Report: Hybrid movie and game Blu-ray discs coming to PS3

A report from Sony hardware marketing director John Koller yesterday points to the release of "dual format" Blu-ray discs this year. That is, they'll be both a full-length movie, and a complete associated video game title.

John Koller, Director of Hardware Marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment, told Videobusiness yesterday that they are "actively pushing" for combination movie/game Blu-ray discs on the PlayStation 3 console. "There are a lot of developers who say, 'We have this game based on a movie...wouldn't it be great to marry these concepts?' We will definitely see this stuff this year," Koller said. Thanks to the density of the medium, a full-length HD movie and associated PS3 game could easily fit on a single Blu-ray disc.

Though movie license video games are never as successful as the films off of which they are based, this sort of packaging could bring about swift changes in that market. It also brings to mind games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, where the line between video game and "interactive movie" have been blurred somewhat. In that game -- which contains an entire feature film's worth of video -- certain scenes can be viewed from different perspectives, one of which is a small robotic sidekick with no dialogue that can explore and find bonus items while the main characters are talking.

According to Kohler, the details about the first hybrid game are still being finalized, but he predicts as many as three will be released this year.