If there is one sector that is sure to ride out the economic downturn in some comfort it has to be business punditry. Today's instalment in Things That Will Be Either Better Or Worse In The Next Financial Cycle comes from the HD3 Conference in LA, where a panel of entertainment execs discussed how the Blu-Ray format might suffer as the credit crunch begins to bite.

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Is there a market out there that needs/wants to stare intently at high-definition renditions of Kylie Minogue's butt cheeks, Jean Claude's chest cheeks and Raul Julia's...cheeks to the extent we need Street Fighter released on Blu-Ray? We'd like to think there isn't, and that the release of the forgettable, regrettable 90's tie-in is just part of Capcom's hype machine for Street Fighter IV (the disc is packed with "bonus" SFIV promo material), but these days, you never can tell. It'll be out on February 10, just in time to coincide with the console release of SFIV and the theatrical release of the Chun-Li movie.

Street Fighter: Extreme Edition on Blu-Ray [Capcom]

Spore has been out for a couple of weeks now and, a few anal scientists aside, it's received some pretty impressive reviews. So if you're one of the (very) few who haven't already grabbed themselves a copy, now's your chance. What's more, it could be yours for free... kinda.

New tech and science mag Popular Science is offering it's loyal readers the chance to win 3k in prizes, including a new Spore expansion pack, with every 12 month subscription purchased in October.

Ok, so yeah technically your Spore copy wouldn't be free, since you will actually have to pay for the subscription. But that's just a minor detail. And the mag really is a fairly decent read.

The next issue hits newsstands today, so grab yourself a copy to find out more details about the deal.

Full press release after the jump.

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I will be picking up the Resident Evil: Degeneration Blu-ray this winter due to the fact that I am a CGI-movie whore to the point where I'd buy a scene-for-scene CG remake of Ishtar, but some of you out there need more motivation than that. Sure it has zombies and the killing of zombies on a compelling airport backdrop, but what about the extras? How about a trailer collection, not only for the film, but for Resident Evil 5 as well? Not enough you say? You'll also get a trivia track, character profiles, an interview with Leon himself, and voice actor bloopers. All of that, plus a Blu-ray exclusive interactive picture-in-picture feature.

I'd discuss the whole 1.78:1 1080p AVC video accompanied by a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack bit, but quite frankly those words are gibberish to a man who picked up his surround sound system from Walmart while shopping for socks.

Resident Evil: Degeneration Gets Specs [Blu-ray.com via Capcom]

Sony has mentioned the PS3 will have a ten year life-span over and over again. The company is backing the console for the long haul. Sony has stated that's why the console uses new technology like Blu-ray. Shouldn't that mean Blu-ray will have a long shelf life? No, says a Samsung UK exec. (Samsung backed the format during the console war.) Says Andy Griffiths, director of consumer electronics at Samsung UK:

I think it [Blu-ray] has 5 years left, I certainly wouldn't give it 10.

That's not to say Samsung doesn't think the format will do well — but rather, that it won't have legs. Griffiths added that Blu-ray is "going to be huge... We are heavily back-ordered at the moment. Griffiths doesn't go into great depth into what he thinks will bring Blu-ray down.

Samsung: "Blu-ray has 5 years left" [Pocket-lint via Gizmodo]

You know, sometimes these patent suits are justified. The Immersion stuff, that's fair enough, because Immersion actually make things that rumble. It's what they do. Stuff like this suit, though? It does little but take the piss. Orinda Intellectual Properties USA (the name says it all) have, on August 20, filed a suit against Sony, Sony Electronics, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America. They claim that the PS3's Blu-Ray drive (as well as other Sony BD players) violates a patent Orinda hold that relates to...storing data on a disc. Not only are the patent trolls asking for "a reasonable royalty", they want the sales of all Blu-Ray devices across America to be halted.

Good luck with that.

Orinda Intellectual Properties USA Holding Group Inc v. Sony Corporation et al [via Edge]

Uwe Boll's epic masterpiece Postal has now been released on the unsuspecting DVD purchasing public, complete with a Uwe commentary, deleted scenes, special features, and a copy of Postal 2 for the PC. The news is so unexciting that even bombastic Running With Scissors boss Vince Desi can barely muster a crude joke about it.

"Own a piece of history! Only buying the DVD will get you the full complete outrageous movie and game, sadly the rental version is edited down and doesn't include the infamous Postal games-so don't get beat renting it." explained Vince Desi. "The Postal Movie on DVD means EVERYONE will have the opportunity to see it, even Usama Bin-Laden from his cave won't want to miss this".

The DVD version carries an MSRP of $US 26.99, with the Blu-ray version at $US 34.99, but Amazon has the DVD for $US 22.99 and the Blu-ray at an extremely cheap $US 19.99, plus you get the benefit of not having to show your face in a store.

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Film buffs know the Criterion Collection label for its foreign films, niche releases and attention to detail and film quality, but you may be a little bit surprised to learn that they opt for the PlayStation 3 when it comes to Blu-ray playback. Sure, the PS3 has been lauded for its Blu-ray capabilities, but Criterion approval will still have some of Sony's more smug hardware engineers and execs feeling good about themselves.

The label doesn't have any Blu-ray content commercially available yet — its planning to release classics like The Last Emperor, The 400 Blows and Bottle Rocket on the Sony approved format this fall. We wouldn't be surprised if at least one of the Criterion employees making corporate theatre room decisions is using it off-hours to play some Metal Gear Solid 4 on their 123" screen.

Criterion Collection's reference Blu-ray player is a PS3 [Crave via Giz]

Hope this story from last week didn't get your hopes up. Turns out that information - about a Blu-Ray release for Siren: Blood Curse in the Fall - was for European eyes only. You Americans, you're still in limbo, left only with the option of downloading the game and these helpful words from SCEA:

At this time, there is no Blu-ray Disc version planned for the North American market. Please note, however, that you are able to delete and then re-download episodes since the purchase is linked to your PSN account. The developers kept this functionality in mind knowing that the episodes were fairly beefy.

Hah. "No plans". Already, our favourite catchphrase of 2008! Of course, being a PS3 game it's not too hard to import it, so long as you don't mind the characters telling you to stick to the footpath, mind the grey-skinned chaps and use only aluminium weapons. Side note to publishers: more press statements need the word "beefy".

Still No U.S. Plans For Disc-Based 'Siren: Blood Curse' [MTV]

The above ad shows a father and Sony with a PS3 either buying or renting (can't tell) a bunch of Blu-ray discs. Haven't really seen the PS3 promoted solely as a Blu-ray player on TV here, but yeah, why not? It makes sense — the machine plays Blu-ray discs and help win the format war. I use my PS3 to watch tons of Blu-ray discs. You?

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