Blu-Ray promotions step up a gear

Though the final official confirmation is

not expected to arrive until tomorrow

, it seems that the world has accepted that the long-fought hi-def format war is at and end – and US retailers are reacting quickly to the news.

Reuters reports that many leading North American retailers, such as Circuit City and Best Buy, have slashed Blu-Ray prices by up to $10 – whilst at the same time removing HD-DVD from their advertising.

The news agency quotes one US customer as saying: "Blu-Ray won. It’s fantastic and I trust Sony.”

It also quotes a Circuit City store worker as saying "Blu-Rays are flying off the shelves, but we have to order if you want HD,” with another worker adding that "we still sell HD DVD’s but we are telling customers that Blu-ray won".

In Europe, Blu-Ray recently hit the 2 million sales barrier, doing so faster than DVD did in the territory.