Apparently so, according to Dailytech.  The latest version of SlySoft AnyDVD HD came with the ability to rip the Blu-ray DVD’s movie in high-def.  As both a tech enthusiast and a pretty stereotypical asian, I must say that I’m pretty interested in such a piece of news.  However, let it be known that I don’t pirate.  After all, if I started pirating, it could wreck the delicate balance between the two worlds of legitimacy and piracy.

Source: http://img.infotropic.com/i/061224_1g.jpg

What does this mean?  Since Blu-Ray’s defense has been cracked before, I suppose that Sony will be forced to invent a third method of encrypting the data.  And they’ll have to do it soon – because if they let this go as rampant as the forging of fake DVDs do, the Blu-Ray market will be saturated with cheap, fake copies of movies in their original high-definition format.  What a nightmare for the movie industry.

As a loyal movie fan (not a fanatic, just a fan), I suggest that you be very careful about which side you decide to take.  Sure, the piracy might seem much more affordable, but if everyone thought like that on a larger scale, we wouldn’t have any new movies to watch because the companies would all go broke.  They’re still fatcats – for now, but let’s face it: they’re not as fat as they once used to be.

No, I’m not another Playstation/Sony fanboy. No, I don’t own a PS3. No, I don’t have a Blu-Ray player. But I have to admit – doggone it, Sony seems to just have the formula for success. A year ago, the name PS3 would bring stenches of failure and skepticism. Now, the PS3 carries a much more appealing vibe – but how did Sony do it? From what I’ve seen and thought about, I’ve come up with 3 main factors:

Source: http://blog.chip.de/xbox-ps3-watch-blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/meri-final-fantasy-xiii.jpg

1. Exclusive AAA Games

• God of War III
  • Planned to be released exclusively for the PS3 in 2009, you can definitely expect God of War III to cook up a few hundred (or thousand, even) units being sold.
• Gran Turismo 5
  • A friend of mine very recently ditched his Wii for a new PS3 (traitor). I asked him why he’d make such a ludicrous decision, and he told me that his favourite game Gran Turismo 5 was coming out for the PS3 soon. I guess that’s a valid choice on his part – after all, he did end up spending $300 on a steering wheel and a set of brakes. Wow.
• Final Fantasy XIII
  • My personal favourite will have to be Final Fantasy XIII – I played Final Fantasy X and that really drew me into the genre. Either way, it’s still a definite force to be reckoned with and I think that it’ll be something to look forward to. Hopefully some of you out there will agree with me.

Source: http://z.about.com/d/playstation/1/7/U/6/Img3669_tif_jpgcopy.jpg

2. Blu-Ray Player

With HD-DVD out of the picture, and Sony consistently marketing the PS3 doubling as a Blu-Ray player, the PS3 will definitely sell a lot more units. Being amongst the most affordable Blu-Ray players on the market (sadly), the PS3 could very possibly be the media-powerhouse of “next-gen” consoles. Heck, even Microsoft plans to integrate a Blu-Ray player into the next generation of their Xbox 360.

Source: http://www.cheaplaptops.org.uk/wp-content/laptopimg/2007/09/ps3.jpg

3. Pricing

The most major factor in this the transformation has to have been the change in pricing. By halving the price and the overkill specifications, as well as the drop in hardware prices, Sony has been able to manipulate the prices so that they become more affordable – somewhat in the range that the Nintendo Wii resides in. I find that this reason alone made it all the more appealing for me to entertain the idea of purchasing a PS3 – and thus, I think that this is the killer reason to get the PS3. The introduction of the 40GB version really popularized the PS3, and it earned a new place on the shelf next to the Nintendo Wii. Heck, I might even get a PS3 thanks to the price drop (I’m a starving artist, despite what you think).

Not only did Sony prove the general public wrong, they also retained their established position as a household, widely-known, mainstream household brand. By turning the PS3 around, they’ve found an alternate method to continue to generate income, and also continued the reputation of the Playstation legacy. Despite being a Wii supporter, I’ve owned a PSone and PS2 before, so it’s very possible that I continue my own Playstation journey with a PS3.

Apparently, since the life span of HD-DVD seems to have nearly run out, Microsoft has decided to make its way to the winning side and incorporate Blu-Ray with the Xbox 360 – in forms of both a player add-on similar to the HD-DVD add-on (so even the users of the current Xbox 360 can purchase this and watch Blu-Ray movies I believe), and a revised Xbox 360 with a Blu-Ray reader integrated into it. Gutsy, right?

You bet. Not only does Microsoft risk its ego in appealing to Sony for a Blu-Ray license, it also spatters its reputation by admitting that the opposing side had better technology. I think it’s repulsive to jump off the sinking ship when you’ve supported it for so long, but also admirable to continue evolving its console. Besides, it doesn’t seem like they’ve got much of a choice anymore – Toshiba’s already jumped off the ship itself (so much for the captain going down with the ship), just unofficially. Either way, this past week has been a huge one for the whole industry and the outcome of the format wars.

I can’t say this doesn’t affect me, as a friend of mine had wagered that HD-DVD would come out as the winner and has been a diehard supporter (although he did purchase a PS3 for the sake of being able to play Blu-ray movies, for the sake of insurance). In fact, this whole month has been pretty Microsoft-y, with the whole Yahoo! situation, Danger Inc. and now the fall of HD-DVD. Interesting.

Breaking news just now, the Format War is (almost) over. Toshiba has allegedly backed out on its own creation, HD-DVD, leaving Sony and the Blu-Ray format the last man standing, triumphant even through the thick and the thin. What’s the matter? Why did Toshiba exit the battlefield? And how did Sony plan such a strategy, to ensure its victory? Just a few points to consider:

• Even though Toshiba might have won the war, Sony’s Blu-Ray discs would still have been used for Playstation 3 games – giving it some insurance.
• Speaking of the Playstation 3, it sure is one hell of a gaming console, but doubled as a Blu-ray player – meaning not only was it a great bang for a buck, it also enabled hardcore gamers to experience the Blu-ray definition on the side.
• Toshiba’s gaming counterpart, Microsoft, really did not take much of a role into pushing HD-DVD out there, whereas Sony did relatively well in promoting their own format.
• The initial disappointment with the Playstation 3 resulted in a stalemate in the format wars. However, as the popularity of the Playstation 3 grew, the popularity of Blu-ray grew right along with it.
• The Blu-ray disc looked much stronger on paper – and even though that doesn’t exactly ensure a victory, it sure gives it the edge when comparing storage capacities and bandwidth.

Source: http://digital-lifestyles.info/copy_images/blu-ray-japan-sales-lg.jpg

It’s safe to say that you can go out and purchase a Blu-ray player or a PS3 now. If you ask me, what really pushed Toshiba over the edge would either be Warner Bros. abandoning it, Wal-Mart abandoning it, or NetFlix abandoning it (er, it’s not very likely, but NetFlix does have some influence right?). Or Best Buy abandoning it. Either way, we all saw the walls crumble in recent news.