Toshiba made the announcement to officially ends its future plans for HD DVD.  The late flurry of Blu-ray allegiance from major retailers including Wal-Mart and Best Buy likely put the nail in the coffin in this format war.

The recent high number of HD DVD + HDTV bundle deals from several vendors were signs of a final attempt for Toshiba to combat Blu-ray’s growing momentum.  It’s bad news if you had already invested in HD DVD, but it is good news for all consumers.  Expect upcoming Blu-ray deals from retailers and manufacturers to piggy-back the victory to jump start the next-gen format upgrade for the consumers.

Interestingly, Toshiba made no comment about backing Blu-ray.  In their statement, they only mentioned their continued effort in the standard DVD space.