Lol! Can anyone see Microsoft announcing the Ultimate now? Who's going to want to shell out for a piece of kit with an HD DVD player in it now bar a few collectors and hardcore HD DVD fans?

To Lord The Night Knight:

I think you were rooting for HD-DVD, are you pissed because of WB's switch.

I hope this means we can finally see The Matrix on Blu-Ray, in its high definition glory.

Everyone is so quick to say hell yeah, the war is over... Why is everyone so happy? The simple fact that HD-DVD continued to put price pressure blu-ray and Microsoft continued to put pressure on Sony's console (with blu-ray in it), we have seen some of the fastest price drops in the history of next-gen electronics. Were it not for the "war", prices would not be where they are today. Simple as that... Further, the price of blu-ray movies have come down from $30-35 to be somewhat price competitive with regular DVDs. Again, you can thank competition and all the subsidizing going on behind the scenes to fund the buy 1 get 1 free and so on type of deals. HD-DVDs "interactive" features that were in existence from day one certainly have put pressure on blu-ray to get to a final spec as well.

In the end, someone will win... And it seems blu-ray is on the way... Along the way, however, they have bled enormous amounts of cash subsidizing the format and benefitted customers every step of the way. There is nothing but benefit for the customer. Period.

I was hoping the war would remain 50/50 for another year until the players were sub $99 and movies were more or less par with standard DVD. Until then, I'm just going to upscale...

As far as gaming goes, it is in the best interest of Microsoft and Sony to have the HD format war done before the next generation of consoles. For Sony, it means they can breathe a sigh of relief if this does spell the end for HD-DVD. It means some good disc royalties for them and it means they don't have to go with a Dual-Format drive for their next game system. For Microsoft it means that they don't have to commit to an embattled format and can instead just choose the victor.

""Saiyar
I just gets worse for HD-DVD. Penton-man, the insider who called the WB deal two weeks ago, has also hinted that Universal will be going neutral.""

==> hum, interesting ... very interesting

""ferret1603
Lol! Can anyone see Microsoft announcing the Ultimate now? Who's going to want to shell out for a piece of kit with an HD DVD player in it now bar a few collectors and hardcore HD DVD fans?""

==> I m asking myself the same thing
funny to see the supposed 150 M move of MS was not sufficient to counter Sony.

What on earth are you on about.  Never suggested I was a fan of Blu Ray.  I have 2 HD DVD players and when all is said and done will also have 2 Blu Ray players though I have nil now.  But I won't be getting a Blu Ray player till the format war is well and truly over for two reasons.  First unlike HD DVD Blu Ray movies are region coded.  I live in the UK where everything is ridiculously expensive so while I can currently buy a HD DVD movie for equivalent of £15 from US to get a Blu Ray movie from the UK I will be paying £25.  Second I can never use a games console to play movies and at present the only affordable Blu Ray player in the UK is PS3.

 You should think before accusing someone of being a troll.

No, the $150M investment by Microsoft may not have been sufficient to counter Sony taking huge hits on the PS3 because of the included new format.  Sony delayed their console and has taken massive losses on the PS3 because of Blu-Ray.  Eventually it will work out for them in Blu-Ray royalties which is good for their entertaiment division, but my opinion is that it cost them a huge amount of market share in the video game arena.  I think it is kind of a sloppy victory.  I think if Stringer had been CEO during the time they were negotiating with the HD-DVD camp and while the PS3 was in development, it would have been a different story.

etuoyo: I were little confused too but I dont think he is accusing you...might be little sarcarsm and he is quoting Victoresparza2003.

So what's M$ gonna do now with their XBOX Ultimate?