Posted 03/30/09 at 04:37:24 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The economy is tanking and so is the market for film DVDs. All slumps warrant that businesses make the most of their resources. Warner Bros has resolved to do exactly that: it is going to milk old movie titles in its archive for some extra cash. The film studio has begun selling 150 old movies as part of its new DVD-on-demand service. Movie buffs can choose between made-to-order DVDs and digital downloads.

It plans to add 20 movies and TV shows to its DVD-on-demand service every month. The new service will let Warner Bros squeeze some extra cash from its film archive without having to worry about the demand. As DVDs will only be produced when demanded, there is no risk of superfluous production.

Each made-to-order DVD will set you back by $19.95 (exclusive of shipping charges). If you have altogether abolished the old-fashioned habit of purchasing DVDs, you can download these movies for $15 per title.

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Posted 03/05/09 at 03:33:11 AM by Nathan Grayson

You hear that, GameStop? Capcom thinks you’re all washed up. Maybe it’s time to let the younger, prettier, and – most of all – immaterial new generation start helping you across the street, because your time’s running short. In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Capcom VP of strategic planning Christian Svensson explained why.

“Absolutely. No question in my mind. Digital distribution on PC ties directly into our strategy," Svensson replied when asked whether or not digital beats retail. “We will probably do as much digital selling as retail in the current climate,” he later added.
 
“To that end, on the PC side, I’ve spent the past year building up a digital distribution channel that has about twenty different partners. We’re ready on the console side, and we were the first Japanese publisher to do anything on Steam.”

Just in time, too. Our collection of game manuals was starting to get a little out of hand.

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Posted 02/03/09 at 04:53:57 PM by Andy Salisbury

Amazon has been pretty good about digital distribution in the past. Their music store is a strong competitor to Apple’s iTunes, and now it looks like they’re planning to man up the casual game division with their own game download center.

The fledgling game store is already packed with 600+ titles here on day one, and they’re planning to add more as time goes on. And, as a bonus to people that sign up with the store this week, they are offering full versions of “Jewel Quest 2,” “The Scruffs,” and “Build A Lot,” all for free.

Though, they are sure to note that this is only a beta launch, so if there are kinks, don’t stress about them too much. Growing pains are all part of starting something like this. Amazon, we’ll keep our eyes on you, you’ve impressed before.

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Posted 01/26/09 at 11:48:36 PM by Dan Stapleton

Have the first shots in the long-brewing Digital Distribution vs. Retail Wars been fired? About two weeks ago, GameStop.com abruptly stopped taking pre-orders for THQ’s upcoming Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II, and scrubbed any mention of the game from its site. While no one has been able to get an official reason out of either GameStop or THQ, the speculation is that the conspicuous disappearance is connected to the use of Valve’s Steam service as copy protection—GameStop is probably peeved that in order to install DoW2, gamers will have to install Steam and be presented with an option for fabulous deals on PC games that doesn’t require hauling their asses down to the mall and digging through all the Barbie Horse Adventure games on GameStop’s depressing PC corner shelf.

Further investigation, though, may indicate that this is no coincidence. 

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Posted 11/26/08 at 02:14:56 PM by Andy Salisbury

The day that digital music outsells their time-tested physical counterparts is finally upon us. Just this week Atlantic Records announced that more than half of its music sold within the United States was digital, thanks mostly to iTunes and cell phone ringtones.

But sadly, with the lowered amount of in-store copies being bought, there’s ultimately a smaller pie to get a digital piece from. Analysts at Forrester Research are estimating that music sales in the United Sates will go down to $9.2 billion in 2013, from $10.1 billion this year. Compare that to the $14.6 billion in 1999, and there’s a disturbing trend for record execs.

It’s expected that piracy has a good deal to do with the lowering numbers, but the ailing economy could very well be a large factor. The real question though, is how long until an overwhelming majority of music sold is digitally? It can’t be too far off.

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Posted 11/15/08 at 10:49:55 PM by Justin Kerr

Microsoft lobbed another artillery shell towards brick and mortar retailers on Thursday with the debut of its new U.S. online marketplace. Microsoft has been slowly expanding its direct to consumer sales channel over the past several months and launched its first pilot program in the UK and Germany back in July. Currently the online marketplace offers everything from Mice and Keyboards to Xbox games and consoles. Landmark PC software products such as Windows and Office will also naturally be made available.

A disproportionately large percentage of our readers have been shopping on Newegg and Tiger Direct for years. And the idea of buying items online isn’t all that unique to most of us.  Perhaps the most interesting new feature of the online marketplace however, is the option to download software and install it without the need for the physical media. Downloaded software can be burned by the customer to a DVD, but this process is optional. Microsoft will also allow repeat downloads of its software, and offer remote access to product keys. According to Microsoft’s Trevin Chow; "There is no longer any need to pay for shipping costs and waiting for the big brown truck to drive across the country."

We all know that online software distribution is hardly a novel concept, and people have been downloading productivity software and OS’s such as Open Office and Linux for years. Despite these facts however, this is still a huge step for the Redmond based software giant and a further reminder that internet distribution is here to stay. Let’s just hope they find new ways to compress this stuff. I’m not sure how much more of this my bandwidth cap will take!

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Posted 10/16/08 at 02:55:53 PM by Paul Lilly

Forget about the fight between DVD and Blu-ray, Playboy has decided to leave physical media behind altogether. Instead, the company best known for its articles (you do read Playboy for the articles, right?) will focus solely on digital distribution, according to the company's regulatory filing. The move is expected to save Playboy about $12 million a year in expenses.

Shedding its DVD operation will result in the loss of 80 jobs an $2 million in restructuring charges. Combined with an additional $4 million taken against archival materials and a receivable, Playboy expects to take a total of $6 million in charges against operating income resulting in a net loss for the third quarter.

Despite the initial net loss, Christie Hefner, the company's chairman and chief executive, wrote in a memo to all Playboy employees that the goal is to return the company to profitability in 2009. In addition to migrating to digital distribution, savings will come from cutting overtime, travel, and entertainment.

Almost makes you not want to work at Playboy. Almost. 

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Posted 09/26/08 at 10:57:00 AM by Paul Lilly

A year ago most of us were bracing for a long, drawn out battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but we all know how that turned out. What we don't know, at least not yet, is what impact digital distribution will have as the nation's broadband continues to improve. Michael Bay, the man who directed Transformers and then voiced his outrage over Paramount's decision to abandon Blu-ray, claimed in late 2007 that Microsoft wanted both formats to fail, and was even actively trying to sabotage the high definition format war, all so it could reap the rewards when digital downloads take over.

Hit the jump to see why some think Blu-ray and digital downloads are both here to stay.

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