It has been reported by several sources that Toshiba may be giving up its support for the HD DVD format, and conceding to Blu-Ray. A report from Reuters reveals that the company will indeed be giving up the format and draw and early close to the high-definition DVD war. Toshiba is reported to lose tens of billions of yen (or hundreds of millions of dollars) when they eventually drop the format. In addition, they will lose their production line of HD DVD players, recorders, and other devices that support the format.

Reuters’ source continues on to say that Toshiba is planning the final stages of dropping the HD DVD format. On NHK, Japanese TV, a reporter for the channel has made the announcement that Toshiba will halt production of HD-DVD players and conceding a loss to the Blu-ray group. He said that Toshiba will be making the formal announcement within a few days.

With Blu-ray commanding the lead over HD-DVD worldwide, the choice was beyond obvious. It’s estimated that Blu-ray commands 90% of the high-definition market, and with over 10 million PlayStation 3s out there, it’s certainly a big boost for the format. Additionally, with retailers and studio support dropping left, right and center, HD-DVD had no ground to stand on anymore. Toshiba will continue to liquidate HD-DVD stock, but production has already officially ended.

Many games already support PlayStation Home, including Warhawk once the new patch becomes available to download. We all know that Home is scheduled to be released sometime this spring, but the release date could be earlier than first anticipated. According to a "insider", PlayStation Home will be available "very very soon". Sony already seems to be prepping an update to include in-game XMB access so Home could be part of that. But at this stage, this is considered a rumor until we official word from Sony.

According to the "insider":

"A game must be able to integrate into Home, a game must support ‘Accomplishments’. Right there, two important things, the PS3 system for achievements is called ‘Accomplishments’, and Home is coming out VERY VERY VERY Soon."

Dylan Jobe, Game Director of Warhawk, has announced the new, and free, update for Warhawk – the v1.3 Patch! The patch has five key additions that add a ton of value to the game. The additions include two new weapons, PlayStation Home Integration and other new options (see below). The two new weapons are the Mechanic’s Field Wrench and Bio-Field Generator, information on both can be found below.

Key Additions:

• Mechanic’s field wrench
• Bio-field generator
• HOME game launching
• New VOIP options
• New paint schemes & insignias

Mechanic’s Field Wrench:

As you might expect, this piece of equipment is used to repair vehicles. Once you get the pickup, you swing it just like the combat blade. Then, just walk up to, or onto an allied vehicle and “whack” it with the wrench. It repairs wicked fast so it’s very effectively during combat. On the offensive side, not only is it still a one-hit-kill against troops, but it can be used to damage enemy vehicles as well!

Bio-Field Generator:

To use a Bio-Field, grab the pick up and throw it down like a proximity mine. It sticks to walls, ceilings, anything…including vehicles. Then, if any ally stands within its bio-reactive field, his health will quickly regen. Alternatively, and this is where some neat tactics emerge, if an enemy walks into the bio-field (yes, bio-fields are color coded), they’ll take damage.

It’s Valentine’s Day and Sony shares the love with some new content for the PlayStation Store. Sony definately shares the love with the European Store this week with several new additions including a new demo, some game add-on content and lots of videos and trailers. Equally, the US has received a new playable demo and it’s fair share of game add-on content, videos and trailers. Check out what’s new below.

European Store:

• Playable Demos
  • Everybody’s Golf World Tour
• Game Add-on Content
  • Guitar Hero 3 – Classic Rock Track Pack (£3.99)
  • Go! Ski game update
• Downloadable Games
  • Everyday Shooter (£4.99)
• Game Videos and Trailers
  • Conflict: Denied Ops:
    • Teaser Trailer
    • Diary 1: Destructibility
    • Diary 2: Environmental Breadth
• Movie/Blu-Ray Trailers
  • Spiderwick
  • The Waterhouse
  • Vantage Point
• Themes
  • Super Stardust HD
• Wallpapers
  • Resident Evil 5 Wallpaper

US Store:

• Playable Demos
  • MLB ’08 The Show
• Game Add-on Content
  • Rock Band
    • "Truth Hits Everybody" – The Police ($1.99)
    • "Teenage Lobotomy" – The Ramones ($1.99)
    • "Complete Control" – The Clash ($1.99)
    • (Arguably) Punk Pack 2 ($5.49)
• Game Videos
  and Trailers
  • MLB ’08 Road to the Show Tutorial
  • LittleBigPlanet Create-a-Level
  • Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground Launch Trailer
  • Conflict: Denied Ops Diary 2 and 3
  • Burnout Accolades Trailer
  • Turok "Weapons" & "Creatures" Trailers
• Movie/Blu-Ray Trailers
  • The Ruins
• PS3 Themes
  • Super Stardust HD Theme

There has been little news regarding the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD war since Warner Bros. announcement earlier this year. This week, however, Blu-Ray got two new allies to back the format. Netflix, an online DVD rental company, announced that they will be phasing out all HD DVD stocks by the end of the year. Best Buy has also announced that it will recommend the Blu-Ray format to its customers, but will continue to offer an "assortment of HD DVD products" for customers who still want and prefer those.

Best Buy President and CEO Brian Dunn said, "Because we believe that Blu-ray is fast emerging as that single format, we have decided to focus on Blu-ray products." It was also added that the move was due to the decisions made by major film studios. It looks like the war is coming to a end slowly as more companies switch over to Blu-Ray. Which format do you prefer?

This weeks PlayStation Store updates are in, and we see the same trend as usual. The US has plenty of new content to enjoy over the weekend including a new playable demo, two new downloadable games and some new game add-on content. Europe has received two new playable demos, a new downloadable game and it’s share of game add-on content. Both stores also have several new videos and trailers to download and watch. Check out more details below.

European Update List:

• Playable Demos
  • Conflict: Denied Ops
  • Turok Demo
• Downloadable Games
  • Go! Sports Skydiving
• Game add-on Content
  • Folklore: Malion Pack
  • MotorStorm: Chinese New Year
• Video
  • Lost Planet Trailer
  • Pixel Junk Monsters Trailer

US Update List:

• Playable Demos
  • LOST PLANET Multiplayer Demo
• Downloadable Games
  • Go! Sports Skydiving
  • Crash Bandicoot 3: WARPED
• Add-on Game Content
• MotorStorm Chinese New Year Skin
• Rock Band
  • Calling Dr. Love – Kiss
  • We Care a Lot – Faith No More
  • Roam – B-52s
• Game Videos
  • Uncharted: Final Trailer
  • MLB 08 The Show First Look
  • Burnout Paradise Dev Diary
  • Burnout Launch Trailer 1
  • Burnout Launch Trailer 2
  • Conflict Destruction Dev Diary
• Movie and Blu-ray Disc Trailers
  • WALL E Trailer 2
  • 30 Days of Night Trailer
• PS3 Wallpaper
  • Uncharted Wallpapers (2)

­

In an interview with Screen Play the Managing Director of Sony Electronic Entertainment Australia, Michael Ephraim, was asked to comment on the ridiculous delays between releases on the PAL/Australian PSN versus the US/Japanese PSN. Ephraim confirmed that the issue was the fact that all content needs to be localized for all the European languages. “We’re in an online space, it’s a global community,” he says.

When pressed that “digital distribution is supposed to break down geographic barriers,” Ephraim responds that “there are discussions and we have identified that. We have been very vocal about it and I think you will see an improvement over the next six months on this issue.” Should we take this to mean that a global online store is coming within the next half a year? Not impossible, but let’s be realistic – we’ll probably see European content lag become much shorter within that time frame (or, hopefully, nonexistent) rather than an entire global PSN Store. Of course, a global store would be a lot better.

[Source: Screen Play]

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will be getting it’s own lineup of budget titles, similar to the Platinum titles found on the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. The budget titles will be available to purchase in Japan from March 19th 2008 and include FolkSole, Resistance, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Gundam: Target in Sight and Ridge Racer 7. Each game will retail for 3,800 yen (approx US$35/GB£18). It is hoped that the Platinum titles will also make it to the US and Europe shortly, but so far there has been no word from Sony.