So isn't the game over? This isn't news anymore. I can predict that Target will stop offering HD-DVD too, print that.

Amazon drops Betamax and 8-Tracks and Laserdisks from their site.

Out in the real world, there is no such thing as a format war. Thats nerd speak. Have you seen coverage of toshiba signing a treaty or surrender to Sony at the United Nations? There are still thousands of HD-DVD players owned and unsold. Thousands of disks bought and yet to be bought. And this will continue for a while until all channels are clear.

Meanwhile, outside of Slashdot, most consumers still have no idea that the market is starting to show the first signs of cohesion. HD-DVD technology is still for sale in hundreds of stores and anyone could unknowingly purchase "bleeding edge" technology that's actually bled out.

So to most people, yes, all these individual announcements are still news.

Yeah, people DO know. People have been WAITING for this mess to sort itself out. All the related industries have been waiting.

HDTVs have been selling well. Once people see what REAL HD content looks like... not just standard TV lookin' big and grainy... they'll want HD players and HD media for their video collections.

NOW the path and choice is clear. Just watch sales start to boom.

You can argue about digital downloads being the wave of the future. For the future, yes. But for now, until US bandwidth is expanded where Full-HD content can be downloaded fairly quickly and easily, physical media offers the best option.

You know. I know. We're people. Yes. But do people, as in the unwashed masses who make up the consumer electronics customer base but don't follow tech-news know? I doubt. It really did just happen. And a lot more people than I think you are accounting for, don't know that Blu-Ray is a go. Infact, I don't think you're accounting for the amount of people that don't know about the format war or hd optical disks, don't have HDTV's and aren't interested in moving yet.

Just because it's cool, doesn't mean is popular. Just because its popular doesn't mean it's widely adopted. And just cause we're tired of hearing about it doesn't mean that everyone else has heard of it at all.

It isn't that newsworthy for a site like this; but a lot more people may know today. It's been big enough news to make the papers and news broadcasts.

HDTVs have been selling well. Once people see what REAL HD content looks like... not just standard TV lookin' big and grainy... they'll want HD players and HD media for their video collections.

NOW the path and choice is clear. Just watch sales start to boom.

And without news like this, they might go into BestBuy, slap down money on a cheap HD-DVD player and not know they're getting screwed.

One of my work colleague had bought HD DVD player two days ago because it's cheap. She had no idea about the phase out.

Last Thanksgiving, my father (age 72) asked "There seem to be two new formats for HD movies, blu-ray and something else... what's going on with that? Is it like VHS and beta?"

So, yeah... some people know. My parents have an HD set, but I'd HARDLY say they follow HD news.