The water the home-entertainment industry is treading is getting Blu-er. That’s the news that came out of an Entertainment Merchants Association report this week about U.S. consumer spending on DVDs. Studios celebrating Sony’s Blu-ray victory in the high-definition DVD format war in February were validated by an EMA estimate that spending on [...]

Lee Dye writes “According to SCEA, the high demand for Grand Theft Auto IV on the PlayStation 3 is driving sales for Sony’s system exponentially just within the first 24 hours of the game’s release. Senior Merchandising VP of GameStop Corp., Bob McKenzie, chimed in backing up the claim on the retail side of things: [...]

In the latest HD saga, Microsoft has announced that effective immediately  it has ceased production of the Xbox 360 HD add-on drive. In a predictable twist, Microsoft has also stated that it will not release a Blu-Ray add-on drive for the 360 stating that customers do not purchase gaming consoles to watch movies. Editors take: If [...]

Lee Dye reports, TOKYO–Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full [...]

Circuit City extends HD DVD return time By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 6, 2:12 PM ET Circuit City Stores Inc. is getting on the Blu-ray digital video format bandwagon by tripling the period in which customers who purchased a rival HD DVD player can return them. The nation’s No. 2 electronics retailer has instructed its [...]

The Financial Times reports rivals are talking about adding high-def technology to formerly HD DVD-aligned console; Microsoft denies anything official, Sony says it’s open to the possibility. Sony is in talks with console rival Microsoft about offering a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, according to a senior executive.The Japanese electronics maker has until now touted [...]

As HD DVD heads to an early grave following the loss of key proponent Toshiba, retailers have launched fire sales to dump players and movie titles in the high-definition format. Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN).com, which announced Wednesday that it would only promote HD DVD rival Blu-ray, on Wednesday was offering major Hollywood movies in the losing format [...]

Still fresh on everyone’s mind, Universal wasted no time responding to Toshibas surrender in the HD-DVD format war with supoport for the Blu-Ray format. “While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray,” said Craig Kornblau, president [...]