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Another Sony Format Bites the Dust
Lam1969 writes "Reuters is reporting that Universal Media Disc, Sony's PSP-only movie format, is about to kick the bucket. While the discs' novelty factor resulted in strong sales shortly after the PSP's May 2005 launch, interest rapidly dropped and movie companies are no longer interested in producing titles. From the article: "Universal Studios Home Entertainment has completely stopped producing UMD movies, according to executives who asked not to be identified by name. Said one high-ranking exec: 'It's awful. Sales are near zilch. It's another Sony bomb -- like Blu-ray."'"
That could be why it wasn't included in the list of failed formats. Nah, that makes too much sense. Must be a conspiracy of some sort.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
They've decided to go back to a known method that worked in the 80's. You get the games printed in books and you have to hand code the hexdecimal in before you can play the game. Of course if you turn off the unit or switch games you'll have to re-enter the game. Since the printed word is compatible with all systems it's sure to be a winner! HD-DVD of course stands for HexDecimal DVD. You'll get the fun of hand entering all the hex before you can watch your movies too. The kids will love all the family time that gives you and for porn it'll be fantastic because you'll develop such strong hands!
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Since when is being able to play video on a television "next-generation"? These people are removing features, realizing that people won't buy without the features, and then adding the features back claiming they're innovative and new.
got sig?
I don't know why these companies just don't pay me on retainer to tell them things suck beforehand.
But, I think that if Sony came back at it, even now, and tried this strategy, it could work. Even this late in the game, with the right promotion and presentation. But it's a good idea, so, fat chance of that happening, eh?
Can you be so sure yours is the only smart thing to do? Let's compare your idea with Sony's own idea for saving UMD. From the article:
"We're hoping the format's going to be reinvigorated with next-generation capability that may include living-room or normal television playback," [Benjamin Feingold, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment] said.
So your idea is to price UMD disks at one third of what DVDs cost to encourage adoption and minimize the pain of re-purchasing content in an inferior but more portable format.
Sony's idea is to add "next-generation" features to their portable format like... playing it on your TV at home.
Um, yeah. I think you win.
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Comment from UNI
How can it be a Universal Media Disc without Universal Studios?
> DVDs were an excellent step. Same form factor of a CD. No rewinding.
Oh really?
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.