Sony officially confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-ray discs at the PlayStation Business Briefing held in Japan today. In addition, the company is working towards making the platform compatible with PlayStation 2 and PlayStation games.
The Blu-ray Disc ROM (BD-ROM) will store up to 54 GB on a single (two-layered) disc, more than six times what dual-layered DVD-ROMS hold. Competing with the High Density DVD, a format which is easier to make backwards compatible but holds much less space, PlayStation father Ken Kutaragi justified the move by asserting that the limiting factor in next-generation games will be disc space. In addition to video game consoles, the Blu-ray technology will also be used in other media such as video and PC software.