206w ago - According to the Entertainment Merchant's Association 2008 Annual Report, the Home Entertainment Industry holds survey results showing 87% of PS3 owners reported they watch Blu-ray movies on their console... essentially concluding that the PS3 saved Blu-ray.

The study also found the average gamer to be 33-years old with 24% that are older than 50.

To quote: The EMA feels Blu-ray was the losing format in 2006, but thanks to the PS3, it rebounded in 2007 to become the de facto winner. Their prediction is the PS3 will be "the main force behind Blu-ray disc sales until 2009, when standalone Blu-ray players are expected to outpace the sales volume of the PS3."

We think this report raises a number of questions:

Is the PS3 really the driving force behind Blu-ray? Or is Blu-ray the driving force behind the PS3? Did Sony take too much of a gamble with a new format and didn't invest enough into the games? If so, will that improve now that Blu-ray has won?

210w ago - Those who are looking to legally back-up their Blu-ray discs will soon be able to do so, without having to resort to SlySoft AnyDVD of course.

To quote: It was announced today that beginning next year, consumers will be given the ability to make one copy of any Blu-ray disc they buy, a move being forced on studios and content holders by the Advanced Access Content System License Administrator, who went up to the studio owners and said "Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before AACSLA!"

Known as "managed copy," this requirement has been in the works for the Blu-ray format for quite awhile, but was just recently finalized. The order that managed copy be mandatory on Blu-ray discs means that virtually all BDs released after Q1 2010 will offer customers the ability to make a single full-resolution backup copy.

Don't start getting your pirated eBay accounts set up just yet though. Current-gen Blu-ray players don't have the ability to play managed copies, and ones that can aren't expected to hit the market until Q2 2010 at the earliest.

Additionally, content owners will be very much in control of the backup copies, and can elect to charge for the copy made and even offer or sell additional...

210w ago - While the much anticipated price drop announcement never actually came to fruition at this year's E3, PlayStation 3 holdouts still might want to keep watch for a new bundle arriving at their local Walmart sometime this year.

To quote: According to photos (via Joystiq) taken by a tipster working at the mega-retailer, you'll soon be able to pick up the 80GB model of the PS3, plus MLB 09 The Show and Quantum of Solace on Blu-ray for just $399.99 - the standard price for the console on its own.

There's no official word on the bundle from Sony at this point, and it's also unclear whether or not it's being planned for multiple retailers or as a Walmart exclusive.

The photos appear legit, though, and let's hope so; Quantum of Solace and MLB 09 would certainly put to shame the Talladega Nights Blu-ray pack-in that early PS3 adopters were subjected to.

213w ago - Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience is one of the first Blu-ray discs to offer a video game and movie in a single package (the special edition of Stranglehold on PS3 included a copy of Hard Boiled).

Not only will the package include the Director's Cut of the Watchmen film, it will also include The End is Nigh Parts 1 and 2. The two-disc set will feature exclusive artwork and packaging.

Press Release: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Announces a Hybrid Offering for PLAYSTATION 3: Game and Film in One Package - Watchmen: The End is Nigh, an Action-Packed Game, and Watchmen: Director's Cut

Episodic Street Brawler Based on 'Watchmen' Film Available in Multiple Formats for All Gamers

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced that the Watchmen: The End is Nigh videogame, based on the Watchmen film, will be offered in a retail Blu-Ray Hi-Def game and film hybrid, as well as additional retail and downloadable formats in North America. Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2, the second of two long-form, episodic action games will be released in conjunction with the Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD of the Watchmen: Director's Cut in July 2009.

Providing Watchmen fans with a variety of purchase options, the game will...

216w ago - The NY Times recently ran an article about a General Electric science and research team and their findings of storage capacity in the medium of holography.

This isn't particularly new news, given that holography has been around for ages. However, what it is new about these findings is that they can use holographic optical media to maintain data storage equivalent to 100 standard DVDs.

To quote: "This could be the next generation of low-cost storage," said Richard Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering, a technology research firm.

The light-pattern encoded medium, at the moment, is fairly expensive and will only be available for medical, marketing and research purposes. However, by 2011 the team is expecting mass-market breakthroughs that will see Holographic Optical Media being used as a standard-fare storage medium.

According to the article, "The recent breakthrough by the team, working at the G.E. lab in Niskayuna, N.Y., north of Albany, was a 200-fold increase in the reflective power of their holograms, putting them at the bottom range of light reflections readable by current Blu-ray machines."

So what does this mean? It means that...