My chums at the Inquirer are reporting that the Chinese intend to enter into the games console market within the next two years. The report suggests that the company involved – Sichuan Changhong Electric – has already started talking with Taiwanese factories about possible production details.

In a separate, but somehow significantly linked article – the Electronics Engineering Times is reporting that the Chinese are well underway in the development of a rival to the DVD format called the Advanced Versatile Disc (AVD). The article goes on to say that a consortium of 19 Taiwanese manufacturers has now started work on yet another rival called the Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) which will be compatible with AVD, but crucially will also be compatible with the DVD disc format.

The main impetus behind these moves appears to be a wish to avoid having to fork out the $20.00 or so in royalties which currently have to be paid by those making DVD players for export to the West.

Does anyone see a pattern here, as the world’s largest nation starts to flex its industrial might?

Oh and what about a 100 GB disc which is compatible with DVD then, developed by researchers at Taiwan University? Their goal is to squeeze a Terabit of data on a DVD sized plastic disc.