Sony talking up Blu-ray is not a new concept, but the company's marketing and public relations manager, Mark Levitan, has said that Blu-ray will be a decisive factor in promoting the PS3 over other games consoles.
"...you have to say to yourself, if you've bought an HDTV, 1080p resolution is important to you so maybe you want a Blu-ray player. If that's something you're considering, then obviously you're going to pick a PS3. You can go to any chain store and pick up a Blu-ray player but for an extra 100 bucks, you can get a PS3," he said.
I'm not sure consumers are obviously going to pick a PS3 over a standard Blu-ray drive, if they even pick a high definition drive at all in this current economic climate, but the PS3 has always been attractive to those wanting both gaming and HD movies.
It seems clear that both Microsoft and Sony have designs on ensuring their games console does more than simply play games. There's no other reason to allow movie downloads from their own online services, for example. Yet Sony is still very much behind the disc format it pioneered, and Microsoft is still dead set against it, despite the rumours.
Given consumer knowledge about HD products, I'm also not convinced that buying a new flat-screen TV means you're concerned about 1080p. There's little choice but to buy an HD Ready TV these days, and surveys show that most content being watched on these new tellies is standard definition broadcasting and DVDs.
When standalone Blu-ray players drop further in price, the mainstream, non-gaming public are unlikely to rush to buy the PS3, even though it's a highly capable player with advanced features. For gamers, Blu-ray probably won't be a decisive factor in helping it win over the Xbox 360; it's about the gaming experience itself.
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