Universally viewed
By Tina Benitez -- Playthings, 4/1/2006
The Universal Media Disc (UMD) format is expanding at a steady pace. It reached the half million mark in sales faster than the DVD initially did, and continues to grow this year.
While recent sales haven't been as high as expected, according to a recent report from Sony, there are cross-promotion plans in the works, including DVD/UMD combo packages, offering consumers both the UMD video disc and the DVD versions of their favorite titles for a retail price of approximately $30.
Buena Vista Games, Burbank, Calif., plans on releasing five recent film titles for the Sony format, including Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, National Treasure, Reign of Fire, Kill Bill Volume 1 and Hero. How the UMD titles move at retail will determine whether Buena Vista will continue to support the PSP with additional UMD releases in the future, the company says.
Fox will release films Donnie Darko, Boondock Saints, X-Men and X-Men United and The Family Guy: The Best of Volume 1 in the format this summer.
Game companies are also releasing game-based features for PSP. Capcom, Sunnyvale, Calif., has released two 90-minute episodes of the video-game based Night Warriors on UMD, Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge Alpha and Revenge Omega. The anime episodes follow Donovan, who must fight stalkers of the night (i.e. vampires, werewolves and such) in the underworld.
Capcom will also release Streetfighter UMDs, beginning in second quarter of 2006, and it will develop all 29 episodes of the Street Fighter II V animated series for UMD, beginning with Street Fighter II V, Volume 1-5, also for release during the second quarter.
