Blu-ray - A look at Sony’s Future

[erdega79]

Blu-ray - A look at Sony’s Future

17 March - Blu-ray is the name of the next generation optical disc adopted by Sony for use with its Playstation 3 console.


The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD) but Sony has adapted it slightly so it can be used in games consoles. The benefit of this over a standard DVD is the mass storage available a single layer disc can hold 27GB and a dual-layer holds 54GB, but this is easily extendable and by adding more layers (25GB per layer) they can increase disc capacity to around 200GB. The data transfer rate on a Blu-ray disc is also vastly improved, with a DVD we can reach speeds of 11.1MB/s but Blu-ray can now hit speeds of 54MB/s this is probably the biggest factor in swaying Sony’s decisions.

Increases in data speeds means we can access data quicker obviously, that means slower load times and the ability to use high resolution video in games, doing this Sony are moving into the “HD era” J Allard spoke about last week at GDC when referring to the Xbox 2.

Now game developers have access to anything up to 200GB of date to put onto a single game disc, this has to be a step in the right direction. It could mean movie franchise games could come with the game, the film and the high definition version of the film on the same disc, it could also mean buying Final Fantasy twenty what ever number were up to could come with the entire final fantasy back catalogue on the same disc. The possibilities are endless.

Blu-ray discs also come in the re-writable form, going in this direction would mean you would no longer need memory cards and you could save your game saves directly to do the disc, as could any downloadable content, patches and even custom sound tracks.

Another innovated step for Blu-ray that is good for the console world is the fact that the discs are sealed units, covered in a plastic case so your discs are completely covered and protected from the world, they look like a large zip disc (remember those? Mac users loved them until they realised they were shit and a CD was far more versatile) this is obviously welcome to gamers with kids.

[zombie]

It could mean movie franchise games could come with the game, the film and the high definition version of the film on the same disc

I could do without the standard version of the film but having the HD version and the game would be neat!

[phloyd]

This article seems a little fanciful...

Firstly it is unlikely that game consoles will write since that is very expensive. They will probably be players only (though if they write too that would be great!).

Secondly the way he describes the cartridge it wrong - for one I don't think that future BD will have a cartridge and secondly the Japanese ones with cartridges are not sealed. At least the disc I bought is not.

It is caddy'ed but it is not even close to sealed.

on the other hand, I too would love to see games and movies on a single disc

Cheers!
DAve.