Nielsen VideoScan data shows that the Blu-ray James Bond movie, Casino Royale, is the best selling HD title to date by far and has helped Blu-ray considerably in its battle with HD DVD, according to DailyTech.

The movie launched with 28,233 discs sold making it the fastest selling HD disc to date. "The release of Casino Royale also boosted Blu-ray sales 74.4 percent for the week ending March 18 as compared to the previous week. In comparison, HD DVD sales fell 14.1 percent compared to the week before that," DailyTech said.

Since the beginning of 2007, about when the Sonly PS3 started shipping in quantity, Blu-ray movie titles have been outselling HD DVD titles by a ratio of 7:3. However, because HD DVD got an early start, the total sales of movies is much closer. Blu-ray: 844,000 vs 708,600 for HD DVD.

"In terms of movies, seven out of the top 10 best selling high-def movies of all time are Blu-ray titles," Marcus Yam reported. "For the week ending March 18, nine out of 10 were Blu-ray titles. The only HD DVD to crack that week’s is The Departed in fifth place, while the Blu-ray version held second place.

Sony's publishing of the data, provided by a reputable retail point-of-sale statistics source like Nielsen VideoScan, was clearly meant to suggest that they're winning the format war. Even so, both sides have a long way to go before a winner is declared.