(March 14, 2008) — Back in 2002 when HD-DVD and Blu-Ray were first announced to the world, many were skeptical of the idea that two different formats of home movies would be available, and one of them would eventually be discontinued. Soon the lines were drawn and different companies were siding with one format or the other. Sony became the biggest supporter of Blu-Ray, while Toshiba endorsed HD-DVD. Certain studios signed rights to their movies to one format or the other, and soon enough the war was on. Some decided early on to adopt one of the formats, like photography teacher Bill Saul. “At the time I was advised it [Blu-Ray] was mainly for video games,” Saul said. “So I went ahead and got HD-DVD.” Many expected the format war would continue for many years, and early sales figures indicated Blu-Ray had the advantage. HD-DVD could perhaps have taken the lead eventually, but just recently Toshiba announced it would no longer support HD-DVD. For many this came as a shock. Blu-Ray didn’t seem to have an overly impressive advantage, and the selection of movies was pretty much even. Many believe the deciding factor could have been the inclusion of the disc drives in video game consoles. The Playstation 3 included a Blu-Ray drive, whereas the Xbox 360 only had a $199 add-on drive for HD-DVDs. This means that anyone who bought the Playstation 3 was also getting a Blu-Ray player. This means more Blu-Ray drives were getting into people’s homes, giving that format an advantage. Regardless of the cause, Blu-Ray is now the victor and those with HD-DVD players are owners of an obsolete piece of technology. They will either stick to the movies they can get for their players or eventually buy a Blu-Ray player. “For now I’m not going to put out that much money for a Blu-Ray player,” Saul said. “Besides, I can see almost any movie I want through cable.”