The largest retailer in the United States and the world's largest public corporation by revenue, Wal-Mart, has put its tremendous weight behind Blu-ray and has thus given Toshiba and its HD DVD format what is probably the final hit.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday on its website it has decided to sell only Blu-ray DVDs and hardware and no longer carry HD DVD offerings. The company announced that by June it will only be carrying Blu-ray movies and hardware, in addition to standard definition DVDs. However, I bet there will be one exception: the HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360.

Since Warner Bros’ announcement in early January that it is supporting Blu-ray, one by one the allies of HD DVD have left the boat. However, Toshiba decided to fight back by slashing the price of its HD DVD players and investing millions of dollars in promotional and marketing efforts. But lately the company has started to reconsider its position, according to some anonymous sources quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.

In early January, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced it would cease its support for HD-DVD in May this year. Already, Warner Bros. Entertainment sells high-definition movies exclusively in Blu-ray format. In a press statement, Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer explained that the customer confusion over two competing formats as the main reason of the company’s decision to support only one format.

Just days later, Toshiba had fired a new salvo in the Blu-ray versus HD DVD war. The company had slashed the price of its cheapest HD DVD player, the HD-A3, with 50 percent, from $299.99 to $149.99. During the CES 2008, Toshiba remained defiant, saying that it would continue to back its embattled format.

After a few more days, a study released by Japan's Business Computer News revealed that Blu-ray is dominating the sales in Japan. During a three-month period, from October to December 2007 the Blu-ray format, created and promoted by Sony, accounted a 90 percent of next-generation DVD recorder sales.

This month, the Toshiba-endorsed HD DVD received another blow: Netflix announced that it will stock only Blu-ray discs and drop the HD DVD format.

Basically, Toshiba now has only two powerful allies: Paramount Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment. It remains to be seen for how long.