Toshiba comes over to the Blu side

Toshiba is to release its first Blu-ray DVD player. It comes 17 months after the firm’s decision to ditch the rival HD-DVD format effectively spelled the end of the next-generation format wars.

At the time, Toshiba spoke of exploring other ways of delivering high-definition content rather than DVD, such as portable drives and wireless technology to carry signals from PCs to television screens.

However, it appears the firm has finally concluded that whatever embarrassment it might feel in producing Blu-ray is more than outweighed by the potential business to be had with the format. In particular, it seems Toshiba was particularly losing out by not offering Blu-ray players – and thus not offering any high-definition DVD functionality at all – when it sold HDTV home cinema packages which incorporate a screen, DVD player and surround sound system in one.

And while Blu-ray adoption has been somewhat disappointing, even since its format war “victory”, players have reached the point where they are cheap enough for mainstream adoption. The format is particularly popular in Japan, one of Toshiba’s key markets.

Japanese reports now say Toshiba will release a player under the name BD18 later this year. It’s thought the firm will also produce a Blu-ray recorder, though the timescale for that isn’t known.

While HD-DVD originally outsold Blu-ray, the latter format took the lead at the end of 2006 and maintained it until HD-DVD’s demise. While it was HD-DVD which was the first to sign movie studios to exclusive format deals, a decision by Warner to go Blu-ray only on its releases started a stampede of retailers away from HD-DVD.

And although the extent of the effects are hard to measure, it’s likely that Sony including Blu-ray playing by default in the PS3 console while the X-Box 360 only had HD-DVD as an add-on feature helped widen the gap.

Science Is Sexy: What Exactly Is HIV?

By Jimmy Rogers (@me)
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

HIV PictureHIV/AIDS is a worldwide pandemic disease, but I would wager that few people (even among our esteemed readers) really understand it at all.  You may be aware that Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (or AIDS) is a disease that results from an HIV infection.  To most, HIV/AIDS is a frightening scourge that notably affected the gay community in the 1980’s and then spread to most other population groups in America.  Now the largest concerns lie in Africa, where the virus runs rampant.

Having recently taken a number of courses about HIV, I thought I would share some information.  As a biologist, my primary area of knowledge centers around the virus itself and how it infects the body.  It would be difficult to cover both the biology and the socio-political implications of HIV in one article, so I will stick to the former, but keep in mind that the science will aid you should you wish to learn about the latter as well.

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Video game industry suffers major slump

Revenues from the video games industry in the US were down almost a third last month compared to the same time last year. It’s the biggest annual slump since September 2000.

Even with the 31% drop, gaming remains a billion dollar industry. The figure is made up of $625.8 million on games (down 29%), $382.6 million on consoles (down 38%) and $161 million on accessories (down 22%).

To some extent, the big drop in consoles may be an inevitable pattern as it becomes longer and longer since the last release of a new console. However, an analyst for NPD, the firm which collates the figures, says she believes this is the first time the effects of the troubled economy have had a clear impact on the gaming industry.

In theory gaming could flourish during a recession as consumers spend more time at home rather than going out for leisure activities or socializing. But it’s possible that it’s the most expensive aspects of gaming – the consoles themselves and high-priced new game releases – which are being passed over.

It’s also possible that cash-strapped players may also be switching to the second hand market. A separate recent report estimated that stores sell around 100 million used games each year, making up a third of all sales.

However, that report said second-hand sales should have little effect on new sales. That’s because by the time someone who buys a new game has finished playing it and trades it in for a store to resell, new copies of the same game will usually already be discounted from the original sale price. There’s also a theory that the type of people who buy used games lack either the disposable income or the inclination to buy new games, so don’t affect new game sales.

The new figures will no doubt reopen the debate about whether manufacturers should cut console prices, most notably Sony’s Playstation 3. It’s also possible some would-be buyers are intentionally holding off purchases in the expectations of price cuts.