Batman storms onto DVD, but what of Blu-ray?

It feels like a long time since Christopher Nolan's masterpiece hit cinemas in July this year, but yesterday The Dark Knight hit supermarket shelves nationwide, creating a frenzied hoarde of Bat-fans.

HMV coaxed potential shoppers into pre-ordering the epic for £11.99, and throwing in a graphic novel into the bargain, but then subsequently dropped the in-store price for £9.99 in the first week.

The reason? Other than almost betraying the hard-core fans who pre-ordered back in September, the emphasis has shifted from DVD to Blu-ray.

The ultra-cool format boasts increased capacity, allowing shed-loads of special features and numerous times better picture quality, but we've heard this before now, why is it that the shift in marketing has happened now?

Blu-rays war with HDDVD ended earlier this year, with the major film companies who had backed the losing format sheepishly creeping over to Blu-ray, and with Toshiba now having developing new players, the great war is over.

Retailers have waited to strike until Christmas because plenty of people will be forking out on Blu-ray players this year, now that the latest players have the option to connect to the internet to update themselves, and are finally trickling down in price to something affordable.

The Dark Knight was just the vehicle the shops needed to force Blu-ray to the front of people's minds and is currently the highest selling Blu-ray in the USA and UK. Plus it's not just an empty vessel, there's oceans of hot action content and special features to get people's tongues wagging, particularly the Joker's altercation with an articulated lorry and the Batmobile's destruction.

But will it last? DVD is only 10 years old this year and there's little inducation of it going the way of the dodo already. The trouble is that you have to fork out on expensive full HD TVs and 7.1 sound to make it worthwhile and at £25 or so for the titles themselves, the price will have to drop a fair way before the mass market gets on board.

Public perceptions of the format are still positive, but only in another year or so will it be clear how well the retailers Christmas marketing paid off for them in the long run.

For the time being, I'll be looking forward to seeing the film on 'traditional' DVD.

Looking past Christmas madness to 2009

Why is it that whenever Christmas time comes around people all go a little bit strange. Is it the mass consumption of alcoholic beverages? Or being forced to listen to your eccentric Uncle tell one more embarrassing story about your dad?

Whatever it is, it's premature. Screaming pop rockers Slade always insist their classic Merry Xmas Everybody! is played earlier and earlier every year, when really it's a song meant to be played as you unwrap your presents (or in this year's case, credit crunch friendly lumps of coal) on that blissful morning.

No doubt I am as guilty as the masses for writing this now, not even a week into December, but I think people can get too carried away, especially when there's work still to be done.

The sick days pile higher and you suddenly remember you've inexplicably forgotten presents for a cherished love one, quickly logging onto HMV and hoping they deliver before the big day.

Nowhere is the Christmas season more exaggerated than on the high street. Shops begin pushing their seasonal deals as early as the end of October, especially this year when the financial troubles are expected to take their toll, though it's not as bad as you might think.

The trouble with it is that it's so fleeting, with New Years signs going up on Christmas Eve, and Easter treats already out in shops, we never stand still to appreciate those precious, argument-filled days.

In many ways, why would we want to, there are an incredible number of things to look forward to in 2009, here's my top 10:

1) Graduating from University - as much fun as I've had, it's time to move on
2) X-men Origins: Wolverine - Hugh Jackman returns as Woverine in a film that explains how he became the animal we met in the first X-men
3) Terminator Salvation - Christian Bale re-energises the Terminator franchise with support from newcomer Sam Worthington, who's also set to star in sci-fi flick Avatar.
4) Bad Religion's new album - The vintage punk rockers return for more operatic choruses and political lyrics, American punk at its best.
5) Resident Evil 5 (Xbox) - After the colossal success of 4 and the ultimately enjoyable Umbrella Chronicles the action moves to Africa where we begin to learn where the T-virus came from
6) Valkyrie - Tom Cruise stars in a based-on-truth thriller detailing the plot to assassinate Hitler during World War Two directed by Usual Suspects supremo Bryan Singer.
7) Muse's new album - The best British rock band around, both live and on record, will return for an epic new album, hopefully with piano solos.
8) Public Enemies - Heat and Collateral director Michael Mann returns with a 1930s gangster piece starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.
9) Mass Effect 2 (Xbox) - The sage of Shepard continues with the sequel to one of my favourite RPGs of all time.
10) Green Day's new album - The California trio have a lot to prove after the colossal American Idiot, will they come back to their old sound to please fans, or sell out in a pit of pop/punk horror?

So there's mine, what about yours?