The fight between HD DVD and Blu-ray was tiresome almost before it began, and with some analysts saying that the winner in that war will decide the console war, much is at stake. Everyone is looking for the biggest movie to bring to their format to give themselves an edge, and it doesn't get much bigger than the HD DVD release of the Matrix Trilogy. Microsoft is sweetening the deal as well: pick up the trilogy and receive a free download of the Animatrix via Xbox Live. This isn't just a killer app for HD DVD, it's a push to get you to buy the 360 HD DVD add-on. There will also be free content for people without the HD DVD player:
From May 15 through May 25, download free content like HD trailers from all three Matrix movies and some of your favorite scenes in HD like "Bullet Time in the Subway" and "Morpheus fighting Agent Smith." You can also purchase and download themes for all three films plus Animatrix.
Being able to watch some of these scenes in high-definition for free is a great bonus; I just downloaded the lobby shoot-out scene, and it looks great. This is a solid promotion, and it boosts the visibility of both HD DVD and the Video Marketplace on the 360. The PlayStation 3 has a bigger stock hard drive than the Premium 360, and Sony certainly owns plenty of content, so I'd love to see them start offering deals like this through the PlayStation Store, along with movies and music.
It's clear that Microsoft knows how big this could be and is making sure to push this as hard as it can. The format war continues.
