ROTTEN TOMATOES: Michael Bay Exposes Vast Microsoft Conspiracy

Michael Bay Exposes Vast Microsoft Conspiracy

The dirty secret no one is talking about.

by Jeff Giles | December 07, 2007

Have you been holding off on purchasing hi-def components for your home theater because you're confused by the whole HD DVD vs. Blu-ray conundrum? Michael Bay feels your pain -- and he says it's all Microsoft's fault.

Crave's Ian Morris digs up a post from Bay's official site in which the director -- who famously threatened to withhold Transformers 2 from Paramount as retribution for the studio's exclusive HD DVD support -- tells us that he's got the format war all figured out. Dig it:

"What you don't understand is corporate politics. Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about.

"That is why Microsoft is handing out $100m checks to studios just embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu-ray. They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads. Time will tell and you will see the truth."

See, Bay haters? You've got the man all wrong. He isn't all about explosions and unintentionally humorous dialogue. He's a consumer crusader -- the Ralph Nader of blockbuster movies!

To read Crave's analysis of Bay's comments (they don't come out and accuse Bay of wearing a tinfoil hat, but they do come close), click on the link below!

Source: Crave

Related Items

Celeb:

Michael Bay

(1-20 of 91 posts) | Reply

Warheart1188 writes:
on Dec 07 2007 07:15 AM

Michael Bay, you smart man you! What's this? Transformers was just released as a digital download on the Xbox Live service? In standard and high definition? I may just save the hassle and money of buying an HD DVD drive and the Transformers HD DVD! You see, we need more intelligent people like Bay here. I can predict within the next year, he'll figure out the meaning of life, where humans actually came from and why his film career is a failure.

(Reply to this)

puablo writes:
on Dec 07 2007 07:36 AM

In reply to this comment (#1335129)
He'll probably ultimately discover that the Big Bang came from an explosion in one of his movies.

(Reply to this)

underoath18 writes:
on Dec 07 2007 07:39 AM

if only Bay put this much time into developing character and writing believable dialouge he might actually make a really good movie. instead he just sits around and writes crazy **** on his website.

(Reply to this)

EmmG389 writes:
on Dec 07 2007 07:56 AM

I didn't think Transformers was really that bad. Actually I liked it, I actually really liked it. His movies don't contain horrible performances either. Sean Connery in The Rock. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in Bad Boys. Shia LeBeouf in Transformers are all pretty entertaining.

Yes Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys 2 sucked. Armagedon is ridiculous. But he is nowhere as bad as Roland Emmerich, the maker of ID4, Godzilla, and the Day After Tomorrow.

The movies that he produces are terrible though like those horror films.

(Reply to this)

Eldorado writes:
on Dec 07 2007 07:57 AM

Holy ****.. the guy stands up and makes a post about this whole stupid format war, one of the very few within the industry with the balls to say anything like this, and here you guys take shots at him?? What the hell do his movies have to do with this??

Dumb as$es...

Now if only more of those within the industry start speaking up and questioning the format war..

(Reply to this)

zooter writes:
on Dec 07 2007 08:00 AM

oh, Bay bashing Microsoft...this thread is gonna get interesting!

(Reply to this)

DigitalJDR writes:
on Dec 07 2007 08:13 AM

Micheal Bay is a ponce.
First off, Blu Ray is not a superior disk. it is flimsy, delicate and expensive to produce. It scratches easily and should have been cartridge designed like the disks used in Sony HD cams.
while HD DVDs are more robust and cheaper to produce. They are less prone to scratches and data loss over age.
I have some pretty high end stuff where i work, and we hate dealing with Blu Ray encoding.
Its buggy and will not change much into the future.

Much like Beta vs VHS, it was cheaper to produce the weaker quality VHS
and Sony was being a big baby about it all.

Also, Blu Rays are still having trouble enabling duel layer where as HD dvd its a fact.
The concerns over bandwidth is silly because the vast majority of purchasers WILL NOT be able to see the difference.

I work in broadcast and I can tell you what uncompressed vs these formats look like.
You have a crap tv it looks like crap. You spend 10K on a good screen, well it may make a difference.
BUT

The future will be choice, not exclusion. The format wars are over, now the consumer wants convenience not forced formats. Anyway, Sony is a massive bully, more so than Microsoft so I don't know where Bay gets off defending them.

(Reply to this)

xenogears writes:
on Dec 07 2007 08:13 AM

Trnsformers was great to me because it was an action movie and in an action movie i don't realy give a damn about dialouge. If I want dialouge i'll watch a drama. And he doesn't have a bad theory. I also agree with Eldorado. At least he has the balls to admit how he feels on the subject.

(Reply to this)

Gimy writes:
on Dec 07 2007 08:29 AM

i actually feel sorry for bay haters, they can't even enjoy a great movie without their bigotry getting in the way. eh, i don't like shia lebeuf but i loved trans. can't you guys just sit back, inject some midol in your veins...and enjoy a good action movie? great dialogue, character development? its a frikkin big blockbuster summer flick. i hope ya break legs when you guys fall off your high horse...and in the hospital...they show nothing but Crossroads and Glitter.

(Reply to this)

vallejo_7o7 writes:
on Dec 07 2007 08:34 AM

In reply to this comment (#1335163)
Blu-Ray at the moment has 50gb, but have you guys ever been to CES (Consumer Electronic Show)? I went last year were they produced a 70gb and 100gb, and this was in 2006! Who knows what the future holds. The technology in Blu-Ray is superior. HD DVD looks like a DVD upscale, or at least the hddvd attachment that you have to buy separately from the XBOX 360. And yes Blu-Ray is more expensive to produce, but fragile it is not. Have you ever seen that you tube video of this guy how practically tortures a Blu-Ray disk with fire, a knife, steel wool, and some other stuff and the Blu-Ray disk still played (you tube it, its kinda amazing, http://youtube.com/watch?v=o5jEbZt6AIQ). Also this is not like beta vs. vhs because beta max only had better quality video, but that format could only hold about 1 hour of footage. Where Blu-Ray vs HD DVD I have not seen anything better in HD DVD besides the price. Audio, video, capacity. If Blu-Ray was so bad then the movie 300 would've have pushed for Blu-Ray. And I don't understand why everybody hates Blu-ray. It seems every article that I read where it's Blu-ray vs. HD DVD they always down talk and down play Blu Ray (this article is one piece evidence for my claim). F.Y.I. I've tested many Blu-Ray (that's my job) players and if your debating which one to get, the PS3 is actually they fastest player out.

(Reply to this)

stevegilpin writes:
on Dec 07 2007 08:45 AM

This is quite possibly one of the funniest (and most illuminating) articles I've ever seen posted on Rotten Tomatoes.

(Reply to this)

rgallitan writes:
on Dec 07 2007 08:57 AM

The Digital Bits covered this topic months ago.

And yes, that thing about payouts to major studios for format support is real, but apparently the money came from Toshiba (the creators of HD-DVD), not Microsoft. Which is a much less entertaining story.

(Reply to this)

eRACEr writes:
on Dec 07 2007 09:13 AM

Eff. Talk about wasteful - switch to the digital downloads, and reduce already the need for additional plastic formats.

(Reply to this)

rgallitan writes:
on Dec 07 2007 09:23 AM

Okay, here's more info. The summation is that Paramount and Dreamworks were paid many millions to go HD-DVD exclusive. Apparently Warner was given the same offer, but declined.

The original story from The Digital Bits blaming Microsoft can be found at http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa141.html#dp

You can surf forward from there to follow the unfolding story, but the salient bit is here:

"We've been doing a lot of digging into the events of last week, and have learned from reliable sources some of what went on behind the scenes. And our friends up in Microsoft's HD-DVD Evangelism office will be pleased to know that we believe we've corrborated some of what they've been saying in recent days: The $150 million payment to Paramount and DreamWorks didn't come from Microsoft. It apparently came from Toshiba and/or the HD-DVD camp collectively. We've been told that Microsoft was involved in the process, but they didn't cut the checks."

(Reply to this)

rgallitan writes:
on Dec 07 2007 09:26 AM

Microsoft's motives, btw, still aren't quite clear. They definitely have an interest in digital downloads, but they also have a stake in HD-DVD, since I believe they own the compression codec.

(Reply to this)

arendr writes:
on Dec 07 2007 09:31 AM

Michael Bay vs. Microsoft? I don't know whose side to take. Isn't that like a boxing match between Adolf Hitler and Torquemada?

(Reply to this)

yankeesrule587 writes:
on Dec 07 2007 09:41 AM

i wish the retards of the world would look up the word "director" and realize michael bay dont write dialogue or create characters.... check the definition for "writer" or "screenwriter".... should be quite enlightening. the only michael bay movie i havent seen is the island...the rest have all been very very good movies...realism aside...if i wanted to see reality i can watch it on tv...when i goto movies i want crazy, rediculous, isnt that what movies are for?

(Reply to this)

aneb writes:
on Dec 07 2007 10:12 AM

"Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about."

As far as I know this aint no secret at all. Microsoft has always said they believe the future lies in digital downloads and not optical storage media.

(Reply to this)

nogard46 writes:
on Dec 07 2007 10:18 AM

In reply to this comment (#1335163)
man you seem like a downright liar! I really don't believe anything you've wrote.

To say blu ray is flimsy? You think Sony which by far bar none the most trusted brand in electronic quality would porduce a shotty product is down right obsurd!

You need a 10K screen to see the difference? I've looked at all types of TVs from $500 to over $3000, and both Blu Ray and HD DVD produces a very high quality picture. The image is just smoother and more life like and 3D than regular DVDs.

I can't take sides on this matter as far as which is superior because like I said the picture quality is both superior.

But I do think Bay probably has a valid point, MS is very competetive and I have no doubt it will do whatever it takes to secure its position in the future.

(Reply to this)

Allmano writes:
on Dec 07 2007 10:21 AM

Blue-ray has some slight advantages over HD but they are too damned expensive. Who wants to go out and spend 30 bucks a DVD, when that technology is exclusivley limited and will be outdated in a year.

(Reply to this)

RottenTomatoes.com