Filed under: Portable Audio

Although it seems like Sony BMG has been paying for its devious inclusions on certain records for quite some time, it looks like the joint venture will now be coughing even more dollars to compensate those affected. US regulators have now said that the company “agreed to reimburse consumers up to $150 for damage to their computers from CDs with hidden anti-piracy software,” which comes on top of allowing customers the ability to exchange the album if they so desire. Moreover, Sony BMG must now “provide an uninstall tool and patches to repair the security vulnerabilities on consumers’ computers” for another two years, and if its hand hadn’t been slapped enough, it can no longer “collect information for marketing purposes” nor “install software without consumer consent.” Great, we’re elated that someone up there understands that this DRM gauntlet isn’t the way to go, so why are we still fighting the agenda in so many other areas?

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Blu-ray, HD DVD

Despite what Blu-ray would have you believe the next generation home movie format war is far from over, in fact it is just getting started. Four months ago we laid out a list of tasks that each side would have to do to win. Blu-ray has arguably achieved 6 out of 8 of the tasks, while HD DVD has achieved 6 out of 9. What this means is that we still have a tie with no end in sight. Blu-ray’s biggest blunder is still the lack of interactive content on their discs, the studios blame the authoring tools, Warner is rumored to be delaying certain titles on Blu-ray that are already available on HD DVD till the authoring tools are “mature”. HD DVD’s biggest challenge is still lack of content support and player support. The big wash are the consoles, while HD DVD sold an impressive number of Xbox360 add-on drives, Sony sold 4 times as many potential Blu-ray players. Whether you believe PS3 owners will buy Blu-ray movies or not, recently Blu-ray started to out sell HD DVD according to every indicator we have. But does this really matter? How many more movies would Blu-ray have to sell than HD DVD to win the war? A contact close to HD DVD tells us that studios selling both formats are turning a profit on both and as long as they continue to turn a profit they will continue to support both sides. This makes us wonder what Universal, Fox and Disney are thinking. Why would they choose to only support one side when they are loosing money by leaving out the other side? We have tried to ask them, they haven’t responded. If studios can make money on both sides and they all start to support both sides this war could go on forever, in fact the only chance of a end is if Universal starts making Blu-ray movies or Fox and Disney start to make HD DVDs (but not both). Until then most consumers will stay on the sidelines worried about missing their favorite movies and we will continue to watch the debate rage on.

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Filed under: Blu-ray, HD DVD

Another week of the format war passes and while Universal eased many concerns in the HD DVD camp, we still don’t have any new dates so we will have to just wait and see. Warner continues to lead the way in both camps this week with Beerfest and The Wicker Man, both worth catching. Fox pulls out a few catalog titles, but nothing to brag about. With only one week to go before the two camps are tied in the titles count category there is no end in sight to this war and we are starting to wonder what it would take for Universal, Fox or Disney to change sides.

HD DVD 156 vs Blu-ray 152.

Blu-ray

• Beerfest (Warner)
• Flyboys (Fox)
• Hart’s War (Fox)
• Open Season (Sony)
• The Wicker Man (2006) (Warner)

HD DVD

• Beerfest (Warner)
• Half Baked (Universal)
• The Wicker Man (2006) (Warner)

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Filed under: Gaming

It looks like the not insignificant price break Canadian gamers have been enjoying on the PlayStation 3 may have abruptly come to an end, with Future Shop, Best Buy, and other retailers now listing the 60GB console at $699.99 Canadian ($593US). The console had previously been selling for $649.99 Canadian which, at the current exchange rate, made it a full fifty bucks cheaper than the console’s US retail price. While the new price is still a relative bargain compared to the premium our European friends have to fork over, given the unlikelihood of any price cuts in the near future, it looks like those that have been holding off on a purchase may well find themselves regretting their patience.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV

The PlayStation 3’s hardware scaling capabilities (or lack thereof) have been a serious point of contention since word first got out of the console’s potential shortcoming, which left owners of HDTVs of a certain resolution unable to use their sets to their fullest potential with the console in its current state and unsure they’d ever be able to do so. Well, it looks like Sony may have a few tricks up its sleeve, with Beyond3D reporting that the company’s latest software development kit includes measures that game makers can take in order to implement “hardware accelerated horizontal scaling” in their titles, ensuring that they’ll always look their best, even on 1080i sets. What’s not so clear is what this means for all the current games that pump out less-than-desirable results when hooked up to the aforementioned HDTVs, with patches seemingly one option but no official word given on that possibility. Although you can bet that this won’t be the last word we hear on the subject.

[Via Joystiq]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!