Bandai Jumps Neutral stance and becomes Blu-ray Exclusive?

[nails]

After the previous announcement this past week I went to look at the upcoming releases on animeondvd.com. They used to list blu-ray and hd-dvd titles to be released, however now the list only consists of blu-ray. I can't find one HD-DVD on the future release list. There is no offical announcement on their website, however the last two release announcements were for blu-ray only releases.

http://www.animeondvd.com/releases/releases_by_date.php

http://bandaivisual.us/pdfs/PressRelease071002.pdf

[WickyWoo]

There won't be any official announcement

HD DVD is dead in Japan. Their HD DVDs didn't even hit retail there.

[u_nick]

Yep, what Wicky said.

A lot of people had seen this coming. Some say Bandai jumped on the HD wagon fast, which is fine by me since we are getting stuff earlier now because of it. Blu won quick over there, so instead of making any big announcements, just go with the flow.

[ESUNintel]

I don't remember where I came across an article, I'll post it if I can find it again; however, it claimed that the anime industry (Bandai, ADV, etc...), prefers Blu-ray disk. Then it gave reasons, such as better sound, disk capacity, etc.

Think about it, the more capacity on the disk the more creative the artists can be and the better the graphics we get.

[WickyWoo]

I don't remember where I came across an article, I'll post it if I can find it again; however, it claimed that the anime industry (Bandai, ADV, etc...), prefers Blu-ray disk. Then it gave reasons, such as better sound, disk capacity, etc.

If anything it's because anime fans in the US are almost universally gamers and tend to be PlayStation fans for the JRPGs

[nails]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

If anything it's because anime fans in the US are almost universally gamers and tend to be PlayStation fans for the JRPGs

I think for that very reason is why Microsoft has been persuing the JRPG industry full force lately.

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

If anything it's because anime fans in the US are almost universally gamers and tend to be PlayStation fans for the JRPGs

I wouldn't paint it with quite so wide a brush.

[w_tanoto]

BD sales in japan even beat DVD now (top 20 has consist of almost all BD in Amazon JP). so that won't be surprising. I expect toshiba announcing BD player for japan soon

[nails]

Originally Posted by w_tanoto

BD sales in japan even beat DVD now (top 20 has consist of almost all BD in Amazon JP). so that won't be surprising. I expect toshiba announcing BD player for japan soon

As long as blu-ray.com announces the toshiba made blu-ray player maybe confused people will finally understand where the cards lie.

[Frode]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

HD DVD is dead in Japan. Their HD DVDs didn't even hit retail there.

Freedom didn't, but their others did. Mind you that doesn't mean they had many orders for it from retailers, but it is available.

[u_nick]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

I wouldn't paint it with quite so wide a brush.

True.

Head over to the animenation boards, most of them seem to hate the PS3 just as much as the rest of the internet.

[WickyWoo]

BD sales in japan even beat DVD now (top 20 has consist of almost all BD in Amazon JP). so that won't be surprising. I expect toshiba announcing BD player for japan soon

I wouldn't say amazon is indicative of wider japanese trends as a whole. Online shopping for physical items isn't that big over there.

I wouldn't paint it with quite so wide a brush.

Trying to keep the reason for Blu-predisposition as simple as possible

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

I wouldn't say amazon is indicative of wider japanese trends as a whole. Online shopping for physical items isn't that big over there.

You ain't kidding. If Amazon told all, back in 2002, the original XBox would've had a stellar Japanese launch; it lead on Amazon Japan for awhile.

Maybe: most of the ppl in Japan with internet back in 2001-2 were FPS players.

[kx11]

good news

we want more animes on blu

and it won't hurt to have hentai too :P

[w_tanoto]

i hope they will make some announcement about this

[WickyWoo]

No one announces that. They just let it go

The fact that they aren't announcing any new HD DVD titles except Freedom (which is contracted for) should tell you all you need to know

[GasCat]

Didn't they announce they were HD-DVD only? I think so.....

[w_tanoto]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

No one announces that. They just let it go

The fact that they aren't announcing any new HD DVD titles except Freedom (which is contracted for) should tell you all you need to know

I hope not. I hope they let it go with announcement.

[WickyWoo]

That was a long time ago, they changed shortly after that announcement.

[WickyWoo]

I hope not. I hope they let it go with announcement.

It's simply not done, that goes double for Japan

Bandai is simply not a big enough player for them to even think about it