TECH: Blu-ray For The Win?

You've probably all read about the so-called sales figures, "Blu-ray outselling HD-DVD by 3-1, by 6-1" etc, etc. I just came across three interesting articles that although rumours, might add more weight to the pro-Blu-ray arguments. Link to more below.


The first one concerns a rumour the Star Wars Trilogies might be Blu-ray exclusive, as there are info pages up on Amazon for the Blu-ray version, but nothing about an HD-DVD version. Of course this could just be down to Amazon not having info on anything on HD-DVD but this is still a bit uncharacteristic.

The second one is from a German tech site, reporting that during a press conference, Pioneer representatives announced that the only major studio exclusively supporting HD-DVD, Universal, will break their exclusivity contract with the HD-DVD camp and support both formats. However, this hasn't been confirmed by Universal yet.

The third is from 1UP, where Peter Moore says an external Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360 is a possibility "should Blu-ray win the HD war." Not exactly a vote of confidence for the HD-DVD camp. That said, MS is being smart, and perhaps this is why there wasn't an HD-DVD drive in the new 360 Elite; nor are there plans for this October's 65nm version to include an HD-DVD drive. Either way, MS is being insidiously shrewd about all this - if HD-DVD loses, they can still release a BR drive, and still compete with the PS3.

I dunno, separately, these rumours don't amount to sh*t, but put together (if they're true) with the sales figures of BR outselling HD-DVD, they could spell the beginning of the end for the HD-DVD camp. Either way, I just want one of them to hurry up and win so that we finally get an HD-player for our HD-TVs. It's like VHS vs. Betamax all over again, only this time Sony might actually come out on top.