BD is blu-ray
Mandiblard said:
Sony’s "Bluray victory" also makes me laugh, because since HD-DVD was phased out Bluray sales have actually gone DOWN. There's no market for it now, and by the time there is in the future, I suspect a much better alternative will be available. A jump consumers will get behind. Think of the move from VHS and DVD, that was massive. Huge difference there. Bluray there isnt much difference. It's going to be forgotten in a few years. Like UMD. What's UMD? Exactly.
MGS4 is going to have to sell over a million to make any money at all, the development costs are through the roof. This is the reason developers are gravitating towards Wii.
Well since I only have a short amount of time I will try to respond as best as I can. So according to CEA (consumer electronics association) HD reached 30% saturation is U.S. home, but the majority still watch standard definition. That was either June or April last year. So if that was last year before the holiday season what would the numbers be now? I can't get the current numbers, but I am sure they are close to 40%. I just read that HD adoption jumped 25% over the holiday season. So it should be close to 40%. Well it would be safe to assume that it will jump another 20-25% over this coming holiday.
Now why is this important? Well last year If I look at it objectively the PS3 had one must buy game during the holiday season (Uncharted fing awesome, maybe even Wowhawk).This year it looks like they should have at least three (Little Big Planet, Motorstorm 2, Resistance 2). This is important because it will sell more PS3's. Naturally for every PS3 sold another BD player is sold. That means more people who are willing to go HD.
The biggest problem Sony faces with HD adoption is it is more of a commitment to go HD. To go HD you have to have an HD player, receiver, TV, cables, etc... All of these cost money especially the TV and BD player. Well Sony can get both the player and TV out this holiday season with bundles. (I say this because there is already a precedent for this) That is the most logical thing to do if you want HD adoption to go up. Sony can kill two birds with one stone. Also Sony will most likely drop the price the PS3 making it even cheaper. Already the PS3 is one of the best BD players dropping it another hundred dollars this holiday would make it the best BD player option IMO.
Although Sony has a large stake in Blu-ray it is not the only one. People seem to forget that the BDA is comprised of more than just Sony. For example, Apple Computer, Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, Hitachi, Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Sharp Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Inc., TDK Corporation, Thomson Multimedia, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment
Every one of those companies is all part of the BDA. Some make players, but all have one thing in common they want to make money like any other business. Do you think Samsung is just going to let the PS3 become the cheapest BD player? Every company who makes BD player are going to try to make the cheapest BD players to maximize profits. That means competition which will breed cheaper prices. This is all IMO, but it seems like the logical step for Sony.
When you say that in the future there will be a better alternative you are most likely speaking about M$ and DD. Digital distribution is getting pushed hard by M$ because that will most likely be the next alternative. There is a huge problem with DD though. It is actually really simple it is internet connection speed. On average the ICS in the U.S. is 1.9 megabits per second, but compare that to Japan where it is about 61 megabits per second. The problem with DD is the connection speeds are too slow especially with HD content. With HD content you are looking at 6-10 GB of info or possibly even more. I also read that some companies are going to cap how much you can download, or start making you pay for however many GB you download. So DD seems even farther away.
Although you make think that Blu-ray will be forgotten in a few years it is highly unlikely. Although I do agree with you it will take time before BD can make an impact. Ohh and I focused on the U.S. because that is where I live, and it happens to be the largest market for video games. Also if you believe that MGS4 won't sell a million copies you must be out of your mind. Each MGS game has sold at least 3 million.