HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray Format Wars

Published by Jeff Leins on August 22, 2007

Paramount and Dreamworks announced Monday that they will be going exclusively to the HD DVD format for future releases worldwide. They will kick this off with their release of Blades of Glory on August 28.

I personally think this is a dumb move, but apparently it made sense to their business, so screw the consumer, right? Overall, it’s not what’s best for fans of movies who now have to decide which player to get, or purchase one of each for about a grand. Or some kind of hybrid that can play both, which is expensive to people who just want to watch high-definition movies. They’ll both be surpassed soon by digital downloads, so whatever.

Paramount plans on an HD DVD release of Transformers, which brings me to the latest news.

Apparently when director Michael Bay heard about this exclusive contract and his film being only on HD DVD, he had this to say:
“I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!”

Clearly he wasn’t happy with it at the time, resulting in this impulsive response.

All day I had to read outcry from fanboys about “No Michael Bay in Transformers 2.” Just stop it already. Some dopey director posts something that can be misconstrued on his website and people lose their minds about a sequel 3+ years out.

Besides, so what if he doesn’t do Transformers 2. It needs a new perspective any way, since the last one was garbage.

Then, later on yesterday, Michael “80s Hair” Bay wrote this:
“As a director, I’m all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard firsthand people upset about a corporate decision. So today I saw 300 on HD, it rocks! So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!”

Sounds like someone got to him and reminded him who pays his salary. Maybe if he wasn’t such a meathead, he might have thought about burning bridges or making statements so soon after the company goes public with their format intentions. What an idiot.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg signed a deal that says any of the movies he directed are not exclusive to either format.

So to summarize: Michael Bay put his foot in his mouth. He may or may not be retarded/involved with Transformers 2. The DVD format war continues, which means no one but the companies win. And Steven Spielberg rules.