Sony is wrong to declare the war is over, but it is right in thinking it will be fought by the marketing department. The Casino Royale giveaway certainly smells of a marketing ploy. Every PS3 sold is another Blu-ray player sale Sony can count, even though it could be argued most units might only be used as games consoles. By giving away Casino Royale, Sony can claim hand-on-heart that at least 500,000 PS3 owners also own at least one Blu-ray disc.

Even before the January sales figures were released, the Blu-ray Disc Association was declaring Blu-ray victorious as "the premiere high definition DVD format of choice" at CES. It's tempting to call it a Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt campaign, but it's actually the opposite. Sony is attempting to reassure people that the format war is over, so if they buy a Blu-ray player there's no risk off getting stuck with BetaMax 2.0.

"This will not be another BetaMax," declares Sony in its best Dubya-esque Texan twang. Propaganda aside, I think this format war has some life in it yet.{moscomment}