Originally Posted by Sony

Sony has announced that the first set of Blu-Ray movies will arrive this Spring. Almost twenty movies have been finalised, on the eve of the International Consumer Electronics Show.

The genre of the titles vary from action films, such as xXx, to comedies like Hitch. Later in the year, movies such as Black Hawk Down will arrive on 50GB dual-layer Blu-Ray discs. See the entire list below.

It is currently Sony's aim to release four movies on Blu-Ray each month, and by 2007 this will increase to ten per month and will also include TV shows.

Blu-Ray is Sony's next-generation, high-definition storage format. It will allow full movies with interactive menus be displayed in high resolution for TVs that support HD. Single-layer Blu-Ray discs have a capacity of up to 25GB, whilst dual-layer can hold approximately 50GB. 200GB versions are already in development. It's competing format is HD-DVD. Whilst Blu-Ray is considered to be technically superior, HD-DVD's manufacturing costs will be significantly lower, and this has attracted support from companies like Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

A whole host of Blu-Ray players will be shown off at CES this week. However, consumers will also be able to play high definition movies with the PlayStation 3, Sony's next generation console, also due to be released in Spring this year.

Interestingly, whilst Blu-Ray movies will still be region-coded like today's DVDs, the regions have be altered. Now, the Americas and East Asia (excluding China) are both part of Region 1, Europe and Africa are in Region 2, and China, Russia and Others are in Region 3.

Sony has assured the public, however, that movies will continue to be released on DVD for the time being.

Blu-Ray Movies Announced:

* The Fifth Element
* Bram Stoker's Dracula
* Desperado
* For a Few Dollars More
* The Guns of Navarone
* Hitch
* House of Flying Daggers
* A Knight's Tale
* Kung Fu Hustle
* The Last Waltz
* Legends of the Fall
* Resident Evil Apocalypse
* Robocop
* Sense and Sensibility
* Stealth
* Species
* SWAT
* xXx