Microsoft pays Paramount/Dreamworks to go HD-DVD

An anonymous reader writes: The Blu-ray vs HD-DVD format war had a volley fired today from the latter camp in the form of an announcement that Paramount and Dreamworks will be releasing movies exclusively in HD-DVD. While not part of the official press release, sources are reporting that this decision was basically paid for by Microsoft. From the article: "Microsoft has paid DreamWorks and Paramount so much money that they've decided to join Universal in the HD-DVD exclusive camp. No kidding. None of the participants in this deal are willing to openly disclose just how MUCH money was exchanged, but the L.A. Weekly is reporting (based in part on a confidential report from media analysis firm Pali Research) that it was in the neighborhood of $50 million in "promotional considerations" for Paramount and $100 million for DreamWorks. I'm sure they're also getting lots of free or discounted VC-1 compression and HDi authoring services, along with prime placement on Xbox Live too." The press release also states that films directed by Steven Spielberg are not part of this exclusive deal. In response, Fox and MGM today announced 29 titles exclusive to Blu-ray. Blu-ray movies have been outselling HD-DVD by 2:1 for the first half of 2007. The fun continues.