Blu-ray's one-disc advantage 'resonating' with gamers - EA boss

EA CEO John Riccitiello has claimed that Blu-ray gaming is coming of age after a slow start - and that the format is beginning to "resonate" with gamers.

The capacity of Blu-ray has hit the headlines a few times this year - with large games that can be accommodated on a single PS3 Blu-ray requiring multiple Xbox 360 DVDs.

These have included Capcom's Lost Planet 2 and Konami's Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow - whose creators have spoken out against being forced into multi-disc releases. However, Microsoft maintains that it has no interest in adopting the format for Xbox in future.


"Interestingly enough I don't think Blu-ray resonated much with consumers when it was first part of the package," Riccitiello told Kotaku.

"I think [Blu-ray] is resonating now in a pretty big way, because a consumer doesn't have to buy two devices when they can get one and it's not multiple discs for a large game, it's one disc and the fidelity is higher. Sometimes the competitive advantage requires games to show it off to prove it's compelling."

Riccitiello is a self-confessed lover of the console war. He added that his "favourite outcome" of large hardware manufacturers including Apple, Sony and Microsoft doing battle was "a gigantic war for which we sell the bullets".

The exec said the Blu-ray example - of a format coming good when games can show off its advantages - meant we should be optimistic for PSP2's reported super-powers.

"So reading in a press release that [PSP2's] as powerful as a high-end console in your pocket is sort of a little flat," he commented. "Look at it the first time; when you actually see it happening it can be awfully compelling."

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