Here is an impressive "virtual mirror" demo using the Cell processor put on by Toshiba. Basically, using a video camera, it can make a 3D model of the person in front of a the camera on the fly. Then it can manipulate the 3D model to change make-up, hair-styles, etc, basically a virtual magic mirror. Really demonstrates the truly unique features these more powerful processors will offer.
Well Sony Pictures has a decent film library. They do have Colombia/Tristar/MGM under their belt.
The majority of the older films were not shot in HD, also for a technology demo the movie should have a lot of action scenes that would show off the format. Afterall, "Citizen Kane" would make a terrible technical demo. I remember in DVDs early days Sony used to demo "Fifth Element" as their showcase for the DVD.
Personally, I would think technically "Spiderman 2", "Hellboy","MIB2", or even "Stealth" would better showcase the format (granted half those movies also sucked too), but I don't know how good the source of those film is to convert to 1920 x 1080.
In most scientific application light is not the data that is being captured, hence there is no color. There are limitation of the resolving power of a light-microscope. In this case, some of the pictures are from electron-microscope, which are hundreds of thosands of times magnified, since electron microscope doesn't use to light it doesn't have color.
In fact, most powerful microscopes use a computer as an interface for viewing. The application also displayed artifically colored images to display information of the image, confocal and some fluorescence microscopes have digital images.
It's true that HD-DVD will come out in Japan at the end of this year, but Blu-ray has already launched in Japan quite awhile ago. So by that logic, first mover advantage is on Blu-ray's side. Also HD-DVD delayed the US release until next year.
But here's the problem, these first-gen players are incredibly expensive. If you saw the player it is massive(about the size of an LD player), and while the prices haven't been announced yet I'm assuming it will cost $500-1000. Consumers don't want to make that kind of investment for a machine that there is no movies for, and studios don't want to release movies for a system that has no consumers. The intial inertia is the conumdrum.
Blu-ray's trojan horse is of course the PS3. The majority of people aren't going to be buying the PS3 because of the Blu-ray player, but now studios have an instant consumer base to sell movies to. The likely hood is, as time goes by the PS3 isn't going to be that great a player (like the PS2 isn't that great a DVD player), but PS3 sales are projected to be 30 million in the first three years (it's from the Buisness week article in this topics link) and that gives the format the initial boost it needs to start off.
You clearly didn't read the article that this discussion is about. Since this very issue is addresed in detail and you are misinformed.
First off, Blu-ray itself allows for streaming between devices, what may not allow for it is the DRM that was put in place to get 20th Century Fox support of Blu-ray (Not "Sony's DRM"). The safeguards in question was developed for Fox by San Francisco's Cryptography Research.
As far as streaming between devices, it seems that decision on that hasn't been made up and it's to early to say either way:
Quote from article: "Andy Parsons, a Blu-ray spokesman, says the Cryptography technology does not block content from being moved around a network, but the association has yet to finalize details of whether it will allow for managed copying of the disk as Microsoft demands."
Sony's track record is actually suprising good. They are responsible for two of the most popular format in history. The 3.5" floppy disk and the CD-ROM (which they worked on with Phillips). Also the Audio cassette of was made by Phillips but it was Sony who made it popular with the walkman and by convincing Phillips to license it for free. Blu-ray is another Sony/Phillips format.
If you look at the history of Format Wars you usually see the same players, Betamax(Sony) vs VHS(Matsushita), MemoryStick(Sony) vs SD(Matsushita/Toshiba/Sandisk), MMCD (Sony/Phillips/etc) vs Super Densisty Disk(Matsushita/Toshiba/etc), DVD-Audio(Toshiba/Matsushita) vs SACD(Sony/Phillips), Blu-ray(Sony/Phlllips/Matsushita/etc) vs HD-DVD(Toshiba etc).
No one company wins all the time, sometimes they both lose (like in SACD vs DVD-Audio), and sometimes an uneasy compromise is met (like in MMCD and Super Density Disk becoming DVDs), and sometimes they both kinda win(like in DVD-RW vs DVD+RW), but it always comes down to which tech giant, usually Japanese, you want to be paying royalities to.
Seems like the crucial difference between Google's efforts and the OCA(Open Content Alliance) is that Google has a "opt-out" policy for copyrighted material, while OCA specifically requires the copyright holder to contact them and essentially allow them to use the material.
The OCA likely won't be sued by the Writer's Guild like Google, however, for searching material Google will likely be better being that Google's search will likely include a massive plethora of copyrighted material, legal or not. Also, it seems that Google themselves will be allowed to use all the material from the OCA into their project as well.
The Sky is a pretty empty place, mostly blue during the day, sometimes with clouds. It's going to be very difficult to keep track of what is going on. Most sports, have markers, and visual cues that tell the audience of the position and events of each player. From looking at the concept pictures and reading the idea it seems that they will have a reletively complicated preset course that they will be flying in the air. I'm not sure how the spectator or the audience are suppose to follow the race, any tactics involving overtaking, technique, etc etc will be entirely lost.
Conceptually, it sounds incredibly exciting, but I'm scared that I will be watching a plane fly around against a blue backgroud for a couple of hours.
Other than the 3.5" floppy disk, that other people mention, they are the pioneers of optical storage, with the collaboration of Phillips they introduced the CD-ROM. The popularity of the Audio cassette tape was also partly Sony's doing, while Phillips invented it, Sony convinced phillips to license it for free due to the popularity of the Walkman.
So in reality they are responsible for two of the most ubiquitous formats around, and they did have a hand in the DVD as well (DVD was a compromise between the MMCD & Superdensity disk). In reality, Sony(along with Phillips), have produced the most prevalent formats around.
"Proven capacity" is somewhat of a vague term being that HD-DVD hasn't shipped yet, and Blu-ray has only shipped in Japan. Being that now the HD-DVD is delayed till 2006, from the consumers standpoint, nothing has really been proven yet, and for either format it's too early to tell.
As far as costs are concerned, they only talk of manufactering costs which tend to stabilize over time. Certainly, initially, Blu-ray should cost a lot more than HD-DVD if it needs retooling, however once econmies of scale are established manufactering cost tend to plateau, hence while this is short term concern, but perhaps not a long-term one. What isn't talked about however is liceencing cost, the main issue in contention that caused the split was that currently you have to pay the 6C ~4%-10% of the sale price of DVD hardware(depending on the cost of the machine), something that HD-DVD retains, I'm not sure how either format fares but ultimely this will be a massive cost when initial players are expected to cost $500-$1,000(maybe much more than manufactering differences).
Also, the argument "Support for hybrid discs" is ridiculous. HD-DVD use "flippers" as hybrid disks. i.e. DVD on one-side and HD-DVD on the other (kinda like the old DVDs that had "widescreen" & "fullscreen"). JVC, has developed a Blu-ray disk that is a true hybrid, having a DL-DVD9 and a Blu-ray on one side.
However, while MS/Intel are big names it seems irrelevant being that they don't actually have any products to market (and XB360 won't have HD-DVD standard; not even an option at this point, maybe a $500 system to fit above their "core" and "Premium" bundles). Only other impact that the deal seems to have is Media Center PCs, but 71% of MediaCenter PCs don't even come with a TV-tuners (which kinda makes the most important feature useless). Windows support can easily be cured w/drivers, and Dell and HP are Blu-ray supporters hence windows PCs from them will likely come with Blu-Ray. Seems to be more a PR-deal. Ultimetely it will be the Studios that decide the winner, and they will at the end choose the format that the consumers are buying.
What's with everybody bashing Sony for "propritary" formats. It seems rather hyprocritical being that the alternatives are also proprietary formats as well. VHS, SD, MP3, AAC, etc are all proprietary formats that require licencing fees and royalties just like Sony's formats. The only difference is that they mananged win their respective format wars, and losing format is usually then marked as "proprietary".
You should also remember that Sony did manage to create two of the most sucessful formats around. First the modern 3.5" floppy disk, and the CD-ROM (which they made with Phillips).
They were the ones who spread false PS3 news last week based on a message board post saying that the Nvidia 7800GTX was faster than the PS3's RSX. It turned out that the person on the message board misread PSM magazine and it really said the RSX is FASTER than the 7800GTX. I don't think that they do any fact checking. Likelyhood is that Sony manfacters the Blu-ray drives in house and it won't cost more than adding the DVD to the PS2 and they would likely be able to leverage economies of scale in the long run(which were very expensive at the time of the PS2 launch).
While Blu-ray association may provide this as a security option to the Studios to get them aboard the format. Since all this talk about self-destructive players and punishing pirates must be the MPAAs wet dream. However, its a support nightmare for the hardware manufacter. Most hardware manufacters don't directly profit from media content (other than the one's like Sony who own studios), most will likely forgo this feature or water it down due to the flood of technical support calls from enraged owners of their product. With the emergence of cheap Chinese and Taiwanese brands profits from hardware themselves is incredibly small, In reality, I doubt manufacters are willing to deal with potential law-suits, tech-support issues, and angry retailers that get returned players that people tried to hack.
I heard a rumor awhile back that the PS3 will be running a stripped down version of Linux,...
According to Sony's Ken Kutaragi, his plan was to pre-install a version of linux onto each HDD unit that ships, so it will be recognized as a computer, rather than a mere console. A marketing ploy? Most likely. ..but a cool one.
Out of all the coverage that has gone on about the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle something that has been seriously overlooked is the what this fight is really about. Toshiba and Time Warner makes an incredible amount of money from DVD 6C and other Toshiba/Sanyo/Warner ownened patents, they get a kick back from every DVD and DVD player that hits the market becaue they are the main beneficiaries of the 6C patents. And they are trying to keep these patents in place for the next-generation of high-definition media.
Blu-ray is an effort to get around the 6C patents and Toshiba owned patents. When Sony and co. approached Toshiba/NEC/Warner in forming a unified format, one of the conditions that was put in place was to keep the 6C patents in place, and merely keep the software aspect of Blu-ray. This of course is why an agreement cannot be reached. Neither side has any reverance for the consumer.
We aren't choosing Blu-ray because we don't particularly like the idea of paying our lead competition royalty patents.
There's no clear indication that Blu-ray will give Sony a "significant advantage" as you claim. Yes, Blu-ray has more storage, but it's not clear that any game is going to make use of anywhere close to even HD-DVD's "mere" 20GB+ storage capabilities in the near future.
If you remember back when the PS2 was originally released much of your arguments against Blu-ray were the exact same arguments used against DVD being in the PS2. Back then, DVD players cost more than most households could afford, and the DVD's capacity people said developers would never use (CD-ROM's capacity from the PS1 would be adequate). We now know that most developers have been able to utilize the DVD capacity and read speeds in the PS2 quite nicely. If MS believes that the X360 will be around for the next five years (2010) then I don't see why MS wouldn't include as a standard feature that developers can utilize for that period of time.
For a console that claims to be High Definition console it's funny that it doesn't actually play any HD movies or for that matter have a HD format for its games.
So what happens when MS brings out a HD-DVD version of the X360. Will we have four version. 1.) DVD core-system 2.) DVD/HDD Premimum system 3.) HD-DVD core system 4.) HDD/HD-DVD premium system?
The PlayStation 3 comes with an array of data storage and transfer features. Whereas the PlayStation 2 only supported a memory card and the optional hard drive attachment (for a brief time), the PlayStation 3 supports numerous forms of portable media. The PlayStation 3 has 6 USB 2.0 ports, a memory stick slot, an SD slot, and, in stark contrast to many of Sony's other consumer electronics products, the system actually supports compact flash. Sony even saved a space for a removable 2.5" hard drive.
Ethernet (RJ45), 6 USB 2.0, CF Slot (Type I, II), SD Slot (Regular, Compact), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, 1 x Optical Audio
To say the hike in the extra money that Europe pays for their system is due to VAT or sales tax in a weak one. Europe pays over a 20% premimum over the US for pretty much the exact same hardware. There is no state that has anywhere near a 20% sales tax, and if sales tax was such a big issue there are numerous online sites that you can purchace from to avoid sales tax.
Not to mention the original Xbox was lauched in the UK for £300 and then dropped to £199 a month later.
Also, to argue that XB360 is more expensive because its built in China/Taiwan is also ridiculous. Pretty much everything is built in China/Taiwan anyways. There is a well established infrastructure to bring goods from Asia to Europe efficiently.
People that buy the $300 version of the XB360 will need a memoery card since that version has no HDD and people will need to save games and logon to Xbox Live!.
Microsoft today announced the pricing of the Xbox 360 Memory Unit (64 MB)to be $40. So in reality people that buy even the base model will need to really spend $340 for the system. Since next-gen games are going to be released at $59.99, at the bare minimum the consumer will need to spend at least $400 to be able to enjoy the system. In reality the XB360 "value pack" only really cost $60 more.
Being that the Playstation 3 will allow users to use standard memory like SD/Compact Flash/MemoryStick (Sony has learned from their mistakes), I wish MS wouldn't lock consumers into their overpriced memory units.
Once again Europe pays more. 299EUR($369)/£209.99($377) for the base version and 299EUR($491)/£279($506) for the "Value pack".:
Source: Joystiq.com
Along with the announcement of $299 and $399 pricing levels for the Xbox 360 in the US, Microsoft has revealed European recommended retail prices for the two consoles and accessories. Not surprisingly us Europeans are getting shafted. Instead of £165/242 and £220/323 respectively (what US dudes will pay), EU prices are £209.99/299.99 and £279.99/399.99 for the basic and extra pack. That's £45/58 and £60/77 more! With such an inspired simulateous worldwide release day it'd have been nice if everyone paid the same price.
Along with announcing the console prices in Leipzig, Germany today, Microsoft revealed how much the accessories are gonna cost ya'. Here's a rundown:
Hard Drive (20 GB) - £69.99/99.99 (aren't there 120GB PC drives available for less than this?) Memory Unit (64 MB) - £22.99/34.99 Headset - £14.99/19.99 Wireless Controller - £32.99/34.99 Rechargeable battery pack - £9.99/14.99 (lasts for 25 hours of wires free power) Wireless Networking Adapter - £59.99/79.99 (eek!) Universal Media Remote - £19.99/29.99 SCART AV Cable - £17.99/24.99 VGA HD AV Cable - £19.99/29.99 (very useful if you have a PC screen)
So I'm assuming XBox backwards compatibility is out for the Xbox360 then (at least for the $299 version). You would need to spend an extra $100 to get that feature (even though a Xbox goes for around $149 these days).
I wish Microsoft was a little more upfront about all this. Instead of showing the wireless XB360 w/ HDD at E3, they could've showed a wired version too without a HDD. Since the original Xbox lauched for $299 with a HDD, people, such as myself, immeditely belived it would come with a HDD at that price-point. At E3 they made it sound like it would come standard, Sony was at least up front about this possibilty from the begining.
Slashdot Mirror
Here is an impressive "virtual mirror" demo using the Cell processor put on by Toshiba. Basically, using a video camera, it can make a 3D model of the person in front of a the camera on the fly. Then it can manipulate the 3D model to change make-up, hair-styles, etc, basically a virtual magic mirror. Really demonstrates the truly unique features these more powerful processors will offer.
e ll.mpg
1 013/109623/
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/lsi/images/toshiba_c
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/2005
Well Sony Pictures has a decent film library. They do have Colombia/Tristar/MGM under their belt.
The majority of the older films were not shot in HD, also for a technology demo the movie should have a lot of action scenes that would show off the format. Afterall, "Citizen Kane" would make a terrible technical demo. I remember in DVDs early days Sony used to demo "Fifth Element" as their showcase for the DVD.
Personally, I would think technically "Spiderman 2", "Hellboy","MIB2", or even "Stealth" would better showcase the format (granted half those movies also sucked too), but I don't know how good the source of those film is to convert to 1920 x 1080.
Wow, another Sony rootkit joke, laughs never stop here at Slashdot.
In most scientific application light is not the data that is being captured, hence there is no color. There are limitation of the resolving power of a light-microscope. In this case, some of the pictures are from electron-microscope, which are hundreds of thosands of times magnified, since electron microscope doesn't use to light it doesn't have color.
In fact, most powerful microscopes use a computer as an interface for viewing. The application also displayed artifically colored images to display information of the image, confocal and some fluorescence microscopes have digital images.
Sorry, I was typing pretty fast, and once you get in the habit of mistyping one name it pretty much sticks, I'm suprised I spelled "Matsushita" right
It's true that HD-DVD will come out in Japan at the end of this year, but Blu-ray has already launched in Japan quite awhile ago. So by that logic, first mover advantage is on Blu-ray's side. Also HD-DVD delayed the US release until next year.
But here's the problem, these first-gen players are incredibly expensive. If you saw the player it is massive(about the size of an LD player), and while the prices haven't been announced yet I'm assuming it will cost $500-1000. Consumers don't want to make that kind of investment for a machine that there is no movies for, and studios don't want to release movies for a system that has no consumers. The intial inertia is the conumdrum.
Blu-ray's trojan horse is of course the PS3. The majority of people aren't going to be buying the PS3 because of the Blu-ray player, but now studios have an instant consumer base to sell movies to. The likely hood is, as time goes by the PS3 isn't going to be that great a player (like the PS2 isn't that great a DVD player), but PS3 sales are projected to be 30 million in the first three years (it's from the Buisness week article in this topics link) and that gives the format the initial boost it needs to start off.
You clearly didn't read the article that this discussion is about. Since this very issue is addresed in detail and you are misinformed.
First off, Blu-ray itself allows for streaming between devices, what may not allow for it is the DRM that was put in place to get 20th Century Fox support of Blu-ray (Not "Sony's DRM"). The safeguards in question was developed for Fox by San Francisco's Cryptography Research.
As far as streaming between devices, it seems that decision on that hasn't been made up and it's to early to say either way:
Quote from article:
"Andy Parsons, a Blu-ray spokesman, says the Cryptography technology does not block content from being moved around a network, but the association has yet to finalize details of whether it will allow for managed copying of the disk as Microsoft demands."
Sony's track record is actually suprising good. They are responsible for two of the most popular format in history. The 3.5" floppy disk and the CD-ROM (which they worked on with Phillips). Also the Audio cassette of was made by Phillips but it was Sony who made it popular with the walkman and by convincing Phillips to license it for free. Blu-ray is another Sony/Phillips format.
If you look at the history of Format Wars you usually see the same players, Betamax(Sony) vs VHS(Matsushita), MemoryStick(Sony) vs SD(Matsushita/Toshiba/Sandisk), MMCD (Sony/Phillips/etc) vs Super Densisty Disk(Matsushita/Toshiba/etc), DVD-Audio(Toshiba/Matsushita) vs SACD(Sony/Phillips), Blu-ray(Sony/Phlllips/Matsushita/etc) vs HD-DVD(Toshiba etc).
No one company wins all the time, sometimes they both lose (like in SACD vs DVD-Audio), and sometimes an uneasy compromise is met (like in MMCD and Super Density Disk becoming DVDs), and sometimes they both kinda win(like in DVD-RW vs DVD+RW), but it always comes down to which tech giant, usually Japanese, you want to be paying royalities to.
Seems like the crucial difference between Google's efforts and the OCA(Open Content Alliance) is that Google has a "opt-out" policy for copyrighted material, while OCA specifically requires the copyright holder to contact them and essentially allow them to use the material.
The OCA likely won't be sued by the Writer's Guild like Google, however, for searching material Google will likely be better being that Google's search will likely include a massive plethora of copyrighted material, legal or not. Also, it seems that Google themselves will be allowed to use all the material from the OCA into their project as well.
The Sky is a pretty empty place, mostly blue during the day, sometimes with clouds. It's going to be very difficult to keep track of what is going on. Most sports, have markers, and visual cues that tell the audience of the position and events of each player. From looking at the concept pictures and reading the idea it seems that they will have a reletively complicated preset course that they will be flying in the air. I'm not sure how the spectator or the audience are suppose to follow the race, any tactics involving overtaking, technique, etc etc will be entirely lost.
Conceptually, it sounds incredibly exciting, but I'm scared that I will be watching a plane fly around against a blue backgroud for a couple of hours.
Seems two other parties want to put in their 2cents. Dell and HP fire back in wake of Microsoft and Intel's "inaccurate" HD-DVD claims.
7 45.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09/29/news_6134
Other than the 3.5" floppy disk, that other people mention, they are the pioneers of optical storage, with the collaboration of Phillips they introduced the CD-ROM. The popularity of the Audio cassette tape was also partly Sony's doing, while Phillips invented it, Sony convinced phillips to license it for free due to the popularity of the Walkman.
So in reality they are responsible for two of the most ubiquitous formats around, and they did have a hand in the DVD as well (DVD was a compromise between the MMCD & Superdensity disk). In reality, Sony(along with Phillips), have produced the most prevalent formats around.
"Proven capacity" is somewhat of a vague term being that HD-DVD hasn't shipped yet, and Blu-ray has only shipped in Japan. Being that now the HD-DVD is delayed till 2006, from the consumers standpoint, nothing has really been proven yet, and for either format it's too early to tell.
As far as costs are concerned, they only talk of manufactering costs which tend to stabilize over time. Certainly, initially, Blu-ray should cost a lot more than HD-DVD if it needs retooling, however once econmies of scale are established manufactering cost tend to plateau, hence while this is short term concern, but perhaps not a long-term one. What isn't talked about however is liceencing cost, the main issue in contention that caused the split was that currently you have to pay the 6C ~4%-10% of the sale price of DVD hardware(depending on the cost of the machine), something that HD-DVD retains, I'm not sure how either format fares but ultimely this will be a massive cost when initial players are expected to cost $500-$1,000(maybe much more than manufactering differences).
Engadget has a great article on this:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000623059130/
Also, the argument "Support for hybrid discs" is ridiculous. HD-DVD use "flippers" as hybrid disks. i.e. DVD on one-side and HD-DVD on the other (kinda like the old DVDs that had "widescreen" & "fullscreen"). JVC, has developed a Blu-ray disk that is a true hybrid, having a DL-DVD9 and a Blu-ray on one side.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/186/4
However, while MS/Intel are big names it seems irrelevant being that they don't actually have any products to market (and XB360 won't have HD-DVD standard; not even an option at this point, maybe a $500 system to fit above their "core" and "Premium" bundles). Only other impact that the deal seems to have is Media Center PCs, but 71% of MediaCenter PCs don't even come with a TV-tuners (which kinda makes the most important feature useless). Windows support can easily be cured w/drivers, and Dell and HP are Blu-ray supporters hence windows PCs from them will likely come with Blu-Ray. Seems to be more a PR-deal. Ultimetely it will be the Studios that decide the winner, and they will at the end choose the format that the consumers are buying.
http://www.mediacenterpcworld.com/news/502
What's with everybody bashing Sony for "propritary" formats. It seems rather hyprocritical being that the alternatives are also proprietary formats as well. VHS, SD, MP3, AAC, etc are all proprietary formats that require licencing fees and royalties just like Sony's formats. The only difference is that they mananged win their respective format wars, and losing format is usually then marked as "proprietary".
You should also remember that Sony did manage to create two of the most sucessful formats around. First the modern 3.5" floppy disk, and the CD-ROM (which they made with Phillips).
What you don't know?!?
Shimon Gendlin is a "Gold Oskar" winner!
http://www.compu-technics.com/pages/22/index.htm
Not to mention a "World Genius"!!!
http://www.compu-technics.com/pages/18/index.htm
I wouldn't trust The Inquirer regarding PS3 news.
G PU-Less-Powerful-than-GeForce-7800/
G PU-More-Powerful-than-GeForce-7800/
They were the ones who spread false PS3 news last week based on a message board post saying that the Nvidia 7800GTX was faster than the PS3's RSX. It turned out that the person on the message board misread PSM magazine and it really said the RSX is FASTER than the 7800GTX. I don't think that they do any fact checking. Likelyhood is that Sony manfacters the Blu-ray drives in house and it won't cost more than adding the DVD to the PS2 and they would likely be able to leverage economies of scale in the long run(which were very expensive at the time of the PS2 launch).
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25838
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25862
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/9126/PlayStation-3-
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/9132/PlayStation-3-
While Blu-ray association may provide this as a security option to the Studios to get them aboard the format. Since all this talk about self-destructive players and punishing pirates must be the MPAAs wet dream. However, its a support nightmare for the hardware manufacter. Most hardware manufacters don't directly profit from media content (other than the one's like Sony who own studios), most will likely forgo this feature or water it down due to the flood of technical support calls from enraged owners of their product. With the emergence of cheap Chinese and Taiwanese brands profits from hardware themselves is incredibly small, In reality, I doubt manufacters are willing to deal with potential law-suits, tech-support issues, and angry retailers that get returned players that people tried to hack.
I heard a rumor awhile back that the PS3 will be running a stripped down version of Linux, ...
.but a cool one.
According to Sony's Ken Kutaragi, his plan was to pre-install a version of linux onto each HDD unit that ships, so it will be recognized as a computer, rather than a mere console. A marketing ploy? Most likely. .
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=23878
Out of all the coverage that has gone on about the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle something that has been seriously overlooked is the what this fight is really about. Toshiba and Time Warner makes an incredible amount of money from DVD 6C and other Toshiba/Sanyo/Warner ownened patents, they get a kick back from every DVD and DVD player that hits the market becaue they are the main beneficiaries of the 6C patents. And they are trying to keep these patents in place for the next-generation of high-definition media.
Blu-ray is an effort to get around the 6C patents and Toshiba owned patents. When Sony and co. approached Toshiba/NEC/Warner in forming a unified format, one of the conditions that was put in place was to keep the 6C patents in place, and merely keep the software aspect of Blu-ray. This of course is why an agreement cannot be reached. Neither side has any reverance for the consumer.
Or, if you have a clue:
We aren't choosing Blu-ray because we don't particularly like the idea of paying our lead competition royalty patents.
There's no clear indication that Blu-ray will give Sony a "significant advantage" as you claim. Yes, Blu-ray has more storage, but it's not clear that any game is going to make use of anywhere close to even HD-DVD's "mere" 20GB+ storage capabilities in the near future.
If you remember back when the PS2 was originally released much of your arguments against Blu-ray were the exact same arguments used against DVD being in the PS2. Back then, DVD players cost more than most households could afford, and the DVD's capacity people said developers would never use (CD-ROM's capacity from the PS1 would be adequate). We now know that most developers have been able to utilize the DVD capacity and read speeds in the PS2 quite nicely. If MS believes that the X360 will be around for the next five years (2010) then I don't see why MS wouldn't include as a standard feature that developers can utilize for that period of time.
For a console that claims to be High Definition console it's funny that it doesn't actually play any HD movies or for that matter have a HD format for its games.
So what happens when MS brings out a HD-DVD version of the X360. Will we have four version. 1.) DVD core-system 2.) DVD/HDD Premimum system 3.) HD-DVD core system 4.) HDD/HD-DVD premium system?
Playstation 3 will allow users to use standard memory like SD/Compact Flash/MemoryStick (Sony has learned from their mistakes)
x
I doupt that very much.
They LOVE to sell peripherals, and there's plenty of time yet to change their minds and require an official memory card.
It's already been announced that Sony will come with standard memory slots:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3
# Memory Stick standard/Duo and standard/mini slots
# CompactFlash Type I and II slot
# SD slot
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1985-x-x-
The PlayStation 3 comes with an array of data storage and transfer features. Whereas the PlayStation 2 only supported a memory card and the optional hard drive attachment (for a brief time), the PlayStation 3 supports numerous forms of portable media. The PlayStation 3 has 6 USB 2.0 ports, a memory stick slot, an SD slot, and, in stark contrast to many of Sony's other consumer electronics products, the system actually supports compact flash. Sony even saved a space for a removable 2.5" hard drive.
Ethernet (RJ45), 6 USB 2.0, CF Slot (Type I, II), SD Slot (Regular, Compact), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, 1 x Optical Audio
To say the hike in the extra money that Europe pays for their system is due to VAT or sales tax in a weak one. Europe pays over a 20% premimum over the US for pretty much the exact same hardware. There is no state that has anywhere near a 20% sales tax, and if sales tax was such a big issue there are numerous online sites that you can purchace from to avoid sales tax.
Not to mention the original Xbox was lauched in the UK for £300 and then dropped to £199 a month later.
Also, to argue that XB360 is more expensive because its built in China/Taiwan is also ridiculous. Pretty much everything is built in China/Taiwan anyways. There is a well established infrastructure to bring goods from Asia to Europe efficiently.
People that buy the $300 version of the XB360 will need a memoery card since that version has no HDD and people will need to save games and logon to Xbox Live!.
Microsoft today announced the pricing of the Xbox 360 Memory Unit (64 MB)to be $40. So in reality people that buy even the base model will need to really spend $340 for the system. Since next-gen games are going to be released at $59.99, at the bare minimum the consumer will need to spend at least $400 to be able to enjoy the system. In reality the XB360 "value pack" only really cost $60 more.
Being that the Playstation 3 will allow users to use standard memory like SD/Compact Flash/MemoryStick (Sony has learned from their mistakes), I wish MS wouldn't lock consumers into their overpriced memory units.
Once again Europe pays more. 299EUR($369)/£209.99($377) for the base version and 299EUR($491)/£279($506) for the "Value pack".:
Source:
Joystiq.com
Along with the announcement of $299 and $399 pricing levels for the Xbox 360 in the US, Microsoft has revealed European recommended retail prices for the two consoles and accessories. Not surprisingly us Europeans are getting shafted. Instead of £165/242 and £220/323 respectively (what US dudes will pay), EU prices are £209.99/299.99 and £279.99/399.99 for the basic and extra pack. That's £45/58 and £60/77 more! With such an inspired simulateous worldwide release day it'd have been nice if everyone paid the same price.
Along with announcing the console prices in Leipzig, Germany today, Microsoft revealed how much the accessories are gonna cost ya'. Here's a rundown:
Hard Drive (20 GB) - £69.99/99.99 (aren't there 120GB PC drives available for less than this?)
Memory Unit (64 MB) - £22.99/34.99
Headset - £14.99/19.99
Wireless Controller - £32.99/34.99
Rechargeable battery pack - £9.99/14.99 (lasts for 25 hours of wires free power)
Wireless Networking Adapter - £59.99/79.99 (eek!)
Universal Media Remote - £19.99/29.99
SCART AV Cable - £17.99/24.99
VGA HD AV Cable - £19.99/29.99 (very useful if you have a PC screen)
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000173054784/
So I'm assuming XBox backwards compatibility is out for the Xbox360 then (at least for the $299 version). You would need to spend an extra $100 to get that feature (even though a Xbox goes for around $149 these days).
I wish Microsoft was a little more upfront about all this. Instead of showing the wireless XB360 w/ HDD at E3, they could've showed a wired version too without a HDD. Since the original Xbox lauched for $299 with a HDD, people, such as myself, immeditely belived it would come with a HDD at that price-point. At E3 they made it sound like it would come standard, Sony was at least up front about this possibilty from the begining.