Its something I have long wondered. The PSP UMD is perhaps one of the crappiest and under supported media platform yet Sony manages to keep it alive. New films are being made even some of the latest like SuperBad are produced and made readily availible in our stores.

So when I heard that the HD DVD platform was getting abandoned by the major studios and no longer carried in stores. I have to wonder why Microsoft wasn't capable of doing the same or similiar action to that of Sony. Infact Microsoft was one of the main reasons Paramount went HD-Exclusive over supporting BluRay.

Why can Sony keep PSP's crappy UMD movies alive and Microsoft can't keep HD-DVD's alive?

I know Sony has its internally developed movies but the likes of PiratesOfTheCaribean are Disney, why couldn't Microsoft have bulstered the HD-DVD format more. Maybe have provided a multimedia bundle with built in HD-DVD player?

microsoft didn't own hd-dvd they just supported toshiba who owned it

Perhaps the fact that UMD has no direct competitor is another factor. As the HD format war wore on, support from the studios gradually polarised.

there was nothing microsoft really could do to stop HD-DVDs from going down the trash

Sony knows what theyare doing, M$ don't.

 actually their is something Microsoft could have done and that is delay the 360 launch so that it could incorporate HD-DVD into the 360, this for sure would have either killed blu-ray or just prolonged the console war untill Sony gave up, but Microsoft wanted to get the jump start but allot of that did for them in the long run.

I guess Sony can be fairly stubborn at times although I don't mind the umd format. I just purchased a psp and will be going on a nice 3 month holiday to Europe. I have bought a few umd movies to kill time especially while I travel. Speaking of Superbad I did pick that up along with T3 rise of the machines, kung fu hustle and fifth element.

Probably because people keep buying UMD's for their PSP. I'm sure if not enough people went out and bought UMD's, theyd obviously stop selling them

Is this some alternate reality?

UMD support is so low, it isn't funny. The only reason it is alive is because the PSP is still alive. Lots of studios don't even print movies on UMD anymore. Sony's studios may continue to distribute UMD movies for the PSP, but others have stopped for quite a while.

@jake_the_fake1

 Think about for minute if micrsoft was to add HD-DVD into the 360 yes it would be delayed until lauch of the ps3 and the Wii, but the 360 would have been just has much or just a little less money than the ps3. not only that  the playstation brand is stronger in my opinion and if people looked at both the 360 and the ps3 and said wow there pretty much the same price people would have bought the ps3. Microsoft was smart one of the best moves they made was not including HD-DVD in there console. the HD-DVD format was not strong enough and microsoft knew it.