Toshiba eventually admitted HD DVD was a lost cause and thus, the beginning of the end started as simple as that. And now, retailers seem to be in a hurry to launch HD DVD fire sales! HD DVD is down, down, down…, lost in a world that unanimously chose Blu-ray as the winner of the 2-year high def format war.

So, retailers are now speeding up to dump HD DVD players and recorders, HD DVD movie titles, HD DVD everything! Toshiba’s high def format heads to its grave and nothing could save it anymore.

Amazon.com, which announced just a few days ago that it would promote the Blu-ray format exclusively, said on Wednesday that it offered major Hollywood movies in the HD DVD format at 30% to 50% off the initial price. Transformers, American Gangster, Beowulf, 300, all three Bourne movies in a package and others were among the titles offered by Amazon.com.

Even Toshiba, HD DVD’s main supporter, slashed the price of its HD-A3 player to $100 (from $150), after it had announced a few days ago that it would stop selling HD DVD hardware products by the end of March.

HD DVD received its fatal blow when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group decided to stop shipping films in the HD DVD format by the end of 2008. Then Microsoft slashed in half the price of its HD DVD player for its video gaming console, the Xbox 360. Step by step, major retailers (Best Buy, Wal-Mart and others) started to drop HD DVD. Toshiba’s high def format was lost forever.