Sony revealed its decision at a press conference in Tokyo this week held by the Blu-ray Disc Founders, an organisation committed to developing and standardising the next-generation optical disc format, the Kyodo News has reported. The BDF also used the occasion to announce that it will finalise the specifications for the read-only version of Blu-ray Discs, or BD-ROMs, by 30 September.
Sony has been investing heavily in Blu-ray product development and was the first company to have a disc recorder on the market. Sony had previously hinted it might use the format in the PS3. Kiyoshi Nishitani, Sony's Blu-ray Disc R&D division chief, commented in an interview with Asahi PC magazine in March that the company would like to establish ground in the Blu-ray Disc market by adopting BD-ROMs for its "home video game console."
The Blu-ray Disc Founders organisation is made up of Sony, Panasonic and 11 other major electronics makers. Like its predecessor, the DVD, the BD-ROM will primarily be used for movies. The companies plan to start marketing Blu-ray Disc playback machines (without recording capabilities) by the end of the fiscal year.
Sony is relying heavily on the Blu-ray Disc format, so from the company's point of view, the use of Blu-ray as the market standard in next-generation media is vital, especially since Sony also publishes movies through its Sony Pictures subsidiary. Adopting the Blu-ray Disc for the PS3 should help spread use of the format, similar to what the PlayStation 2 did for DVDs.
Early expansion of the Blu-ray format would be ideal for Sony, considering it will have to compete with high-definition DVDs in the future. Blu-ray Discs can hold 25GB on a single layer and 50GB on the dual-layer discs, while HD DVD discs -- which have yet to be released -- will hold only 30GB on a dual-layered disc.
Sony said it will reveal more details on the PlayStation 3 at a premiere event in Japan on 31 March, 2005. The console will also be on display at next year's E3 confab in Los Angeles.
