High Def Update (09:22 AM EDT):
The folks at IGN have a new article up that talks a bit about a few of the companies they contacted regarding high definition releases. All of the companies have been cagey to one extent or another except for Bandai Visual USA. The question about their interest in high definition came up a lot during Anime Expo but the general point was that the install base simply isn't enough for most of them to want to take a dip in that pool yet in addition to the high costs. This is similar to when DVD came out for the most part with the exception that Pioneer had an actual content side that included anime back then. Pioneer was strong on the DVD side in comparison to most everyone else.
The article starts off by looking at a few companies and FUNimation was surprisingly candid about their intentions. "At this point, we are in the Blu-ray camp. We started researching this about a year-and-a-half ago, actually," explains Ward Thomas, Senior VP of Sales and Operations at FUNimation. "We feel that the fanbase and our customers are very much trailblazers on the technology side, so it's something we wanted to get involved in right away. We really felt that the introduction of the PlayStation 3 last year was kind of a foray for our customers and fans to at least get into the next-gen platforms."
Interestingly enough, they also cite the recent news by Blockbuster as another reason for keeping their intentions there as the nationwide chain has expanded Blu-ray rentals from 250 store to 1750 stores. HD DVD is available at 250 stores and both are available at their online store.
