EA and Vivendi weigh in for Blu-Ray in next-gen disc struggle

Leading game publishers Electronic Arts and Vivendi Universal Games have joined the standards battle over next-generation disc media by lending their support to the Blu-Ray format which will be used in PlayStation 3.

The two companies joined the Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA) this month, in a move which is unsurprising but still comes as a blow to the competing HD-DVD standard.

Both standards are designed to provide much higher capacity discs using DVD-style technology, with single-layer Blu-Ray discs holding around 25Gb while single-layer HD-DVD discs hold 15Gb, while dual layer variants hold 50Gb and 30Gb respectively.

The two incompatible formats are each being supported by a consortium of technology and movie companies, with Blu-Ray's backers including Sony, MGM and Disney while HD-DVD numbers Toshiba, Warner Bros and Paramount among its supporters.

EA and VUG are the first large game companies to align themselves with either standard, but their decision is hardly unexpected; Blu-Ray already has a crucial foothold in the games industry thanks to Sony's decision to use it in the next-generation PlayStation 3 console.

The backing of the games industry is seen as crucial by some, since the PlayStation 3 may well be one of the first Blu-Ray consumer devices to win widespread acceptance - just as the PlayStation 2 helped to drive the early adoption of the DVD standard.

Microsoft has yet to pin its colours to the mast regarding which disc technology Xbox 2 will use, although rumours last year suggested that the firm was seriously considering adopting the HD-DVD discs.

The decision will be an important one for the firm - backing the wrong standard could have financial implications down the line, as buying drive components and pressing discs for a less successful format could be significantly more expensive.