Sony, NEC establish joint venture for optical business

Sony and NEC
announced today that they would be combining their optical drive businesses into one entity, dubbed Sony NEC Optiarc–a joint venture benefitting both companies at the same time. So, how does this affect video games?

The connection therein lies with next-generation formats. Sony is firmly embedded into the Blu-ray camp and is somewhat banking the success of the format with its upcoming PlayStation 3 console. NEC, however, supports HD DVD, so on which format will Optiarc focus? Our guess is Blu-ray, since Sony owns a majority (55%) and the joint venture is to be run by a Sony exec. This would be a major blow to the HD DVD camp, who might have just lost a major player.

[Via Engadget;
Thanks, SuicideNinja]