Toshiba and Microsoft today announced plans to form the Advanced Interactivity Consortium (AIC), an open forum aimed at the promotion of interactivity for a wide range of next-generation consumer devices, digital content and distribution scenarios.
The newly formed organization?s mission is accelerate industrywide adoption of advanced interactivity and interoperability across a broad array of HD DVD products.
The organization will also focus attention on ways to bring these advanced scenarios to other services and platforms, including digital downloads to DVD players, PCs, TVs, cell phones, portable media players and game consoles.
"Creating attractive consumer experiences with advanced interactivity is critical to bringing digital home entertainment to the next level," said Hisatsugu Nonaka, corporate executive vice president at Toshiba. "In order to create these ecosystems, we wanted to bring together a group of companies committed to extending these scenarios across a wide variety of platforms. The Advanced Interactivity Consortium will advocate for these platforms as well as help ensure interoperability of HD DVD players and services."
"The Advanced Interactivity Consortium has its roots in the work we?ve done with HDi and HD DVD, but is open to all companies interested in bringing a broader set of experiences to consumers on different platforms," said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft.
Based on Web standards, HDi technology naturally lends itself to cross-platform implementations and integration in online content services. For content owners, HDi provides a development environment, resulting in a seamless and visually consistent experience from device menus to Web-based applications.
The Advanced Interactivity Consortium will also include major Hollywood studios DreamWorks Animation SKG, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros..
The AIC founding member companies plan to formalize the organization shortly and to extend additional partner invitations.