The eve of battle
November 16, 2006

The real fun in the format wars is set to begin in a few hours with the PlayStation 3 launch at midnight. Rival HD DVD backers Universal and Microsoft were on hand at the HD DVD promotional truck parked on the studio lot today giving press demos of the XBox 360 HD DVD add on and a peek at the HD DVD version of King Kong, which went on sale Tuesday. I took a second look (I'd already been on the truck tour in Denver at CEDIA in September.) The player froze during a demo of King Kong and had to be restarted. D'oh! But once it was, the picture looked impressive. Microsoft's Kevin Collins said initial reports were that HD DVD add ons were selling well. Execs were also touting sales of HD DVD movies, which have so far topped Blu-ray, not surprisingly since there are more HD DVD players out on the market.

That'll all of course change tomorrow. Still, no one seems to know how many PS3 buyers will actually watch Blu-ray movies on the game console.

Meanwhile, the price on those hard-to-get PS3s continues to climb, with someone apparently selling their reserved PS3 for a high of $9,100 the other day on eBay, according to CBS Marketwatch.

Posted by Jennifer Netherby on November 16, 2006 | Comments (0)