Transformers Director Michael Bay puts all his money on Blu-ray as victor, forgets his film is on HD DVD

Katherine Hannaford Home cinema
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transformers-photo.jpgTransformers geeks have probably already learnt of the accolade the film has acquired, being the fastest selling high-def release in history. In fact, they’ve probably already cut the article out of the paper, framed it, and stuck it on the wall.

It was released on the HD DVD format on October the 16th, with 100,000 copies sold on the first day it was made available. However, the Director Michael Bay has spoken out against the format, saying he would’ve preferred it to have been on Blu-ray. Ouch. “As a director, my critical eye is that Blu-ray is where my money is. Consumers are smart, and they are going to wait it out.”

He went even further, lashing out on his personal site, saying “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.”

These comments from the Transformers Director have arrived at an awful time for the HD DVD format, when it was announced just this week that Blu-ray is leading the HD market once again. Mind, we hear a conflicting story each week from the various HD camps, so worth taking these claims today with an ocean full of salt.

Home Media Magazine is claiming that between January the 1st and September the 30th, Blu-ray sold 2.6million discs, whereas only 1.4million HD DVD discs were sold in this period. Of course, it’s not specified whether PS3 games are included in the Blu-ray sales, which would give the format an unfair advantage. Having said that, Xbox 360 discs are HD DVD compatible, so it could swing both ways.

The release of several dual-players, such as LG’s Super Multi Blue, and Samsung’s BD-UP5000 (due to released before Christmas), allows consumers to sit on the fence, so whichever format wins the ongoing, bloody battle to victory, they’ll be set for life. Well, until Sony attempts to launch a new, ‘better’ HD format in ten years’ time after they experience the bitter taste of defeat. Fangirl? Me? Noooo…

(via Daily Tech)

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FInancial incentives for going HD DVD; Transformers’ director’s mini-rant

Katherine Hannaford
For latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv

7 comments

  • Ps3 games are not counted in the sales or then bluray sales would be out the roof because there were 10.3 million ps3 games sold in the last fiscal year which ended in september.

  • Well, I think that HD-DVD is gonna win primarily because of it being region-free.

    Just go to amazon.de (the german site) and pick out a copy of Fantastic Four (Silver Surfer)

    …or, go to amazon.co.uk (UK site) and have Terminator 2 shipped to you.

    Or, if you go to xpoiltedmedia.com (which simply utilizes the above sites for you) pick out *any* current “blu-ray” movie on HD-DVD.

    Blu-ray doesn’t *really* have exclusive titles.

    I myself…am picking me up Spiderman 3 and Underworld.

  • @ Katherine

    In your article, you said “Xbox 360 discs are HD DVD compatible, so it could swing both ways.” is infact not true. FYI, the xbox 360 disc drive is a DVD only drive and does not read HD-DVDs. However, the HD-DVD addon drive that you buy separately reads HD-DVDs. I’m sorry to say that I have to agree with John Smith that you need to do some research if you want be credible.

  • Hi John,

    Obviously you didn’t pick up on my flourish of satire in that paragraph – if you’ve been following the constant stories about HD DVD/Blu-ray sales, you will know that both camps are continually trying to add numbers to their sales, either by including games sales, or by claiming number of players shipped, rather than sold, count. It was a joke. Geez.

    Of course we’re not being paid by Microsoft or Toshiba, what a ridiculous thing to say. I suggest you go back to reading Engadget if you’re unhappy with Tech Digest and our opinionated pieces.

    Good riddance.

  • Are you that dense to think they included Video Games sales as Bluray movie sales?

    Considering that Resistance: Fall of Man has sold well over 1 million copies alone on the PS3, it’s safe to assume they are talking movie counts only. If they included games sold on Bluray disks it’d be in the 10+ million range.

    If you are going to broadcast your views to the world, don’t make it so easy to discredit your entire article with shotty investigation on your part. Use some common sense….I hope Microsoft/Toshiba are paying you for this and not someone expecting you to actually do a good job.

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