Digital Home Thoughts: Feeling Blue: Is Blu-ray Killing the PS3?

"The more you look at the involvement of Blu-Ray with PS3, the more it appears to be a millstone weighing heavily around Sony's neck. While acknowledging that the technology is excellent and that its potential to make the PS3 into a system with capabilities far exceeding its competitors is certainly important, serious question marks must remain over the firm's slavish devotion to launching a new physical media format into a hugely contested space at a time when some industry players - including Microsoft and Apple - are already questioning the future of physical media as a whole. This week, the extent of that devotion was revealed even further; Sony has allowed Blu-Ray to dictate the timeline of the PS3 once again, leaving European retail up in arms, European consumers feeling like they're being treated as third-class citizens, and Microsoft laughing all the way to the high street for a second unopposed Christmas in the high-end console space. Optimistically, you might call this admirable devotion to achieving a vision, and claim that it will pay off in a few years' time when the DVD drive in Xbox 360 starts to look distinctly underpowered. Back in the real world, it looks more and more like stubbornness and folly."

This is a fantastic article that sums up just about everything I feel about Sony's fanatical commitment to Blu-ray. There's not a single point that Rob Fahey brings up that I don't agree with. Sony's stubborness at sticking with Blu-ray for the PS3 may, in the long run, turn it into a superior gaming console, but in the short run it may spell doom for the PS3. If the PS3 is delayed too long (due to Sony's insistence on Blu-ray), the 360 will gain a clear edge in amount of installed user-bases and game programmers. If they take too long, they may find that there's just no one left to care. :?