HD-DVD group claims success against Blu-ray in Q2

HD DVD is outpacing Blu-ray in hardware sales growth, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group said today.

Referring to sales estimates from NPD and Nielsen Netratings, the HDVD group said that overall HD DVD hardware sales were up 37% from Q1 to Q2 2007, while software sales experienced a 20% increase in growth. During the same time-frame, overall Blu-ray hardware sales saw a 27% decline from Q1 to Q2, and Blu-ray software sales were down 5%.

According to a spokesperson, these numbers include both HD DVD players sold for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 game consoles; The HD DVD group declined to comment on absolute Q2 sales results, but given the exposure of the Playstation 3, Blu-ray is generally estimated to outpace HD DVD hardware sales in absolute numbers.

NPD did not return our calls in time for the publication of this article, but we will provide an update as soon as we receive detailed sales estimates for HD DVD and Blu-ray from the market research firm.

The HD DVD group’s success claims especially refer to the CE player segment. The recently announced price drop from $499 to $299 for the entry-level player segment has resulted in a sequential sales growth of 183% from Q1 to Q2, the organization said. The HD DVD group said that more than 180,000 CE players have been sold so far.

It appears to be price that will become more and more the focus of HD DVD promoters to push the format: “With the total number of titles available for each format differing by only 20-30 titles at this time, the real-world gap in content between the two formats is in actuality not as large as many would perceive," said Paul Erickson, market analyst with IMS Research in the HD DVD press release. “Consumers in the US and Europe continue to show the greatest sensitivity to price, rather than content or branding, in their purchase decision for standalone high-definition players."

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Oldest DNA shows earth warmer than previously believed

A team of international researchers used oldest DNA to show that Greenland was much warmer at some point during the last Ice Age than most people have believed.

The DNA samples were collected by the scientists from the bottom of a two kilometer thick ice sheet and from the trees, plants and insects of a boreal forest estimated to be between 450,000 and 900,000 years-old.

Previously, the youngest evidence of a boreal forest in Greenland was from 2.4 million years ago.

The DNA samples suggest the temperature of the southern Greenland boreal forests 450,000 to 900,000 years ago was probably between 10 degrees Celsius in summer and -17 degrees Celsius in winter.

Also, the reduced glacier cover in that region means the global ocean was probably between 1 and 2 meters higher during that time compared to current levels.

"These findings allow us to make a more accurate environmental reconstruction of the time period from which these samples were taken, and what we've learned is that this part of the world was significantly warmer than most people thought," said Martin Sharp, a glaciologist at the University of Alberta and a co-author of the paper.

Sharp said the silty ice found underneath the huge Greenland glacier created a perfect, natural "freezer" to preserve the prehistoric DNA. Scientists have, in the past, found older organic matter, but they have not found any uncontaminated DNA that is as old or older than the Greenland samples.

Sharp and his PhD student Joel Barker contributed to the research by providing DNA samples from the silty ice of much younger glaciers (3,000 years old) on Ellesmere Island in Arctic Canada. The Canadian DNA samples offered a control sample for the researchers around the world who worked to estimate the age of the Greenland DNA samples.

Sharp, who has been a supporter of the idea that the current global warming trend is human induced, believes the new research offers evidence that climate warming on the current scale is possible through natural conditions.

However, he cautions that this research does not prove the current global warming trend is not human induced.

"It could mean that our current warming is the result of both natural processes and human influences, and we may be heading for even bigger temperature increases than we previously thought," Sharp said.

The results of the research were published in the latest issue of the Science Journal.

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Ubisoft apologises for Rainbow Six pricing cock-up

Ubisoft has apologised that Xbox 360 gamers were initially charged for the recently released Black Edition map pack for Rainbow Six: Vegas when it was "was originally intended to be free".

Black Edition was released to Xbox Live Marketplace toward the end of June and, featuring five multiplayer maps, the pack was priced at 800 Microsoft Points (£6.80).

It was quickly removed, however, Major Nelson subsequently letting it be known that the map pack should have been a freebie and that those who had paid for it would be reimbursed. Black Edition then returned to XBL, free as originally intended.

In a statement about the cock-up, Ubisoft said, "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Black Pack Downloadable Content for Xbox 360 Live was originally intended to be free content for the fans of Rainbow Six Vegas. We apologize for the error. All players who purchased the Black Pack will be reimbursed automatically within 8 to 10 weeks."

The publisher added that "as a token of our appreciation for the Rainbow Six community" it's making the previously released Player's Pack Red Edition available for free as of this coming Friday.

Player's Pack Red Edition debuted this April for 800 Microsoft Points and contains three brand new multiplayer maps, two 'relit' multiplayer maps and two new multiplayer game modes.

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