»

[Vic Viper]

Sony hopes the move will help jump-start the market for the new high-storage format.

TOKYO--According to Kyodo News, Sony officials announced today that they will use Blu-ray Disc technology in their next-generation console, most commonly referred to as the PlayStation 3. Sony revealed its decision at a press conference held by the Blu-ray Disc Founders (BDF), an organization committed to developing and standardizing the next-generation optical disc format. The BDF also used the occasion to announce that it will finalize the specifications for the read-only version of Blu-ray Discs (BD-ROMs) by September 30.

Sony has been investing heavily into Blu-ray product development and was the first company to have a disc recorder on the market. The company had previously hinted that it may use the format in the PS3. Sony's Blu-ray Disc R&D division chief Kiyoshi Nishitani commented in an interview with Asahi PC magazine in March that the company would like to establish ground in the Blu-ray Disc market by adopting BD-ROMs for its "home video game console."

The Blu-ray Disc Founders organization is composed of Sony, Panasonic, and 11 other major electronic makers. Like its predecessor, the DVD, the BD-ROM will primarily be used for movies. The companies plan to start marketing Blu-ray Disc playback machines (without recording capabilities) by the end of the fiscal year.

Sony is relying heavily on the Blu-ray Disc format, so the use of Blu-ray as the market standard in next-generation media is vital, especially since the company also publishes movies through its Sony Pictures subsidiary. Adopting the Blu-ray Disc for the PS3 should help spread use of the format, similar to what the PlayStation 2 did for DVDs.

Early expansion of the Blu-ray format would be ideal for Sony, considering it will have to compete with high-definition DVDs (HD DVD) in the future. Blu-ray Discs can hold 25GB on a single layer and 50GB on the dual-layer discs, while HD DVD discs--which have yet to be released--will hold only 30GB on a dual-layered disc.

Sony said it will reveal more details on the PlayStation 3 at a premiere event in Japan on March 31, 2005. The console will also be on display at next year's E3 in Los Angeles.

https://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08...s_6104095.html

[Infernal Mass]

i was wondering when they were going to make it official..about time. This is great news, pirates are hating this announcement right about now..

[Berserker]

I hope this doesn't ruin the backwards compatability

[Vulcan Raven]

Yeah That Would Suck if the PS3 wasnt Backwards-Compatible!!

[Vicious_2003]

Yeah god forbid we have to hook our ps2's up to play our old outdated games weve beaten eleven times. Backwards compatibility is over rated IMO.

But i dig what sonys doing here. Lets compare thier thinking to Nintendos thinking.

Nintendo : Ive got an idea SMALLER DISCS !

Sony : Ive got an Idea....DISCS THAT HOLD MORE !

See the difference.

[Berserker]

[QUOTE=Vicious_2003]Yeah god forbid we have to hook our ps2's up to play our old outdated games weve beaten eleven times. Backwards compatibility is over rated IMO.
QUOTE]

I sort of meant the ability to play dvd's on a blu-ray disc machine...I should have been more precise.

[Infernal Mass]

you gotta draw things out for vicious, he's a special needs case.

[happy_doughnut]

Originally Posted by Vicious_2003

Yeah god forbid we have to hook our ps2's up to play our old outdated games weve beaten eleven times. Backwards compatibility is over rated IMO.

But i dig what sonys doing here. Lets compare thier thinking to Nintendos thinking.

Nintendo : Ive got an idea SMALLER DISCS !

Sony : Ive got an Idea....DISCS THAT HOLD MORE !

See the difference.

I don't agree with you here, Vicious. If you have a game that you've beaten many, many times, then sure: why would you want to keep playing it over and over again? It is one of your favorite games, then you have a reason, but if it's not... then I don't really see why you should. However, many people now don't have a PSO, and therefore having backwards compatability is of much help. 'Sides, when this comes out, I think it will be much more convenient to have a machine that will allow you to play the three kinds of games in one, rather than to have to hook up 3 different systems all of the time.

Anyway, I have a question! I don't really understand what the Blu-ray Disc is, or more precisely, does. Is it something that will help prevent pirating of games? Eeks! Someone please explain. ^__^

[Infernal Mass]

regular DvD's that are out now hold about 4.5 gigs of data.(that's not counting those two sided gold dvd's). a single layer blu-ray, can hold up to 28 gigs.

double layer a blu-ray dvd and we're talkin about some really fat ass games for next gen. sony developed the blu-ray so it's essentially thier baby. currently a few big buisnesses over in japan are using blu-ray discs for data storage.


hd-dvd's are most likely going to be used for the next xbox. they can hold about 30 gigs.

Yes Sony has xbox 2 beat out I hope.

[kupoartist]

I don't really understand this move... I don't know of a single game that fails to fit on a single DVD, so why on earth would a games-console need discs that are 6 times the size of a DVD? I shouldn't imagine that blu-ray discs are going to excepted by the mainstream market for a long time (the jump from VHS or CDs to DVD was justified, but this?)