So the story is this:

Sony (and company) pay $500 Million to get a BlueRay exclusive studio.

What is Meus' response?

"If the rumour is true, there is no way the BDA would have willingly just offered them this amount of money unless they felt that Toshiba and Microsoft were planning to offer Warner their own sum of cash"

Or;

"Oh! Well, they did it sure, but only because the EVIL MICROSOFT was going to do it too! Sony only did it because MS was going to."

And the Sony Apologists ROLL ON AND ON AND ON.

Edit:
Meus,
No. You dont want a respose. Because you are a True Believer. Your crippling bias comes through in your comment above (that I highlighted).

I would honestly like an intelligent response from anyone regarding my opinion. I don't conform it as factual, but just my current opinion on the situation. If anyone agrees or disagree's, then I'd love to hear your opinions.

ok Meus, since Wageslave is a blantant fanboy that ignores all truth,

The theory of BRDA actually making a counter attempt is some what valid but not true since the President denied of such bribes from either party.

Counter Arguement: Warners biggest release of the year, "300" sold almost 3:1 on blu-ray. Warner's subsiarcy , New line Cinema would only bring out its big gun: Lord Of the Rings when the timing was right and that there was a single format.

Blu-ray disc are selling more than HD DVD (Fact), and Warner is sitting on a mountain of gold ( lord of the rings) so obviously what would Warner do.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Day 1 purchase and major reason alot of people will buy blu-ray players.

And thats why Bluray came out on top.

That is most likely the reason why Paramount signed that contract with Toshiba. The reported figure they would have earned during that 18month period is probably more than they'd earn by going neutral or Blu-Ray at that time.

However, Warner's decision will most certainly increase sales of Blu-Ray movies and hardware consequently increasing profit rates for all studios related to that format. It's rumoured that Paramount have a clause in their contract, that any decision made by a studio like Warner which would could see them earning more by going neutral or Blu-Ray exclusive, would give them the right to cancel that contract.

At your damage control. If you have to make statements like that you are indeed worried and a little over excited.

And the last time I checked(checks again) yup PS3 is in LAST PLACE in the console war. Maybe Sony can spend 400 million and buy some of their games and systems that are sitting on the store shelves. LOL

You know you would be all over this story if it was positive BR news, but since it exposes Sony and their payoffs you are all defensive.

If HD DVD does become obsolete who cares?? celebrate all you want but digital downloads are the way of the future..so keep stacking those BD cases while MS and Viacom take over the world!! oh and btw The 360 is a Game console unlike the Cheap bluray player you have in your room playing your disney movies

@InYourMom, story doesn't expose anything. There's no actual proof of a pay off, read the article.

Damage control failure!

How is it an old story, it was 6 days ago. In any case, who cares? If Sony paid WB to come Blu, good for them. In fact, I couldn't care if it came out that Sony blew dollars up everyones skirt to side them with Blu-Ray. Microsoft buys gaming studios all the time to get exclusivtivity (sp), I guess you have trouble with anyone else doing this? What, you bought the hype and bought into HD-DVD and now that it is going under, you are clinging to every branch, limb, twig and root and what, still claiming that HD-DVD will survive. Get real. You & Wage are acting like if you can just "prove" that WB took a bribe to go Blu that you will kill its support. Sorry, Blu is too big. If you are so set against purchasing a PS3, there are plenty of stand alone BD players available for your enjoyment.

See comment 1.9.

These "bought out" articles are about as useless as MGS4 to 360 articles.

No matter how right you are or how intelligent you sound when you say it if you comment on these you'll end up with a dozen invisible disagrees and have some of the less intelligent people on this sight feel compelled to give you their shortsighted answer as to why you are wrong.

If anything I read through these comments for a laugh now. Besides, if you are a blu-ray fan you're an immediate hypocrite to half of these guys because "We were all really pissed when Universal sold out."

EDIT- Here's some proof. See post 21.

Anything to inflate those bloated egos, anything to soothe that hurt pride...and above all nurse the insecurities.

Great post, dude. Bubbles for you!

Maybe because there's no proof of an actual payoff such as the Paramount/Dreamworks payoff?

To break the stalemate, analysts believe the rivals offered the studio large sums of cash to release DVDs exclusively in their respective formats. One report suggested Toshiba's bid was in the area of $100-million (U.S.) while Sony's offer was closer to $400-million.

It's nothing but analyst guessing.

Btw, Motorstorm sold over a million before it was bundled with the 80gb. And HD-DVD was giving away 10 free movies, while BDA was giving away 5 free movies.

You said: "When Toshiba paid Paramount, Sony fans said "how desperate", but BR group does the same its "good for them".

My Response: the key difference, is that HD DVD was *LOSING. Blu Ray had been outselling HD DVD movies by 2:1 for the *ENTIRE YEAR. it didn't make sense for Paramount to drop Blu Ray, when they were actually making *MORE MONEY on the Blu Ray versions of their movies than HD DVD. they should have stayed neutral. which is why most Blu Ray supporters cried foul when Paramount made the switch. it wasn't a logical business decision, and the only reason they did it was because of the bribe.

the Warner Bros. decision is quite different, because Blu Ray was *STILL clearly the winner, and it made more sense to go Blu Ray exclusive, since that's where the market momentum is at. you can't argue with a 9:1 ratio in favor of Blu Ray in Japan, a 7:1 ratio in favor of Blu Ray in Europe, and a 3:1 ratio in favor of Blu Ray in North America. it's good business to end this format war (and therefore consumer indifference and them just "waiting for a winner"), than to continue to drag out the stalemate. i'm a Blu Ray supporter, but believe me, if the ratios were reversed, and Blu Ray was *LOSING, and Warner went HD DVD instead, i'd pick up an HD DVD player to go along with my PS3.

you aren't thinking from a logical standpoint, but from a "i hate Blu Ray and Sony standpoint." you can't go into business with that kind of attitude. business is all about making money. your heart and emotions have no place there.

You said: "When MS HD-DVD/Toshiba players came with free movies, "they're desperate", but when PS3 came with its own movies, "what a great deal".

My Response: the difference, is that HD DVD was *LOSING. not only have HD DVD players been cheaper from the *START, but Toshiba actually *LOWERED the price even more, when HD DVD was losing to the more expensive Blu Ray format. the 5 movie pack in *DOES seem desperate when even the price advantage of HD DVD players didn't help to put sales of HD DVD over Blu Ray.

the Playstation 3 coming with 5 free movies *WAS a good deal, because not only did you get a cool gaming system, but you actually got movies to watch in the new HD format to boot (granted you had an HDTV; i got my PS3 before the 5 movie deal went into effect, but i have an HDTV, so i get HD movies). and worst come to worse, you could always *TRADE IN those 5 *FREE movies at a gaming store for store credit, and probably walk away with a game or two (most stores were offering $15-$20 store credit for Blu Ray movies, especially new ones).

You said: "When Forza 2 sold over a million it was because "it was packed with the console and shouldn't count", but of course not taking in to account Motorstorm was the same reason."

My Response: Motorstorm was *ALREADY a million seller *BEFORE it was bundled with the 80gig PS3. that's the only reason why it was bundled with the 80gig to begin with. it reached *ANOTHER million because it was bundled. personally, i don't see what the problem is with Forza 2 being bundled with the 360 either, as i'm not one of those PS3 owners that say it shouldn't count, but whatever.

"See a pattern?"

actually, i don't see a pattern.

what i see, are companies moving support to the winning HD format. the sooner this stupid format war ends, the better for HD consumers, and the HD market as a whole.

HDTV penetration went from about 20% or less last year, to 40% by years end and early this year in North America.

people *ARE buying HDTVs, and as a result, they will *WANT HD programming. from movies, to television shows, to sports. market confusion won't help people adopt to HD. we've been using analog, SD signals for the better part of 50 years now. it's about damn *TIME we evolved to something new.

digital, and HD is that next step.

Digital Distribution is still a ways off (most consumers want a hard copy of their media to show off, not a digital one where, in the blink of a virus, could be *ERASED), but i don't deny that that will one day become a viable market. just not in the next 4 or 5 years, which is plenty enough time for HD disc media to make a profit, and studios start to push digital.

it's a multi-pronged plan. get the consumer hooked on HD media first. once that happens, they will demand more HD content.

digital HD content will then be pushed on the consumer *LATER, when their appetite for HD content is at critical mass, and disc releases aren't fast enough.

this will not happen anytime soon. they're trying to get HD in everyone's homes first, hence the move to digital signals in February of next year.

not to mention that bandwidth just isn't large enough to accommodate *MILLIONS and *MILLIONS of people downloading large HD files to their televisions or computers. it's still a lot quicker to drive or walk to your nearest Best Buy and purchase the disc *PERMANENTLY, than waiting for it to download.

it's easier to pop the disc in it's case, and drive it or walk it over to a friends house and pop it in his/her player than it would be to have *THEM pay for, and download the content on *THEIR box. meaning that, basically, all of your family and friends would have to have the same tastes in movies as you do, and take up space on their hard drive for *YOUR MOVIES, if you want to watch your favorite movie or video at *THEIR house. a disc is a simpler solution.

now that this format war is all but done, you don't have to worry about someone in your family, or your friends, not having a compatible player. it will all be Blu Ray eventually.

don't get me wrong, i think digital content is cool, but it's still too impractical at the moment.

'I work for a billion dollar company '

Let me guess Walmart or Target?

So does the guy who fries my burgers at McDonald's.

Who said anything about Warner switching "out of the kindness of their hearts"

They've already stated their stance on why they've gone Blu-Ray exclusive. Maybe you should take your own advice and "educate yourself?"

You just described pretty much every story on this laughable site. I used to love N4G, but boy-oh-boy has it ever gone to the dogs. Consider this story a parody of what's wrong with this entire site.

Consider this as contributing to what's wrong with this site.

as well as a bubble sir, great response!

Microsoft didn't pay Toshiba did

MS can go either way in this 'war' they don't give a fukc

Use iHD functionality for stuff like Picture-in-Picture, and even the hardware runs on a Microsoft OS. Microsoft cared a lot about HD-DVD. BTW, all that technology in HD-DVD players and movies was rejected by the BDA; no wonder Microsoft is sour about this whole situation.

Actually, if you play it smart you take the money and stay with one format until it dies and then just switch back.
WB was making money off of both fronts mind you.
Say WB makes one title for both formats. BD does 60k and HD does 55k.
Now going exclusive they only sell on the BD side and they lose those extra sales.

Anyone switching sides now is betting everything Sony can make BD mainstream in 2 yrs or less and I have doubts about that simple because most people want low cost players ($150-99) and low cost media ($15-19)...so far no-one has touched this except for the HDA20 sale off.

BD and HD players are also still a bit glitchy and require firmware updates...not to mention long load times compared to std DVD.

It's true that they were making money on both fronts, but they stand to make more money now if HD-DVD calls it quits.

Sure, WB makes money on both sides if they don't choose to go exclusive, but indecision on the consumer end and split efforts on the electronics end are castrating high-def format sales right now.

A single format would force the electronics and entertainment industry to put all of their effort in the same place, which would mean lower cost discs and playback devices. Also, the consumer indecision would be eliminated, as Blu-ray would be the only choice.

I just know that I am ready for this "war" to be over.