Andre Yoskowitz
9 Nov 2007 18:10
Despite months of Blu-ray camp statements indicating their format was running away with the lead in the next-gen format war, it seems at least one executive has their head on straight.
Sony CEO Howard Stringer, at a lecture yesterday in New York, admitted that the format war was nowhere near over and that it both Blu-ray and HD DVD were in a stalemate.
Also noting what many HD DVD enthusiasts have been calling the "turning point" in the format war, Stringer admitted that Blu-ray was doing very well until August when Paramount decided to support, exclusively, HD DVD.
"It's a difficult fight. We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides," the AP quoted Stringer as saying.
Stringer was also reported as saying that he wished he was Sony's CEO a few years ago so that he could use his power to help bring the formats together and forgo the entire format war.
The quotes come after a weekend in which HD DVD sold over 100,000 standalone players after extensive mark downs in price on a couple Toshiba players.
We can only hope that Stringer's sentiments match those of the rest of Sony and the company will move towards marketing the PlayStation 3 as what it is, a gaming console that happens to have a Blu-ray drive built in.
Source:
BetaNews