Toshiba announced today that it is officially pulling the plug on their HD-DVD format. Citing "recent major changes in the market"--specifically announcements from Wal-Mart, Netflix, and Best Buy last week in support of Blu-ray--Toshiba has chosen to stop manufacturing and selling HD-DVD players.

From an article in TWICE magazine:

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of
continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded
that a swift decision will best help the market develop," stated
Atsutoshi Nishida, Toshiba president and CEO. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for
the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition
content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."

Nishida said that Toshiba will continue to produce some HD-DVD drives for laptops and PC according to customer demand and will provide support for existing units, but will now focus largely on computer hardware and peripherals such as "flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next
generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption
technologies.”

So Sony's Blu-ray has come out on top, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the format war is over.

(EDIT:  Looks like Amazon Screening Room beat me by a few minutes...)

--Aric A.

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Watch an Amazon.com exclusive deleted scene from Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story. You can also watch clips and exclusive character interviews, get free downloads, listen to sound bites and more on the Walk Hard microsite.

Brooke

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Courtesy of MovieWeb, you can sample a three-minute segment of an upcoming-sometime-in-the-future animated series called Wolverine and the X-Men. Looks good, though we'll have to wait and see whether it's different and better than previous X-Men animated series like X-Men Evolution. --David

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Universal announced today that they will switch from HD DVD to Blu-ray shortly after Toshiba's official announcement to discontinue manufacturing HD DVD players and recorders.

Per Craig Kornblau, President, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms: "The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear."

There has been no official statement made by other HD DVD supporters (e.g., Paramount Pictures) at this time, but we will continue to update our High-Def 101 page with the latest information as it becomes available. With Blu-ray the remaining high-definition disc format, today's announcements have brought a welcome clarity for those waiting to convert to high-definition. --The Amazon.com High-Def Team

Related News Links:

Reuters

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A few days ago, CBS finally announced that Jericho would air its final episode this Tuesday. It's getting canceled, AGAIN, due to bad ratings. Our trusty Stephanie Reid-Simmons was on the ball (as usual), and blogged the announcement immediately. Well, now I'm here to gripe about it!

A lot of shows come and go, but I was truly rootin' for Jericho. Not only was it one of the best shows to hit network TV in a long time, it has some of the most diehard and dedicated fans I've ever seen. For those who don't know the scoop, this show had already been canceled before. That's right--but the fans united to bring back their beloved post-apocalyptic town! Together, they sent over 20 tons of peanuts to CBS headquarters. CBS folks must like their legumes because, acknowledging that this was the largest ever protest over a show cancellation, they brought it back for a second season. Why nuts? Well, you'll just have to watch the season one finale to find that out.

CBS minded their business P's and Q's though. They filmed seven new episodes that promised to wrap up the series, but left open the possibility for an extension if the season got good ratings. They even filmed two versions of the season finale--one that would bring the series to a close, and one that would end with a cliff-hanger.

Well, the second season opened up to great reviews, but with the worst ratings yet.

I'm honestly thankful to CBS for at least bringing the show back for a second season to wrap things up. The first season ends with a true cliff-hanger, and I (along with millions of others) would have gone literally insane without some closure. Sure, the second season seems a little rushed, and it definitely doesn't have the magic of to first 22 episodes. One can't really complain when the writers are attempting to wrap up such a complex plot. But I'll be glued to the TV this Tuesday night to discover the fate of those folks from Jericho.

But wait! A glimmer of hope! Rumor has it that Jericho could come back as a cable series. Showtime? The Sci-Fi Channel (which already airs re-runs of the first season)?

I'm inclined to think that this isn't very likely, but I'm going to hold my breath. I really want this story to continue...

--Jordan Thompson

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Who said the Star Wars spoof went out with Spaceballs and Thumb Wars? (OK, nobody said that, but anyway....) The sub-subgenre appears to be live and well with Family Guy: Blue Harvest and Robot Chicken: Star Wars, both of which you can sample below.  --David

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