It came in over the Reuters newswire today that Sony has announced it’s marketing plan for Blu-ray movies being released this summer. This new media format will debut in the same price range as DVD’s when they hit the shelves back in 1997 with new releases going for $23.45 and “catalog” titles selling at $17.95. That’s all well and good you might say, but what’s that have to do with the PSP? Sony also announced that they will be selling special “bundle” packages for DVD and Blu-ray movies that include the UMD version of the film as well. Starting March 28, you will be able to find the DVD-UMD combo packs for: The Grudge Resident Evil Underworld Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon The Terminator These releases will be followed by a second release April 25 for the following movies: Ghostbusters Mad Max The Fifth Element Snatch A third set of combos will be released sometime in May. These combos will sell for $28.95 (MSRP) which could count as a deal in some cases. This new marketing strategy sets up Sony’s future goal with Blu-ray to “try to introduce the managed-copy concept, where if you buy Blu-ray you'll be able to get additional versions (of the same title) to use in your home. Ultimately, we might even get to the point where we'll offer consumers the ability to have different versions of the same movie on different devices in the home -- that's something we're working on," says Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Benjamin Feingold.
Interesting idea. I've never been a fan of the UMD format, they should've went with mini dvds instead so that the media would've been playable on standalone players. Paying for a movie only playable on a x" screen isn't that appealing to me. Just get a cheapo laptop with a dvdrom and you can take your regular movies wherever. Might be a good move though.