Toshiba’s announcement of the discontinuation of HD-DVD production marked the end of the HD disc format wars, which gave me the final push to purchase a Sony Playstation 3.
I already have a Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360, so there really was no compelling reason to get one prior to this point. I have the HD-DVD add-on for the 360, which served well during the brief period it was still viable, and the majority of games I was interested in were available on the systems I have. However, I’ve always been at least watchful of the PS3 technology, particularly considering that it’s reportedly one of the better Blu-Ray players and only about $50 more than the current cheapest standalone player.
Having purchased the unit, I also got one of the few exclusives to the system, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. The series is something of a comfort thing, having played many of the previous R&C games on the Playstation 2. I wouldn’t say it really does anything revolutionary, but it does stand up to the level I at least expected for the series from previous games.
I suspect that the death of HD-DVD will continue to push others like me into PS3 purchases, which should mean we’ll start to see a steady increase in sales of the system. Time will tell, however, if software sales for the platform will make the same upward progress, or whether many gamers who have more than one system continue to purchase the large number of cross platform titles for their 360s.