Are Sony and Blockbuster looking to form an alliance to bring Blockbuster's streaming video offer to the PlayStation 3? We'll know by 'early next year' says Blockbuster Video.
Sony and Blockbuster have some history together already. You may recall that Blockbuster was one of the first retailers in North America that they were going to be supporting Blu-ray on a much bigger scale than HD DVD. That announcement really got the ball rolling in Blu-ray's favor at the time.
Fast forward a year and we have Netflix signing streaming deals with every manufacturer they can find including an exclusive game console deal with Microsoft. Netflix has signed deals with TiVo Inc, Samsung, LG Electronics.
Now comes word from Blockbuster that, in the wake of their launch of Blockbuster OnDemand, they are actively seeking a partnership with Blu-ray player manufacturers. With Samsung and LG already in Netflix's corner, could this lead Blockbuster to seek out Sony as a... More »
A week ago,“An Evening With Kevin Smith 2″ through the Netflix streaming service on my Xbox 360 but didn’t finish. Now, I can’t watch the rest.
Joystiq broke word this evening that Netflix stopped Xbox 360 users from streaming movies distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
This restriction only applies to Xbox 360 users. PC, Mac and other Netflix-enabled on-demand devices can still stream Sony Pictures Entertainment films, and is not a glitch.
“In the case of Xbox 360, a few hundred titles are temporarily unavailable to be streamed via the Xbox game console,” Netflix VP of corporate communications Steve Swasey told MTV Multiplayer in an e-mailed statement tonight.
“Those titles are still available to be watched on subscribers’ computers and on TVs via other partner devices, and we hope they’ll be licensed for Xbox 3... More »
The infamous Xbox 360 "red ring of death" (indicating a failed unit) has caused Microsoft - and its customers - untold pain in the three years since the console's launch in 2005, and cost it $1.15bn (£738m) last year.
Microsoft has never said publicly why the console was plagued with faults: it seems that poor production quality was at the heart of the failures - an all-round problem with no single cause except impatience on the company's part as it tried to become the leader in videogame consoles.
It was an ambitious attack. Microsoft's engineers started working on the Xbox 360 at least a year after Sony's engineers began work on the PlayStation 3, yet wound up shipping a year earlier. With the first Xbox, the company lost $3.7bn (£2.3bn) over four years, mostly because costs of the box - particularly its hard drive - were too high.
Bill Gates didn't really care about the losses; that was simply the ante for getting into an exciting ne... More »
Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer bristles every time he gets the question: Why can't the Japanese electronics giant be more like Apple?
The maker of the iPod, iPhone, and Mac computers consistently delivers supercool gadgets that are easy to use, while Sony sells music players, TVs, and cameras that get mixed reviews and often don't even work well with other Sony (SNE) products.
"Sony is a very big company," Stringer says by way of explanation. "Our toughest competitors are niche organizations."
Stringer is quick to admit, though, that Sony may face a troubled future if it can't rival Apple (AAPL) in creating simple software that makes its gadgets fun and in giving consumers easy access to music and videos.
Apple's iTunes store has long made filling iPods a cinch, but Sony's consumer electronics and PlayStation divisions have only recently started to integrate their offerings with those of the company's movie studio and... More »
We knew Japan was warming up to Blu-ray, but apparently those tepid desires have morphed into infernos of passion.
According to new statistics loosed by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), Blu-ray Disc recorder / player shipments hit a level of 138,000, or around 107 times more than the shipments posted a year ago.
Moreover, those shipments accounted for 31% of "overall shipments of DVD equipment on a volume basis."
Unsurprisingly, BD equipment -- coupled with flat-panel TVs -- were the two biggest drivers of consumer electronics shipments in Japan this year, with visual equipment shipments rising 8.2% year-over-year.
Blu-ray and HDTV: a match made in heaven. Or Tokyo.
Sony is in deep trouble. The company has been forced to slash its earnings forecast by 57 percent amid deteriorating economic conditions and its inability to compete more effectively in markets throughout the world.
Of course, Sony will still post a profit--most analysts claim that it'll be about $500 million--but the downturn speaks to Sony's issues and the fact that this once-dominant company has been downgraded to an also-ran in the industry.
Remember the days of Sony dominance? It was a time when the Walkman was on the minds of tech lovers around the world and the PlayStation moniker was held in the highest regard. Sony TVs were everywhere, and the company's ability to capitalize on any market was truly astounding.
But since then, Sony has lost its way. It's no longer a company that can rely on its name to beat other companies to a pulp, and with more competitors realizing how to beat Sony, it has quickly become irrelevant in many markets.
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Product Manager Ed Loonam shared the following update via PS Blog for MotorStorm fans today:
One week to go until the launch of MotorStorm Pacific Rift. Hopefully you’ve been getting some good information on the game from Nigel and the team from Evolution Studios in their weekly MotorStorm Monday posts.
If you haven’t seen it yet, please keep your eyes out for the recently completed commercial of MotorStorm Pacific Rift. In an effort to introduce the new, remote island location, there were a few real-life Stormers who strapped into their atvs, bikes, buggys and trucks and jumped from a C-130 Hercules at 10,000 feet in an effort to start the evasion of Pacific Rift.
No special effects on this jump... just pure adrenaline and gritty attitude. Check out the commercial above along with some photos from the shoot.
Planning to buy a Blu-ray player? Hold on. It's already battling public indifference, technical problems, laughable features and downloadable movies. Is it any wonder Blu-ray is doomed to fail? Here are five reasons why it's heading for the grave...
1. HD movie downloads
OK so the picture quality's not quite there yet, but Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others have already seen the future of movie viewing at home - and it doesn't come on shiny 12cm discs.
Instead services like iTunes, Xbox Live and Vudu already offer HD movies over the internet, enabling you to see the movies you want without having to hack down to the video store in the pouring rain.
With fibre-to-home broadband slowly being rolled out in the UK, who knows what the next few years will bring.
2. BD-Live
Have you seen the demos? BD-Live is a joke. It's a second-rate attempt to offer interactive features that HD DVD did first and much... More »
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