So its Paramount vs. Disney this Christmas well that could be fun to watch.

lol it's like say "squareenix go exclusively 360 in japan".

hd dvd is already dead for me...

They're both still losing formats at the moment. The PS3 is the only thing really helping blu ray right now and even with over 4 million players worldwide, the sales aren't that strong comparatively. There's more HD DVD standalone players than blu ray ones. Announcements like this can easily swing momentum back in HD DVD's favor.

I was not aware that Universal Pictures was exclusive to HD-DVD as well. That's 3 pretty big companies on the side of HD-DVD. Universal, Paramount, and Dreamworks. Not to mention that Microsoft has backed HD-DVD. This war is far from over. DVD will be the obvious choice for the next 2 years.

god dammit. i was hoping that war would end. this gives more reason for universal to stay hd dvd. im gona assume that someone payed them off big time, but crap.

I think a lot of companies are just betting that the format war is going to take a lot longer to sort out than they initially expected and that dual format players will potentially become the player of choice; consider that HD-DVD will still probably stay on shelves until 2009/2010 at the current rate, causing confusion and making people reluctant to choose either format.

If people are going to end up with dual format players then why would it matter which format you choose?

Yes Universal is completely exclusive to hd dvd at the moment, now with these two this war could take a while.

HD DVD now almost has the same ammount of backing as blue ray, they have those 3 intel and a few others, blue ray has a few more, but hd dvd has the backing of the porn industry, which is a very huge backing

I dont care which wins, i just want movies in ONE FORMAT

Ya I will probably pick up a dual player in 2008 seeing as this war wont be over by then and I will have a HDTV by then. Actually I want a HDTV when Transformers comes out and may pick up a player by then. If the dual players are quality and come down in price. Hey anyone else think that Trasformers 2 will beat Superman Returns 2 out of the gate?

Well Sony is also a founding member of the DVD Forum. Besides, they do make and sell DVD-R(W)s as well as dual-format players and recorders, despite also being a founder of the DVD+RW Alliance.

People seem to forget time and time again these simple facts about the industry. This war is nothing but a grab for royalties and consumers money. And we all know how it's going to end - dual format players, and no one (and specially their mothers) cares if these "HD DVDs" things are indeed "HD DVDs" or "Bluray DVDs" after all.

*IF* you have a 360, the HD DVD drive add on is a pretty good deal right now. They are doing the same 5 free movies thing and the drive is 179-

Toshiba also has an HDDVD stand alone player on Amazon for $238 which clearly puts them in the lead from a price standpoint.

This Christmas will be interesting for sure. If the HD DVD drive picks up enough steam that a few of the Blu-ray camp movie studios go multi platform, it will come down mostly to price for the average joe and a sub $200 player could be the tide turner for HD DVD.

I really don't care who wins because I'm not a huge movie buff. I'd say I rent and watch, on average, maybe 1 movie a month. I also am not into buying DVDs unless they are for my daughter and I know she will watch it more than once. Even then, I look for it to come out at a discounted price of $15 or less. I suspect that the average joe consumer is a lot more like me than those on VG Chartz and other tech forums and they just want a format that is cheap...