Say hello to the new Advanced Interactivity Consortium. Its goal is to promote "superior interactivity for a wide range of next-generation consumer devices, digital content and distribution scenarios [and] maximize consumer satisfaction worldwide by accelerating industrywide adoption of advanced interactivity and interoperability across a broad array of HD DVD products."

Interactivity as a standard feature has been one of HD DVD’s selling points, with things like bookmarking, picture-in-picture commentary, and web-based communities and downloads built right into the movies themselves. The goal of the consortium is to extend that feature set, called HDi, to other consumer devices like regular DVD players, computers, cell phones, gaming consoles, and PMPs.

Doing this would likely help to accelerate the acceptance of the HD DVD format because more and more entertainment devices would be interoperable with the aforementioned features. That is, of course, assuming those features are important enough to you to purchase HDi-compatible gadgets.

Microsoft, Toshiba Form Group to Accelerate HD DVD Adoption [DailyTech.com]