Sony creating Blu-ray/video game hybrid disc

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12 Feb 09 04:16 by Randomus in category Uncategorized To news archive

Sony plans to create a new hybrid disc that will put Blu-ray movies and PlayStation 3 video games on the same disc for consumers to purchase.

"We are actively pushing, and the way that we see the future is that the movie and the game are placed on the same disc," Sony Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller told Video Business  "There are a lot of developers who say, we have this game based on a movie, wouldn’t it be great to marry these concepts?  We will definitely see this stuff this year."

There has been growing interest by developers working on video games to have cinematic tie-ins, Sony reports. The Japanese electronics giant has not yet publicly announced any partnerships, though it should be interesting to see which movie studios and video game designers hop on board.

Despite the fact that PS3 video games take up significantly more space than Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii games, PS3s have trailed in overall console sales almost from the start.  Sony hopes to boost sales of consoles, video games and movies using these hybrid products.

"We are always looking for market opportunities," Koller said.  "We are comfortable with the price point we are at today, but we are always looking at the market."

Exact details about the new discs remain unknown, except Sony is interested in putting an entire Blu-ray movie on the same disc as a PS3 video game.  It is possible consumers will be able to purchase these hybrid discs before the end of 2009.

6 Comments

guest
Posts: 15288
Posted on: 12 Feb 09 19:17
If the movie comes 'free' on the game disk, so the price is still $60 for the game - then I'm all for it... but if it makes the game more expensive, and the user cannot buy a version with *just* the game content - then there's no way I'd be interested... also, most movie games don't end up being very good, even when the movie was pretty great... so I'm not about to spend $60 on a movie, just to get a bad game along with it...

There's potential with this idea, but it's *very* price dependant, and quality dependant... slapping those two things together won't inherently make much difference in sales, or in perceived value.
vikampion
Posts: 160
Posted on: 12 Feb 09 19:28
I agree with Jack here. Knowing Sony though, I doubt they will be keen on being price concious. Just look at UMD. Really good concept, would have taken off had movies been $5. But, they did quite the opposite...prices were roughly $25.

It makes sense to compare UMD to these Hybrid Blu-rays, because, presumably, you would need a PS3 to play these hybrids. I'm sure they could make it so the movie can play on any Blu-ray player, but who wants to buy this disc to not play the game part.
ivid
Posts: 386
Posted on: 12 Feb 09 19:55
Lame, its tied to PS3. So it will fail.
guest
Posts: 15288
Posted on: 12 Feb 09 21:24
This is a very interesting proposition by Sony. I agree with the initial post that the success is "price dependant and quality dependant". I would like to see the hybrid disc if it comes to fruition to encompass anime as well. I would like a hybrid Blu-Ray disc of Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil Degeneration. I think it is fair to assume that there will be a price premium for the hybrid Blu-Ray disc potentially a cost of $75 as opposed to the $60.00 cost of a PS3 game.
Crabbyappleton
Posts: 5756
Posted on: 12 Feb 09 21:54
Considering Sony is behind it and it will have DRM out the yin-yang...Do we know just how hard these new hybrid discs will suck yet?
guest
Posts: 15288
Posted on: 16 Feb 09 02:45
REALLY?!?!
a hybrid blu-ray disc will have DRM ON IT?!?!?

so you mean ps3 games that already have drm on them, and blu-ray movies that have drm on them, when they're put together, will still have DRM!?!?!? i thought DRM + DRM = NO DRM.. but, i guess not.

.. congrats on your brilliant deduction inspector retardo..

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