Kotaku reports Midway has announced a PS3 special edition of John Woo’s Stranglehold (whew) complete with a Blu-ray version of the game’s source, the 1992 movie Hard Boiled. But I know what you’re asking – why no comparable Xbox 360 version?

Well, looking at the IMDB entry for Hard Boiled, the home video rights are lost in the deep Blu sea. Aside from a Criterion Collection release in 1998, the movie also saw releases by Fox Lorber (now defunct, no relation to 20th Century Fox) and a 2002 release by Buena Vista Home Video.

Ah, so since Buena Vista Home Video is owned by Disney, and it doesn’t sound like Disney is leaving the Blu-ray camp any time soon, it would make sense that Hard Boiled would be a Blu-ray exclusive, right? Well, not so fast. It appears Dragon Dynasty is releasing a special edition DVD this year. And, Dragon Dynasty is owned by the Weinstein Company, which releases exclusively on HD-DVD.

So is this a sign that Weinstein is going format-neutral? Or does this just make sense because every PS3 is a Blu-ray player, whereas not every Xbox 360 can play HD-DVDs? A little of both, perhaps? Being that the movie and game are going to co-exist on the same disc, it sounds like the increased storage capacity of Blu-ray allowed this to happen.

Damn politics. I want my high-def Tequila…

Cue Flock Of Doves: PS3 Stranglehold Gets High Def Hard Boiled Bonus – Kotaku