100$ HD-DVD Players

[rocketpig]

Dodece said:
The reason there is a format war is that the new formats are not open formats. They are proprietary formats fronted by their respective developers. This will always generate conflict. Competitors are not going to just exceed to domination. Microsoft is not going to make it easy on a rival. Thats like being in a war, and handing the enemy soldier your gun.

I am sometimes shocked how BluRay supporters are inherently blind to this most basic tenet of capitalism. Microsoft does not want to end up licensing media from Sony paying for hardware licensing, medium licensing, and production. Sony will just use that money to make more games to force Microsoft out of the market.

The reality is that the problem with BluRay is that its being brought to the market by Sony. Were it some small company that did not make game systems, produce motion pictures, or was a major player in the electronics market. Perhaps early on the market could have gotten behind it as a unified front. However Sony has too many enemies, and the profit to be had by them is too significant.

Even so Sony could have salvaged the situation if they had simply given up all that control they have balled up in their hands. They could have dropped their licensing fees, or they could have sold off the manufacturing facilities. Perhaps they could have made compromises on the format that many in the industry wanted. Instead they clung on like mad men, and the competition is not going to roll over for them.

The format war at its very heart is about conflicting interests, and there is no room for compromise here. Your definitely not going to shame the likes of Microsoft into supporting BluRay. I was however shocked that Sony begged Microsoft to support their format. I could only think that was brilliant public relations at the time. Though the words are hollow until Sony makes a concession of some form to Microsoft.

 If you stopped to think about your argument, you would realize that Microsoft doesn't give a shit about the format war. They are wholeheartedly in the DLC camp.

I really wish people would stop confusing corporations.