For techies who love the latest and best gadgets, it is the smartest decision Sony has made.


From a business point of view, not exactly.

I love my PS3 + have around 50 Blu-Ray movies for it, but from a purely gaming oriented PoV, putting the BD-Drive in the PS3 was very stupid, if only because of the incredible price it made the PS3 originally. It allows higher rez textures and no disc-swapping. Not a huge deal. I've never really had a problem with swapping discs, and most people probably can't tell the difference between the texture resolutions.

From an overall Sony PoV, it might be smart, if they can make enough off BD licensing to counter all the billions they've hemorrhaged on the PS3. That's the real reason they did it, not some crap about better gaming experiences.

How is this the reason PS3 will fail? PS3 is already beating xbox 360 in the console war. Compare the sales of Xbox 360 to PS3 for the first 2 years, and you'll see PS3 has sold more. Xbox has only sold more because its been out for 1 more year than PS3.

lmfao best post of the day

no HD-DVD is dead because Blu Ray players were selling faster than HD-DVD ones (thanks in large part to the PS3 sales) and alot better marketing and moneyhatting. and to top it off SONY paid $500 Million dollars to warner bros to inflict the fatal blow on HD-DVD.

You read my mind. Blu-Ray was really not needed. Sure games can look flashy, but did Xbox and GameCube games need a big disc to show off that they were more flashy than the PS2's? No, and your point exactly explains it. Using that, "uh, we want to push a new disc medium because it's teh future!" as a scape goat is exactly right. Kaz must be smoking something, as he's one of the worst people to have around and ask for advice. He probably got put into time-out as a child by his parents and teachers because he's a liar; and speaks through his own ass to address people with false information and empty promises. This is why people refer to him as Krazy Kaz. I hate him more than I hate stupid people; oh wait, what am I saying? He was the one who spewed all those quotes we make fun of him more about the PS3.

But seriously, Blu-Ray was not needed for the PS3. It all depends on the graphics card and the content (data and audio). I only like Blu-Ray if it's a neat movie (Planet Earth; that's the only Blu-Ray movie I own for my laptop), and that's about it.

/rant

And why do you think the studios went the way they did?  If there were 4 million HD DVD players and half a million blu ray players which format do you think they would have supported?  The reason why the studios went Blu Ray was cause thanks to PS3 there were tons more blu ray players than HD DVD players.

Sony was the undisputed leader of the 6th generation. Now, in the 7th, people have to say "Well, if you adjust for time on the market, the PS3 is a distant 2nd, and not a distant 3rd!". That is what Blu-ray did. It made the PS3 come out a year after the 360, and cost 600$, instead of 400$, or even 300$. If the PS3 had released within 3 months of the 360, and cost 400$ for the most expensive SKU, and then the Wii came out 9 months after that, the Wii and the PS3 would be in a fight to the death for 1st place, and the 360 would be a footnote in history. 

That is why people say 'The Blu-Ray made the PS3 fail'.

Whoever made that quote most certainly wasn't paying attention to Canadian politics in 1984.

"You had an option, sir. You could have said, 'I am not going to do it. This is wrong for the PlayStation 3, and I am not going to ask gamers to pay the price.' You had an option, sir — to say 'no' — and you chose to say 'yes' to the old attitudes and the old stories of Sony Corporation. That sir, if I may say respectfully, that is not good enough for gamers."

Sorry, couldn't resist. Wonder if any Canadians get what I'm referring to, heh.

From Sony's gaming division's perspective it was the worst move in their 15 year history. Without Blu ray they could have made the console $300 at launch the same time as the 360 and it would have dominated.

Say your back in 2005 and there was a $299 PS3 w/o blu ray available. Would you rather buy the successor to the best console ever, or the RRoD prone follow up to Microsoft's machine? I think you'd take the PS3.

But looking at it from Sony as an entire company, it could have been a good move. It depends how big Blu-ray becomes. If Blu ray ever becomes standard like DVD it would have been their best idea ever.