Microsoft announced this week that it has secured deals with a number of major studios to sell downloads of movies and TV shows through its Xbox Live Internet service for the Xbox 360 game console. Although the bulk of the programming available will be standard definition, some content will be available in HD out of the gate, with more to follow. The service will go live November 22nd.

Hollywood Reporter reports that Fox is doing a rush job on a Blu-ray Disc release of <I>X-Men: The Last Stand</I> to get it on store shelves on November 14th, just three days ahead of the arrival in the US of Sony's Blu-ray based PlayStation3 game console. The story quoted Fox executives as saying that the PS3 will lend Blu-ray an "unbeatable advantage" over the rival HD DVD format, hence the rush to market for <I>X-Men</I>.

Vidabox LLC recently announced an interesting entry into the next-gen HD disc format war in the form of two lines of "dual HD" Media Center PCs that will playback both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. In addition to playing standard DVDs, Vidabox's LUX and MAX dual HD systems analog and dual HDTV tuners allowing users to record as many as four TV programs at once, obviating the need for a DVR.

The big releases on next-gen HD media keep pouring in just in time for the holiday season and again, Warner is leading the charge by releasing one of the real treasures in its catalog, <I>Casablanca</I>, on HD DVD. The Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman classic joins the somewhere between camp classic and minor classic sci-fi flick <I>Forbidden Planet</I> starring none other than Robbie the Robot, and 1962's <I>Mutiny on the Bounty</I> starring Marlon Brando on HD DVD.