Sony has announced that it is going to ship its first wave of Blu-Ray films on May 23rd.

The first wave will be XXX, Resident Evil Apocalypse 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz, Hitch, and House of Flying Daggers.

On June 13, the second wave will hit: Robocop, SWAT, Stealth, Species, Legends of the Fall, Terminator, and Kung Fu Hustle.

Er, so the reason to upgrade to HD is... Vin Diesel? I don't think so. The utter lack of A-class titles (aside from the sublime and underrated Kung Fu Hustle) doesn't exactly make for a compelling case for early adoption.

The first player to be available, we suspect, will be a Sony own-brand - although we have no direct confirmation of this, yet. It is expected to cost upwards of $1000.

Meanwhile, the HD-DVD camp appears to be gearing up for a launch far sooner, with March 28 apparently being the date for titles and players to hit the stores, according to a representative from Toshiba. Tosh's first HD-DVD player will cost $500-800, and will be followed by the release of PC drives in April and consumer HD-DVD writers in May.

No word yet on what the first titles out the door will be.

Excited? Underwhelmed? Let us know your thoughts over in the News Forum.