Yeah. Steve Jobs said flat-out that 3G was on the way.

Congrats, Engadget...between this and the asinine "It's not a real smart phone" FUD column below this FUD column, I feel stupid for coming here for news and analysis.

You haters are funny. You don't have any clue what you are talking about, but you are funny.

How can Sony be copying this idea from MS and Nintendo, when they came up with the idea, and were the first to make it possible for user-created console content way back on the original Playstation, in 1997?

Ever heard of the Net Yaroze?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Yaroze

If anybody is copying anybody by making it possible for users to make their own content and share it over the internet, it sure as heck isn't Sony.

Learn your history kids.

pliepl:

You make me laugh. thedvdwar.com website is awful. Firstly, since it only uses data culled from Amazon, it only lists titles Amazon chooses to carry or list as a pre-order, and Amazon doesn't carry nearly everything that's available, nor do they list nearly everything that is "coming soon" as available for pre-order.

For example, Amazon doesn't carry the concert movie "Elvis Costello and the Imposters: Club Date - Live In Memphis" on Blu-ray, even though it is widely available elsewhere.

How do I know it's widely available? Well, I own it. In fact, the actual disc is laying in my lap as I type this. I bought my copy from Overstock.com.

Yet according to thedvdwars.com, this Blu-ray disc doesn't exist, because Amazon doesn't carry it.


Admitting that you prefer data from that site is not something to be proud of.


If you want a good listing from a non-biased source that is actually trying to get it right, go here:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/releasedates_historical.html

Even though they don't have every title on their list yet, (the title I mentioned above doesn't appear there either) IIRC, they currently list 108 Blu-ray titles.


Yet if you believe thedvdwars.com 20 of those Blu-ray titles simply don't exist.


Secondly, you say criticizing Engadget on their information seems rather pointless? That's silly. First off, when the information is wrong, I'd assume an ethical site like Engadget HD would appreciate correct information.

You may not care for correct information (which I assume is why you go to dvdwars,) but Engadget probably does.


>>"I�m sure you meant to say 2 months head start? Since late April and late June are approximately 2 months apart, not 3."


Nitpicking attempt notwithstanding, I was talking about hardware, and also giving HD DVD the benefit of the doubt, since one of HD DVD's touted "big advantages" was supposedly being first to market. If you choose to admit they totally dropped the ball and wasted all but two measly months of their lead time, I'll grant you that point, no problem.


>>"Considering the massive �support� Blu-ray has on both the studios front as well as the manufacturer front, I�m surprised they�ve been losing to HDDDVD these past 5 months."

I'm not. HD DVD has been much more aggressive. But they have to be. They were behind when they started, because it is basically Toshiba and Universal versus the entire rest of the CE world. They are the underdog. Blu-ray, with all it's overwhelming industry support, can more slowly roll out a launch. Momentum is the key for Blu-ray.

There is no question HD DVD has been more aggressive. The question is, have they been aggressive enough? I say no. They needed to be far more aggressive.

Why? They lost the main advantages they touted prior to launch. Their one-year head-start was reduced to three months (or what you say--two months) their much-ballyhood price advantage over Blu-ray hasn't materialized in retail movie prices ("Black Hawk Down" on 50GB Blu-ray is less than $20 on Amazon right now, and those 50GB discs were supposed to be so expensive...) nor has the touted cost advantage of hardware been a player (HD DVD was supposed to be half the cost of Blu-ray. Feature-for-feature player comparisons show this simply isn't the case.

For example: Toshiba's first 1080p-capable standalone player listed at $1000, just like a Blu-ray standalone player.

Another example: a base XBox 360 w/ HD DVD attachment is $500 total, PS3 with Blu-ray built in, is $500, and includes HDMI which the 360 does not)

So, HD DVD's main points--first to market (almost entirely wasted,) cost of movies (same cost as Blu-ray movies,) and half-price hardware (not even close,) are gone. That left HD DVD with only really aggressive moves to save it. What have they done? Not much more than the original plan they had when all those supposed advantages were still envisioned to be true.

They needed to be much, much more aggressive to make up for losing these key advantages-- release much more software, get some manufacturers and studios to switch sides. They failed. They've released a smattering of films more than Blu-ray, but no manufacturer has switched sides (in fact, the two biggest rumored manufacturers interested in hybrid players, LG and Samsung, have officially dropped those plans and are now fully behind Blu-ray) and no studios have switched either.

Meh. I can wait. I can wait. I can wait.

As an early-adopter of every past format's burners (CD-R, DVD-R, Dual-layer DVD) I need to keep repeating this to myself...

Seriously though, I have no desire to get a Blu-ray burner yet. I can easily wait for the price to drop.

Ed: I'll disagree with your statement that PQ and SQ are better on HD DVD. The Panny is the best HD player out there. Period. And Blu-ray content has gotten up to speed now.

Also, the reason you are going to be seeing so much more Blu-ray hardware is simply because so many more big manufacturers support the format.

Samsung and LG officially dropping (rumored) plans to support HD DVD or rather Hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD hardware two weeks ago pretty much ended all hopes from the HD DVD side that they could possibly catch up on hardware manufacturers' support.

"We can't say we are too surprised with studios like Fox not releasing that many titles."

Huh?

Not including this week's releases, Fox is currently scheduled to release 21 titles between now and Feb 13:

December 05, 2006
Bulletproof Monk (Fox)
Flight of the Phoenix (Fox)
From Hell (Fox)
Rising Sun (Fox)
Rocky (Fox)

December 12, 2006
The Devil Wears Prada (Fox)

December 26, 2006
Transporter 2 (Fox)

January 23, 2007
Alien vs. Predator (Fox)
Commando (Fox)
Courage Under Fire (Fox)
Men of Honor (Fox)

January 30, 2007
Flyboys (Fox)
Hart's War (Fox)

February 13, 2007
Broken Arrow (Fox)
Chain Reaction (Fox)
Entrapment (Fox)
The Marine (Fox)
Phone Booth (Fox)
Planet of the Apes (Fox)
The Sentinel (Fox)
The Usual Suspects (Fox)

That's just the titles that are confirmed at this point, and that averages out to 2 titles a week from Fox, which is pretty good.

Also, looking at a real-life wholesaler's stock list that is updated on the hour, my count doesn't match Engadget's. (All numbers are USA releases)

My count is 117 Blu-ray titles, including 105 feature films, 128 HD DVD titles, including 112 feature films.

Considering HD DVD has been out for 8 months, and Blu-ray for 5, some simple math would show that the pace is a little quicker for Blu-ray. I wouldn't be so sure that Blu-ray won't pass HD DVD by CES, as you seem to be, especially considering your strange numbers in this story.

Fact-checking is fun, Engadget.

With all due respect, you are crazy-late with this story, Engadget.

This story, from Oct. 9 (about a month and a half ago) was all over the net about this same topic.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061009/NLETTER09/61009029/-1/ZONES04

"Click" the first dual-layer Blu-ray movie produced at that factory, was in retail stores in early October as well.

This is nothing unique to PS3. All three new consoles will have upgradeable OS features, even Wii.

Since PS3's OS is Linux-based, it should be pretty damn secure, but I don't doubt there will be firmware hacks, ala the PSP.

Check out these videos of Resistance online. Ted Price shows off a ton of it's features.

He's a very good tour guide.

There are 6 videos total in this series. The first three are the most informative, the next three are more gameplay-oriented. Here's a link to the first three. For the rest, just select "more videos from this user"

Those interested in achievements, rankings, game modes, ranked play, clans, buddy lists, in-lobby and in-game voice (headset) and text communication, and all those bells and whistles should definitely check them out.

Video 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xKWvK0v3J0

Video 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHOkyzElbVw

Video 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1O4uZvBmW0

I like what I see so far. You can tell this guy played a lot of Halo.

After watching these videos, I'm pretty confident that PS3 online will be just fine.

Martin: I understand. No worries.

Unfortunately, Engadget and their sister site Joystiq seem a bit behind the curve when it comes to PS3 stuff.

I only posted this to help, not to make you look bad or anything. You can only work with the information you have available.

Here's a link to the second video in the series, which seemed a little harder to find due to the clunky way videos are organized on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHOkyzElbVw

The others are a little easier to find.

Martin Posted:

"All I'm doing is COMMENTING to the article. Which says that you can't talk in game or send messages. And I, being the opinionated, logical person that I am, came to the REMARKABLE conclusion that most people who play online might actually WANT to communicate with their teammates. "

Martin:

You are wrong. You can talk in lobbies and in-game. Either through voice via headset, or text via the controller or a bluetooth keyboard.

Check out Ted Price of Insomniac (makers of Resistance) doing exactly that, and mentioning the ability to voice chat via headset as well in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1O4uZvBmW0

If you'd like to inform yourself further, watch all the videos, starting with this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xKWvK0v3J0

Things like Medals, ribbons and military ranks, (which are Resistance's achievements) stats, ranked play, how matches are made and/or joined, including late-joining, options, ect. are discussed in detail.

There are 6 videos in this series. If you watch the first one, you will see links to all the rest.

As you will see in this video, Resistance has a very robust online component.