betamax
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40 years later, Sony finally kills Betamax
Betamax: the punchline for over a decades-worth of VHS-center comedy bits and most format wars. However, Sony's Beta cassettes can still be bought in Japan. Just about. Sony's announced that it's finally, finally, finally going to stop selling the cassettes. No need to rush to Tokyo just yet, as you still have until next March to buy-up all the Betamax supplies you'll never need -- including a cleaning tape. It's also dropping its MicroMV camcorder tapes In a bid to... make space in the warehouse, we guess. Image credit: SSPL via Getty Images
The Game Archaeologist's excellent EverQuest Online Adventures: The blogger
To tell you all the truth, the comments from last week's initial foray into EverQuest Online Adventures bowled me over -- I truly was not expecting so many players to be so passionate about the game! How cool is that? I hope that some of you send me in your EQOA stories to justin@massively.com so we can include them in next week's column. Today I want to welcome Rick "Stoney" Stonebrook to our neck of the Massively woods. I remember finding Stoney's EQOA blog over a year ago and being so impressed that there was someone out there regularly updating a blog about this low-profile MMO. Stoney agreed to an interview about the game from a player's and blogger's perspective, so here goes! The Game Archaeologist: Please introduce yourself and your blog! Why did you start blogging about EQOA? Stoney: Well, I'm 24 and have lived in a lot of places in the past few years. I adopted the name Stoney when I started the blog, eqoa.wordpress.com, in October 2010. The purpose for the blog was simple: compile as much information about the game as I could find using various search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and YouTube. I hadn't played since 2005 and wasn't familiar with any new content. I had always wanted to return to the game. Thus the blog's goal evolved from a collection of memories to an effort to get people to return.
Microsoft: HD-DVD might be "next Betamax," switch to Blu-ray still possible
Speaking with Ars Technica, Microsoft Director of Platform Strategy Scott Henson explained that the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive would likely never be internalized into a future version of the console because "[we] don't want to charge customers $200 extra for something that may be the next Betamax." While Henson's frank remark is definitely a PR no-no (though it could easily be interpreted as a shot at Sony), it simply echoes the current state of uncertainty: No one knows which format, HD-DVD or Blu-ray, will prevail. Microsoft has clearly aligned itself and the Xbox 360 with HD-DVD, but it's left open the possibility of a Blu-ray switcheroo -- Peter Moore openly acknowledged as much during CES last year.Early HD-DVD add-on adopters might eventually get burned (if the format fails), but this certainly won't affect all, if even a majority, of Xbox 360 owners. On the flip side, if Blu-ray flops, 100% of PlayStation 3 owners will feel the burn. Sony is still the bigger risk taker.
Why Blu-ray will succeed where UMD failed
Blu-ray. Less then a week to go and people are still thinking about the last major format from Sony to fail: Betamax. Oh wait, was it UMD. You remember these discs right? They are movie discs that play directly in the Sony PSP. The only issue with them is that they do not play in anything else, they cost nearly as much as a full DVD and they don't have anything extra on them. There have been reports of Walmart ditching the format altogether we all know that when Walmart can't see it, really no one else can ether.iP3K blog has a right up on why Blu-ray will not fail like UMD did. It is an interesting read for a lazy Monday, but he doesn't address the whole Betamax thing, just UMD. We don't think that many of you picture Blu-ray falling by the wayside like UMD did, but still, you might want to check out the post.[via Digg]
iPod cassette holder
Make has the perfect use for all those old cassette holders you have cluttering up the place. Though this still doesn't help me get rid of all my Betamax tapes.
