Bare Knuckles: Big studios are throwing in with Blu-ray.

If I had to grab some hip-hop lyrics to describe the latest news on the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD format wars, I would have to go with one of my favorites, Nas. Who's going to win the next-gen format war? "It ain't hard to tell."

It all started last week when Warner Bros. announced it was pulling out of the Microsoft supported-Toshiba produced HD-DVD format and supporting Sony's Blu-ray exclusively beginning in May. Then came reports that Paramount would do the same.

The only major studio left in the HD-DVD playground was Universal, and Variety reported that it, too, will, at the least, end their exclusivity deal with Toshiba.

So the writing is truly on the wall (Toshiba has also cut the price of its HD-DVD players like late-'90s crack cocaine), and for those who were waiting to purchase a hi-def player, the choice is much clearer now.

Here is the thing though, how long will physical video players stay relevant in the world of high-speed Internet connections? On-demand, downloadable, and streamed movie rentals are like Jehovah Witnesses on your block . . . they'll keep coming.

OK, that wasn't its exact word when reviewing the Nintendo Wii's highly anticipated toon-brawler Super Smash Brothers Brawl, but the game is one of only eight titles to ever get a perfect score (40/40) from the Japanese magazine. That is great news for the Japanese, as the third game in the series hits shelves Jan. 31. For U.S. Wii owners, however, the teeth-grinding gets worse as SSBB keeps getting pushed back. What was once an early December U.S. release went to late January and is now a March 9 release.

Frankly, I never understood game developers' treating Apple computers like the plague. Apple customers are some of the most loyal consumers I know, and if one high-quality game is made for their systems, almost every Mac Mack will buy it. Just ask Bungie about their pre-Halo days if you doubt me.

The recent power of Apple machines to run just about anything has raised some eyebrows over at Electronic Arts. Enough to announce that Spore, Sims creator Will Wright's magnum opus about creating your own universe's timeline from a single . . . spore, will hit the Mac machines at the same time it reaches PC shelves sometime later this year. Could the stepchild moniker be shed for good with this type of commitment from the industry's largest publisher? We'll see.

I didn't know the U.K. had a problem with knife crimes involving youths, but fatal assaults have apparently risen quite sharply there. Prime Minister Gordon Brown seems to think there is some relation to the availability of knives in video games.

"No one wants censorship or an interfering state. But the industry has some responsibility to society and needs to exercise that," he told English tab the Sun, when talking about the recent spate of knife violence.

Wait a minute, just last November British Army Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, said his gamer/soldiers in Afghanistan "are more than a match for what is required of them, and I salute every one of them."

Rocket launchers, RPGs, and laser pistols good. Knives in games, of which few have any major role, bad.