When Warner pulled its HD DVD support a few days prior to CES earlier this year, it seemed to mark the beginning of the end for Toshiba's high-def format. High-profile companies have been following suit like dominoes, including most recently online DVD-rental service Netlix and the electronics chain Best Buy. But for better or worse, HD DVD has soldiered on tenaciously against Sony's Blu-ray format.

It's tough to say what will prove to be the deathblow to HD DVD--which, at this point, is largely considered doomed--but at the very least, things just went from really bad to much worse with Wal-Mart's recent announcement.

"Wal-Mart is going Blu," begins Susan Chronister, in post on Wal-Mart's Check Out blog. "By June Wal-Mart will only be carrying Blu-ray movies and hardware machines."

The announcement arrives on the tail of rumors that Toshiba is planning to drop the format altogether.