Following the report of Toshiba officially pulling the plug on HD-DVD, Sony’s shares rose as much as 5% throughout the day.

The death of HD-DVD will likely lead to a higher adoption rate of the PS3, which in turn may lead to more NPD results in the vein of January, that had the PS3 outselling the 360 in the United States.

This then perpetuates the domino effect that we seem to be having. Both Universal and Paramount have now obviously announced their allegiance to Blu-ray, solidyfying the potential the format has to succeed.

Regardless of where our allegiances may lie, there’s no denying that a Playstation 3 that sells upwards of 250k in a US month is a good thing for the gaming industry.

Source: Next-Gen.biz

Image: Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

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There’s been quite a bit of evidence for a new Xbox 360 sku, or at least a sign that Microsoft will be putting out new models, whether they have any major hardware additions or not. Apparent shortages in the United States, a bigger appearance at this weeks GDC, and now Amazon.com are adding to the pile.

After January’s NPD numbers were released, the Xbox 360 fell behind the Playstation 3 for the first time in the US. Microsoft and gamers alike pointed to a console shortage for the lower sales numbers. It is unlikely that Microsoft simply misjudged their market, since there has been no major growth in sales over last year. So with shortages expected to continue until March, Microsoft may well be holding something back.

It’s possible that production has ended on the current consoles and has moved onto a newly improved selection, either with new features, or simply with an improved chipset.

Amazon.com adds to the intrigue by suggesting that almost every Xbox 360 sku has been “Discontinued by the manufacturer.” Many of the consoles appear to be in stock on the website, but with such an odd statement underneath each of them, it’s hard not to infer that Microsoft are getting ready to re-stuff the channels with new and improved consoles.

Will Microsoft be announcing a new Xbox 360 at this weeks GDC? Or will things carry on as normal, while they improve the chipset behind closed doors?

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