I think people have to remember though that for Sony to be including blu-ray drives with the PS3 does something major to the costs of those very same blu-ray drives. THEY are the ones manufacturing them, first of all - so no mark-up whatsoever. The use of the blu-ray drive in the PS3 CREATES the demand needed to utilize expanded production capacity. Not only does this allow economies of scale to start coming into play, it ensures Sony that when they start selling commercial Blu-Ray units, their cost to manufacture those, per unit, is less relative to that of their competitors, allowing higher eventual margins.
Blu-Rom media for the games? Start up the factories! Manufacturers having a more or less determined market to sell the media into means the cost of the media in general comes down, which means the cost for Hollywood and the consumers comes down as well, increasing it's likelihood of adoption, etc....
I personally think Blu-Ray inclusion is a brilliant move by Sony; regardless of the immediate costs up front, it's a sound investment for the future.
Playstation has basically become, I feel, the launch platform for several consumer technologies. Cell is cool, above and beyond the Playstation, and will save Sony money in other areas by subbing in as the controller chip for a few ranges of eletronic devices. But it NEVER would have made sense to invest in it's creation, if it couldn't also have been the key chip in the next, guaranteed to sell miullions, console. Technologies that in and of themselves would carry extreme risk to launch seperately, but have that risk mitigated entirely by the almost guaranteed volume PS3 will ship.
Who else could say - 'this year, we launch a new optical format,' and build out capacity for millions of units KNOWING that they will all be sold?
Ken Kutagari, I salute you. You and your division are your parent corporation's last, great hope.
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