"We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases."

Wal-Mart will continue to sell HD-DVD products in the coming months, but expect to be Blu-ray exclusive soon with a heavy shift happening in the next thirty days. Add to that this week's announcement of Netflix's Blu-ray exclusivity and you've got what looks like an end in sight to the format wars.

Wal-Mart on Blu-ray bandwagon [CNN Money]

Though HD-DVD backers may still limp along in their support or fanboyism of a movie format, this "war" couldn't look any more like one camp has won at this point. It's all over but the crying, blanket clutching and Michael Bay gloating, it seems.

Blu-ray could win high-def battle [Variety]

What you don't understand is corporate politics. Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about. That is why Microsoft is handing out $100 million dollar checks to studios just embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu Ray. They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads. Time will tell and you will see the truth.

Is Michael Bay in need of a sturdier tinfoil hat or is Microsoft intentionally sabotaging the next-gen format war for its own benefit? Since we haven't been on the receiving end of any $100 million checks, we can't say for sure. Or is that just one of the stipulations of our continued payment from Microsoft? *dun dun duunnnn*

DVD Formats [The Official Michael Bay Forums via Blu-ray.com - thanks, Joe!]

It looks like Sony's grand scheme to turn the Playstation 3 into a Blu-ray Trojan Horse may have backfired. A recent survey here in the US points to a distrust of Sony and their strong-armed, cram-Blu-ray-down-your-throat tactics as a major factor in consumer negativity surrounding the Sony-backed format.

Personally, Sony's tactics didn't bother me much. The PS3 costs less than some Blu-ray drives, so I see it as a nice add-on feature. What did annoy me and continues to annoy me to this day, is that the console's delay was, it seems, caused mostly by Blu-ray issues and that on-going stock shortages can also be traced back to the Blu-ray bits.

I still haven't made up my mind about which format, via a game console, I like more. Right now I'm sorta leaning toward HD-DVD, though I think that has more to do with the PS3's still percolating interface. Brian Crecente

Consumers Favour HD DVD over Blu-ray due to negative perceptions of Sony [Tech digest TV]

Format war. Meh. We cannot think of anything more dull than companies banding together to make us choose. But, there needs to be a winner, right?

According to market research firm Forrester, Blu-ray will come out on top thanks to the PS3. While both formats out in the wild (and HD DVD getting better reviews), early adaptors are few and far in between. Enter the PLAYSTATION 3 with its prepackaged low-end Blu-ray player. Common sense tells us that if Sony is able to meet its projected 6 million PS3 sold target by 2007, the Blu-ray format will have a clear edge. Though, if the Xbox 360's HD DVD add-on is a hit this holiday season, things could look brighter for the rival format.

Forrester states there could be a two-year uncertainty period in which both formats exist side-by-side. In the meantime, buy up those PS3s and 360 HD DVD players! One of them will be a collector's item. Brian Ashcraft

Format Wars, Meh [ArsTechnica]