The battlefield epic motion picture “300” was sold on nearly twice as many Blu-ray Discs as rival HD DVD’s packaged content, to become the current sales leader for all next-gen disc titles (when both formats’ sales are counted), according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Some HD DVD proponents have argued in various online blogs that the videogame-like graphic novel that formed the original basis for “300” may not be the ideal title in which to judge how the two formats compete against each other over the same content. The reason: Since Blu-ray drives are built into all PlayStation 3 consoles, all titles with videogame-like qualities (games or movies) would expect to fare well for the Blu-ray camp.
Yet Blu-ray, for whatever reasons, has outperformed its lone competitor in both title sales and rentals over the last several months on a roughly 2-to-1 basis, according to tracking sources such as Nielsen VideoScan and Blockbuster Video (which subsequently has dropped HD DVD sales/rentals in most of its outlets).
Perhaps ironically, the HD DVD version of “300” boasts some sophisticated interactive and Web-based special features that the Blu-ray version does not.
