Will last month’s PS3 price cuts and this week’s set of additional announcements help Sony’s Playstation gaming platform to hold its own against Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Wii? The verdicts from analysts are mixed.
Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai disagrees wholeheartedly Enderle Associates principal analyst Rob Enderle about PS3’s future.
We live in a world of irony and there’s no better example of that to hold true than the gaming industry. Infinity Ward’s much hailed Call Of Duty 4, which was coincidentally the premier showcase title for the Xbox 360 during this years E3 (ala Assassins Creed), seems to offer PlayStation 3 owners a better package in Online play. Screenshots of the game for the PS3 have shown it to support 18 players whereas the Xbox 360 version has 16 players.
Not to mention the game is looking absolutely spectacular on Sony’s machine; are we finally seeing the beginning of the balance in terms of quality for multi platform games that the PS3 has been criticised for?
20th Century Fox in January will release the first Blu-ray movie with picture-in-picture interactivity.
That’s according to an article by Video Business.
The publication reported that Fox demonstrated the PIP feature for the sci-fi thriller Sunshine on Monday during a press briefing. (Sunshine is a UK-based movie starring a cast of unknowns.)
HD DVD, Blu-ray’s high-def disc format rival, has featured PIP on some discs for a few months, including Warner’s HD DVD edition of the war movie 300.
HD DVD supporters have said the PIP feature will engage movie buffs because it can offer related information while the person watches the film.
For instance, Video Business reports, Sunshine’s filmmakers discuss the movie in the PIP window while it’s running.
Most Blu-ray players currently do not have the capacity to display PIP, but Fox senior vice president Steve Feldstein told the publication that future models will. He added that Sony will upgrade the Play Station 3 with a PIP feature via a firmware download.
“There will be players in the market,” Feldstein said.
Disney is expected to offer PIP in several titles next year, including Finding Nemo.
Technology on the move 