Microsoft

Deiscription

Microsoft's got a finger in just about every pie, including the video game software played on its Xbox 360 platform, as well as PCs running the Windows operating system. Microsoft Game Studios, a division of the computing behemoth, oversees Xbox and PC gaming operations. Popular titles include the Age of Empires and Age of Mythology series, Halo (coming soon to movie theaters near you, directed by Peter Jackson), Gears of War, and Project Gotham Racing. The division also offers Xbox Live, one of the largest online gaming subscription services.

Sony

Description

The home video collection of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is the envy of film buffs worldwide. The firm distributes movies on DVD and videocassette to the home entertainment market. Among the more than 3,500 titles in its library are films produced by its parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment. Popular DVD titles include Superbad and Spider-Man 3. SPHE also distributes television programming on DVD, including all nine seasons of the hit show Seinfeld. When Sony led an investment group that bought MGM in 2005, SPHE briefly gained access to the distribution rights of MGM's film and TV library, but it lost its rights to that content in 2006 when MGM dropped Sony as its distributor.

MGM was able to drop Sony because of a clause in MGM's original acquisition agreement that allowed it to find a new partner after a year if certain financial targets were not met. Twentieth Century Fox now distributes MGM film DVDs, and MGM handles television distribution in-house.

Sony launched the next-generation of DVD hardware and software technology, Blu-ray, in 2005. The technology increases the content capacity of today's DVD discs, allowing for high-definition home viewing. Since the format's launch, SPHE had been steadily increasing the amount of titles available on Blu-ray, eventually beating out HD DVD, which was backed by Toshiba and Microsoft) in the high-definition video market battle. (In early 2008 Warner Bros. announced that it would stop releasing films on HD DVD and instead back Sony's Blu-ray. The decision was a major factor in Blu-ray's win over HD DVD in the format war, signified by Toshiba's 2008 announcement that it would no longer develop, make, or market HD DVD players and recorders.)