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

There is a Mutant Storm brewing, Doritos brings XBLA snacks and the Wii shows up forgetting beer and a HDD - Welcome to the column that shows up early and then stays way too late (and doesn’t clean up) known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to the spooktacular edition of Dare to Play the Game (no you probably won’t find any other Halloween related material but it will be spooooky). No, I didn’t finish Halo 3 (stuck halfway thru stage 8 ) and I didn’t even start Half Life 2 Orange. I’m a very sad panda. We (my girlfriend and me) are hopelessly addicted to Puzzle Quest. My girlfriend is nearing level 25 with her character and I’m around 15. However, I have to admit I like my wizard very very much. Fireball and Hands of Power are a deadly combo. I was able to finish my PQ review naturally. I also finished a couple of dvd reviews (The Lair - Season One and The Reaping) and have three more on tap (The Tripper, Red Road, and Poltergeist 25th Anniversary). I also went out and bought Guitar Hero 3 Wireless Bundle for the 360. *keep telling yourself, I will get to Half Life 2 Orange*

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From AP(source),

Sony Corp. on Thursday cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console in the U.S. and announced an even cheaper model that will arrive before the holiday shopping season.

Starting November 2nd, Sony will be selling a new 40 gig PS3. This newer model features a upgradeable 40 GIG HDD. However, This new model is now missing backwards compatibility with PS2 titles, memory card readers and 2 USB ports(leaving 2 ports remaining).

Sony also announced that their latest model featuring a 80 GIG HDD has been immediately dropped to the MSRP of $499.  

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.