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Sony's Blu-ray High Definition DVD format has been battling with Toshiba's HD-DVD high definition DVD format for the better part of a year now. The battle between the two opposing format that can't be played on each other's players has taken a number of twists and turns over the past few months. These twists and turns have included the introduction of Sony's Play Station 3, which can play Blu-ray discs, and Microsoft's Xbox 360, which can play HD-DVD discs with the purchase of an extra HD-DVD drive. In addition, there have been various promotions involving the give away of movies on discs of both formats and various attempts at winning the format war by doing things as stupid as proclaiming victory and assuming that everyone else would suddenly assume that a victory had in fact taking place.

Now, there are many indications that a conclusion to the format war may be near. From the evidence offered by sales of both formats since the beginning of the year, there's strong evidence that Sony's Blu-ray format is the probable winner. It outsold HD-DVD titles by a margin of two to one in January and February and three to one in March. In many ways the Play Station 3- which many video gaming enthusiasts bought for the video gaming capabilities and then used for playing HDTV DVD's in the Blu-ray format. This gave the Blu-ray format an extra push to propel its sales. Of course, it could be argued that Blu-ray would have been the favorite format anyway because of the fact that not counting Play Station 3's, there are roughly twice as many Blu-ray players in American homes as there are HD-DVD players, despite the fact that Blu-ray players are typically twice as expensive.

Because of its apparent hold on the market, Sony has recently gone for the kill by announcing that it will lower the price of its Blu-ray players by roughly fifty percent by the end of the year. This is a move that should serve to make the Blu-ray format even more popular by placing the cost of a Blu-ray player roughly in league with what an HD-DVD player has cost up until now. Toshiba has replied though with the drop in price of it's second generation HD-DVD player to roughly four hundred dollars right away. The fact that Toshiba got around to lowering the price of its player before Sony may dissuade some people from waiting for the cheaper Blu-ray players to hit the market. Anyone who does want to wait though might be rewarded by Blu-ray players that are even cheaper than the four hundred dollar HD-DVD players.

Amazon.com has recently thrown another wrench into Sony's plans to end the format war by offering the second generation Toshiba HD-DVD player for closer to three hundred dollars in the immediate future. This will surely make a lot of people who might have otherwise invested in the cheaper Blu-ray players to opt for HD-DVD instead. This is especially true considering that anyone who purchases an HD-DVD player will have their selection of five HD-DVD movies of their choice. This drop in price may not bring HD-DVD out on top, but it will surely prolong the format war.