The future of Blu-ray Disc interactivity is now. At a BD interactivity showcase hosted by Sony and led by film critic Leonard Maltin, Lion's Gate demonstrated what I believe is an industry first BD Live enhanced Blu-ray title, Saw IV. The content was as grisly as one would expect, but we saw the film's director add blogger style comments on screen courtesy of Lion's Gate's MoLog Movie Log feature.

This was demonstrated on a PS3 and I plan to follow up with the powers that be to find out if the PS3 already is or will be updated for full compatibility with these exciting new features. As you'll read later, the interactivity drum is being beat loud and clear by the Blu crew. And Panasonic's new DMP-BD50 is BD-Live compatible (BD-ROM Profile 2) and has also been used here to demonstrate BD Live features.

Pictured above is Leonard Maltin and Lion's Gate's Ron Schwartz enjoying a quiet, character driven scene from Saw IV with the director's comment on screen. Saw IV will hit the streets in just a couple of weeks on January 22nd.

1-13 Update: Sony has informed me that it's possible if not likely that not even the mighty PS3 will be ready for BD-Live when Saw IV lands on January 22nd. A PS3 update is definitely coming, and indeed the pre-release firmware running on PS3s at the show was running flawlessly as near as I could tell.