Microsoft and Toshiba will become partners in a new consortium aimed at imposing the HD DVD format as the successor of the standard DVD we’re all using today.

Dubbed Advanced Interactivity Consortium (AIC), the new organization is aimed at promoting the advantages of the HD DVD format over its Blu Ray competitor and “to maximize consumer satisfaction worldwide by accelerating industrywide adoption of advanced interactivity and interoperability across a broad array of HD DVD products.”

Microsoft and Toshiba plan to bring the interactivity features found in the HD DVD format (such as  in-movie navigation, bookmarking and picture-in-picture, Web-enabled communities, content downloads and e-commerce stores to a broad range of services and platforms, including digital downloads to DVD players, PCs, TVs, cell phones, portable media players and game consoles.

Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, said that AIC is closely related to the HDi technology (an interactive layer added to the HD DVD) crafted inside Redmond’s labs and generally to the work Microsoft did to improve the HD DVD standard.

Hisatsugu Nonaka, corporate executive vice president at Toshiba said: “Creating attractive consumer experiences with advanced interactivity is critical to bringing digital home entertainment to the next level. 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.”

For the moment, the Advanced Interactivity Consortium will integrate high-profile Hollywood names like DreamWorks Animation SKG, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros, but the founders will leave registrations opened for future partners.