One tangent of the Xbox 360 vs. PS3 "console wars" has been the debate over whether Blu-ray discs (which the PS3 can play) would turn out to be a widely adopted format or if it would end up a niche market. According to Futuresource Consulting, Blu-ray's going to pass a big sales milestone this year.

Futuresource (via GI.biz) predicts that lower Blu-ray player prices and the increased number of high definition televisions will lead to a spike in Blu-ray sales. The firm estimates that over 100 million Blu-ray discs will be sold this year in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan (the three largest markets, presumably). Their projection has 80 million of the discs being sold in the United States alone.

"By 2012, around 50 per cent of US and 35 per cent of Western European video disc retail sale volumes will be Blu-ray," said Futuresource managing director Jim Bottoms.

Last year, 24 million Blu-ray discs were sold in the US so they're expecting that figure to triple in 2009. It's a pretty optimistic prediction, considering the state of the economy. I'm not sure that consumers' concern over picture quality is completely recession-proof. Bottoms notes that sales have been driven by new releases primarily so it partly depends on the movies being released. The Dark Knight should result in some bump, at least.