I must be addicted to CNET and its Blu-Ray polls. I got another one in my email this week and thought its results were intriguing. The CNET members were asked if the HAD to buy Blu-Ray which choice would the make. Below you can see the options and the results.

You can view the results here. You can also discuss this poll.

There are actually quite a few reasons why people pick the PS3. The most obvious reason is price. Compared to stand-alone players the PS3 is pretty cheap and comes with a movie (and can still get the five more free movies if I'm not mistaken). Another reason is Blu-Ray 2.0 and all the problems that could cause. All the standalone players out now are 1.0 or 1.1 compatible. The 2.0 players add functionality for bonus content similar to what has always been available on HD-DVD. For most people it is a non-feature, future Blu-Rays will still play on the old players, but it is better to have it than to not have it. Sony has already promised PS3 2.0 compatibility so that is moving a lot of perspective buyers in that direction. Another reason might be because people figure that if they want to they could play games on it too. These could be two types of people, gamers who already want (or possible own) a PS3 for games, and people who would barely play games but consider it one more feature than other Blu-Ray players. For those reasons, the PS3 it seems is the Blu-Ray player of choice for people looking to buy in the near future.

Well, that is all well and good, but what does that mean for the PS3? Well, my take is that this can only be good for Sony. Not only does their video game system help solidify their current format in the market place, but it also helps them pick up a few people who would otherwise not buy a video game system. Still, it makes me question the validity of the PS3's system sales as any indication of expected game sales. If people are just using the PS3 to play HD movies then they probably wont be very excited about Devil May Cry 4 or Grand Theft Auto 4 or even Metal Gear Solid 4 (too many 4's).

Sony's main competition, the Xbox 360, has has notoriously high attachment rates and a larger install base (right now). I wonder with the problems Sony has had, and the strong competition from Microsoft, if Sony has enough to draw developers' attention to the PS3. One thing seems sure though, Blu-Ray early adopters are very happy with the PS3 and that should help to increase its install base. Is Sony on a roll, or sacrificing its games department to the Blu-Ray?