Samsung and Toshiba have joined forces to end the format wars for good. They are releasing a hybrid player that plays both Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats. But that’s not all! Sony and NEC are also releasing a dual-format player of Blu-ray and HD-DVD. This is back-up for Sony, since they did lose miserably with Betamax.

Why is this happening? Sony’s contract for partners says that they can’t release HD-DVD hardware. It’s all a mystery for us. It is unclear if this will affect the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. What if Microsoft releases a Blu-ray add-on, or Sony a HD-DVD add-on? Sony is delaying the launch of regular Blu-ray players so when the PS3 is out, people will notice that it’s quite cheap. For a Blu-ray player. And Nintendo? How are they going to compete with their optional DVD player add-on?