Here is a simple war analogy:

- Sony has these awesome, powerful tanks that can fly. They pack a serious punch, but are slow and expensive to produce (analogy to purchase rate & cost). The newest model drops some features & some miniguns (that were popular), but are a lot cheaper (i.e. no PS2).

They are fighting a war on TWO fronts:

- against MS & Ninty (consoles)

- Ninty have their lightweight jeep type vechicles. They are VERY cheap to produce, and they are deploying them as fast as they can make them. They pack a small punch, but have an innovative new control system that makes them very nimble - and hard to hit.

- MS have these huge, lumbering Russian type tanks. They are sort-of cheap to produce, a little hard to control, have been out for ages - and tend to malfunction a lot. However, they also have serious firepower (when you know how to use them). You can also purchase a special add-on, that gives it flight power (HD-DVD drive).

- the other war front is against Toshiba (HD disc players)

- Toshiba is releasing wave after wave of specialised fighter jets. They are almost as powerful as these Sony tanks that can fly (in terms of air performance anyway). Their cost has come down considerably, and they are beginning to specialise and release newer (and cheaper) models regularly.

If the Sony tanks get defeated (and become obsolete) on the ground, their usefulness in the air becomes dated very quickly. It is likely they would release a dedicated jet fighter to become more competitive.

If the Sony jets get defeated - the same would happen on the ground. Sony may opt to reintroduce an upgraded model of their old ground fighter (PS2) with some updated tech.

...

One of the problems Sony faces is they face THREE opponents. One that specialises in air combat - and TWO that specialise in ground combat. Its tough for them on the battlefield against three specialised opponents - with non-specialised hardware.

Who's leading the format war? blu ray. It's simple, really. If HD DVD fails to outsell blu ray during the holidays. Over. I don't care how much market share HD players have at the moment. If Transformers fails to push HD DVD ahead of any blu ray release, what will?

The question I'll ask to any of you, what will bring HD DVD back to make the competition closer against blu ray?

Which is exactly why the PSP beats the DS.... right?

(after all, how can 128MB-256MB carts compete with 5Gig of disc space? For less cost??) 

Cheaper hardware?

Give me the option to buy a HD-DVD player (even 1080i) for $99 - and I'll take it. In fact, I'll support which ever  format releases players for $99 first.  The formats are basically the same - I couldn't care less which "wins" (I probably don't care if neither win, and they tie!).

Is more space on a SINGLE disc is really that evolutionary or necessary at this time? Blue Dragon came on 3 DVD9's. You never have to go back to an older disc once you pass a certain point on the game. Would the experience be that much better if it were on one giant HD-DVD?

No.

And yes I understand that the industry moves forward, otherwise we would all just be loading 12 750mb CD-ROMS to play Halo3.

I think the point that is being missed is that, *this* console generation could very well do without a high capacity disc player. (Wii60 anyone?) Yes, BD is nice, its great, and its lovely tech, but if the PS3 launced a year ago with a standard DVD9 and a $399 price tag the charts on this site would look very very different. And yes MGS4 would probably need 5 DVD9's or whatever, but I dont think anyone would have given a f*ck.

@Shams

My gripe with your statement is that SONY didn't get greedy, Toshiba did, Sony and the BDA originally founded the blue laser diodes, HD-DVD was originally working on a more consentrated Red laser that would have taken original DVD's and put out 720p signal, they later scrapped the idea and went with the blue laser. Now if Toshiba didn't attempt to make there own format Sony woulden't be in the boat you put them in at the moment.

 Oh and by the way yes, I do find that PSP titles offer me more for my money than DS titles.

Cheaper Hardware? How about software to play on that cheaper hardware? Im not saying that HD DVD has bad titles, but studio support clearly favors blu ray. However, if HD DVD can get one more studio to go exclusive, then maybe this small battle can turn into a long lasting war.

But remember, HD DVD nemisis is BOTH the PS3 and blu ray players.

The bolded comments show you really didn't read mine, as I clearly meant effort on the developer's part, not on the consumer's.

1/ Well done to Toshiba then. They saw an obvious flaw with Sony's business model, took advantage of it - and are now in with a real chance of winning the HD wars. At the very least, I suspect they are making a heap of money from HD-DVD. 

Sony's flaw then, was trying to use the PS3 to push BluRay sales/adoption. They should have focused/released cheap-ass BluRay players (aka Toshiba) - even if that meant undercutting the PS3 business. Again, this is the core flaw in their "all or nothing" business model approach. I think they will be forced to release cheap BluRay players soon - they just can't afford to cut the price of PS3s AGAIN so soon.

2/ Good for you. The majority of the market disagrees with you - and for me, the core ADVANTAGE of the DS is that it doesn't use discs. If Sony want any chance with the PSPII - they NEED to drop discs completely. (why? In another thread I posted 10 advantages that the DS gets over the PSP - thanks to using carts vrs discs)

 JOOC (just out of Curiosity), which thread?