Leaked Spy Photos Confirm Toshiba's Under-$200 HD DVD Player at Wal Mart

As the very important Christmas shopping frenzy approaches, the two sides involved in the next-generation format war are trying to come out with some sort of marketing strategy that will get them ahead of the competition. And while Sony has lowered the price of the PS3 (its main marketing machine), Toshiba's doing the same, thus confirming a very old rumor regarding the company's products (or at least one of them).

As you might remember, the rumor of ol'Toshi prepping a HD DVD player for under 200 bucks is not exactly a very new one, as it's been around for quite some time now. Furthermore, as you've been able to read on Softpedia a while back, insider sources have even come across some very serious references regarding the existence of said players.

However, it would seem that now, the (rather unclear) photo posted on the AVS Forums by the user cdzie1 confirms what everyone was actually either suspecting or knowing for a fact: Wal Mart will be selling a Toshiba HD DVD player (most likely the HD-A2) for just around 198 US dollars, the lowest price tag in the history of next-generation standalone players.

According to the same source, it seems that just about every Wal-Mart has been given around 18 of these things, which is quite a small number, but probably just the first units from a very long line that will flood the market as Christmas approaches. Furthermore, it would seem that Wal Mart is only allowed to start selling the devices for under 200 starting November, 3rd.

Well, although Blu-ray discs seem to sell better than their HD DVD counterparts, the truth of the matter is that, at this point, the format promoted by Toshiba seems to be holding all the cards. The Xbox 360 is selling better than ever (and a whole lot better than the PS3), the "Transformers" HD DVD is the best-sold high-def disc and now this player might soon come out. And at $200, it will certainly be popular...extremely popular, especially during the Christmas seasons, when people are a lot more willing to spend good money on electronic products than during the rest of the year.

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