BLU STATE

July 22, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Amazon.com is the latest retailer that seems to be driving home home the symbiotic relationship between PS3 gaming and Blu-ray viewing. In a Blu-ray consumer email I received today, Amazon.com was highlighting both upcoming Blu-ray movies and upcoming PS3 games. 
Makes sense to me. I almost wonder why we don't see more marketing tying a PS3 game with a like-minded Blu-ray movie. Amazon.com's featured film and game titles seem at the least guy-oriented. For films, the site was singling out the upcoming releases of Stargate: Continuum, Dark City (the Director's Cut), The Hunt For Red October and Rolling Stones doc Shine a Light. 
Listed upcoming games were Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, Madden NFL 09, Soul Calibur IV and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. 
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July 16, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Sony executives are being quoted out of E3 that they will be phasing out the 40 GB PS3, in favor of solely supporting its 80 GB model. Starting in September, Sony will launch a $399 80 GB PS3, representing about a significant price drop from its earlier tag.
According to this Seattle newspaper blog, Sony senior VP Peter Dille said the company wanted to make PS3 a simpler purchase for consumers. And at the $399 price, matching the smaller-capacity 40 GB tag, the 80 GB should represent a good deal for people.
But those hoping Sony would eventually discount the littler 40 GB PS3, to coincide with a $399 80 GB PS3 seem to be out of luck. Also to the dismay of some, the new $399 80 GB version, will not feature backwards compatibility with Playstation 2 games. That matches the capabilties of the c...Read More

July 16, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

A little sarcasm there - but I think these new Blu-ray set-tops will have to start dipping more towards the $250-200 mark before people start really noticing.  True, Best Buy's $329 Insignia, down from $349 in June, is one of the cheapest latest generation set-tops available at retail. The only one lower is Wal-Mart's $298 Magnavox, which is in fact holding the same Funai-built machinery as the Insignia.
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July 15, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

If you are like a lot of guys, this question is stupid. Naked girls, of course! Well, this proved to be somewhat of a problem for the 'Blu-ray Lounge,' presented by Playstation and the Digital Entertainment Group party Monday night at the legendary Playboy Mansion.
The main theme of the party, tied into the ESPY sports awards, was to offer party-goers a chance to play poker with professional athletes while mingling with Playboy bunny types. 
Many women attendees were literally naked, wearing only body paint which barely hid their private parts. Playstation and DEG, rightly so, saw this as a fabulous opportunity to plug Blu-ray content at a high-profile media event. It looks like a big goal was to facilitate the press getting footage of famous guests, such as Jose Canseco, playing Playstation 3 or watching Blu-ray films. Various PS3s high-def...Read More

Industries: High-Def

July 11, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Blu-ray fans became excited about the possibility of a 400 GB Blu-ray disc, as word came out that Pioneer was developing technology that would support that immense sized capacity. 
But according to Pioneer's Andy Parsons, this 400 GB creation is not meant to be a new fangled Blu-ray disc, which currently tops out at 50 GB. He tells me that this is a 16-layer technology that would help to refine Blu-ray hardware playback.
In Parsons words, "It's a proprietary sixteen layer disc with new technology that make it easier for a playback device to see each individual 25 GB layer by rejecting 'crosstalk' from adjacent layers. They are just leveraging Blu-ray optical components, which would mean that any player that would play these new type of discs would also be able to easily p...Read More