Toshiba to Bundle Three Free HD DVD Discs With Every Player Sold

[Jason Eaton]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Toshiba/Bundles/Hardware/Toshiba_to_Bundle_Three_Free_HD_DVD_Discs_With_Every_Player_Sold_/326' target='_blank'>http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Toshiba/Bundles/Hardware/Toshiba_to_Bundle_Three_Free_HD_DVD_Discs_With_Every_Player_Sold_/326</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Making its voice heard in a quarter where the focus of the next-gen DVD wars seems to have shifted to gaming consoles, HD DVD supporting electronics manufacturer Toshiba today rolled out an aggressive new promotion that will bundle *three* free HD DVD discs with every HD DVD player sold. The offer from Toshiba follows two competing offers from Sony and Microsoft, which are both bundling a single disc with initial sales of their respective high-def playback solutions (the first 500,000 PlayStation 3 buyers will receive a free 'Talladega Nights' Blu-ray, while buyers of Microsoft's new XBox 360 HD DVD player will receive a free 'King Kong' HD DVD). Toshiba's deal provides consumers with a bit more choice, offering a selection of three discs from three different studios (Warner, Paramount and Universal)."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/toshiba_dvd.gif" /> <br /><br />Just a quick heads up for those of you thinking about taking the HD-DVD player plunge. Looks like Toshiba is stepping up the fight in the HD-DVD war and I for one am looking for more. My HD television is begging me for some pure clean signals that it just can't seem to get from my cable provider these days. :(

[Felix Torres]

I haven't been all that tempted by either camp's movie releases; I already own the handful of good titles out there.
But I have been tempted by a couple episodes of Discovery Channel's Atlas show. Pretty pictures and interesting stories.
At current release rates it'll be a while before I can justify even the 360 add-on drive. Maybe in a year...

[Chris Gohlke]

Another stupid move by Sony. Was Talladega Nights the best thing they could come up with to bundle? I think Microsoft made a pretty good choice with Kong and while there are a few good older movies in the Toshiba offering, at least they are giving you some choice.

[Felix Torres]

Was Talladega Nights the best thing they could come up with to bundle?

Yes. They're not about to give away anything better.
You want Spider-man 2, pay for it. :twisted:

Actually, considering the target demographic: PS3 fanboys who will be staying out in the cold for 18 hours for one of the 4 boxes per store that will ship, it is a reasonable enough choice. Remember, it is only for the first 500,000 units. You're not going to be seeing too many adults freezing their butts in mid november for the privilege of paying $600 for a console unless they intend to sell it on ebay for $6000 right away. And those folks don't care about the bundled in movie anyway. ;-)

Rational folks don't buy consoles on release day; they give the kid an IOU and wait until the following spring/summer when they can walk into Wal-mart and pick one up in ten minutes. :wink:
(A friend of mine did that last xmas with his 360-lusting teenager.)

Sony does know their customers: witness their PS3 TV ads... :roll:

[Jason Eaton]

There are PS3 TV ads? Wow, guess I am watching the wrong channels then.

While I don't see that the movies offered will be what pushes me to buy an HD player, if there is no other factors and everything else is equal, then three free movies might however sway my purchase.

I am waiting for Microsoft to throw in the Godzilla remake, and make it a 'Monster' pack. :wink:

[Jason Dunn]

Rational folks don't buy consoles on release day...

Hey, I resent, err, resemble that remark! :lol:

You may be right, but hardcore gamers is Sony's core market, so those crazy people lining up to get one are the people Sony is counting on.

[Felix Torres]

Rational folks don't buy consoles on release day...

Hey, I resent, err, resemble that remark! :lol:

You may be right, but hardcore gamers is Sony's core market, so those crazy people lining up to get one are the people Sony is counting on.

Sort of; hardcore gamers get one of each. :twisted:

They *are* the ones Sony expects to stay up all night for a shot at one of the launch trickle and thus the ones getting Talladega nights. Not exactly a crowd that would be thrilled with a copy of Schindler's list. :wink:

Sony's core market for the PS2 has been suburban households, though; families that buy their kids two games a year and rent the rest. (That's why Sony attach rates are so much lower than Xbox attach rates.)
They have something like 40% penetration of all US households and a lot of teenagers never realize there once was a world without Playstation or that once you had a choice among 7 different TV gaming platforms at once. They get offended at the mere thought that somebody might prefer a different brand console and they would love nothing better than a world where the only console is Sony's.

Now *that* is Sony's PS3 core market. ;-)

[Damion Chaplin]

Sony's core market for the PS2 has been suburban households, though; families that buy their kids two games a year and rent the rest.

And that's why I keep thinking the PS3 is such a blunder. What Sony really should have done, IMO of course, is to release a console with the same or slightly less specs than the 360 at $50 less. They could have stolen the market right out from under the 360 overnight. Now those kids are going to have a hard time justifying the price to their parents when the PS2 has served them so well over the years for a considerably lower price.

Boy have we wandered OT. :)

[Felix Torres]

There are PS3 TV ads? Wow, guess I am watching the wrong channels then.



Count yourself lucky; you're watching the *right* channels,
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/the-weirdest-ps3-commercial-yet-210784.php

Hard to tell what Sony means to say with this ad; maybe that their target audience drools and soils themselves at the mere thought of some day getting a PS3? :twisted:

[Felix Torres]

Boy have we wandered OT. :)

Not at all; there is a *reason* Toshiba is giving away three movies with every HD-DVD player. And that is to counter the Sony strategy of selling every single PS3 sale to the *studios* as equivalent to a BD-ROM player sale. Of course, if by next summer the much smaller HD-DVD installed base (composed of people who buy a blue-laser player to watch HD movies) is significantly outperforming BD-ROM's PS3-inflated installed base on content sales (currently the ratio is reported at 10-to-1 HD-DVD to BD-ROM), then the studios might find themselves wondering just who buys PS3s and why. And we'll be able to tel them.
Because we're *that* good. ;-)

Ergo, we're on topic.
Or we can spin it that way. :twisted: