That's all, folks: Toshiba drops HD-DVD

Following Wal-Mart's decision to cease stocking HD-DVD films and players in favour of Blu-ray, Toshiba is to pull out of the next-gen disc race, according to this.

Blu-ray has already flooded the Japanese market, assuming 90 percent of sales. With Wal-Mart offside for US sales, the game was finally lost.

The news ends what has been a humiliating decline in HD-DVD's fortunes since Waner Bros. very publicly dropped the format just before CES last month. PS3 is now the only console on the market to include Blu-ray support, Sony's massive gamble sure to now pay-off at large odds.

It also means we don't have to keep on writing about which logo's going to be on your movie discs for the next five years, so thanks for not prolonging the agony, Toshiba.