August 13, 2009

• - The next big turning point in the fight to get people to fully embrace Blu-ray over DVD is going to happen soon. Paramount studios is going to start releasing "select" movie titles on Blu-ray first, weeks ahead of it's DVD release. Of all the movies they are going to start this with, it's "Dance Flick" which comes out on September 8, but I digress. This is in fact the kind of step needed to push people to embrace the new format (short of just dropping DVD altogether), because quite honestly, A LOT of people still don't give a damn about upgrading. This action could be in reaction to how slow the adoption process has been. In fact, the results of a recent Harris Interactive survey revealed that 93 percent of Americans surveyed said they are not likely to buy a Blu-ray player within the next year. I know I've been vocal about taking that stance myself, and if it means just being more patient for the DVD release of a movie, so be it. I've still got several more years left in support of DVD, which only really started to hit it big a mere 7-8 years ago, and let's not get into downloading/streaming media... So while Blu-ray may indeed look great, it still does not look like a necessity just yet.
  * Paramount to Roll Out New Titles on Blu-ray Before DVD (link)
  * Poll : Blu-ray adoption is slow; big challenges ahead (link)

  - Speaking of competition, Guitar Hero is throwing the price value gauntlet at Rock Band, by offering a FREE copy of the upcoming Guitar Hero: Van Halen with the purchase of Guitar Hero 5. So two games for the price of one, it's definitely a no brainer right? The funny thing is that I'm actually contemplating why I even need a copy of GH5 in the first place. I could hear some of you saying it now, "but, but, but, it's FREE!" True, but considering the huge amount of songs that I've accumulated through Rock Band (400+ songs), do I really have a reason to have GH5 in my collection? I DO want to get GH: Van Halen though, but the fact that this is even a debate of action for me to take up their offer, is what Activision is worried about. Maybe I can just trade in GH5 for another game, and keep GH:VH.... yeah, that makes the most sense...
  * http://hub.guitarhero.com/vanhalengameoffer/

  - I just noticed it, but this upcoming weekend has some good movie releases. District 9, Ponyo, The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard, Paper Heart, Spread, and It Might Get Loud, all in one weekend. I usually hope for at least a minimum of one movie that I want to see, but this weekend alone I have SIX choices of movies that I want to see. Incredible. Sure half of those are in limited release, but they are still options, that just requires a little more driving. This isn't even counting the few other movies currently out that I still need to see. You know, I personally think that this summer, and this year overall has been pretty good in terms of movie releases so far. It's good to be a fan of the movies.

  • 5:25 pm
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