While the late months of 2006 will act as witness to the true genesis of the next-generation console wars, there is another war looming within the next few months. It is the dawn of the Format War. The days of the standard DVD have begun to wane. The format has served us well, but will soon be faded into the background of disc formats.

On the horizon comes the “next-gen” disc formats, comprised of the two warring parties: HD DVD (backed by Microsoft and Toshiba, among others) and Blu-Ray (backed by Sony, among others).

These new disc formats will offer a substantial increase to the amount of space a single disc can hold. HD DVD can hold 15GB on a single layer disc and 30GB on a dual layer disc, with a 45GB triple layer disc in development. The Blu-Ray, on the other hand, will hold 25GB on a single layer disc, 50GB on a dual layer disc and 100Gb on a four layer disc. The increased capacity is related to the density on which the disc is written.

HD DVD and Blu-Ray will be read using a 405nm wavelength light (blue-violet) as opposed to the 650nm and 780nm  of DVDs and CDs respectively. The smaller wavelength will allow the disc to be read in a much smaller area, meaning data can be written onto a disc with an increased density. While HD DVD’s have already dived into the market - with a somewhat stagnant reception due to high prices - Sony will be sitting on the sidelines until their May 23rd release of Blu-Ray. The two formats have garnered equal support from an equal number of movie publishers, and there are already announcements for titles to launch on HD DVD or Blu-Ray. Plans are made to include regular DVD versions of films as well as their High Definition counterparts on a single, multi-layered disc, in an effort to help the segue for consumers.

Moreover, LG announced that they will be manufacturing a DVD player that will run both HD DVD and Blu-Ray, due to the companies uncertainty over which version will triumph in the marketplace. Next generation DVD players will also be backwards compatible with current DVD’s and CD’s, again, to help customers segue into the new format (a la VCR/DVD combos).

The biggest concern to all the pirates out there is the watermarking system of copy protection. Through the entirety of the film, an inaudible noise will be playing overlayed with the soundtrack. HD DVD and Blu-Ray players will use the coding generated by this inaudible noise to verify the authenticity of the disc. Any disc deemed to be a counterfit rip, or a camera capture from a cinema, will not be played in any standard high definition player. There has also been discussion about online monitoring of these players that will lock any system that attempts to view a disc that is:

1. Possesses a foreign region code

2. A counterfeit copy of a retail film

Although this method will likely be cracked over time, there are rumours about a varying encryption that will allow companies to use a different encryption on newer media once the original encryption is cracked, thus creating an on-going game of “crack that safeguard” for  the digital underground.

For the past few weeks, Microsoft and Intel have been stringing us along with the miniscule tidbits of information received from OrigamiProject.com over the past few weeks, yet it seems that the rumoured and anticipated “XBoy” is not actually going to exist. The Origami has flittered in and out of the media’s eye for the past year, since a teaser video was leaked showing a gamer playing Halo on a portable tablet PC. Since then, it has been confirmed that Microsoft’s nifty device will not have ANY gaming functionality whatsoever, and would be more akin to a standard tablet PC.

Some news has surfaced about potential features, including the GPS, media player and fully functional internet browser. Through the use of WLAN (802.11), WPAN (Bluetooth) and WWAN (cellular networks), the Origami is expected to be fully connected to the Internet wherever you go, with transfer speeds being optimum in large cities and dying out in rural areas.

Although the system looks moderately interesting, I have yet to see what makes it drastically different from other tablet computers. From the specifications I’ve read, it does not even seem plausible to harness its power for basic gaming of older titles, although that does not guarantee Microsoft will not try to port some older classic PC titles to the Origami. Another possibility is a heavy library of 2-dimensional RTS games (Starcraft or Warcraft ports), as a solid FPS would probably kill the machine.

All in all, it seems to be an interesting venture for Microsoft, and it certainly allows them to cash in on a portable venture without directly competing with Sony or Nintendo. However, with a price tag of $1000 +, I cannot envision myself getting one (although I have always wanted to get a small tablet PC for drawing).

After contemplating the purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite, Caleb directed me to the import site Lik-Sang.com, a utopia of delicious products not available on this side of the Pacific (and Atlantic, since Europe often gets some lucky breaks). On the site, they are selling the Nintendo DS Lite (on backorder), the incredibly sleek Ceramic White PSP, a host of Tales games not available here, and even some delicious early releases that will not be available Stateside for a while.

The idea of importing some of this delicious hardware and software is so enticing that I almost want to fork over the contents of my bank account for a Nintendo DS Lite (in Enamel Navy), as well as a copy of Tales of Rebirth, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Eternia and Secret of Mana (followed by a subsequent period of no rest or consumption of food).

The import market is amazing, as it exposes us to games that unfortunately never make it to us from our foreign game developer friends. Imports are even more satisfactory for portables, as they do not require expensive or dangerous modifications of your original system.

However, the downside to this situation is the explosive costs for many of these products. A regular Nintendo DS game costs $49.97 CAN before taxes. To import a Nintendo DS game costs $49.97 US or more, taking a larger dent out of your pocket, especially if it doesn’t qualify for free shipping.

Why do they have to tempt me so with their shiny wares from across the sea and then pilfer from my pockets while I’m not looking. It is a despicable business practice (although everyone does it). Damn import companies are ripping me off, and taking advantage of gamers worldwide.

I guess I’ll have to wait until the Nintendo DS Lite hits North America before I can relish in that Enamel Navy glory.

The transition between Blogger and Wordpress has not been without its casualities. My largely perfected Retro NES template has not survived the conversion on account of the heavy influence of PHP in Wordpress design. In Blogger, I was able to layout all my links and images in the simplicity of HTML. But, the Internet has evolved and become more functional since the birth of HTML, and dynamic scripting like PHP has become the norm. Unfortunately, I don’t understand a single line of code, so I’m struggling to create a Retro NES v.2 template. I’ve settled on reducing my efforts to a single sidebar, and I’m going to see if I can enlist the assistance of a dynamic picture changer to revive my “currently playing” game list (if such an act is even feasible). I will attempt a similar strategy to create a game watch list as well.

My link listing is also going to need to be reworked. I’m eliminating the forums section and a few other areas, maintaining Gaming News (minus a few links), Comics, and Swag. Otherwise, my sidebar content will be heavily reduced.

I’ve created a new banner, and I have a general colour scheme in mind. I need to hurriedly finish this template so that I can begin reconstructing the pile we call our homepage.

It seems inconceivable. Blasphemous. The content of this post is so contradictory to my beliefs that it may tear asunder the fabric of space and time, leaving nothing but a void that consumes all light and happiness. By delving into such a topic, I am threatening to open Pandora’s Box and release upon the world untold evils.

For so long I have been unwavering in my position, yet, the newest information as a result of the Japanese launch has forced me to reconsider the value of the Nintendo DS Lite.

The shift in size and weight are unimportant factors. The repositioning of the microphone makes inflating balloons in Mario Kart DS slightly easier to do with your mouth, but - again - it was not the main selling feature. The sleek outer shell, or the new colour schemes were equally unimportant.

What shocked and amazed me was the incorporated brightness in the screens compared to its predecessor. The DS Lite is truly a blinding experiment involving ultra-charged electrons constantly exploding inside a Liquid Crystal Display. After falling in love with the two infernos that act as displays, the other features establish themselves as well. The new format looks slick: the DS Lite looks like the child of the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP.

It may be worth trading up for.

Depends on their launch stateside.

As one of the sensible gamers in this world, I feel a small fragment of shame for threatening death towards someone. It only helps to perpetuate the stereotype that gamers are violent. However, as a courtesy to gamers, surely even Jack Thompson can admit that Paul W.S. Anderson deserves to die. His Hollywood-esque bastardization of the popular survival horror series Resident Evil - along with a few other poor movies made here and there - have caused him to be the more hated man among gamer communities (next to the infamous Uwe Boll).

While Boll made the intelligent decision to retire from movie-based games after the failure of Bloodrayne at the box office, Anderson persists in his efforts to rape and pillage Capcom’s famous series. His first two efforts, Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, were widely viewed in the gamer community as the most destructive method of portraying source material. Paul W.S. Anderson was a child who stumbled upon a stunningly perfect glass sphere and ground it into dust.

Although we all knew the horrible day would soon arrive, today there was an announcement on 1Up.com about an interview with Milla Jovovich in regards to Resident Evil 3: Extinction (formerly known as Resident Evil: Afterlife). Through the brief article, she is constantly singing the praises of the script, and saying how exciting it is going to be.

The entire thought of another movie in which Alice - Jovovich’s character - attains more freakishly non-viral powers is sickening. The saddest part of the whole ordeal is that Resident Evil writer/director/defiler is Jovovich’s husband, and possibly her only link to work. Her character gets increased screen time and awesome action scenes, as long as Papa Anderson gets head every night.

Rumors circulating around the Internet have suggested that the next movie will feature Albert Wesker and Leon Kennedy. While I am not extremely partial to Leon, Albert Wesker is a God among villians. There seems little doubt that - if featured in Anderson’s film - he will be converted from the deviously intelligent British half-man to a snivelling geek researcher who gets stuff at the sight of Alice. He’ll also probably experience a humiliating death like Nemesis or Nicholai.

All in all, Resident Evil: Extinction will be a massive flop for fans of the video game series and a huge box office success for those who love to watch half-naked chicks run around fighting the undead. Apparently, it is the same crowd that made Buffy the Vampire Slayer stay on the air for seven seasons.