The State Of HD DVD

Wilson Rothman of Gizmodo wrote one of the most interesting articles about "The state of HD DVD". In this article he talks about the facts of where both Blu-Ray and HD DVD are at in todays market. Rothman compares the two formats and you can really see the difference between them, and why he feels the 'format war' is long from over. I hope that anyone who is interested in picking up one of these players in the future read this, so as they can understand what they're really buying.

Conspiracy theories aside, this is a great article.

[The State Of HD DVD via Gizmodo]

Over 90,000 HD DVD Sold Last Weekend

Well I didn't know that the bloodbath war between Wal-Mart and Best Buy would yield such results for HD DVD, but the numbers don't lie. Over 90,000 HD DVD were sold this past weekend, most likely due to the $99 price war that both stores had for the above Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player.

I'm sure that both stores were just trying to move the older models to make room for the newer ones, most likely taking a loss on it. But never the less, it is 90,000 more HD DVD customers that are out there that Blu-Ray will not get this year.

This can only strengthen HD DVD's position in the format war.

[Video Business via Gizmodo]

This Weekend Only, Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD For $99

I don't know any other way to say it, but get your ass to Wal-Mart this weekend. The super store giant that was set to sell the Toshiba HD-A2 for $198 starting mid November, will have the HD DVD player for $99 this weekend only.

That's right kids, $99 for an HD DVD player!!!

Not to say that this means that HD DVD will win the format war, but it sure does help push it in that direction. Wal-Mart is said to have a Blu-Ray deal or two in the works, but no word on what it might be. If you're looking to jump in the HD format pool, this is the cheapest that I've ever seen it kids.

[[Wal-Mart via Gizmodo]

$198 Wal-Mart Toshiba HD DVD Player Confirmed

Wal-Mart and Toshiba are making it very hard to stay on the fence with this HD format war.

The rumor about a sub-$200 HD DVD player seems to have some legs to it. The HD-A2 HD DVD player from Toshiba, (which you can hardly make out in this blurry ass picture) is not set to be sold until 11/03/07. The guy who posted it said that each store will get 18 units, and that it is a "non-replenishable item", so once they're gone, they're gone. This might be the reason to run out a pick up an HD DVD player (and Transformers), and cut away at Blu-Ray's bottom line.

It might be a good idea for Blu-Ray to respond to something like this, and soon.

[Gizmodo]

Xbox 360 Price Drop: Early August

It's looking like that price drop for the Xbox 360 might be starting to surface. Sale papers with the price drop of $50 off the premium system have started to appear. But there is no word on how this will effect the Elite or the Core system.

It looks like this could see the light of day early August.

Hit the jump to see more. From Cheap Ass Gamer via Crave.

Back To School PC: $298

Well it's back to school time for students and the guys at Everex is trying to help your broke ass out. Everex released the Impact GC3502 with students in mind, and also the environment. This "green" PC only consumes 20W of power due to a 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor.

This isn't going to blow any doors off with accessories, but it does have 1GB of ram, OpenOffice, an 80GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW, and even Windows Vista Home Basic (Which I'm not sure is a good idea on a scaled down system). You won't be using this thing to game on, due to Everex designing it for someone on a budget, and with a price of $298 you can understand. Wal-Mart is carrying the units so you better hurry.

No word if a monitor comes with the unit, but you can find those cheap.

Hit the jump for more information. [Electronista via Crunchgear]

Wal-Mart joins the High Definition war

It looks like the HD-DVD and the BluRay war is going to really heat up. The uber super store Wal-Mart is getting into the mix, which could turn the tide tremendously. Wal-Mart is teaming up with a over seas group to produce a low priced HD-DVD that will be on the shelves this year.

"The first batches of these blue-laser HD DVD players are to land sometime in 2007, with complete fulfillment of the order [from Fuh Yuan] in 2008. The deal could be worth up to $300 million US, which translates to $150 per player. If so, by the time Christmas 2007 rolls around, Wal-Mart could be selling these for less than $200 retail, although some speculate that the initial manufacturer suggested retail pricing might be in the ballpark of $299. Currently the cheapest high-definition player is a Toshiba HD DVD with an MSRP of $399." By comparison Blu-Ray players, manufactured in Japan, are not expected to drop below $1000 until next year. The International Herald Tribune writes about the risk Toshiba is taking by bringing in Chinese manufacturers to trump Sony in the format war.

This should be interesting!!!