198w ago - Japanese site TV-Tokyo.co.jp reported on the progress of China Blue High Definition (CBHD is a China-grown competitor to Blu-ray) in the China market, with CBHD penetration hitting a staggering 30 percent in only a few months on the market.

To quote: "TV Tokyo visited Gome, a major retail chain in China, where CBHD discs and players were flying off the shelf, while Blu-ray players and discs languished. They also visited a factory for one of the largest CBHD manufacturers.

Sources in these companies tell TV Tokyo that, in the China market, CBHD already constitutes some 30 percent of all disc players sold, while Blu-ray accounts for 10 percent, similar to its penetration in the USA. DVD is responsible for the remaining 60 percent.

That China has achieved 30 percent CBHD penetration, the sources say, reflects the strength of the format, as well as the determination of a nationalistic Chinese government and industry seeking to avoid foreign licensing fees on DVD and BD technology and make a greater profit on domestic sales."

CBHD players are currently more expensive than DVD players (almost $300), but the retail discs are cheap at roughly $7.40 US, while Blu-ray discs cost $29.60 US.

226w ago - Last year, retail video games outsold DVD and Blu-ray discs worldwide for the first time, according to a 2008 report and 2009 forecast by Media Control GfK International.

Video game sales were up to 53 percent of the media market in 2008, thanks in no small part to Nintendo's Wii, which drove software sales up by 20 percent from 2007. GfK predicts that video games will take 59 percent of the market by the end of 2009.

In Italy and Spain, video games already reign in the home entertainment war, constituting for 67 percent of the market.

Meanwhile, DVD sales dropped by 4 percent, bringing overall DVD and Blu-ray sales down 6 percent from the previous year. The U.S. market played a major roll, with sales for these movie formats dropping by 8 percent.

All told, video game sales reached $32 billion and movie sales came out to $29 billion for DVD and Blu-ray. It should be noted that rentals are not included in the report.

GfK's findings weren't without precedent. Earlier this year, Verdict research predicted video game sales would be up 42 percent in the UK, and would surpass music, DVD, and Blu Ray disc sales.

Although they were almost correct, Steve Redmond of the Entertainment Retailer's...

240w ago - September marked the Xbox 360's best month of 2008, in terms of sales in the U.S -- its performance in Japan hasn't been too bad either.

Following a price cut that made the 360 the least expensive current generation console on the market, the company moved 347,200 units to American consumers. While it wasn't enough to supplant the Wii as the best selling console in the country, it was enough to beat the competition from Sony.

Kotaku spoke to Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, just after NPD sales numbers hit to get his take. Unsurprisingly, he seemed rather pleased with the company's recent hardware successes.

"We expect to continue our price advantage over the PlayStation 3 for a long time," Greenberg told us, pointing to the $199 price tag of the company's entry level Arcade console, assuming that Sony would issue no pre-holiday price drops. "And we feel confident that we'll outsell the PS3 this holiday season in North America and in Europe. We'll do it on a global scale."

As for what those consumers are picking up, Greenberg said "We've seen lifts across all consoles, but the Arcade is doing exceptionally well."

Microsoft touted a 42% increase, month to month, on NPD hardware sales data. Greenberg made sure to point out that the August...