Bill Hunt, Editor for The Digital Bits, is at it again; spreading a wealth of misinformation and twisted truths to use his influence and end the HD format war:

And around the Net this morning, if any of you didn’t believe my recent Soapbox take on Microsoft’s real intentions in supporting HD-DVD, the company’s own spokesman all but confirmed it yesterday at the Digital Hollywood conference in Santa Monica. Here’s the relevant bit from a new story at Home Media:If Microsoft has its way, DVD, Blu-Ray Disc and HD DVD will all be rendered obsolete within 10 years, according to Richard Doherty, Microsoft’s program manager for Media Entertainment Convergence.

“I don’t know that [HD] will be delivered on an optical disc in five to 10 years,” he said, pointing to downloads and broadband delivery. “At Microsoft, we’d rather it wasn’t [on a disc].”

Doherty later added: “this will be the last optical [home entertainment] generation. If this one survives.”

Hey, that should make HD-DVD fans feel good! That’s right… Microsoft, one of HD-DVD’s few major corporate supporters, is ALREADY counting on the format’s demise. IF this one survives?! Are you kidding me?! They don’t want it to survive! Microsoft having an in-house “Office of HD-DVD Evangelism” suddenly makes PERFECT sense. What better way for the company to ensure that HD optical discs die, and their own downloading service takes off, than by actively working to perpetuate the confusion of a format war in the “last optical generation”? Ugh. Don’t say we didn’t warn you, folks. “Oh, but look… HD-DVD players are cheaper right now!” Yeah. Swell. Would you like fries with that download?

Now, it’s no secret the future is in digital distribution. He even knows that. And for Microsoft to say it just makes plain sense. It is a software company. It wants to push its OS to as many entertainment centers as humanly possible. A home theater PC, perhaps? Or an Xbox 360 in everyone’s living room? The problem is, the infrastructure to support such distribution just isn’t mature. Although broadband into homes is rapidly becoming the norm, it still hasn’t reached a saturation point like optical media has. And bandwidth is still a concern – no one wants to spend eight hours downloading a 90 minute movie. Not even me. So Microsoft has to chose a side in the HD format wars.

Which brings me to my other point. Microsoft isn’t going to hand money over to Sony, not if they can help it. By chosing HD-DVD, Microsoft is going against the PS3 on two fronts: one, with the HD format war, the other with the traditional game console war. Microsoft simply wants to wait it out until there is no optical media separating the two HD formats, which it can then conquer with its widely supported VC-1 video codec. And then the PS3 is just a big expensive doorstop weighed down by an antiquated technology – kinda like UMD.

To predict the demise of HD-DVD because of what Microsoft said is absurd. The quote “if one survives” is only saying if an HD optical format survives longer than expected, by my estimations the end of the decade, which prolongs the move to digital distribution. Yes, having an Office of HD-DVD Evangelism makes sense, because otherwise Blu-ray would win hands-down, and everyone would have a reason to buy a PS3 over the Xbox 360. I don’t believe for a second Microsoft joined this fight just to kill HD-DVD for its own personal gain.

The Hollywood Reporter released week one sales figures for the big HD format showdown, The Matrix on HD-DVD versus Pirates of the Caribbean on Blu-ray. First, the hard numbers:

The PotC movies sold about 47,000 copies combined, while the two Matrix collections sold about 14,000 copies. Looks like a victory for Blu-ray, right? Well, yes and no.

The “Yes” is clearly in the numbers. There’s little to argue PotC’s success, and I would venture to guess those also drove a little spike in hardware sales as well. And especially with all the retail deals offered with the Matrix collections, coupled with the price drop in Toshiba HD-DVD players, it’s surprising it had as little impact as the numbers show.

Now for the “No”s. No, price was surely an inconsistent factor. PotC’s average retail price was about $25 per copy, where as the two Matrix collections, Complete and Ultimate, were three to four times more expensive respectively. No, Matrix isn’t as fresh as PotC. The Matrix movies didn’t benefit from a Memorial Day theatrical blockbuster as a tie-in to drive sales. I would venture to guess that even the standard definition DVD sales saw a big spike, as people rushed to catch up with the first and second films in the trilogy before taking in the third film; in that respect, it could be viewed as a disappointment for Blu-ray because sales weren’t as high as they should have been. And the third no – the Matrix just isn’t as important anymore. As I said with the Spidey debacle, the last two disasters of Matrix films not only ruined the franchise, but also stopped a whole lot of people who didn’t want to fork over $75 for one good film, regardless of how many “p”s (as in, 1080p) they have.

Overall, I’m surprised at how low sales figures for both franchises are, but more so for the Matrix. With all the player rebates, free movie deals and price mistakes, not to mention Warner’s big marketing blitz for the release, I would have expected it to do about as good if not better than its opponent. After all, Planet Earth has consistently been on the top of the overall DVD charts for HD-DVD and Blu-ray, so there’s an audience ready and willing to pay a premium for HD-DVD sets like this.

‘Pirates’ Outsells ‘Matrix’ in Blu-ray, HD DVD Showdown (Updated) | High-Def Digest

I’m not an angry gamer, really. Well, sort of, but I don’t want to be. I only want to help. My goal is that when it’s your turn for introductions, you aren’t embarrassed to say, “I like to play videogames.” And I’m sure some of you already do, and if so you should be embarrassed.

My latest target is the infamous Hideo Kojima. You know, the Metal Gear Solid guy? He makes awesome games, right? Wrong. He’s the one who came up with the ridiculous la-li-lu-le-lo. He’s the guy who had trained assassins think it was perfectly acceptable to disregard walking cardboard boxes. The point is, he makes enjoyable videogame experiences, but taken out of that context his creations are entirely laughable.

And there’s the rub. Society doesn’t see games like Metal Gear Solid as anything but a childish diversion, regardless if it sells millions to a mature demographic. People will never consider playing videogames as acceptable as watching film, listening to music, or even playing Texas Hold ‘Em. No one will ever understand the complexity and depth of videogames as long as there are games like Kojima’s getting all of the attention. Hell, it would be better if all games released were mindless frag-fests, because those could at least be considered “sport”.

So here’s to the man, regarded by the gaming community as one of the top minds of the industry, who incoherently compares the three competing consoles to fine dining; whose arrogance trumps logic; whose Hollywood adaptation will be a step backward for the social recognition of videogames as an accepted form of mainstream entertainment; and who was obviously separated at birth from Beaky (okay, cheap shot). Thanks for making it so hard for all of us to tear down the mammoth walls you so effortlessly built.

May MGS4 drown in a sea of insignificance. It would do everyone a lot of good that way.