The Advanced Interactivity Consortium (AIC), results from a concertation between Microsoft and Toshiba, in conjunction with studios and distributors DreamWorks, Paramount, Universal and Warner and aims to be an open forum for promoting the interoperability of advanced interactivity content on HD-DVD platform. The consortium should be formalized soon and the founding members also intend to increase the number of participants.
The Consortium will promote advanced interactive content through the HDi implementation, resulting from a previous partnership between Toshiba and Microsoft, seeking to expand that implementation to new media. Mobile phones, computers, consoles and personal media players are some of the fields that the consortium intends to explore.
Advanced Interactivity Content is the general designation of the interactive content layer present in the HD-DVD format and which allows the user to access and navigate the menus, special options and other extras. HDi is the registered trademark of Microsoft’s implementation of Advanced Interactivity Content, present on the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive and Toshiba’s room players.
Although Microsoft declined a definitive commitment to any of the high-definition formats, the announcement of this consortium with Toshiba, together with the adoption of an HD-DVD drive as an option on the Xbox360, demonstrates Microsoft’s active interest in HD -DVD.
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