Target drops UMD movies for good
Posted by Some Guy at 11:08am on Thu Jul 13th 2006
As previously reported, after the initial novelty wore off, Sony's UMD movie format has been a complete and total failure. While studios have been releasing less and less movies in the format, and stores have scaled back inventory, it has taken this long for one store to take a stance against Sony. That's right, Target has dropped UMD movies for good. Will other stores soon follow? I'd bet my bottom dollar on it.PS: Sorry for the hiatus. Other than the launch of Blu-ray being delayed (along with Sony's official players) there hasn't been much to report. Coupled with the fact that I'm currently in the process of buying a house has resulted in very little free time.
Sony PlayStation 2 HDD
In 2001, Sony announced that a hard drive add-on to the PlayStation 2 was to be released to coincide with the PS2 release of Squaresoft's popular Final Fantasy XI MMORPG. Although the hard drive was initally released in 2001 in Japan, problems with the high price of the add-on (the hard drive was first sold in Japan for $299 USD) caused Sony of America to actually think about cancelling the American release of the hard drive. However, Sony retracted the statements and released the add-on in America in 2004, three years after the initial launch date in Japan. Despite many games in Japan supporting the hard drive's features, only six games supported them in America (the aformentioned Final Fantasy XI, SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, EA's NHL and Madden 2005 games and both Resident Evil Outbreak games), basically turning the expensive peripheral into a glorified memory card to house save files. Sony later redesigned the PlayStation 2 to use a slimmer, smaller design that does not support the hard drive feature, providing the death knell to the add-on. It is currently unknown whether the hard drive for the forthcoming PS3 will allow for similar functionality with existing PS2 HDD-utilizing titles.
PSX (DVR)
Built upon the PlayStation 2, the PSX enhanced multimedia derivative was touted to bring convergence to the living room. However, it was a failure in Japan due to its high price and lack of consumer interest and that cancelled plans to release it in North America and the rest of the world. Not only was it an unsuccessful attempt by Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi to revive the ailing consumer electronics division, it also hurt Sony's media convergence plans. This device also lacked standard PlayStation controller ports.