Michael Bay: Microsoft is the Real Problem

Outspoken director Michael Bay has once again posted a note on his website in regards to the format war, this time calling out Microsoft. He pointed out, similar to what many insiders have been saying for a while, that Microsoft was only trying to destroy both formats in order to usher in digital downloads. Mr. Bay called Blu-ray the "superior" format and hinted that Microsoft was behind the now infamous Paramount payoff.

[Mr_Kuwabara]

Meh, Microsoft just doesn't seem to really care about any formats.

[The Brave 1]

Anybody with a little sense knows that microsoft was behind the paramount deal.Problem is they are too little too late.I hate microsoft for the way they conduct business.Thats why they are getting their asses kicked by Apple,Google andsoon SONY!

when blu wins,i think they should block paramount from producing on blu.
That will teach them not a 150 million dollar lesson,but much much worse

[marinelife9]

I'm glad he confirmed what everyone suspected.

I understand that Microsoft wants digital distribution but they are going to have a few problems that they'll need to overcome.

1. The entire world is going to have to move to next gen broadband with 50 mbps speeds in order for it to feasible.

2. Hard drives are going to have to be much larger

3. They are going to fight brick and mortar stores like Best Buy who rely on physical disc sales for a part of their revenue.

[Vip3r]

"Meh, Microsoft just doesn't seem to really care about any formats."

Yeah, thats why they are backing HD-DVD.

[marinelife9]

You miss the point of what Michael Bay is alleging. Microsoft is only backing HD-DVD to prolong the inevitable enough for them to get their digital distribution network up and running.

Think of how much worse the format war would be if MS didn't have a HD-DVD add on for the 360 and if they never fronted the money to make Paramount exclusive. Toshiba would be in even far worse shape than what they already are.

[Close_Second]

Before I address your points, digital distribution is already here to some degree and it will by no means replace all disc media (i.e. CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray), it will co-exist with it.

Now, addressing your points...

1. Rubbish. People download a sh*t load of data now on much slower speeds. They just realise that they have to set it going overnight or during the day whilst they're at work. I dare say developed countries should be looking at sustained speeds of at least 10Mbps which is achievable. Downloading a 10GB file should only take around 2.5 hours at that speed.

Lets face it, things will only get faster...

2. HDDs are getting bigger and bigger ... and BIGGER. I can go to my local electronics store and pick up a portable 1 terrabyte drive. In 3-4 years multi-terrabyte drives will be available. Space will not be an issue.

3. Well, ITunes has basically taken on brick and mortor stores with music sales. The same thing will happen with video as it makes good business sense.

Digital distribution is a reality for most of us already. Whether for downloading demos or patches or renting a movie. It won't eliminiate the need for physical disc media but it will eventually dominate the way electronic content is sold. Just may take 5-10 years...

[marinelife9]

1. A 25 to 50 gigabyte movie takes a long time to download and a lot of hard drive space. Why would someone wait hours to download a movie when a lot of people live within a few minutes of a Blockbuster video? Some countries have already started offering 50mbps download services but it hasn't hit the US yet. Plus you run into the problem that some have theorized that we will run out of bandwidth in 2010.

2. Yes hard drives are getting bigger and bigger however what happens when you want to take your movie to your friend's house? Would you rather take your entire device with you or just a disc? What happens if your hard drive crashes?

3. It still will be a fight against brick and mortar stores. Best Buy and Wal mart weren't happy about Itunes. Wal mart even started there own music download site to compete and supplement the revenue loss.

But I think you misinterpret my original post. I stated that MS will have some problems to solve not that it was impossible.

[drewdrakes]

The Brave 1 - define "getting their asses kicked" as last time i checked they are beating all 3 of those companies. Maybe not Sony for long in the console wars, but the other 2 it's no contest.

You know those Apple commercials saying their sales are up? Well that may be true, but their market share is down since Vista. The New York Times wrote an article about this and how Apple screwed up. Trust me, Apple doesn't do anything better then Microsoft. A hacker said about the Mac operating system "it can be cut apart like swiss cheese". This is because all you have to do is look for year old linux flaws and they still exist in Macs (for some reason they havent been fixed). But no one wants to waste their time on a mac.

Now for Google, people say they are now the next Microsoft. Meaning they are now conducting business like them. If you cant beat em? Join em. I guess thats their philosophy there.

[Vip3r]

"You miss the point of what Michael Bay is alleging. Microsoft is only backing HD-DVD to prolong the inevitable enough for them to get their digital distribution network up and running."

I don't care what Michael said. I was quoting and replying to Mr_Kuwabara's comment.

"Think of how much worse the format war would be if MS didn't have a HD-DVD add on for the 360 and if they never fronted the money to make Paramount exclusive. Toshiba would be in even far worse shape than what they already are."

Actually the format war would be much better if M$ hadn't have released the 360 addon. The format war could have been over to which I wish it was.

[Scrooge]

Since it's so fun to hypothesize conspiracies, maybe microsoft is the one responsible for sept. 11.

[SlappyMcTaint]

Microsoft doesn't care about the consumer and just wants everything to themselves by sabotaging current technology?!?! WTF!! I never would have guessed.

BTW, above is sarcasm, for the thick-headed M$ lovers here.

fck M$ up their greedy fcking a$$$es!! I mean that! If i ever see Bill Gates in person, he will get a b!7ch slap from me!! And it would be worth all of the jail time i would get!!

[DraconWolfX]

Slappy -- Hate on Microsoft the company all you want but the fact remains that Bill Gates is an extremely generous man. He gives MORE money to charities than any other wealthy business man out there. He actually cares about the problems of the world and that's why he's retiring from Microsoft to focus his efforts on that. Don't hate Bill Gates, he really is a good guy. He's just lost control of his company.

[godofthunder10]

like one guy said,if they could sony and their fans would blame Microsoft for 911 to.i laughed my ass off when one sony fan said that microsoft is getting their ass whiped by sony,apple and google,hell the last time i checked microsoft could buy all of them.if people start using their brains instead of taking up for sony every time they said something then they would see that

1st-'it's unstopable,sooner or latter every thing will be down loaded.

2nd-when people first downloading music people said that it want hurt cd sales because cds has better sound,well what happen,cds are about dead now.

3rd-sony and their fans are saying that movie downloads want rule the furture,well i like to know where they been at because people are starting to download movies more then hd dvd or their so call god br is catching on right now,not only microsoft but apple and even tivo is starting to have video downloads and every cable and satilite company has pay per view now and people still think that movie hardware still have a place in the future,well if they do then they will be left behind.even block busters rentals are down now because of this.critics already said that the new formats don't offer anything new that the majaority of people want.when dvds first came out they were smaller and has a way better picture so people jumped on it,but the new formats are the same size and the picture isn't a bigger difference then the difference between vhs and dvds were.

but i think the people that want a japanese company to beat an american company migh as well move over their because that's where their loyaties lies.hell when 2 writers for game magazines in japan were interviewed,they were asked why can't the 360 seem to sell in japan and they both replied that japanese people are proud of their country and they buy products from japan as much as posiable so they could help their own economy out and they hate to buy from other countries especially if it's from the U.S.well after hearing that and people still want a japanese company(sony) to beat any american company is nothing but a traitor.my grandfather didn't fight in ww2 for the U.S just so people like this can hand the U.S right over to japan with out a fight.
years ago when people still bought the majority of american products and just starting to buying forign products,they had a slogan that came out that said buy american made,because they said that if we don't start now then we will be to dependent on them for everything,well it happened.we depend on japan for almost all our products now and that's why japan own half of the U.S now.japan only allows about 3/4 less imports from the U.S that they export to the U.S and if it was any other company then japan we wouldn't let that happan because we depend on them to much,and on top of that it's a law in japan that says an american can't own a company their but still they own half of the U.S and they still buying every thing that they can.
so go ahead and pull for a japan company against a U.S company and let them rule the world,hell i hope all of the people that pull for sony against an american company moves to japan because they shure in the hell helping japans economy out and hoping that it hurts the U.S economy,and if a war ever break out, they see that this time it's japan that has the advantage and then they have no one to blame but their own dumn asses because i've never heard of japanese whishing that they loose to an american company hell look what the 2 writers said and people still have the balls to pull for sony,they say that they are for the U.S but when they have a chance to prove it they do the opposite well they are all HYPERCRITS with no pride for their country if they did, then they would do what japanese do for their country instead they do the opposite of what japanese people do,instead of helping their country out they help japan out.well it's true what they say,japanese are smarter then americans,well they are atleast smarter then the ones that pull for a japan company against an american company even when japanese said that they hate to buy products especially from the U.S
henery rollins was right,he said that japan has the U.S over a barrel and f**king it dry and we aint doing a damn thing about it and it's about time we do

[jojo319]

the The Brave 1, in what world are you living where Microsoft is "getting it's a$$ kicked" by SONY, Google, or ANYONE else for that matter?? So the iPod outsells the Zune by a ton. Regardless of what you may think is "better", Microsoft crushes everything in the computing world. The 360 and Zune are merely Bill's hobbies.

[SlappyMcTaint]

True, he does donate a ton of money -but most of that is to promote Windows wherever he goes: donating PC's to starving children, who need food more than t3h internets.

I should have focused my anger more towards M$ as a whole.

PHUKKERS!!! tha'ts better.

[gamesblow]

Wow! Doesn't sound like he's happy and it also doesn't sound like Microsoft is doing a very good job of doing what they're doing, since Blu-ray is kickin' the S#IT out of both digital downloads and hd-dvd. "hga"

[Filanime03]

Actualy gamesblow they did a good job on prolonging the war. Instead of the format war being over this holiday season it is set back to one more year in which the deal of exclusivity will end. Microsoft did a good job on prolinging the war.

[ruibing]

So far the only contribution from the format war has been price slashes on players and sales on movies, but, in exchange, it has slowed the adoption of next gen dramatically. I hope it ends soon...

[Boink]

which it likely is, then it's brilliant and working.

consumers are confused, neither format is even coming close to DVD, digital distribution is surpassing both formats, and their video marketplace will now be available in Europe as of dec 11th.

welcome to cut-throat business Mr. bay, sorry you were so naive up to this point.

it makes sense for MS to encourage a war, they gain ZIP of either format wins, as they are not a production company. But if digital distribution wins, then it's important and profitable to them, as pretty much anything involving the internet makes them money.

[PS3 Limps on and on]

If the great XBOX 360 starts getting outsold next year.

[MrSwede]

Both formats are actually doing well compared to how DVD was doing in the beginning.

Edit: DVD sold roughly 700 000 players the first 20 months in the U.S and HD-DVD claimed 500 000 stand-alone players were sold the first 20 months in the U.S so I'd say they're doing well.

[Danja]

But DVD players didn't reach $99..at the rate of HD-DVD's..seems like one is hanging on for dear life..!!

Blu Ray FTW..!!

[unlimited]

Its not smart move they wasting money on something that wont benefit them..Microsoft dont care about HD format they just trying to prevent blu-ray to completly win right away..Ill say next year thats when blu ray will kill hddvd to its death..

[xplosneer]

Microsoft could make a HUGE profit on HDDVD, considering that they OWN the HDi spec that is used in HDDVD's, while Blu Ray uses open Java software. If HDDVD won they could make a profit on people using their software per disc. Imagine that HDDVD won. What, 5 million discs a month? Times 50 cents per disc? That's 2.5 million a month. A MONTH.

[gogators]

which comes out to around 150 million dollars a day. Making 2.5 million a month really amounts to nothing. I still just don't see why MS cares about this format war beyond how it can affect the PC industry, where MS gets most of it's income. Whether Blu-Ray or HD-DVD wins this format war, digital download services are still going to find a place in the market.

[Boink]

stupid double post

[MK_Red]

While I like Bay and his Blu backing, I still believe the real problem is Paramount because if they weren't greedy and hadn't accepted the 150 mil bribe, this war would have been over by now.

[marinelife9]

I actually don't blame Paramount it was a smart business move on their part.

150 mill in cash for only 18 months of exclusivity. That's more than what they would have made in Blu-Ray profit until the market gets bigger.

Plus they were told Toshiba was going to flood the market with $99 players.

Paramount doesn't have to think HD-DVD is going to win all they have to believe is that both formats will be around for awhile. Wouldn't you take the money?

We'll all be able to buy Paramount Blu-Rays in a little over a year.

[Feihc Retsam]

One studio will not decide the format war.

As long as there is a big name brand producing Blu Ray players, and another producing HD-DVD players, consumers will be split on which format to pick.

Mixed revews aren't helping things either...
Apparently many people think one format has better/more features than another... There is no REAL superior format when it comes to HD movies...

Sure, Blu Ray can sport higher capacity if it needs to, but fo HD movies, both HDDVD and BLU RAY do the job just fine...

It will take a massive studio migration to one format to make consumers sway heavily to one side

And how can you blame PARAMOUNT at all!??
MONEY is the name of the game. It's the reason the PS3 has a BLU RAY drive, and it's the reason TOSHIBA is handling HD-DVD...

So why shouldn't PARAMOUNT make a cool $150m where it can? If you were PARAMOUNT, would you have graciously decline the $150m just so SONY, MICROSOFT, TOSHIBA... WHOEVER, can make their cash?? I don't think so.

[actas123]

Don't you guys worry. Toshiba and Sony will work out something at the end of the Holiday season. Toshiba will cancel the contract with paramount and sony will pay them some cash.. Remember that Sony and Toshiba have always been close friends..

[gamesblow]

Digital distribution is years and years away. So many people don't even have broad band connections yet, let alone enough savy to know what it is they're doing online.

People like to own things and the bulk of digital distribution is downloaded over the course of a year and not all at once. Look at the projections of DDS compared to media sales. People aren't jumping into digital distribution and the only reason they are with xbox 360 and ps3 is because their is no other way of getting demos and trailers and while it's cool on the exterior... it'll never take off.

Not until players can be sold with 1 Tera flop of data and fast enough connections for us to dl hd content worldwide. sorry.

[Boink]

at least in NA, high speed internet is the norm here, and 500 gig and 8terabyte drives are pretty cheap.

but you don't even need that much space unless you want to keep a copy of every movie.

I watch them once and they're gone, so my 160 gig drive works fine. and now that my 360 streams divx/xvid, I'm a very happy camper as media center doesn't seem to handle HD very well.

and japan is much further ahead than NA.

the longer these HDDVD/bluray companies fight, the worse they make it for each other.

[Peekay]

i think most countries with the exception of the states don't have the sufficient infrastructure. Its costs a $h!t load to get fibre optic cables running. I read somewhere that in a couple of years there will be an overflow of people using broadband in the UK that it will almost grind to a halt.

[beoulve]

Boink, Yeah it's here but It haven't caught up to speed yet. SD Movies download haven't even caught up to mainstream, do you think HD movies will??

[Bonsai1214]

i couldn't help but laugh at your post boink. don't take it personally, but its very uninformed. while broadband is quickly becoming the standard in NA, it is incredibly SLOW broadband. the advertised speed that everyone is subscribing to is 768kb/s, which translates to around a 100KB/s download speed. have fun downloading a 50GB hd movie, or even a 8GB sd movie with a speed like that...

i'm blessed enough to have a 10MB/s download speed at my university (80mb/s), and a 5MB/s speed at home 40mb/s), so i can afford to download large content, but the rest of america if they want to watch a movie, will find it much easier to spend 20 minutes and buy a movie than wait several hours (or days) to download a movie.

and while high capacity HDDs are slowly becoming the norm, the average consumer has absolutely no need for a drive bigger than 200gb. only cutting edge techies or videophiles will even think about purchasing a 1TB drive, and even then, its only around 20 movies in full HD. we're still a ways off.

[Feihc Retsam]

You can clearly see when someone is a gaming website troll with very little intelligence......... example:

GAMESBLOW: "Not until players can be sold with 1 Tera flop of data..."

1 Tera FLOP.... of data???

Get your head out of your A55...

Anyone with any real knowledge on the subject would know that a "FLOP" is an industry abbreviation for "Floating Operation"...
This is a term that is used when breaking down the specs of a cpu/gpu

What the F*CK are you talking about!!!!!????

[Ju]

I agree, gamesblow. It will take forever to get download distribution channels working. And no, the bandwidth is not high enough. You can say that currently nobody (!) is really downloading big amounts of data. You know, 80% of Joe Average does not. If so, tell me why I usually never use my pay per view channels, while I can rent thru Netflix and get the BD within 48 hours, usually (actually, I can watch two movies a week with a "one out at once" subscription).

I also do not want to pay per movie. How should a online distribution channel can have a flat rate and prohibit you to not suck off their whole content within a month ? Well, they can limit the numbers of movies, and we are back on per movie fees.

Believe me, if online movie content will be the norm, and say in a city of 4Mio people start to stream/download a show at the same time, the bandwidth is far from being big enough.

And another problem which I have with downloading is, archiving. I still don't trust HDs to store data forever. I still have more faith in a read only media which I can simply put aside and get whenever I want. At some point, no matter how big the HD is, you will face the situation to make room for something else or to create an archive. Where to you store that content then ? Also, security ? I would scream to see my 5TB HD die and with it my whole movie library!

Actually, I could go own. How do they want to make sure, you can watch a movie only once ? And still have a price advantage ? Sure, the players could do that with online verification. Which then again, gives us totally vendor dependencies. Great future.

[Boink]

you can laugh at the post if you want, but it's the truth.

I don't know what backwards town you get your internet from. but my internet is a 8Mb/sec internet, and I ususally download movies @ minimum 100k/s from torrents and such. I usually average around 300-400k or so.

and HD movies are 4-6 gigs SD movies are usually less than 1 gig, not 50gig, and The movies typically take a few hours to DL.

as for PC's, well mine is almost 2yrs old, and has 180 gigs. plenty of room to DL quite a few movies and watch them. I don't plan on archiving them forever. I watch them and then they are deleted. I don't consider that cutting edge it's pretty average these days.

I don't see how my post was uninformed when it's based on facts that I and many others that I know all accross NA have experienced, but thanks for assuming that you know all.

[beoulve]

boink, Yes that's you. Not mainstream, you got 8mb but average broadband in US is still 768kbps and not everywhere get 8mbps or everybody willing to pay 8mbps. That's the problem.

[Ju]

@Boink, well, I think I live in one of the bigger ones in the southwest (I think we're about 4-5Mio now), and my line is about 7MBits. But I think you don't get it, do you ? It might work for me, even for my neighbor. But now, multiply that by say 1000 - and we are talking probably my street or so. Get the picture? Its still nothing but would increase the market share by, uhm, say 500% (which is very unlikely). The bandwidth is far from enough to service this demand. It will take years to reach that level.

[Bonsai1214]

funny boink. sd movies 1gb, and hd moveis 8gb? thats good for a laugh too. those movies ripped from dvds, compressed, and have a resolution smaller than a normal sd movie maybe.. we're talking about the original digital copy.

and i hope you know that 1080p data rate is roughly 8MB/s... have fun watching your 17 minute 1080p movie with that 8GB file.

boink, go look at any broadband advertisement. DSL is generally 768kb/s and cable is generally 2mb/s. you might be lucky to have a nice ISP, but a good chunk of the rest of the country has a much slower network. why do you think the average american internet speed is only around 4-6mb/s? and countries like Netherlands and Japan have 25mb/s averages? its because the network isn't good enough in most of the country.

check out the image. its for a 6 minute short movie on apple.com, the I am legend: isolation short. look at the size of the files.
http://www.apple.com/traile...

[Jen5en]

@Boink

In the backwards country of Denmark where I come from, I have a 10 Mbit connection and yes, while HD movies only take up 4-6 gigs of space, the only thing that makes those "HD" is the resolution. But resolution alone doesn't mean anything, bandwith does. If you want to download 15-20 gigs for a movie with the bandwith of, say, a Blu Ray movie, then be my guest. However, I'd just throw in a Blu Ray and sit comfortably in my couch. I agree that when 20-50-100 Mbit connections become the standard, downloading these beasts can become feasible.

Hell there are 1080p HD movies on 1 gig, but the MPEG compression is so lame that you couldn't tell what you're watching.

[lonestarmt]

I don't like digital downloads for movies. I always prefer having something tangible that i can hold in my hand. I don't really feel like I "own" unless its on a disc format.

[Bladestar]

wow... I can only imagine how many music DCs you own...
I also have an old friend that feels the same way... he prefers going to the public library.. because he feels using the internet and computers is not good... he says, "I prefers books that are tangible that I can hold in my hand".... mmm.. weird... ehh?

Funny thing is.. in a few years... sooner than what most of you think...

On August 6, 1991 the first website was published..
DVD was developed in 1993...

As you can see... disc formats not only take long to improve but also take a long time (almost a decade) to be adopted.

Not only that the internet speed is getting faster every year... but also other tecnologies that make digital distribution possible getting better...

Here is an example.. of a technology called Silverlight...
(Netflix also uses silverlight).

http://www.foodnetwork.com/...

Click on the videos and see how fast the video starts...
This is the very same technology on the xbox 360 marketplace....
This is why when you buy a movie on the xbox 360... you can start watching it 1-2 minutes after starting to download...

Digital distribution is the future not some stupid @$$ old gen disc... one of these formats win (HD DVD or blu-ray) and we will be stuck with it for 10 years... and entire Internet Generation.... because these companies will stick to it for as long as they can to milk it... Sony for example.. why do you think the PS3 does not have movie marketplace yet?

[Ju]

@bladestar. You forget, that absolute speaking, even the 360 has an insignificant small market share compared to say, TV or DVD - if people complain, that the PS3 is not seen as a disk player, but the market saturation is about 6Mio players globally, then I would assume this will as well hold true for 12Mio 360 owner, which - according to its big fanbase - is meant to play games in the first place. And unless there will be multiple HW manufacturers, and set top boxes which will work as simple as a DVR or VHS recorder works. Not everybody will buy a 360 to watch TV shows or movies - like not everybody buys a PS3 to watch BD disks.

This is a nice plan M$ puts together, but if they are alone on that front, they won't succeed. Not even Sony will. Download content is less standardized then say BD & HD-DVD combined. For M$ that might be enough. They might want to replicate iTunes for movies and Apples success. But I think its not the right time just yet.

BTW: In all that excitement, people completely overlooked, that what iTunes is for music and iTV is for movies, iGames (==PlayStation store) is for games. Sony achieved this - probably not even anticipated as such - and kind of unexpected, IMO. Funny thing is - there is no competition in that market at all. Everybody is so focused on music and movies, that they totally forgot the games.

Don't get me wrong, eventually even I believe there will be on demand movie services, but not in the near future, and not because of M$ or Sony alone - only if everybody (Studios, distribution, and Sony & M$ or the like) will come up with one common solution.

[FordGTGuy]

are moving to digital download/digital distribution.

[Lucreto]

Digital downloading maybe the future but not now. It takes me 4 hours to download a 1 gig demo. Imagine trying to download a 30 gig movie.

By the time it has downloaded you could have gone down and rented and watched the title and returned it before it even reaches 50%.

Internet speeds need to improved drastically before that happens. Just to show 5% of Irish have broadband and it is not cheap.

[Bladestar]

lol... muhahaha muahahahhahaha... As Sony fanboys state one time after another... blu-ray winning is innevitable.. so Microsoft involvement shoudn't affec the format war on any way...

Since I am for digital distribution then I am against HD Discs... so, I hope microsoft keep injecting money into HD DVD for as long as they can...

What triggered Microsoft to get involved? Sony adding blu-ray into the PS3 giving them the logical advantage of the PS3 and a direct threat to the xbox 360... (&^!*@^# duhh! what do you think microsoft suppost to do?

You can't blame microsoft from protecting their interest. This is why as long as blu-ray is relevant to the console war... HD DVD will not die...

Sony thought that by adding a blu-ray drive into the PS3 it was going to help them win the console war... it backfired... it's probably the one thing that stopped blu-ray from winning the format war...

and yeah... about Michael Bay.. everytime he drinks a beer he talks lots of $h!t which he then have to beg for forgiveness... he should go to Paramount and b!tch to them... Microsoft is doing what every other company protecting their interest(xbox 360) would do. Michael Bay is like having a Sony fanboy on xbox live. Move to a studio that supports blu-ray... Paramount should fire this guy's @$$... what's done is done... good or bad... nothing they can do... this guy is just damaging Paramount's image.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

sometimes, they way you think is unbelievable.

"What triggered Microsoft to get involved? Sony adding blu-ray into the PS3 giving them the logical advantage of the PS3 and a direct threat to the xbox 360... "

how?

i`d really like to hear your answer.

[riksweeney]

@Anego Montoya

Easy.

Blu-Ray uses Java, Microsoft HATE Java, it's a direct competitor to their .NET solution (even though .NET is a complete rip off of Java). If they had to submit to using Blu-Ray then they'd have to use Java.

[Bladestar]

I give you an answer...

Why do Sony fanboys keep saying that the PS3 is better value than the xbox 360 because it has a blu-ray player?

When microsoft released the xbox 360 Blu-ray nor HD DVD specs were finalized... the xbox 360 couldn't include an HD Drive...
Also, microsoft couldn't release the xbox 360 at a $600 price point... no one would buy it. Think about it.. Sony the lord of the Playstation brand which sold 120 Million had a hard time selling the PS3 at $600... what kind of trouble do you think the xbox 360 would have selling at $600...

Not only that... but how about releasing the xbox 360 at the sametime as the PS3 after the HD formats were finalized? right... releasing the xbox 360 at the same price as the PS3...

The only chance the microsoft had to compete was to a) release the xbox 360 first and b) release it at a lower price..

this would guarantee that developers would support the xbox 360 and make games for it.. and will brake the default barrier against the Playstation brand recognition...

Make sense?

Now.. at this point Sony didn't need the PS3 to come with blu-ray play back.. I remember sony was concidering leaving blu-ray playback out of the PS3 to reduce cost.. but they didn't...

If they would the PS3 would cost like $400 and would win the console war... that's when I stopped being a Sony fanboy.. since it cost the PS3 to be delayed and cost $200 for a format that I could care less.

This forced microsoft to create an HD DVD addon... they couldn't possibly create a blu-ray drive.. since that would be admitting defeat... so by default microsoft joined HD DVD ("the enemy of my enemy is my friend").

Predictable? Hell yeah... you have to be an idiot to think that microsoft was not going to support HD DVD and would do anything to stop blu-ray since it goes against microsoft interest(xbox 360).

Now, Sony got into this knowing this and did it anyways.. so why are they acting surprise that it's costing them a fortune to beat HD DVD?
Microsoft knows that blu-ray may win... but who cares? that's not the goal.. with all the money they invested on the xbox 360 and digital distribution helping anyone including the enemy of my enemy is all good...

So, blu-ray camp should stop b!tch!ng and crying and empy their pockets cause they are going to need it.. Microsoft is doing what any other company would under their circustances...
Hell I think Microsoft is being nice about it.

In order to create more damange I would bundle the HD DVD addon with the elite... and drop the price of the xbox 360 by $100... forcing Sony to bleed money till the point they have to surrender something.
forget playing fair... Microsoft lost billions before and the company was standing.. why not do it one more time and ensure that Sony crack.

[RadientFlux]

If Michael Bay was a decent director I might start caring what he has to say.

[hotshot127]

..

[hotshot127]

michael bay is one of the most well respected directors in the movie industries.

ever heard of a movie called transformers?

clearly you know nothing

[RadientFlux]

sorry but Transformers was terrible... it was great for the masses but I need something more then mindless action sequences for me to enjoy a movie. Beside Micheal Bay has been mouthing off about everything lately which makes me want to see his movies even less.

I'll take a well directed action movie from Micheal Mann over Micheal Bay anyday.

[jwatt]

Yea if this Michael Mann would of directed Transformers I bet it wouldn't of have been as good.

[Lord Anubis]

Digital Distributions is still off, Microsoft plans to enter the digital distribution through their alliance with cable companies providing them with Microsoft's software unfortunately for them one 1 company has agreed to used their software other than that the xbox 360's xbox live is their second attempt. Poor them. They were off with the xbox and now they think the time is right for digital distributions. They shall find out the hardway.

[The Brave 1]

Yo Radiant your a fukin clown dude.Michael Bay is 1 of the best directors ever.HE actually made the Transformers with another famous director that supports blu ,anybody heard of Steven Spielberg?Get your facts straight dude or just shut the fuk up! I could care less if these Bill Gates nutsuckers disagree,the fact of the matter is soon youll probably spend 15 dollars at a theater near u to see a michael bay film.

[Lionsguard]

One would just have to think of the implications it would have on MS if Blu-Ray was to win. All PCs would be Blu-Ray, and next gen consoles would all have to Blu-Ray (Nintendo I dont know). But A next gen Microsoft console with Blu-Ray? That's just a victory for Sony bigger than a PS3 win for this generation.

[Boink]

pls tell me how it hurts MS

I agree it would be a win for sony, there is no doubt about that.

but it's doesn't hurt MS. they don't make PC's. and all those PC's with bluray will still be running windows. that's won't change if bluray wins.

you guys really need to think these comments through...

[Ju]

Well, it might hurt M$ to not get a dime from the BD camp. No decoder license fees, no HDi license fees, nothing. I doubt they can even charge for BD windows support (e.g. drivers). M$ is simply not part of BD in any form. Quite the opposite. A 360/BD (or next gen 720p ... oops) would probably pay license fees to use a BR drive.

[Lionsguard]

It might not hurt MS financially on the PC but it will bruise their ego. MS is a known monopoly who doesn't like any other company having a monopoly over any other areas of media. Ipod dominating mp3 players? Here comes the Zune, Sony dominating consoles? here comes the xbox. Microsoft would rather support Toshiba who was never directly competing with MS in any field than support Sony who they're in a console war with. To think Microsoft won't be cussing their heads off if HD-DVD is declared dead and BD the wiiner is crazy. Like I said before Next-gen MS console with BD drive = Sony victory even if there is no PS4. You can call for the next line of consoles to be digital distribution or something but that will never catch on, theirs just not enough bandwidth to go around and storing your games on a 1TB drive only to have it crash and lose all information is too much of a liability, DISCS are here to stay and the next format discs will be the defining ruler.

[PStriple703]

microsoft is always the problem!

[Daver]

so true loll jeez i hate this company lolll

[akaFullMetal]

digital distrubition wont start off for a long while like some have said above me, so for now the future is hd discs

[chrno6]

wow sometimes I have to wonder if some of the 360 fanboys here are really Bill Gate's lovers.

[eagle21]

Michael Bay is telling the TRUTH! I will just buy more Blu Rays this holiday.

[gamesblow]

If you think about it, he's probably right... Why didn't Microsoft add an HD-dvd drive in with their system? It'd sure have made things easier, wouldn't it? How about a blu-ray drive? They're under no obligation to Sony or anyone. They could've supported it if they wanted to... They didn't. They then came out with the elite, which wasnt' so elite, because it didn't have the option to play hd-dvd movies out of the box or online game out of the box without paying for it... thru "digital distribution"

Microsoft are ANAL LEAKS and I refuse to support them. I have an alienware computer, running Linux by the way.

I'd also love to support Mr. Bay, but his movies are only on Hd-dvd and well... I just refuse to buy anything from that branch, either.

[Relcom]

Microsoft = The MAN

Fight the power Bay.

[riksweeney]

Microsoft want to kill off HD-DVD and Blu-Ray as quickly as possible, which is probably why the HD-DVD encryption key got leaked. That was no mistake, just a very good cover up.

Once they start getting people to download movies instead of buying physical copies they will then ensure that they're the ones supplying the DRM encryption that will only work with their software.

[Meus Renaissance]

The negative press Microsoft seems to attract in almost every industry is incredible. I'm sure their intentions are innovation and making things better for the people, but their methods and mentality just screams greed and arrogance. But I do really enjoy reading and watching presentations from Bill Gates, he seems like a sincere person.

But Microsoft, with all their money and resources, should be aware by now of the image they have in the people's eyes. They need to do something about it because their reputation for quality has certainly been the stuff of jokes recently.

[hotshot1237]

a dirty company like microsoft. paying people off and making sure consumers dont get the best product out there on the market.

i truly do hate them and thats the main reason(and rrod) that i will never get a 360. JUST BECAUSE ITS MICROSOFT.

sometimes i wonder what they do behind scenes on all those news channels they own and everything. bill gates is ULTIMATELY the main person and his word goes. and we all know he's money hungry.

NOT ONLY DO I WANT SONY TO KICK THEIR ASS, I WANT MICROSOFT TO FAIL MISERABLY. I REALLY DO

[RadientFlux]

Well in that case at least you use your hate for a good cause.

For example start an organization called "MicroSucks" or "Microsoft can lick my Balls" and donate some money to the homeless in your organization's name. If you donate enough money you might get some news coverage and you can get your message out.

[Bordel_1900]

I just love to see that all the biggest stores here, Norway, have a big selection of Blu-ray and almost none of them carry HD-DVD discs.

Die HD-DVD! Die!!

Go Blu-ray!

[WilliamRLBaker]

lol im just laughing that in a week he'll say the exact opiset or say his words we're taken out of context.

[Nameless]

Like Michael Bay's opinion has any merit pppppfffffttttt

[HarryEtTubMan]

Micheal Bay is one of the most respectec directors in the movie industry along with James Cameron, Steven Speilberg, George Lucas. Is anyone esle not noticing how funny this is? EVERYONE HATES MICROSFT. THEY THINK THEY CAN MONOPOLIZE EVERYTHING AND THEY HAVE ALREADY LOST . BLU RAY has all the support and Microsoft will never win. hahahaha Micheal Bay is calling out Microsft this is soo hilarious. Whos next? Gearge Lucas?

[bootsielon]

Boycott m1croshaft

[Relientk77]

microsoft has the money ... they just use it wrong

[Xbox is the BEST]

about Sony buying American movie studios using the content to push a format.
Edit : Sony pictures does exist so disargee with facts fanboys

[bootsielon]

...than pushing a losing format so that nobody else wins except you.

[bombzombie]

to winning. Can any of you folks honestly say you don't enjoy downloading off of I-tunes. You might hate the fact that you have to go to them, but it has created a situation where in the future, ALL MUSIC will be downloaded except for a small niche of collectors with the money to afford the soon to be very expensive and hard to find beloved discs. The facts are these in the only situation which is analogous to the instant one...downloading is proving to be an unstoppable juggernaut. Has anyone noticed the reduction in size of Best Buy and Walmart's cd collection? Have you noticed how Blockbuster is doing the same to match Vongo and Netflix on regular dvds? For these companies it's all about business. They are migrating the consumer over to downloading. It takes no physical store space, leverages the work of the staff, and enables the ability to profit 24/7 around the world.

For those that focus on speed, please note that the development of high-speed networks is evolving at a more rapid pace in Europe than here and Japan is already a decade ahead of our efforts. Further, I don't think it's a problem for the average consumer to wait 2.5 hours for a movie. Millions are already perfectly happy waiting a day or two for Netflix and another group are already enjoying Vongo.

No, I'm not saying that downloading is going to take over tomorrow, but with advances in mobile communications, compression technology, the deployment of Wi-Max and related technologies, one would be a fool not to see the obvious trend and greater penetration of more downloading activity in the future.

And don't argue back with the impassioned plea that people need physical discs, empirical evidence is mounting to the contrary based upon Itunes ongoing successes. Further, just because Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will ultimately fail as a medium for movies, they are likely to be very useful for games and computer systems. Afterall, you'll have to have some way to backup a copy of that movie off of your 1TB harddrive (saw one today for $399 - wow, these things are getting cheap!!).

Sorry Charlie, but Msft is right here. digital downloading, compression technology and advanced wireless mobile are the future. You can't stop it. You are only a minor impediment to its flow.

[Wallonsi]

Here in belgium i got a download limit of 10gig's per month... so damn annoying, can't download that much. The only option i got is buying blu-rays else my limit would go poof by just trying to d/l 1 (and prolly couldn't even finish that one before my limit kicks in)

[peepingtom]

Weirdo

I was thinking along the exact same lines as this poster .... it doesnt really matter how fast your download speed is as long as you have download limits. To hell with paying for a download from MS and then paying extra to my ISP for the priveledge!

Also if MS thinks they can compete with free torrents they are having a laugh. Looking at how popular torrents are, people couldnt give 2 sh!ts about getting HD quality downloads ... just good quality divx will do just fine thanks you very much!

Now if they decided to go down the divx route which may very well be the case since the update, i may be interested in paying a SMALL fee for this considering i can OWN a dvd for less than 10 euros, and MS would probably only renting with restricted use.

I own ps3 and 360, but will not be entering the HD market until they are reasonably priced.

[goldenxbox]

Sony's model for content is total crap, and these are the same greedy twits who bought out some movie companies to make them go with Blu Ray !!!

Digital Distribution is the new hub for the living room, along with other movie formats including HD-DVD !!
http://xbox360.ign.com

It will soon come to pass that massive amounts of movies and video will be able to be direct downloaded out of your living room for less than half the cost !!!

XBOX Live will revolutionize this going into the future, and create a new breed of entertainment !!

Sony fanboys continue to complain and say BluRay wins, but they know in reality it will not win and Sony is even more greedy than Microsoft !!!!

To the wave of the future, MS and their partners have seen Digital Distribution as an open path to the world marketplace !!

Three cheers for the Xbox360 !!!

[jke82]

just for the simple fact that not everyone can acess a high speed connection, me for example, i live literally one mile past where cable service stops for my area, dsl not available cause once again im past the point they want to put service, sat service is my only option and fu(k paying 99$+ a month not worth it since its not even usable for gameing. so im just in a bad spot and im sure there are alot of others with the same situation as me, and the thing is i only live 5 miles from the nearest major city for me (wheeling wv) so i just dont get the problems that still go on as far as high speed acess. hence until problems like mine are solved digital downloads wont be the only way to do things

[bombzombie]

It's true DD will not be the only way to do things, but eventually, it will be ubiquitous. Just like MP3's are slowly becoming the major method of distributing music. Markets like conformity and they tend to follow trends. The trend here is that as a civilization we are transitioning away from owning physical goods and transitioning to a virtual or intellectual society. As an IP attorney, I see evidence of this trend continuing everyday. The newspaper is being replaced by the blog like the town crier was replaced by the broadcast evening news. While we might not like some of the trends (I still buy and listen to records on LP), we are not going to alter them. The consumer is showing greater and greater adoption of high speed communications and as the technology evolves to enhance that connectivity (compression, Wi-Max, etc.) this will only continue.

[tk]

This is how MS does business. They are only backing HD-DVD to undermine a single format which is from the biggest competitor - Sony.

But they did loose the war anyway. They will continue to undermine Blu Ray, and HD-DVD is just a vehicle to do just that. They know that digital distribution is a long way off, but they will still try to sabotage Sony.

They would have released the XB360 with build in HD-DVD drive if it was ready - now they are just doing the second "best" thing - spreading FUD and trying to push HD-DVD in various other ways. But ultimately HD-DVD is dead - and the market realized this already. MS however has deep pockets - and they will try to keep it alive.

[jke82]

but what im saying is that until every person and i mean everyone, is able to have high speed access a full on switch to exclusively downloadable media, games, music, all that wouldnt be a smart idea by anymeans, the amount of people without high speed access would be a rather large chuck of change regardless of the company to capitalize on it, microsoft, sony, or otherwise

EDIT: well hell if your gonna disagree at least reply to the post and say why people, you disagree so your saying that there are still people around with out high speed and that companies wouldnt be missing out on coin...yeah....sure....

[bombzombie]

The facts are that Sony and MS are quickly moving to embrace digital downloading. MS just beat Sony to the punch on Divx, but don't be surprised to see Sony announce their updates to their media hub with much fanfare in any regard.

Further, your statement regarding whether it would be smart or not is irrelevant to the fact that this is currently happening. Moreover, just because we don't have ubiquitous envelopment of high-speed connectivity is no reason to say that it isn't smart for companies such as Sony and MS to begin the transition to the future now today. Surely, yes, the downloads will be slow....but so were the lead times for the first DVD players and now the current crop of Blu-Rays and HD-DVDs players.

While noone should dispute everyone's including your recognition of the inherent issues which presently limit the success of DD, one should be skeptical when someone touts that it isn't smart to diversify and prepare for the upcoming trend. Not to prepare and begin implementation is what is not smart...vis-a-vis, what GM often said Toyota's Prius and hybrid cars...fast forward a few years later. :-)

I'm not saying that DD is here today and now. But what I am saying is that every company that offers or is somehow tangentially proxied to intellectual property should be considering the protection, transfer and future value of the intellectual property. To do otherwise is simply foolsih. Thus, you have the announcement by MS today of Divx and the quick retort by Sony of the same in addition to DD of Blu-Ray and Sony pictures.

You might not like DD, but that doesn't mean it isn't here to stay.

[HondaSIRowner]

MS is prolonging this war.

WB is going to have to pick a side right now to shut this format war down.

WB said they will see which format will make a significant change in sales and then they will put together a meeting and talk. They said if BR sells good, they will consider BR exclusive.

BR has around 75% of the HD market so isn't that good enough for WB? WTF?

I hope they don't make that dual format disc.
WB can end this war. BR would have another studio with them to triumph!

[Dmack79]

Michael Bay tells it like it is. to most of the world hd-dvd is just a nuisance. Blu-ray is the only way.

[salgoods]

lets try and look at this from the most logical, yet "average" joe stand point. lets look 5 years into the future and compare digital distribution to HD-DVD vs Blu-ray. i think that is a safe timeframe to determine the winner of the HD format. i think they all will co-exist but the physical media will be the majority. why? average joe. average as in middle to lower income families. that is the majority. at least here in the U.S. think of inner cities, public schools, etc. do you really think these families will be downloading movies? in 5 years? NO WAY. who the hell is going to pay for these families to use it? i mean this stuff wont be free.

look how long the ipod has been around. has it killed off the cd? no. they just started making cars with MP3's in them and even then, not all cars (not the ones the average joe will be buying. cuz see the average joe upgrades out of necessity, not luxury), have them in them. are you guys crazy? CD's are still around. just look at the current mp3 vs cd "war" to see how long it takes to kill off physical media.

is digital distribution coming, of course it is, but to say in 5 years, it'll be the norm, no freaking way. in 10 years maybe, probably definitely but no time soon. if faster speeds was so damn commonplace and everyone needed it or wanted it, ppl wouldnt take the cheap a$$ Verizon DSL offer for speeds of i think 768kps for like $19.99 a month. if faster speeds was so wanted, comcast would have killed off verizon's internet service by now. ppl are just starting to wing off f**king dial-up for god's sakes. now you want them to get even faster speeds.

look at CRT tv's vs LCD and plasma. they still sell CRT's. ppl still buy em. look at how long it took for flat panels to become the norm and even still, to the average joe, its not the norm, its a damn luxury that he/she worked overtime to get. my point is in 5 years, digital dis will be growing but by then blu-ray will have won (or not) but not untill 7 yrs or so, physical media is here to stay

[jke82]

until high speed access is as common as a tv in every home digital downloads will be supplemental to physical media, and that is a very long time off

[greenenvy]

...broadband is going to be affordable everywhere, companies are already reducing the price to more like $29 a month and thats just in inner cities....

....by the time it comes out, digital distribution will be replacing most entertainment media because broadband costs will continue to drop like crazy.....

just like MS knew the future with xbox live, they have it in the bag again with digital downloads.....

[salgoods]

and what time frame are you laying this out for? you keep saying, by the time, well when do you think this big roll out will happen? another poster said he doesnt even have broadband in his area cuz no company even offers it. and you mean to tell me that someone will offer it, put up the infastructure, and have ppl downloading away, pissing on their DVD and CD collection they just spent money on, and all this will happen soon. well how soon to you is soon? my soon is outside of 5 yrs.

[pwnsause]

yea just dont expect to watch crystal clear video after you download from their network. you can see the difference between physical media and digital distribution when you compare them at the same time. hell, sound is the most obvious of them all.

[werdb]

i love downloading movies and tv shows on marketplace! i dont have to spend 30 bucks for a movie im only going to watch MAYBE 2 times. go downloads!!!

[DevastationEve]

If Blu-ray wins, Sony would have contributed to the success of not only a console but to a format as well.

Which ultimately will be useless, if not for the ability to sell it to other companies and make further profits from it. Who owned DVD, again? Nobody really cares! APEX made em, Panasonic made em, Hitachi, LiteOn, LG, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Plextor, HP, Compaq, and who ever else I didn't mention all had their own version of the CD/DVD/CDRW/DVDRW

Relax guys! BluRay winning over HD DVD doesn't prove the death a console. It might however mean that Sony's PS3 will start to see an increase in support, due to its early adoption. And the PS3 will most definatelty the best choice of opting for the format, since it's not JUST a player, but also a gaming console. However, that doesn't mean that 360 will fall behind. I think people are confusing what is really is that the consumer wants. If I have a 50hr epic RPG like FF13, how much time will I really spend watching movies? If I have like 5-10 of those, did I really buy the console for its movies or for its games? I think 360's straight foward approach to the needs of gamers (right out of the box you got Live and Arcade) rather than prioritizing the needs of movie goers will ultimately keep gamers coming back for more. And quite honestly, I "feel" like Live is all about the games, not just about movies.

Think about MTV...when was the last time you asked yourself "where's the music". Well, people...where's the game! Give me the game, screw the format!

[THE_JUDGE]

mind and there's no denying that the man has a point. MS should have kept out of it and kept its mouth shut. They don't own any movie studios so let the video technology companies and movie companies duke it out.

[razer]

Thanks MS. And Mr. Bay please shut-up about the format war and go back to making crappy movies.

PS - I love how everyone acts as this is a "confirmation" that MS was behind the Parmount deal. If MS was so behind the format they would of make a SKU that included an HD-DVD player. HD-DVD was found to be the best format at the time the HD player was realized, and the fact that Sony was a huge backer of BR didn't help much. BR had a ton of problems when it first launched(mainly codec issues) and also lacked many features. BR has their stuff together now so it looks a whole lot different in hind sight.

[pwnsause]

Razer, the fact of the matter is that hes not going to make another movie. you cant force him. expect him to drop out of paramount, leave them with the transformers sequel, and go warner or the BD exclusive studios. He sees the difference between BD,HD-DVD and digital distribution, not just by sales, but by picture quality. hes a director for gods sake. Do you work there, he knows microsoft is behind the scenes. you dont.

[mintaro]

u do lose the picture and sound quality that u would otherwise get with blu-ray or even hd-dvd.
plus i dont think its sensible to wait hours upon hours for a 25 gig(or even higher) movie when u can either rent it( if it interest u) or buy it.

blu-ray will soon win the format war due to much higher sales,
although hd-dvd is ok...it cannot even be compared with the sheer amount of space and quality that blu-ray is able to do(again not tryin to start a fued, just speakin the truth)

[SSCOOLCHEA]

Really it does unless its free , retail is always the best

[SSCOOLCHEA]

who would want to waste space on a console for movies when you can go to the store and get it for 30 bucks and waste no space . digital download is good for music only ( my opinion )

[PS3PCFTW]

lol..........first it was OOOOOOO TRANSFORMERS!!!1ON HDDVD EXCLUSIVE!!!!WE LOVE MICHAEL BAY!!!!!!

now its, stfu michael bay. so predictable for the xbots........as predicatable as the mart and firstknight and every other xrod fan

[chrno6]

I know..it's one thing to be a 360 fanboy, but it's another thing to be a MS lover who supports MS dirty tactics. If MS doesn't care about HD DVD, then why would these fanboys buy the it anyways and wish Blu-ray to fail??

[PSWe60]

Microsoft paid off Paramount?

qeue the dramatic Soap Opera organ)

Does anyone really care...Paramount makes a lot of crappy films anyway, Transformers being the exception

[Frankenberg]

What does Michael Bay know? Nothing! He is just 1 level up from a stupid actor. Actor= someone too stupid to speak on their own.

Why does everyone complain about Paramount and those same turds ignore Disney? I am sure Sony and Disney worked something out.

The reason Bay is so mad is that his 1st gen Blu ray won't do pic-in-pic like HD-DVD.

Sour grapes.

[Tyrael]

Anyone see Michael Bay as portrayed on South Park? Or Al Gore, for that matter...

[Fan Tastic]

MS wants both to fail. The thing is if neither Blu-ray or HD DVD dominate soon enough, both may end up failing like SACD and DVD audio. This would be ideal for MS. The little they invest in HD DVD to prolong the war is nothing compared to what they'd gain if both fail.

[bombzombie]

The money for MS is in DD. For Sony, the money is in Blu-Ray and DD. You see what many fail to realize is that Sony is in too weakened of a position on its balance sheets not to hedge its bets with a DD system for the PS3. What folks also fail to realize is that just because these film companies are currently dealing with game folks what stops a company from designing a video view box with a blu-ray or hd-dvd recorder in it? You see, even if blu-ray wins as a storage medium, MS doesn't care they still will be selling the software and their bets are hedged. Silly rabbits, its all about the money. It's all about the money. :-)

[skimming]

My perspective is that it is Sony's fault for combining their BD with the PS3. The initial entry to this generation's console was by MS and they used DVD drive in the 360. Subsequently, Sony decided to broaden the battle (sort of flank MS's position) by including a BD drive with their PS3.

To my eyes, this sort of forced MSs hand in the matter and they had no other choice but to support HD. So MS's actions can easily be construed and self-defense because it was Sony actions that broadened the battle from a gaming console to an entertainment delivery mechanism.

BTW, Sony did exactly this with PS2, as a result, Nintendo and Sega suffered immensely.

[PS3PCFTW]

wtf r u talking about?

ms wanted to be a part of bluray, but they wanted bda to use wmv codecs......bda said HELL NO WE'LL GO WITH JAVA. believe it or not ms is dying to be part of the movie business.........its just that nobody wants them in there to begin with.

here we are now.

ms tries to monopolize sh1t...........and if they cant beat it or buy it, they try by all means to destroy it.

this is why studios "boxed ms out"........

[skimming]

Jave is not a codec. WMV codec is not a programming language. I'm not sure I follow your logic.

So what is your point? MS wanted to support BD but their conditions were rejected by Sony? So in essence you're saying that MS tried to support BD but Sony wanted the whole pie for itself.

In summary, you seem to be saying is that Sony wants to monopolize BD; when MS wanted a piece of the pie, then Sony said no because it wanted to whole thing for itself. So that's why we're in this mess. Because if Sony did share some of their BD goodness then MS would not have had to resort to HD support...

Right? This seems like what you're saying but you seemed to have switched Sony and MS on some of your latter sentences.

[Antiomo]

The more MS does not care about their xbox line.

All they care is that they see the ps3 as a threat towards their operating system market (which is their key strength). The ps3 is moving closer to the pc market as an all in one entertainment unit. They will do anything in their power to sway the general public away from sony.

[durran3]

Fairly Cheap way to Conduct Business i guess..

meh Digital distribution ftw anyways.. sitting in the comfort of your home and download your favourite HD movie and than watching it .... i could care less about HDDVD and bluray lol..

[Bonsai1214]

hmm, like i said above, have fun sitting in front of your tv for several hours to watch your movie if you choose to dl hd content with the speed of internet we have today

[Antiomo]

My local video store that first started with a huge selection of vhs's, then they converted to dvd's, and now they have 3 HUGE shelves of HD media.

I tend to look at this store as the benchmark for the home video industry.

It put a smile to my face today when I saw ppl moving the hd media into larger shelves. But more importantly the signs of things to come. (2 FULL large shelves of blu-ray vs almost a full shelf of hd-dvd's)

[Laxe]

You're not wrong there. It's happening everywhere here in the UK and it's even more one-sided in Europe. Most stores over there don't even stock HD-DVD's anyway.

[IGNFTW]

THE SKY IS IN FACT=BLUE.

NOW,ON TOPIC-A COMPANY THAT HAS A LOT OF MONEY IS CORRUPT.WHAT'S NEW?

[gtgcoolkid]

its the only way they how to do things. keep throwing money at it till it works.

[jaja1434]

I have just one thing to say...

Jumbalaya!

I give 20 points to anyone who knows where thats from. :)

[jctoyou]

re 59,the carpenters

[UltramanJ]

They know it's game over for HD DVD, and are desperately doing whatever they can to keep it on life support. Only a matter of time before Paramount is on board with Blu Ray and then it's officially over.

[BlazinEurasian]

Michael Bay knows people. I doubt this is purely bullshit, like Pearl Harbor (sucked).

[gogators]

a larger storage capacity for the PC market; but why would MS care about this format war. As it stands, it mainly involves the movie industry and last I checked MS has yet to produce and release movies. I can unerstand supporting something that involves the PC industry to which MS is very invested in, but a Movie industry battle doesn't seem to be a reasonable choice for investing money.

[sonyfanonly]

M$ dont care because if they did they would include a hddvd in their 360 like sony is with their ps3 they thought they could enter the gaming world and be succesful right off the bat and they thought buying off universial and paramount would make it easier but its clear that the consumers choose blu ray and thats the difference between SONY and M$ SONY gives consumers what they want and M$ tries to cram it down the consumers throats even though they dont want it so whenever the contract runs out it would be smart for universial and paramount to rethink their strategy or except more dirty money from M$

[The Wood]

all these digital downloads, ill settle for hard copies thank you very much especially when movies take up how much gig. In the UK most broadband providers still have download limits per month and I cant see how that's going to change too drastically too soon. And even if my digital downloads are allowed to be burnt; what am I burning them to? Things progress quickly just not that quickly. Both DD and a hd format WILL have to work in unison. We all thought we would be using flying cars by now remember.

[FF7numba1]

M$ throwing their money around has usually. Its not unbelievable.

[solar]

F--- michael bay. optimus prime was a flat nosed semi, starscream's wings went more up then out (my fav transformer ruined!), and megatron was a robot not a freaky looking dinosaur. your an idiot, like me. but i know how i want my damn transformers to look.

[ROCCOZILLA]

hd dvd is so yesterday.i can put a regular dvd in my ps3 and it looks as good as hd dvd.i play a blu ray and you can almost put your hands in the screen.everything about m$ is getting old and tired.PLAY B3YOND!

[jaja1434]

Umm you could argue over sound, but video quality is really just a bad argument. You do know both formates use the same decoding tool right? So if your DVD look like HD's then you have one hell of a DVD player and where can I get one?

And one little thing... All BR/HD are, are space holders. Neither have anything at all with how pretty a picture looks nor how it sounds. All the disc do its hold the 0's and 1's.

[Baron79]

Why does Michael Bay seem to think anyone cares about his opinions anyway? I mean, If I wanted to hear from an a$$hole I would fart.

[solar]

"If I wanted to hear from an a$$hole I would fart"

hehe, that was a quote from a movie by a guy named Dax from detroit. like he got arrested and was in court and everyone was super retarded. im too lazy to find out what movie it was. www.beer-is-good.com

[jorellpogi]

I agree with the sentiments of Michael Bay.

[stuntman_mike]

is this all over the transformers movie being on hd-dvd if so it was a waste of money the film wasnt that great to begin with.

microsoft wasted thier money they could of used that money to create some more exclusive games.

[sicknnyc]

Microsoft is EVIL!

[WilliamRLBaker]

they could have easily just added hd dvd......no wait that would have won the war for hd dvd....lol

[NiteWarrior]

LOL OWNED!! ok now that i got that out of my system.. Micheal Bay is a god in the movie industry(he directed transformers!) and for him to be making a statement like this can really hurt Microsoft and HD-DVD. Im not sure how you didn't like transformers but anyway this i hope this "format war" will end because its really just ridiculous to me. Although i do believe blu-ray is better i hope HD-DVD stays around for a while to give bluray some competition.

HD-DVD is the only thing thats in the way of bluray from completly taking over the movie industry so i hope more people decide to go out and get HD-DVD, especially those who do not care to spend the extra bucks for blu-ray.(HD-DVD plays for $99?)

[jaja1434]

God of movie industry? Ha hell no, hes a decent action movie director. Not great,but decent and thats pretty much it. If you actually go and look at the reviews of his movies, most are not that flattering.

Except The Rock. I love the The Rock, but thats mostly because of Sean Connery. Now Sean Connery, hes is a god among men. M.B. not so much.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

Everyone goes on and on about how MS is doing this to prolong the format war and doing that to prolong the format war but never mention how HD-DVD was the DECIDED format by the DVD Forum to be the successor of DVD and SONY was the one that broke away and wanted 2 do their own format and got other studio's to back them in the process.

All Microsoft is doing is throwing a wrench in Sony's plan to completely own the living room (which is why they got into the console business to begin with)

[joevfx]

unless microsoft finds an amazing compression technology that allows movies to be downloaded in less then 5 minutes, with no visable compression artifacts when watching and uncompressed 7.1 surround sound. digital distribution is never gonna go farther then xbox live and i tunes. the visible and audo difference between dvd and something like blu ray or hd dvd is mind blowing ( and if u cant see a diffrerence then u should just go back to watchign a black and white tube TV ) unless hd digital downloads get to caliber of blu ray , ill never waste money and time downloading one.

[Xbox is the BEST]

can start watching a movie on Xbox live less than 3 minutes after you start downloading.

[Panthers]

Just scrolling through this I cant believe how much you people care. There are like full reports typed on here.

[Xbox is the BEST]

Mr. Bay needs to lay off the yayo. If it was really about money wouldn't Microsoft have bought out every movie studio by now?

[Tru2U]

I have a family member and a close friend that work for computer manufactures (i.e. HP, Dell,IBM) and have told me their companies where approached by M$ and given several million dollars to support HD-DVD. One of these unnamed companies took $'s to agree to not support the Blu-ray format.

After reading this latest report it made me want to sell my 360 and go buy a mac. The microsoft backlash is coming..... The more reports like this the are published the more consumers will begin to wake up and actively seek alternatives to M$.
It's already happening to Wal-Mart - Target and other retailers are posting higher gains that this evil empire.

Microsoft, you're next!

[jaja1434]

Because Wal-Mart, Dell, Target, Best Buy are any better? Pretty much every major company is guilt of some sort of shady dealings.

[ikkokucrisis]

This reminds me of the other company Eidos,
only MS has more money to "throw/give" to ppl
to "keep quiet/support them."

[RUF1]

The whole "Microsoft is only doing this to make things better for their digital distribution plan"-bit is a bit short-sighted. Microsoft developed the HDi technology that is used for HD-DVD's, so it makes perfect sense that they would push that format.

What is interesting is that Disney, the company that is filled with nothing but derision for those who have shown any support for HD-DVD, was front-and-centre when it came to getting its movies onto Microsoft's VMP in the States. The launch was during E3. Guess Disney sees digital distribution as the future, and since Disney has always released and re-released its movies for a limited time to keep demand up, they would just love the pay-per-view nature of digital distribution.

As for Michael Bay, I liked the Transformers, and I even bought the two-disc collector's edition HD-DVD, but I'm really getting tired of hearing all this Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD stuff. $150 million seems pretty cheap for an exclusivity agreement of this magnitude. Transformers only ended up costing $145 million to make, didn't it? (Quite the achievement, actually.) And like Sony would never dream of paying anybody off to get what they want. Yeah, right. I heard that Fox joining Blu-ray had more to do with it than just the extra encryption that they asked for from Sony and the Blu-ray Disc Association, but that's just a rumour as well. Maybe the question to ask is who hasn't been paid off by one company or the other?

So, just for kicks, let's see how much more stuff would have been on the Transformers Blu-ray disc, had it come to pass:

1) No picture-in-picture video.
2) More capacity...that probably wouldn't have been used.
3) Downloadable and interactive bots and content--Oh snap! Blu-ray doesn't do that yet either.

Gee, I guess that the Blu-ray release of Transformers wouldn't have been that special after all. (I own players and movies for both formats, BTW.)

[Mercutio]

Micheal Bay, director & producer of The Number 1 selling HD-Dvd movie Transformers, HATES microsoft, man, ITS OVER< PS3 has won, Micro$oft is buried.

[xc7x]

..for their own greed. i have nothing against multiple formats but the reasons behind M$' decisions are solely just for their sake and doesn't benefit everyone.

[thepill88]

I'll Get the shovel... BLU RAY!!!! BLU RAY!!!!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

What else was MS supposed to do? and didn't Sony do this same thing to aquire the movie studios for the Blu-Ray format?

So MS is now "evil" for doing the same thing Sony does? Just seems to me MS doest it better.

[name]

Yes, because Sony drops support for everything it makes after a new one is created. =/

[CBaoth]

The American infrastructure is woefully inadequate. I work for TWC, and we aren't completely upgrading to fiber til NEXT year. I live in a city with just a 125,000 ppl and it's going to take over a year. We were told a city like NYC will take over a decade to upgrade. You'd be suprised how many times I walked into a house wired with old RG59 dual drop wire. Funny thing is, RG60 cable has been the industry standard for over 15 years now. And gee, the consumer can't figure out why their HD and modem services don't work properly. You can't shove that much sh!t through the sewers when the sewage pipe is a garden hose.

[shysun]

WOW....I didn't know he had such big balls!He's the man.

[sandip787]

this is what i dont understand - SD movie downloading hasnt caught on even today
how the hell will HD movies catch on, with longer download times etc??

[FPS nut]

All because they preformed a sound business idea that helps secure a future for their company, stock holders and employees.

So if any other company had thought of it first (((downloadable music service IPODs))) it’s ok, but MS is MS so their not aloud to do it?

I wonder what sort of deals Sony made with FOX, Disney and all those that are on the Blu-Ray side. So you think they jumped on the Blu-Ray bandwagon because they get nothing in return?

It sounds to me that some are jealous because they didn't try it first and it aslo sounds to me that Micheal Bay is trying to get some of Sony's studio money.

I don’t know about the rest of you but international business is the land of cutthroat tactics and back ally deals that “ALLLLLLLL” are guilty of. Some Sony fans in here make it sound as if Sony does it for free and not for the money (you guys may need antipsychotic drugs.)

I don’t work my ass off just to come home and give my neighbor my paycheck and I sure as hell am not going to let someone take my job.

Sounds to me that MS made a wise move and it's costing Sony. If Sony had done this would we be having this discussion? So you all want MS to “play ball”? By who’s rules, Sony’s? Because if I’m not mistaken Sony does this kind of stuff on a daily basis.

Some people realy need to get a clue or gain a few more years of experience.

[Ju]

Even in a capitalistic world there is something called "business ethics", a class M$ seems to have missed (others just got bad marks).

[Daddy Brooklyn]

MS wants no one to compete with them, they are afraid of Sony Playstation and Apple Ipods. So they will continue throwing around there money until the threat is gone. Zune is trash, and 360 is the worst system to purchase. Blu-Ray is the better format, still beating HD-DVD 3 to 1. So let them waste their money, time will tell all.

[romaink]

is walking in some dangerous territory.
I could see a libel suit coming from those comments.

[Leo Atrox]

Libel suits are bad PR. Microsoft, et al, simply wouldn't respond to his comments. Though he might get a sternly worded letter from Paramount.

I still don't think that Microsoft made the payment. I thought that it was clear based on official statements that Toshiba made the payout themselves. All parties have denied Microsoft envolvement in the payout to Paramount. Where is the "Microsoft paid Paramount off" stuff coming from now? Are the conspiracy people just unable to let go of a good one?

[aba]

when he makes a film that doesn't suck sh*t, ill listen to what he has to say.

[THAMMER1]

This HD format war is in it infancy. This has no place in the culture or video games market right now at all. We could have had the PS3 6 months earlier than its official launch. On top of all of this you have half witted fan boys polluting the internet with FUD and garbage.

I just hope it is over soon. Maybe if Blu Ray wins the PS3 will be worth it 100%. If not oh well. Blu Rays partners and Toshiba have just wasted everyone’s time and money. I do like down loading HD movies from XBL.

[trueltie5]

Microsoft has spent a lot of money on bad investments. First the GTA4 exclusive content, Paramount deal which hasn't paid off and probably won't. Now I see why their entertainment sector has not seen any profit till this day. Yes MS has a ton of money. But i can assure shareholders have said quit spending that money like them rappers who buy gold grillz, spinning rims, and gucci shoes. I would be shocked to see if MS really hangs around in the gaming hardware industry. BAD BAD investments and it's going to finally catchup to them. They are well known to throw around money like them rappers in the south. Lets just hope they don't end up like MC Hammer....lol

[Salvadore]

Time will tell.

[SSCOOLCHEA]

the only thing label microsoft is the operating system for my computer . And thats not an option for me . I can go to mac but i am so accustomed to there operating system .

[daftshadow]

Michael Bay should just shut his mouth. All he's doing is just promoting Blu-ray because Sony shoved some green paper down his mouth.

[KIDD]

I think you all need to get your facts correct....

About 4yrs ago... Toshiba won the rights to make HD DVD, which was the next and only HD format to moving forward. Sony had designed Blu Ray for companies to archive/backup data. So since they owned alot of Movie studios, they took their Blu Ray Data System and placed movies on them.

There is not one company that is backing Blu Ray which is not owned by SONY.

Anyway... both format will exist in the end.. and I'm the sucker that will purchase both player this christmas..

Take care

[bombzombie]

http://www.cepro.com/slides...

You guys are missing the boat. The real question is will the public actually embrace the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc?

[Lex Luthor]

Pearl Harbour sucks.

[youmomisfat]

So If HD DVD is dead so is the PS3,because all people care about is software sales and the 360 beats it 2:1 so the PS3 is dead or its dieing stick a fork in it.

[napplegate]

wouldn't be surprising at all to find out this is true.

[n_n]

i'll be honest, i've slowly become a hater of MS over the last 10 years.
i have nothing against Bill Gates and i wish him the best on his philanthrope endeavors, it's just MS as a whole (which includes all the suits) MS seems more of a company that just wants to monopolize anything it's deep pockets wants and it's easily shown. All the drama over the 2 formats has become a fanboy issue than a tech issue. Blu-ray has the better part... HDDVD fanboys know this but have too much pride to admit it. I would hate to have to dl all my games or movies because i like having a hard copy incased in a nice case. i'm not a big downloader and i will really hate to see gaming go that way.