In the latest chapter of the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD saga, Microsoft and Intel have announced their backing of Toshiba"s HD-DVD standard. Stephen Balogh, Intel"s director of optical media standards and technologies, stated "We (Intel) wanted to choose the format that has the highest probability of this market taking off." Toshiba plans on releasing HD-DVD players in Japan and the United States later this year.
While the announcement is very big for HD-DVD, it is far from a death knell for Blu-Ray. Major Hollywood studios are supporting Blu-Ray, and Sony will have a very large customer base with the launch of its Playstation 3 video game console next year.