Freshly stolen from several other blogs: We’ve all been wondering what to make of those whispers that Warner was indeed going Blu-ray exclusive, and apparently, those rumblings are true: Warner Brothers announced today that they would be moving their titles from HD-DVD to the Blu-Ray format. Many have suggested that this marks the end of the next generation DVD battle, though two major studios continue to have exclusive HD-DVD distribution deals in place. Warner will continue to release on both HD DVD and Blu-ray until May 2008; starting in June the studio will no longer release movies on HD DVD.

Even before this new marketshare advantage, however, the New York Times reported that Blu-ray titles had outsold HD-DVD offerings as much as 2 to 1, and had even been chosen for exclusive distribution by Blockbuster.

The HD-DVD group is canceling its CES press conference. Toshiba, masters of the HD DVD format, just issued a press release expressing their “particular disappointment” with Warner, also implying that the move to go Blu-ray exclusive is actually in breach of contract. Sounds like somber times for the HD-DVD camp.

Pick nearly any other blog of choice to find huge coverage on this. We steal most of that stuff so you can also follow all the updates and discussion in our comprehensive thread on the boards»

Filed under: Geek, Movies