The popular Japanese company Sony
announced on Thursday that it would update PlayStation 3’s Blu-ray technology
in a move that would add nice interactive features to movies played in the high
def format and not only. Thanks to the new upgrade people will also become able
to download games, video content and even ring tones to their gaming consoles.
Called the BD-Live, the upcoming
upgrade that will bring PlayStation 3’s users the Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 is
also part of an overall system software update to the PlayStation 3. Among many
other new features Sony announced that thanks to the new overall update, users
woul be allow to copy music and photo playlists from their PlayStation 3 gaming
consoles to PlayStation Portable, Sony’s other highly popular handheld video
game player.
"With these regular firmware
updates and future-proofed technology, SCEA is making the 10-year life cycle of
PS3 possible," said Scott A. Steinberg, the vice president of product
marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, which a division of Sony
that is responsible for the PlayStation 3 in the U.S.
According to Sony, the BD-Live
upgrade will require at least 1 GB of local storage and an Internet connection.
Through this move, Sony is trying
to keep its product evolving in order to make it able to face its everlasting
rivals, Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 similar gaming consoles. Secondly,
Sony is probably trying to gain as much as it can from the fact that Blu-ray
won the format war against HD DVD.
Related to the BD-Live release,
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will launch two new movies on April 8: Walk
Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The 6th Day. These movies will contain
exclusive downloadable content.
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