218w ago - In February, analyst Mike Hickey indicated a PlayStation 3 price drop would hit near the end of the month. Didn't happen. He also passed on speculation that Sony would drop the PS3's Blu-ray drive.

Wait. What? Drop the thing that makes the entirety of the PlayStation 3's physical game library playable? That's what he said. See?

"We are also hearing continued speculation that Sony is working on a non-Blu-ray PS3 console, which could enable them to make the aforementioned hardware price reduction," Hickey wrote in a note to investors last month.

Sony says there's no way that's going to happen.

"That would pretty much destroy the PS3's backbone, our games were built on Blu-ray," Sony marketing manager Kim Nguyen tells Business Insider. "Quote that: Blu-ray will always be part of PS3."

Glad we got that sorted out. Also, duh!

220w ago - Yesterday we profiled a Watchmen: The End is Nigh interview, and today we received word that the Watchmen Complete Motion Comics are now available on both Blu-ray and DVD Disc as follows:

The entire Watchmen Graphics Novel Comes to Life - Watched any great books lately? Now you can.

The most celebrated graphic novel of all time that broke the conventional mold continues to break new ground. Watchmen co-creator and illustrator Dave Gibbons oversees this digital version of the graphic novel that adds limited motion, voice and sound to the book's striking drawn panels.

All 12 chapters of the story are here - over 5 hours spanning everything from the mysterious demise of the Comedian to the crisscrossed destinies of loosely allied superheroes to their fateful impact on the world. Be in the know. Be watching. With Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic.

To unlock clips of the film, please test your Watchmen trivia knowledge at www.WMCDVD.com.

220w ago - A Wall Street analyst reports that a price reduction for the PlayStation 3 will happen "in the next couple days."

Mike Hickey with investment-banking firm Janco Partners told investors on Wednesday that he expects Sony will drop the price of the console to respond to sluggish hardware sales. To quote:

"Recent channel checks indicate increased speculation for a PS3 price cut announcement from Sony in the next couple of days," Hickey wrote.

Currently the PS3 is the most expensive of the three "next-gen" consoles on the market. The Playstation 3 with an 80 GB hard drive runs $399, while the 160 GB model is priced at $499. By comparison, the most expensive Xbox 360, which includes a 120 GB hard drive, retails at $399 and the economically priced Wii, when it can be found on shelves, sells for $249.

While many Playstation fans argue that the PS3 more than makes up the price difference with its Blu-ray drive, with the economy as it is, consumers are looking harder than ever at the PS3's spendy price tag.

In fact, Hickey believes the PS3's price would have to drop by at least $100 to make a big difference in Sony's sales numbers.

"We think the company needs to reduce the current price by USD 100 to effectively restart unit velocity at retail. We believe...

221w ago - According to Futuresource Consulting, it appears Blu-ray may be ready to hit the mainstream. The increasing number of HDTV owners, coupled with lower prices on Blu-ray players, should fuel interest in the HD movie format.

To quote: "In the USA, Blu-ray has moved from early adopter phase through to early majority, with the format gaining real traction in the marketplace," said Mai Hoang, senior market analyst at Futuresource.

According to Hoang, Blu-ray sales in America reached 24 million units in 2008. The analyst predicts the American market will eat 80 million discs this year. The rest will be represented by Japan, the UK and the rest of Europe.

Jim Bottoms, managing director at Futuresource, thinks Blu-ray adoption will finally get majority share of home video sales in just a few more years. "By 2012, around 50 per cent of US and 35 per cent of Western European video disc retail sale volumes will be Blu-ray."

223w ago - Sony's John Koller has confirmed that hybrid Blu-ray discs that contain both a PS3 game and movie are on the cards.

Koller noted there are a lot of developers who say they have a game based on a particular movie and would love to fit them together.

Apparently, we should see these hybrid discs coming out this year... to quote:

The details of the hybrid PS3 game/movie product are still being finalized, but the idea is that a PS3 videogame disc would also provide access to an entire feature film.

Plus, consumers would be able to transfer the film for view on the PlayStation Portable, similar to the way Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's digital copies can be transferred to the PSP.

"We are actively pushing, and the way that we see the future is that the movie and the game are placed on the same disc," said John Koller, director of hardware marketing for the PS3.

"There are a lot of developers who say, we have this game based on a movie, wouldn't it be great to marry these concepts? We will definitely see this stuff this year."