
Affiliations in the
HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war have been pretty clearly defined for
nearly two years now -- despite a hybrid player here and some international releases there, most of the players involved have not switched support since the early days. Well that's all about to change, as
Paramount Pictures and
Dreamworks Animation -- which started off HD DVD only before deciding to
go both ways -- have officially announced plans to release movies exclusively on HD DVD, dropping Blu-ray support entirely. This means that hits like
Transformers,
Shrek the Third and
Blades of Glory won't follow
Mission: Impossible III as cross-format releases when they debut this holiday season. Paramount has released about 30 movies on Blu-ray so far, but those days have come to an end: apparently
cheaper HD players trump a
2:1 sales advantage. We can't wait to see how the Blu-ray camp responds to this.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]