People looking to buy into high definition optical on the cheap will be in luck this Friday at select Wal-Mart locations across the country.

Wal-Mart is advertising the Toshiba HD-A2 as one of their secret specials. Prices go into effect Friday at 8AM, and are limited to available quantities. A Toshiba HD-A2 for $98.87, down from $200, is quite a bargain, and a major milestone in the high def optical war.

If you're in the market to dive into high def at mass market pricing, check your local Wal-Mart this Friday, but get there early. 

Paramount has released some pre-Nielsen figures for sales of their highly anticipated Transformers HD DVD release.

In it's first week, the HD DVD version sold 190,000 copies, the most ever for a single high definition format. I say single, because Warner's 300 still holds the record, with Blu Ray and HD DVD combined sales at 250,000 in it's first week. The Blu Ray version of 300 sold approximately 165,000 copies it's first week. Of the 190,000 Transformers HD DVDs sold last week, over 100,000 were sold on the first day of sales. It's good news for both Paramount and the HD DVD format, which is still fighting an uphill battle against rival Blu Ray despite a run of good sales weeks since Paramount announced HD DVD exclusivity in August.

To keep things in perspective, the DVD version of Transformers sold 8.3 million copies in the same week.

Smarthouse has posted an article regarding an unconfirmed new version of the Xbox 360 videogame console with onboard HD DVD.

They state that "insiders" at Toshiba have revealed that Microsoft is developing a new Xbox 360 with an internal HD DVD drive. Also rumoured for the new hardware, extensive wireless capabilites, HDMI, and 1080p playback. In addition their source claims that a dual HDTV tuner and an iPod/mp3 player docking port are possibilities. With these features one might speculate that Microsoft would be adding some additional media center capabilities to the dashboard, and marketing the new unit as a media hub that bridges your home network and home theater together. They quote a "senior Toshiba executive in Singapore" as saying "An Xbox with a built in HD DVD drive is critical. They and we are working on it. It also has to be more than a gaming machine. Microsoft recognise this. A version of the device may also be sold under the Toshiba brand name". If this new hardware does make it past development, it's anyone's guess whether Microsoft will reveal the new unit at this spring's E3, or whether they would choose to wait for a consumer electronics expo, in which case CES 2009 would be the obvious pick.

The Xbox 360 already has the capability to stream music and images from your home computer. The new capabilities would have to be more ambitious than just an additional dashboard "blade", and would hopefully enable the ability for users to play alternative video formats, namely divx and xvid.

EngadgetHD got their hands on a leaked scan of Sunday's Best Buy circular, which reveals a Best Buy promotion giving Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on buyers a free Heroes HD DVD box set.

If genuine, this offer gives buyers of the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on the free copy King Kong packed in the box, the five free HD DVDs from the Toshiba rebate, and the free $99 Heroes HD DVD box set. At Best Buy's price of $179 for the add-on, the $280 worth of free HD DVDs more than pay for the hardware purchase.

It's a very good deal, and if you own an Xbox 360 and have been on the fence about HD DVD, you owe it to yourself to check the Best Buy ad in your Sunday newspaper.