK THAT. Blu-ray is miles a head of HD-DVD in reguards to future potential. You rich fucks that want to constantly rebuy the same shit go ahead and keep burning cash on shit like HD-DVD. You're just fucking us all. I'm not supporting blu-ray really, but HD-DVD is infinatly worse.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Why Blu-ray will fail. Hard.As many of you may know...200/100 (even 75) GB is overkill and space that is not needed EVEN at 1080P which is not worth the price now (and may never be, in all honesty.. not that I tell people buying them that). Many studios pulled their blu-ray backing about a month ago...Disney did decide to go with Blu-ray...but many porn companys(which decided the beta max war)have sided with HD-DVD.\"Blu-Ray is in a PS3! COOL!\"Sony PS3 is a flop. Titles aside even. *** launch systems graphics cannot out perform a 360 *** Do the research for yourself if you don't believe me. I have seen the diagnostics. Yes, it is true.Oh yeah...and finally...Try comparing the two of them. Even compare the 1080P blu-ray with a 1st gen HD-DVD player (1080i) Coming from someone with both of them hooked up the same to a sony 46\" XBR, with the same cables, with the same movies....I almost threw up after seeing the comparison. Blu-ray is very grainy and noisy in the black levels. UNWATCHABLE in comparison to the HD-DVD.Needless to say, I sold my Blu-ray on Ebay about 2 weeks ago.HD-DVD.end rant.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
infinatly worse? really?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Blu-ray_Disc_.E2.80.93_HD_DVD_comparisonYou know what, the only thing there that's slightly better for a bluray disc is just the capacity. By one hour of HD content. Everything else, is practically the same. Plus, if you already own a 360, you can get the HD dvd player for only $200. That's a fucking steal for an HD drive. The 360 can put out 1080p since the last update by the way, so you can watch movies at 1080p, if your tv can go up that high.And to those saying that I should include the 360 in the price of the player, I don't include it cause I bought it seperate from the player. I paid for the 360 and it's games. I paid $200 to watch HD movies.
January 9th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Hey Ralph...I think you're forgetting something. $400 for a 360.Plus $200 for the HD-DVDEquals one PS3 ($600), which has better everything (Speedier, beefier, Blu-ray, etc).So who's getting ripped off?
January 10th, 2007 at 12:38 am
ps3 v 360http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3155393Yeah, at the moment, I'd say sony loses cause they didn't produce anything that looks better than a 360. Have you seen that shit at bestbuy they're claiming to be a ps3? wtf, seriously, that racing game with the motor bike is just horrible. Run into a wall and the character still does the animation as if they were moving forward. Dont give me any 1st gen games vs 2nd gen game crap either, cause the extra $200 for a gaming system should equal better games, which it doesn't.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:46 am
...Nionix ...Id rather buy a 360 and the HD-DVD seperate rather than the PS3...Heres why:HD-DVD is cheaper than Blu-Ray for NEARLY the exact same shitFor gaming, the 360 FX capabilities are superior to the PS3 (even tho I wish the 360 had PS3s processor).Lastly, after owning a PS2 that I've had to fix or exchange 6 times, I wouldn't trust the durability of a PS3 if my life depended on it.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:55 am
btwI bought the 360 just for the games. I already own it. So technically, the HD-DVD really did only cost me $200 cause I already OWN a 360. Get my drift here? Stop combining the prices cause cause it's like saying I bought a car for $20,000, then upgraded the sound system for $500, and then saying I paid $20,500 for a good sound system. I would have bought the car anyway, just for the car, it's just nice that I can get a good sound system for $500.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:55 am
PC/Mac supportApparently the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox360 is usable with a PC or Mac. And yeah, Blu-ray may be a far supperior standard, but at a cost. As we've seen with the Beta and VHS standards war, the home consumer will sacrifice quality for quantity.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:32 am
home consumers...Non of these things will catch on in the next few years. The average joe isn't going to update all the TVs in his house to HD any time soon. He's also not going to start buying HD-DVD for his one HD tv (if he even has one of those yet) when he's got multiple DVD players on other TVs in the house.The tech geeks will decide which of these fails. The PS3 will do just fine wordl wide as the japs just don't dig the 360 just like they didn't like the xbox. As for blu-ray not looking as good as HD-DVD that has to do with the format the movies were encoded in. I've heard taht complaint a lot, but thankfully the guys making the blu-ray discs are starting to use the same format finally.The max capacity for blu-ray is projected to be 200 gigs when it's all said and done. HD-DVD 60 gigs. This will be a big deal when you start buying box sets, stacked movies with LOTs of special features (who the fuck really wants a 4 disc lord of the rings box set when they can have it on once disc?). More than likely both of these formats will end up flopping. Discs most likely will not be the final format used for movies in 10 years, but for now people are better off just buying DVDs and telling toshiba and sony to go fuck off.But if I had to pick a format...it's a no brainer. Blu-ray is the better format for the long term.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:04 am
Actually...Blue Dragon basically put Microsoft on the map in Japan.http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3155811Ever since Microsoft picked up Hironobuo Sakaguchi from SquareEnix, things have looked good for the 360. After Blue Dragon will be Lost Odyssey.(http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3140482&sec=IMAGES)That'll teach SquareEnix to put the father of Final Fantasy in a fucking window seat.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:32 am
fjdfhufhfPulling his sword from the angel, Hayaishi takes a moment to quaff a potion. As another angelic form materializes before him, he begins concentrating on it. The angel, now fully formed, raises his sword to strike. The air whirs and crackles; lightning strikes the angel from above, and the angel's sword freezes inches from Hayaishi's face. As a grin appears slowly, Hayaishi says, \"It appears I have a captive audience. Allow me to tell you of my mission. \"I am one chosen by the Dark Goddess, Shilen. My quest is to rid the world of her enemies before her arrival. When she comes, I will be by her side corrupting all towards her will. Her awakening is inevitable and I wish to honor her with the blood and soul of those who oppose her. You will join the others I have already collected.\" Hayaishi plunges his sword deep into the angel, which still shows no signs of life. Pulling out a small crystal from his pouch he begins chanting in a low melodic tone. Streams of light emit from the crystal and begin to surround the angel. As the light encases the angel, Hayaishi pulls his sword out, and the angel shrieks as its life force is trapped inside the crystal. Hayaishi muses to himself, \"Another offering that will enhance the power of my Dark Goddess.\" As he looks around, he spots another angel in the distance, and charges toward it. Draven was a human once, the son of a respected blacksmith in Talking Island village. He was a normal child in many ways, but even at an early age there were some signs of what was to come. Nearly every day he would come home battered and bloodied after being sent out to play with the other children. When his father would ask him what happened, it would always be a similar response. Sometimes it would be a fight with a group of bullies that Draven saw teasing a smaller child. Other times, a brawl with street urchins tormenting a cornered animal with sticks in an alley. Time and time again, his father would try unsuccessfully to teach Draven that he couldn't save everyone. As he grew older he showed an aptitude for the fighting arts and trained day and night at the fighter's guild. As his skills grew, so did the evils he faced. When a group of Orcs attacked the town and kidnapped some of the villagers, Draven would be the first to sign up for the raiding party to try to get them back. When a group of thieves were breaking into homes, he patrolled the streets every night until he found them and brought them to trial. There were also defeats. When the thieves admitted they were working for a corrupt noble in Gludin, Draven thought a great victory had been secured. As the weeks dragged by he slowly realized that nothing was going to be done. He knew in his soul that political connections and bribed officials shouldn't be able to prevent what was right. When the town elders refused to press the issue for fear of losing important trade contracts with the mainland, he felt ill for days. Then came the fateful day when he returned home early from training to discover his father placing a box into a secret hollow in the floorboards. He quietly stepped back out of the room without being seen, but returned after his father left to tend the forge. What he found broke his heart: sacks of coins with the mayor's insignia on them. He immediately thought of the missing lockbox recently taken from the mayor's residence. The crime had left no sign of forced entry and no witnesses. With tears in his eyes he realized his father had crafted most of the locks in town and could easily open any of them. Stumbling out into the fields of Talking Island he screamed his frustration and rage to the skies. He fell to his knees and implored the gods for the wisdom to understand a world that had no honor. Einhasad was so moved by his impassioned pleas that she decided to imbue him with the power to uphold justice across the land. He was bathed in a ray of blinding light and was reborn.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:51 am
P-BotP-Bot here, with your weekly Portal update! But first, here are today's top five:Cereus Peashy, by RiftMaster (also known for Geek Fighter)Talk Show Hosts, by Sexual-LobsterKAZAHANA:Death of Formula, by MeifenCouch Potato, by sunsneezerEdible Castle #1, by EdibleCastleWe also have new submissions by the following popular artists:aRCee-Collins, ArmorGames, Bad-Atom, Billbob840, errollww, fishhook, FlashBastard, jimmy5327, JWaldGar, MaddFlash2, Shady and stenad-mentaltAs always, we received a lot of great new submissions this week. Here are the top five!Attack of the Evil TV 2, by hikari42Dark-Energy-Knuckles said: \"Excellent movie mate.\"Castle III part B, by Get-lostrandomness11 said: \"I was just hookes from part a just awesome!\"Socklops, by Dokismotkid said: \"A forest of spongy balls.\"We Are NativeAmericanCats, by HotDiggedyDemonukyospamspam said: \"i have nothing to say\"Particles, by Najdorfmikesol1 said: \"Excellent!\"Another popular submission this week is \"Stunt Bike Draw\", by freeworldgroup.What does everyone think of these recent submissions?
January 10th, 2007 at 4:52 am
硲稽った戚たしWhile DanMalo is in town to help, we want him to pack up and mail as much stuff as possible. This seemed like a great time to introduce some new shirts we made!For a limited time, we are offering three shirts: One with a Tankmen theme and two tributes to the Clock Crew. I was thinking we could save the clock shirts and give them out as prizes for Clock Day but that's not until August and no one wants to wait that long.The handsome models are, from left to right, DanMalo, NG Sys Admin Tim Miller and programmer extraordinare, Mike Welsh (just wait until you see what he's done for the upcoming Audio Portal overhaul)!We have limited quantities and don't plan to manage the store on a regular basis until we are ready to meet the demand. The AngryFaic shirts pretty much sold out in a weekend, so don't miss this opportunity to have NG all over your body!
January 10th, 2007 at 4:53 am
硲櫛軒After much deliberation, we have selected the winners for our Holiday competition!1st - $1000: Carol of the Robots2nd - $1000: Life of a XMas Present3rd - $700: Problem with the Holidays4th - $700: Very Spritey Christmas5th - $700: LilOrphanBoy6th - $500: Christmas for one, please7th - $500: An Unforgotten Christmas8th - $500: Lemon & Karl Christmas9th - $500: Father Claus10th - $500: Beat NickHonorable mentions go to Not Another Pine (Dan Paladin's favorite), Santa Shorts 1 & 2, Ingus Christmas and IT Geeks: Got Wii? Also, big thanks to FrostedMuffins and Mogly for making a cool game for Hanukkah. :)We had hundreds of submissions this year and it was soul crushing to condense them to a single list of winners. We try not to stray too much from what the users vote on as the best but we don't want to strictly follow it, either. A big thanks to everyone who contributed! You can view the submissions in the Christmas 2006 collection.Moving along the contest chain, qualified users have until January 7th to vote on the Best of December!Dan Paladin is visiting for the next two weeks while we can crunch on Castle Crashers before showing it at Slamdance in Utah on the 19th. To double our Dan's, Dan Malo has come out to visit as well! Malo will be helping us put together prize packs, t-shirts and Wacom tablets over the next two weeks. The 6x11 Wacom tablets are on back-order, so I'm waiting for them to arrive early next week. I'm also still waiting on the new batch of AngryFaic shirts, which should arrive early next week. I have some orders left from December that are waiting to be filled... sorry about that. :(It's gonna be a BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY month of programming and package shipping!
January 10th, 2007 at 4:54 am
8448Ahoy again fellow Newgrounders!I've been out of town for the past week, but I just wanted to drop in and thank all of you for the great support and feedback for our latest game \"Ivan Drago: Justice Enforcer!\" It's great to finally have the game out for all to see since we worked on it constantly for months without telling anybody about it. And now that we've worked out the bugs (big thanks to those of you that helped report 'em), I hope you all have a chance to beat the game and unlock each of the characters along with the additional mini-game at the end! Oldschool Newgrounders will probably recognize that mini-game as a tribute to another classic Newgrounds game! And for those of you who want to use a little more power during your fights, you might want to try figuring out some of Drago's super moves! He's got two of 'em - the Mega Punch and Power Stomp - and they're not too hard to figure out if you've played games like Street Fighter before (plus they'll be unveiled at the end if you beat the game all the way through).I spent a good number of years living in Philadelphia and it was always fun watching the Rocky films and seeing areas I frequented. Out of all the films, part IV was easily my favorite both because of the badass training sequences and the inhuman strength of Drago, so I wanted to pay homage to it with a big flash game. Thanks to the equally hard work of Poxpower and BomToons, I think we pulled it off nicely and I couldn't be happier with the results. And of course, I gotta thank Tom for his support of the project from the very beginning!Well anywho, releasing this game was a great way to end the year for me - thanks for playing it! Hope you've all had a spiffy holiday season and I'll see ya in '07!
January 10th, 2007 at 6:04 am
Forgot one...hi2u minidisc.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Re: you guysI understand what I'm saying, but I also prefer PS games, and I had my PS2 for 6 years before it finally broke down, and I immediately E-bayed another one, which is still functioning perfectly. So, I've HEARD of people getting fucked over, but I've been a satisfied customer.So, the fact that I continue my PS loyalty + get a BDVD player? Totally awesome. And I have no clue where you get your \"360 has better FX capabilities\" because not only does PS3 have a better processor, but a beefier video card. Not only that, but the 360 shares all it's memory with the processor, so less can be used for graphics, while the PS3 has seperate memory used specifically for the production of graphics.I don't like the price tag myself, or the game selection, but right now, Sony is being forced to drop the price soon, probably right before MGS 4 comes out, which is when I get to yell \"Pay-day, bitch!\" and do a dance. Yes, I support PS3, but I'll keep tangoing with my PS2 for now
January 10th, 2007 at 10:22 am
My bad*I understand what YOU'RE saying.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:17 am
now you're making senseKeeping with ps2 now is a great Idea. I don't hate on sony at all. They practically own me (they do, in part, pay my bills after all). I was just saying that day one systems suck. They shouldn't but there is a malfunction. Launch systems suck across the board for the most part. (remember 360 melting game disks?...I sure as hell do.)but unless sony improves the picture quality of blu-ray they will have issues. Like I said go get one or go to a store to watch one. After the \"WOW! this looks sharp as fuck!\" feeling fades, Watch for the amount of grain and distortion (noise) in the blacks and dark areas of the screen. Now look at HD-DVD. which is noticeably a lot better.the xbox - ps3 debate can be found here. http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/index.html?sid=6162742&sid=6162742If you want numbers that are publicly available. Good luck. I do not think anyone is typing them up and posting on the web. but give it time. Of course once Sony fixes the glitch. Which shouldn't be too tough. the ps3 will kill it.but im done this whole debate. Time for me to have fun playing a video game. On the wii.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
wait...I'm pretty sure they won't drop the price of the ps3 right before the release of MGS4, which looks like their flagship title at the moment.Oh and on the 360 having better fx capabilities, it's just that the 360 is easier to develop for, so it's easier for people to program with it at the moment. I'm sure some company will eventually figure out how to maximize the potential of the ps3, it's just that it isn't there yet.http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/Hardly anyone can tell though. You'd have to look at a blown up image to tell how the 360 does more in current release titles. I'm sure by next year the ps3 will show improved graphics, but the 360 will be on 3rd gen games by then, so who knows. Gears of War looks awesome as a 2nd gen game.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Anyway...Back on the topic of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray...http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3156215\"You have a PlayStation 3 and just picked up a copy of The Descent on Blu-ray -- you're lucky. Why? You'll actually be able to watch it. IMDB reports that when trying to play the movie in a non-PS3 Blu-ray drive, viewers are presented with only a blank screen.Apparently the problem lies within the fact that Lions Gate Entertainment used BD-Java technology for some of the extras, which isn't compatible with any of the Sony BDP-S1 or Pioneer Elite Blu-Ray players currently on the market. IMDB says that Sony knows of the problem, and is hoping to provide an update to consumers sometime early in the year.\"wow, I understand updating a gaming console, but updating a Blu-Ray player? lol
January 10th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
huh?\"200/100 (even 75) GB is overkill and space that is not needed EVEN at 1080P which is not worth the price now (and may never be, in all honesty.. not that I tell people buying them that).\"how is a disk larger than what is currently needed a bad thing? it's not as if consumers are being charged by the gigabyte. if anything this is a good thing as multidisk collections would then be able to fit all on one disk.also, as for my two cents, you're all wrong. blu-ray will fail just like HD-DVD will fail because no one cares about these formats. i mean dvd players JUST surpaced vhs players in american households (http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20061219/dvd-vcr-vhs.htm) . no one wants a new video format right now.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
new format...I'm actually glad its happening here. You sometimes hear of new technology popping up in other countries. Every time I hear that, I think \" why the fuck didn't we do that first? We're supposed to defining new technology, not following others.\"
January 11th, 2007 at 12:59 am
mmhmI was just letting that man know that the promised 200 GB is just a publicity thing really. Not \"bad\" just not necessary and doesn't make it needed.Yes, DVD players just overtook VHS officially (If you remember DVD players came out about 10 - 11 years ago now). But we sure as hell aren't talking about the average american when talking about the format war and HD tvs. Any idea what percent of people have HD sets? Not the norm. No one cares...? I sure as hell care. And so do about 1/2 the people with HDTV sets. DVD's look worse than HD (DVD - 480P where HD -720p / 1080i) So why should I watch a movie when it looks shittier than anything in HD (yes upconverters exist..but they can only do so much).Anyone who wants the benefits of the HD tv they spent $600 - $10,000+ cares.Lemme guess. Tin foil rabbit ears hooked up to your grandma's old tv she bought at Service Merchandice and left to you when she passed? No? well not HD to say the least. And I agree Ralph on this (even though it isn't really US but whatever). We need competition to make anything better. We can all agree the zune is a piece of shit but I am so happy for its existance... Think of how ill the next gen ipod will be. Although one of the formats will fail (Estimates say by end 4th quarter next year). The one who wins will be 10 times better because of the competition.
January 11th, 2007 at 1:15 am
both will failNeither will be done any time soon. Sonys PS3 isnt going anywhere. I doubt the HD-DVD guys are giving up any time soon.The 200 gigs may be a bit high, but we are still talking potentially 3 times more data between the two. Thats HUGE! If HD-DVD \"wins\" we will see a new format a few years after that. Blu-ray potentially will last longer.