PS3 Poll Police: Has the format war really started to end?

by Nick Doerr { Jan 6th 2008 at 4:30PM }

We had a big announcement this week -- Warner Bros. declared Blu-ray exclusivity starting later this year. This means yet another huge library of movies will only be available on the Blu-ray format. This decision may have been swayed due to the fact Blu-ray films have outpaced their competitors since day one, or it may have been a giant burlap sack with a money sign painted on it. Who knows. This begs the question from your favorite Poll Police, though: do you think the format wars are ending?
We aren't sure what to make of it, yet. It's too early to really see the effects of the big announcement and the internet seems alight with people nailing the coffin shut when they didn't look to see if anything was inside. Either way, it's a step in the right direction for Blu-ray and its enthusiasts. Curious about last week's poll? We are, too. Take a look after the jump.

The keyword in this poll was "random". You could chock it up to our lack of desire to research which games were prone to delay, but really, we just slapped up some random big-name titles of 2008. Clearly we all expect Final Fantasy XIII to get pushed to '09, and Killzone 2 garnered a lot of support, too. In the end, we all have our own thoughts and ideas. We should. Most of these games will get delayed. We expect at least half of this "random" list to hit in '09 and not this year. But we could be wrong. Only time will tell. Thanks for voting!

Tags: poll-police

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Seminole @ Jan 6th 2008 4:45PM

Stupid question, but did Warner Bros. make Blu-Ray movies before this?

Rick @ Jan 6th 2008 4:53PM

Yes Warner Brothers was putting their movies on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. But now they are dropping their HD-DVD support.

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 6th 2008 4:57PM

Yes they did.

Seminole @ Jan 6th 2008 10:16PM

Thanks Rick and Hashbrown!

Crazy88 @ Jan 6th 2008 4:51PM

I hope the format war ends soon. I have been holding off buying too many Blu-ray movies just in case. The icing on the cake would be the announcement of the Transformers movie release date for Blu-ray.

www.PSvsXBOX.com @ Jan 6th 2008 5:21PM

Why can't the production companies, just make movies for both formats? I'm sure the fact that Sony Pictures being a major contributer to the movie industry and Microsoft not, may have something to do with it.

Dehshizknight @ Jan 6th 2008 11:48PM

Lol, yeah, Sony has the majority of the internal studios, gaming and movie related.

bs6268d @ Jan 6th 2008 5:37PM

microsoft will bring out the money as usual

DEMAN @ Jan 6th 2008 5:52PM

I agree. I predict within 6 months Microsoft will dump a huge monry bag on somebody to make them or keep them HD exclusive.

Damian @ Jan 6th 2008 5:55PM

This is all a bit negative isn't it? I'm a PS3 owner, and yes the fact there's two formats for HD is a pain, but this has all been a bit far towards gloating for my liking. I like this site because the name is deceptive - it's actually a relatively level-headed place to find PS3 news as opposed to some of the ridiculous negativity peddled elsewhere. I don't think anyone has found that negativity much fun - so all the less reason for any of us to be peddling it ourselves...

Chris Rah Osiris @ Jan 6th 2008 5:57PM

This is definitely over. Target has even decided to go blu exclusive. A studio won't want to support a format that isn't even sold in major retailers. This was just reported on Engadget. This war is done

jonny3k1 @ Jan 6th 2008 6:11PM

It is over because Panasonic just announced DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player with full BD Live (profile 2.0)

The end.

ka-ge @ Jan 6th 2008 6:14PM

DVD is still selling, right? More than Blu-ray and HD DVD. The format war can keep on going on, or a winner can be declared, and then nothing happens until price cuts hit.
Or that Michael Bay post may be right, and Microsoft keeps supporting HD DVD as they are prepping their HD download service. (hypothetical)

bish @ Jan 6th 2008 8:35PM

Actually whats interesting is that DVD sales have been steadily falling since the format war began. New dvd releases are taking a hit because consumers keep hearing about the two HD formats and would rather wait and not buy anything be it DVD, HD DVD or Blu-ray until they know that what they are buying is not going to go away. Of course DVD will still be compatible, but I get the feeling that the average person doesn't realize this yet.

-bish

Lars @ Jan 7th 2008 2:00PM

DVD is still the vast majority of the market. Waayyy more sales than BD and HDDVD combined.

XDragon @ Jan 6th 2008 8:00PM

Its over and I'm happy it is because now I can buy everything on Blu-Ray insted of just my very fav movies.
Fence sitters will now begin to purcahse Blu-Ray because there's nothing to lose, that will help Blu-Ray to start replacing DVDs and yes I know there's a long way to go before DVD goes away.
Panasonic's 2.0 ends the tech differences as now Blu-Ray is equal or better than HD-DVD except for stand alone unit price but that's just a matter of time as with all electronics.
Expect the PS3 to follow suit with the profile 2.0 (BD-Live) update.
The quad layer Blu-Rays (200G per disc) will be the next upgrade on the agenda. For those who didn't know, HD-DVD's physical limit(based on readable surface size and layering capabilities which is determind by the wavelength of the laser) is 61G and Blu-Ray's is 200G, you can verify those 2 figures on their respective main sites.
I for 1 would rather have a Blu-Ray disc than a digital download and not having a format war/confusion will all for digital distribution to be delyed somewhat.
Go blu!

Starfire @ Jan 6th 2008 9:53PM

I feel a bit sorry for all those who bought into HD-DVD, but I suppose their players still work fine. I'm not really into the 'victory gloating', either, but it's good news for the HD formats as now people can know (assuming there isn't another shock surprise, but that's now doubtful) which one has a future.

Blu ray was always better as the space is useful for lossless audio and to avoid all the mess of multiple disks, for the likes of Lord of the Rings. They should never have had a format war in the first place, what a waste, but I suppose humans like to resolve their differences through conflict, in technology as anywhere else. At least the best man won.

Microdot @ Jan 6th 2008 10:39PM

i keep hearing the digital distribution argument. its not going to happen (yet) people. we in the united states are FAAAAR behind in terms of bandwidth. other countries (china for example) are pushing out 100mb connections to the home... we are barely breaking 10mb, and that is pretty rare unless you are in an area and lucky enough to have fiber.

people are starting to move up to hd. our typical bandwidth in the home cannot support hd streaming by any means of the imagination (at least not at a level that is true hd... possibly 480.. and in some extremely rare instances.. 720, but absolutely not 1080). the best you get is microsofts crappy offering that takes forever to get, and streams about as well as a bowling ball through a garden hose.

digital distribution may replace dvd, but we are a little late in the game for that now. the overwhelming majority are now purchasing hdtv's, and want to see what their money bought them.... and dvd quality or worse on a large screen tv is mediocre at best.

mccomber @ Jan 6th 2008 11:05PM

Warner going Blu has been big news, even outside of the normal channels that this news runs through. I think it's impact on the minds of consumers outweighs Paramount going to HDDVD.

Even if it's not over, I think we can all agree that HDDVD doesn't stand much of a chance of winning at this point. The question is whether they'll drag it out or not.

smkok @ Jan 6th 2008 11:22PM

what is significant is that it is announced right before the CES.

Semi @ Jan 7th 2008 7:33AM

come on people,. buy more blu-ray movies, lets kill of hd-dvd for good while its down...woooooooooo!

russ99 @ Jan 7th 2008 1:42PM

This won't end until Universal and Paramount go back to supporting Blu-Ray. However, this is a good sign and pressure's certainly building on the exclusive HD-DVD studios that they may be missing out on a big moneymaker.

Also, go to any big-box retailer as Blu-Ray has close to twice the shelf space as HD-DVD. People are voting with their dollars, which carries a lot more weight than pay-offs from Toshiba/Microsoft.

I'm hoping that Apple adds Blu-Ray to their computers at MacWorld next week. Once the world realizes how great a data-storage medium Blu-Ray is, then things will really start going Blu-Ray's way.

Saigon @ Jan 7th 2008 11:46AM

yeah...this only is the start of it...imho...the war will end on because of the manufacturers...if they only support blu-ray...then hd-dvd is left to dry...

Ty @ Jan 7th 2008 11:55PM

Its funny, cause its the same technology going into both, except blu-ray's design is slightly more user friendly. I've been paying attention to this war, and seeing as how there are like only 3 HD-DVD players or something like that (xbox 360 with the hd-dvd extender, select toshiba hardware...) and about 10 BLU-Ray players, its pretty evident that Sony has won this one. BUT, it doesn't really matter anyway. Toshiba wont take too much damage from this, and I'm sure Microsoft will be able to create a BLU-Ray expansion to their 360's sometime soon ^_^... thats if Sony allows... which they shouldn't! DOWN WITH MICROSOFT! Palmer must burn.

lopez1004 @ Jan 7th 2008 7:30PM

I am an owner of both Blu Ray and HD DVD and love both sides equally, swaying a little on the Blu Ray side because of the lossless audio. But, isn't a little silly to have a "which is better" poll on a PS3 fanboy site? Seems that the results are really going to quite obvious.

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Has the format war started to come to an end?
	Yep, this is the final nail in HD DVD's coffin.
	This signals the beginning of the end, but nothing definitive.
	It really doesn't mean a lot at all.
	The format wars will continue for a while.
	I suspect HD DVD will pay off some other studio now to counter.

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