About two years back, we mentioned how the adult film industry is likely to have a significant impact on which next generation format leads in the format war, however it is not until now that we can see which side this industry is turning clearly towards. At this week's CES trade show in Las Vegas, Wicked Pictures has released the first adult video on HD DVD, with Digital Playground Inc. announcing its plan to release its first adult film on HD DVD also on January 18th. ClubJenna also plans to release its first adult HD DVD title in March, aiming to have 10 out in total this year. While many consumers don't may this is a big deal, the adult industry has been considered to have played a significant role in helping VHS format win back in the early days of VHS vs. Betamax, despite being the superior format, since the adult film makers even had issues getting technical help from Betamax back then.
The adult industries have a number of reasons for preferring HD DVD, with lower production costs being the main reason and better technology support being the next. At the start, neither HD DVD or Blu-ray were willing to help the adult industry with mass producing their high definition films, but eventually some members of the HD DVD camp finally decided to help out. According to Wicked Pictures, they had no success in getting any company to mass-produce its films on Blu-ray, but still hopes to work with the Blu-ray format eventually.
With HD DVD currently leading when it comes to dedicated players, Sony hopes (and expects) to win the market using the PlayStation 3 to boost the number of Blu-ray disc players on the market, since every PS3 effectively doubles up as a Blu-ray movie player. However, even if it succeeds at this, according to ClubJenna Inc.'s president, the PlayStation 3 also targets a younger audience than what it would like.
