Though citing virtually no sources, two well-respected papers - the New York Times and Daily Variety - are claiming just that. The two publications claim HD-DVD corporations guided incentives in the form of “promotional considerations” in the amounts of $50 million to Paramount and $100 million to Dreamworks.

Previously, Andy Parsons of Blu Ray Disc Assocation practically accused his competitors of the same act, by saying “we can only imagine what could have enticed Paramount to walk away from a format that is clearly selling significantly more software than the HD-DVD format.”

With no sources attached, its hard to really argue one way or the other. Oddly enough, however, the rapid-fire developments of this story coupled with Michael Bay’s own retraction seems to have worked in favor of the opposing side, making the results seem more and more suspicious. Whether this is just circumstantial conicidence or not remains to be seen, but I expect this story to develop more and more in the coming days - like say tomorrow. Expect more details then.

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