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LucasArts putting on the halter, Wii wanting to go steady with HDD, and Blu-Ray & Xbox 360 tying the knot? - Welcome to the column that got married once but forgot to read the fine print about descending into the pits of hell known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. So at some point last week, you were probably wondering where the heck is your favorite video game columnist. The truth is I don’t know where Adam Sessler is and he won’t return my messages (something about me and Morgan sitting in a tree). As for me, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada. Internet for tourists in Las Vegas, NV sucks. Why is that? Because they charge, $13.99 a freaking day. My conference did have it for free, but it moved like a 300 baud modem. (For the kids at home, that is like your dad asking you to walk to the liquor store on the other side of the county line and back with a bottle of JD stopping for every hobo that asks for a sip)

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Today Sony’s CEO made some intriguing statements:

We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides

“It doesn’t mean as much as all that,” Stringer said. He added that he believed there was an opportunity of uniting the two camps under one format before he became CEO, and he wishes he could travel back in time to make that happen.

The battle rages on in our hearts and our wallets.

source: Forbes.com

The Simpsons announcement has dropped: December 18th is the day! Coming out on Blu-ray and DVD, both single disc releases:

• DVD: $29.98 U.S. / $43.48 Canada
• Blu-ray: $39.98 U.S. / $49.98 Canada

The DVD Release

“The Simpsons Movie DVD is presented in North America in widescreen format, featuring English Dolby Surround 5.1 sound, Spanish and French Dolby Surround and English and Spanish subtitles.”

Extras Galore:

• Commentary by, James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, David Silverman, Dan Castellaneta, and joined by Yeardley Smith
• Directors Commentary by David Silverman, Mike B. Anderson, Steven Dean Moore and Rich Moore
• Deleted scenes: Russ Cargill - “Levels,” Springfield News, DMV, Sausage Truck, Emperor Moe, Alternate Ending
• Special Stuff: Homer’s Monologue On The Tonight Show, The Simpsons Judge American Idol, Homer Introduces American Idol, Let’s All Go To The Lobby, Alternate Character Designs by the Directors and Matt Groening

The Blu-ray Release

“The Simpsons Movie BD release will be authored in BD-Java with AVC (MPEG 4 compression) on a dual-layer 50 GB disc with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio plus English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. The disc will feature all of the above special features in high-def.”

I’m not seeing any cover art on the press site yet, but stay tuned. In the meantime, looks like a strong (though expensive!) release.

Venturer Electronics, maker of oddball, low cost consumer electronics, is getting into the HD game - releasing the SHD7000 in time for the holidays. All the basic specs you’d expect are there: 1080i, HDMI, etc.

Featuring 1080i video output and an HDMI connection, the SHD7000 is designed to be compatible with the vast majority of HDTVs already in North American consumers’ homes. With Ethernet connectivity to the network , the SHD7000 also allows users to access bonus features from movie studio web servers and unlock special prerecorded content on some HD DVD discs. Dolby TrueHD rounds out the high definition experience by presenting the HD DVD disc soundtrack as it was meant to be heard, virtually equal to the studio master. In addition to its HD DVD playback capability, the SHD7000 will upconvert standard DVDs to near HD picture quality via its HDMI connection, allowing a consumer’s existing library of DVDs to look better than ever. [from VE]

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Yeah. Of all the portents of HD DVD’s coming demise, this one - citing the Japanese porn industry’s technology decision - is the least savory, though SFW on PC World. Thanks for the creepy cover art, Crunchgear.

Sony Corp. has started offering more technical support to the adult film industry in Japan, movie makers said at the Adult Treasure Expo 2007 in Chiba, Japan, and the problem of finding companies to mass produce their movies appears to be over.

It’s an important step for Blu-ray Disc. HD DVD has already won over the U.S. adult film industry through its lower costs and ease-of-use. People in the industry say they’ve received plenty of help from backers of the format, including Microsoft Corp. and Toshiba Corp. [from PC World]

Hmmmm. Back in the VHS/Beta days, the porn industry was cited as a major turning point in that format battle. I wonder though, to what degree that is still a factor. Do porn aficionados really crave the “Look and Sound of Perfection?” Or does DVD provide all the detail required? Further, what portion of pornography is consumed on disc formats vs. internet downloads now?

Also, between VHS and DVD, there has been a huge shift in mainstream consumer purchasing patterns, with DVD collections driving disc sales in a way that VHS collections never did. IMHO, this change will weight the success factors of this format war in favour of the mainstream over the porn market.

I really have no idea about any of these questions, but I’m willing to hazard a guess that the harbingers of HD DVD’s doom are jumping the gun here and that porn will play a secondary role to mainstream consumption this time around.

Via Techmeme this AM: Target to go Blu-ray only for players.

• BGR calls it a death blow to HD DVD, citing BlockBuster’s move, and $500 Sony Blu-ray players as contributing factors.
• Joystiq advises gamers to skip Microsoft’s crazy XBOX360 HD DVD player + 5 discs deal.
• DailyTech points out how bizarre and contradictory Target’s PR is on this - hello Target? Only selling players in one format is restricting choice no matter how you cut it.
• NewTeeVee rightly points out that the format war is stupid and no-one cares anyway.

My take? Upscaling DVD is carrying me until widely available broadband downloads make “formats” pointless. That being said, certainly HD DVD looks to be on the ropes, with “free disc” ploys being a sign of desperation, and Blu-ray actively locking down channel partners. I’m willing to bet that Blu-ray will take this battle and keep Sony solvent for a few more years.