Rumors: AMD to be acquired

Rumors from different sites tell that AMD is about to be bought by Nvidia, intel, or IBM. For more, you can read these articles:

Tom’s Hardware
Rlslog

Toshiba to give up on HD DVD

Toshiba Corp is planning to stop production of equipment compatible with the HD DVD format for high-definition video, allowing the competing Blu-Ray camp a free run, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.Toshiba is expected to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders and other steps to exit the business, Japan’s NHK said on its website.
No one at Toshiba could be reached for comment.

The format war between the Toshiba-backed HD DVD and Sony Corp’s Blu-Ray, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, has slowed the development of what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high-definition DVD industry.
Toshiba was dealt a blow on Friday when Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would abandon the HD DVD format, becoming the latest in a series of top retailers and movie studios to rally behind Blu-ray technology for high definition DVDs.

Toshiba plans to continue selling HD DVD equipment at stores for the time being but will not put resources into developing new devices, NHK said.

Source: NHK, Reuters

Console industry down by 6% to $1.18 billion

The US gaming industry ended 2007 with record retail sales of nearly $18 billion. This week, though, the NPD Group provided a sobering reminder that market growth is not guaranteed. Today, the industry-research firm released its US retail sales data for its January 2008 reporting period. While software sales for the month were up 11 percent to nearly $611 million for the month, hardware sales fell by a quarter to about $378 million. Combined with modestly declining accessory sales, the overall industry was down 6 percent for the month, posting $1.18 billion compared to January 2007’s $1.25 billion take.Despite that, the month contained indications that the industry actually grew. That’s because NPD’s January 2007 reporting period was actually five weeks long as opposed to this January’s four-week span. NPD analyst Anita Frazier noted that the numbers are much rosier when that adjustment is taken into account. “At the top-line, on an average sales per week basis, January 2007 was actually up nearly 18 percent as compared to last year,” Frazier said. “And the big winner was console software which was up nearly 50 percent when compared on a level playing field to last year.” However, even on a week-by-week basis, hardware sales were still down 6 percent from last year. Frazier blamed that slide on price cuts made to the consoles, and speculated that hardware shortages in the wake of stellar December sales contributed to January’s slide. That assertion was backed up a statement from Microsoft saying the Xbox 360 was suffering from temporary shortages.

Source: Gamespot

Wal-Mart will sell only Blu-Ray movies

Wal-Mart Stores Inc has decided to exclusively sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-Ray format, dealing what could be a crippling blow to the rival HD DVD technology backed by Toshiba Corp. The move by the world’s largest retailer, announced on Friday, caps a disappointing week for HD DVD supporters, who also saw consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc and online video rental company Netflix Inc defect to the Blu-ray camp. In a statement on its Web site, Wal-Mart said that over the next few months it will phase out sales of HD DVD systems and discs. By June, it will sell only products in the Blu-ray format which was developed by Sony Corp.“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” said Gary Severson, a Wal-Mart senior vice president. The move affects 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in the United States, as well as related online sites. The stores will continue to sell traditional DVD players and movies. The so-called format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray has been a thorn in the side of retailers, which have had to commit shelf space to devices from both camps even as they field complaints from frustrated and confused customers. Next-generation DVDs and players, boasting better picture quality and more capacity, were expected to help revive the $24 billion global home DVD market. But Hollywood studios had initially split their alliances between the two camps, meaning only certain films would play on a consumer’s DVD machine.

Source: AP