The Paramount move will prolong a war that MS is hoping for. They would like both HD optical formats dead and go with digital distribution through them of course.
Well, if anything else, this will now make a long war that will scare consumers away and kill both or both will stay niche. I would prefer for one side to win, and I want it soon. If HD DVD was in BD's position yesterday, I would have bought an HD DVD player. BD still has more exclusives but at least HD DVD now has 2 studios instead of one.
All in all, the losers in this war after this bomb are us. Dual format players, or two separate players to play two different kinds of movies? NO thanks. Oh well, so much for the war being on it's way over. The Paramount deal is good for 18 months. Could change, but this war now is just utter ridiculous.