comment #1

BlueRaymondBabbit says ...

Harry has chosen necrophilia... here's why.

comment #2

Josh Massey says ...

"The ME generation has morphed into the WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME generation."

Um, isn't that what "Me Generation" meant in the first place?

comment #3

giantman says ...

Harry and AICN are good for one thing, breaking gossip/rumor. Anyone that chooses to trust them beyond that, deserves what they get. Personally I'm just glad the darn HD format "war" is finally over and we can get on with it.

3/4 of the Studios, PlayStation 3, did anyone seriously think HD-DVD would win? I mean Microsoft liked HD-DVD, that had to tell you something.

comment #4

Dave says ...

Jeff, off-topic: it's starting.

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/02/15/al-gore-to-the-rescue.aspx

comment #5

Craptastic says ...

Why anyone would even listen to that bloated, smelly (had the pleasure of walking past him once and almost passed out) pitchman hiding as a "film geek" is beyond me.

The fact that he doesn't pay his staff should tell you at least a little something about the guy.

comment #6

Aguirre says ...

harry's original article about the format war was laughably ignorant, offensive, and downright insulting to his legion of readers... and that's saying something, given that AICN aims for the lowest common denominator with every post, and - if the average talkbacker is any indication - somehow hits even lower than that. anyhoo, that article was an absolute disgrace, and was the final nail in the coffin of harry's cred.

his sway over the industry is downright frightening when he can whip enough geeks into a frenzy over hollow, regressive dreck like 300 and significantly increase the odds that we'll have to endure more films like it down the line. but to flat-out LIE to his audience (i.e. the implication that blu-ray isn't backwards compatible in the original piece) is just... despicable.

comment #7

Craptastic says ...

Agreed Aguirre...

What kills me is his inability to fess up that HD either paid him to write the original article or showered him with gifts. Judging by the four HD players he claims to own, I'd say it was gifts.

The most disgusting thing he did was write multiple posts, some unsubtly placed in his DVD reviews section, bitching about how he had no money to buy a Blue Ray player but really wanted one. It stunk of throwing the line out to get a free one.

The man-thing is beginning to show his true colors.

comment #8

ctyner says ...

"did anyone seriously think HD-DVD would win?"

There was a time near the tail end of 2006 where it looked like it could've been a coin flip. Blu-ray had kinda bungled its launch, and despite all of the support behind the format, there wasn't much in the way of quality hardware or software. Instead of pressing forward, HD DVD stopped marketing itself, pulled back on aggressively releasing titles the way it once had, and let itself be completely stomped on once Blu-ray got its act together.

Blu-ray was far better marketed and had a slew of really tremendous titles, while HD DVD just continually chirped "...but we have cheaper players!" They put all their eggs in that one, low-priced basket, unwilling or unable to try much of anything else. Every move they made to try to compete came months too late.

For most of the past few months, it couldn't even rationally be called a 'format war' since a war inherently requires that two sides be fighting. Blu-ray was the only one putting up a fight; it's as if the marketplace was Punch Out! and HD DVD was Glass Joe. A punchdrunk HD DVD would flail and swing every once in a while, but none of those blows ever really connected.

That said, the format war was -- for a time -- a very good thing, and anyone who argues otherwise didn't follow it all that closely. So much of what makes Blu-ray such a tremendous format is owed to the spectre of competition with HD DVD. It wasn't sustainable, of course, and the conclusion's been inevitable for ages.

I wouldn't have been disappointed if HD DVD had won out, and it did look as if it could've been a contender at one time. I'm very much a fan of the Blu-ray format and my PS3 -- it's a hell of a lot better than my glacially slow, unreliable HD-A1 -- and I do think the better format won in the end.

comment #9

Rich S. says ...

For what it's worth, similar charges have been made about certain enthusiastic supporters of the other format.

"We know what you are, my dear, now we're just discussing price." - W. Churchill

comment #10

MPNeeb says ...

Until BR Players can play every available format (including HDDVD) and cost $50 at Wal-Mart, they've a hollow victory.

comment #11

Ray says ...

@ Josh Massey - Not at all. The ME generation was all about self-discovery as much as it was about selfish pursuits. Now, it's only about what a person can get for themselves, at the expense of the needs or desires of others.

There is a difference.

comment #12

giantman says ...

It was my hope from the beginning that perhaps multi-format payers would emerge and save both formats. But eventually the world is better off if one or the other "won" the battle. The biggest mistake (In my opinion) HD-DVD made was when Microsoft decided to rush the XBOX to market without HD-DVD included. Sony made the right choice to wait until Blu-Ray was part of the PlayStation 3. Hindsight, because at the time almost everyone thought Sony had made a huge mistake.