In what might prove an interesting draw for Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3, TDK Interactive has reportedly developed a new type of Blu-ray media disc that is capable of storing up to 100GB of data.  The current Blu-ray disc cap is 54GB.  In addition, information can be written to the new TDK discs almost twice as fast as the "conventional" Blu-ray discs.

"The disc, unveiled at a TDK exhibition in Tokyo this week, can record data at 72Mbps (bits per second), double the 36Mbps rate for current Blu-ray Discs. TDK increased the write speed by using a more powerful laser and making some changes to the material of the disc’s recording layer, said Nobuyuki Koike a spokesman for TDK.

To achieve the higher capacity, TDK added two additional recording layers to the disc to take it up to four layers. Blu-ray Disc stores 25GB on each recording layer and the standard currently includes single layer and dual layer versions."

TDK plans to release these quadruple-layer Blu-ray discs sometime in 2007, hopefully with compatible burners.  You may recall that the Sony PS3 will support Blu-ray, the intended media for PS3 games.  Who knows if PS3 games will actually ever take advantage of that much storage, but a little extra space couldn't hurt if they really had to use it.