Wal-Mart now giving away Blu-ray movies--with an 80GB PS3
If you thought you could escape this Blu-ray and HD DVD format back-and-forth nonsense, well, you were wrong. It's actually just beginning! This holiday season, both sides in the next-generation DVD battle are continuing to ratchet up the pressure on you lucky consumers.
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Blu-ray Disc)
Exhibit A: The folks over at Wal-Mart have followed up their boffo $98 Toshiba A2 HD DVD player with a pretty impressive overture for Blu-ray. Buying an 80GB Sony PlayStation 3 this Saturday will also get you 10 Blu-ray movies for free, as long as all the titles are below $30. (Go to the Wal-Mart holiday shopping site and click "Preview Saturday's Specials.") That's in addition to the five Blu-ray movies that Sony gives new owners with a mail-in rebate.
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HD DVD)
So, just like that, you're buying a $499 next-generation gaming console and Blu-ray has you in its format clutches to the tune of 15 titles. Sooooo sneaky, right? Well, the HD DVD team's not above such retail tactics either.
Head on over to Amazon.com where you'll see a Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player and an offer for three free HD DVD movies (you choose from a list of titles between $20 and $30). That's in addition to 300 and The Bourne Identity that come bundled with the player. Plus, Toshiba also has a mail-in rebate good for five titles.
Sheesh, it's almost tempting enough to give in and buy one...or both.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
Wanna sell PS3s? Why not give away games instead of movies. Sure, free movies does make for a more enticing offer than nothing for free, but most people still see the PS3 as a gaming system and not a movie player. I haven't bought one yet because the price plus 3 games (gotta start with at least that many) plus an additional controller all adds up to a house payment more or less. I think a lot of people (myself included) aren't sold on the need for an HD movie player yet- someday sure, but not just yet- throw in 5 free games of my choosing instead of any free movies and you'd likely get a sale. And while that would mean a bigger loss at first than giving away free movies, you'd more than make up that loss on the games I'd be buying (and eventually Blue Ray movies) in the future.