14 DAY TRIAL // The all-out war between the groups backing the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats seems to be getting even worse in Europe, each party relying on all sorts of more or less fair tactics in order to gain a certain advantage over their competitors. Thus, after the HD DVD promoters announced last week that their players are outselling rival Blu-ray units 3 to 1, the Blu-ray Disc Association European Promotions Committee decided that such a bold statement needed an equally bold response.
Thus, according to an article by Stuart Miles for Pocket-lint, it seems that the Blu-ray Disc Association European Promotions Committee characterized the claims made by HD DVD supporters as "misleading and misrepresentative", before actually admitting that the situation is still pretty unclear. The reason? The study from GfK on which the initial claims were based only took into account the actual standalone units, without relating to the sales of PlayStation 3 gaming consoles (which happen to come packed with a Blu-ray player) or the separate PC hardware.
However, according to the BDA European Promotions Committee, including these would mean that Blu-ray Disc accounts for almost 95% of all next generation hardware sales in Europe this year. Nevertheless, HD DVD supporters have a response ready even for this counter-claim, in the form of a statement by Steve Nickerson, senior vice president, high definition media at Warner Bros sates: "This is simply because those who buy a standalone player are interested solely in buying and watching movies and other video content, whereas those with HD drives built into games consoles are primarily interested in games."
It's quite clear that this conflict is far from over, whether in Europe, the US or elsewhere around the world and the two groups will keep lashing at each other with every possible occasion. However, it's quite a fun thing to watch and the only ones who benefit from these skirmishes are the consumers, who'll pay smaller and smaller amounts for the devices they decide to purchase.
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