A trusted Wal-Mart source has sent Joystiq an image taken from the company's intranet, "The Wire," showing a listing for Halo "Blue." We've also received an unverified tip detailing Halo "Blue," though it's unclear whether that information stems from the same retail listing. With so little information available about what Blue is, we're guessing the shown Sept. 30 date is placeholder. The Microsoft press conference is in less than 12 hours, so stay tuned.

A Wal-Mart spreadsheet allegedly listing products that the company is having difficulty stocking states that the 40GB PS3 "will be replaced with [a] new model in early August." We received this sheet from an employee that's sent us solid information in the past though s/he can't confirm the origin of the note that the model will be replaced. Of course, in the eternal battle over semantics, "replaced" could simply mean some minor tweaks to the model and the addition of the DualShock 3.

For those keeping track, if the 40GB version actually ceases production it would be the third version of the PS3 to do so. Let's take a trip down memory lane: The 60GB PS3 was last seen in late 2007 roaming the plains of retail (some still speak of finding them in random places today) and the 20GB was officially declared dead in early 2007 after it went missing from retail for months. Perhaps next week's E3 will shed some light on the fate of the 40GB unit.

Update: Adjusted for the possibility that "replaced" could mean basic changes to 40GB model, like the addition of DualShock 3.

We have confirmed with Wal-Mart Corporate Communications that the company is currently offering a $100 gift card this week with the purchase of any Blu-ray player. This applies to all PS3s, including the Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundle (pictured above) available tomorrow. This re-confirms the information and documentation one of our reliable sources gave us two weeks ago.

After we made sure to ask about the MGS4 bundle this morning, Melissa O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, told us, "Any Blu-ray player. Blu-ray. All of them." She said that the deal is quite explicit in the Wal-Mart flyer for this week (an image of which we've placed after the break), and the deal is both online and in stores. We hope this clears up any confusion on the matter.

We've received documentation from one of our reliable sources that the $100 gift card Walmart.com is currently offering with the purchase of a PS3 isn't the whole story. According to images shown us (one of which we've placed after the break) from the "Wal-Mart Wire," between June 1-7 Wal-Mart stores will give a $100 gift card to customers who purchase a PS3. The interesting part is that the following week, June 8 - 15, many Blu-ray players will offer the $100 gift card, and this apparently also includes the PS3.

The kicker here is if you're looking to pick up a PS3 with your purchase of Metal Gear Solid 4, the smart money would be to pick up the 80GB PS3 MGS4 bundle available June 12 because you'll get a $100 gift card out of the deal. Sure, you could be all about the Wal-Mart hate, but we'd take the free $100.

Wal-Mart is saying straight-up that mom could stand to lose a few pounds. Reuters reports that the mega-retailer's online division is pushing pre-orders of Wii Fit as a Mother's Day gift. Wii Fit doesn't release until May 19 in North America, but those who order the pressure-sensitive sweat-board before Mother's Day (May 11) will receive a $10 online gift card to use at Walmart.com in the future.

Kelly Thompson, Walmart.com's chief merchant, says the initial sales have been "extremely strong." Due to the fact that the system doesn't come out until a week after the holiday, Thompson recommends giving the $10 online gift card as a present. That's a great idea! We can see it now: "Hey mom, the passive-aggressive gift telling you that you're a fatty mcfat doesn't come for another week. Oh, in the meantime, here's a $10 gift card to Walmart.com." Somehow a nice brunch and flowers sounds like a better option.

Wal-Mart's intranet, "The Wire," recently laid out how the maestro of retail will handle the Grand Theft Auto IV launch. As seen in the picture above -- with the full plan detailed in the gallery below -- 24-hour stores will begin selling the game at midnight and should be prepared for the launch. One of the more interesting parts in the "execution guide" states that Wal-Mart has a "strategic focus on winning in gaming, and GTA IV represents a strong opportunity for [it] to highlight [its] entry into the gaming industry." Customers are supposed to know that Wal-Mart is the: "Fastest way to play GTA IV."

The guide describes that two associates should be manning the register, with one to ring up customers and the other to pass along the requested game version. If the line is too long, an electronics associate should "take quantities of the game to the front register and assist the cashier by handing out the game at time of purchase." Considering Wal-Mart went through the effort of making such a comprehensive guide, corporate would probably love to hear from customers who don't have a pleasant and efficient shopping experience during the GTA IV launch.*

*Metagame: The "execution guide" has a major error on Pg. 2, can you spot it? Hint after the break.

[Thanks Anonymous]

Gibson seems to be poking its straw into any hole it can find these days, trying to desperately suck up some of that gooey Guitar Hero money before it's all gone. On Monday, the guitar maker filed a federal lawsuit against major retailers that sell Guitar Hero games, including GameStop, Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon, and Toys "R" Us, seeking to prohibit sales of the games. In a statement released Thursday, the company claimed it took "this action reluctantly, but is required to protect its intellectual property."

Though Gibson has yet to file suit against Guitar Hero owner Activision, the guitar company has made a legal claim alleging that the games (when played with the guitar controllers) violate Gibson's patent for a type of virtual music performance. Subsequently, Activision filed a preemptive lawsuit against Gibson last week, and then publicly dismissed Gibson's patent infringement claim. Most recently, Gibson targeted Guitar Hero creator and former developer Harmonix, its daddy's daddy Viacom and Rock Band co-publisher Electronic Arts for allegedly violating the same patent ... Yeah, our head's spinning too.

[Via Engadget]

Wal-Mart declared today that it will "exclusively" back Blu-ray in the high-definition movie format war. We know there's a lot of emotions about this issue still out there, but when Netflix, Blockbuster, Best Buy, almost all of the major movie studios and WAL-MART go Blu-ray, can we finally say this is the end for HD DVD? Wal-Mart stated that "in less than 30 days" customers will see the alpha-dog of retailers go predominantly Blu-ray.

Wal-Mart's release to Joystiq also states that the company is moving "exclusively toward Blu-ray ... players." We've requested clarification as to whether this means they will no longer carry the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on player. We'll update when we get a response. What we can say is that the 10 Wal-Mart stores we did call either had no idea there was an HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 or said they haven't had them for a while.

Signs of an unfortunate unplugging of Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol for the Nintendo DS arrived earlier this month amid pre-order cancellations issued by GameStop. Coupled with a change in release date, it appeared that the quirky franchise was experiencing quite some difficulty in reaching its portable destination. Nintendo has since confirmed that the game is still on its way -- just not to all stores.

Speaking to GameSpot, a Nintendo representative noted that Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol would be made available "exclusively at Wal-Mart stores nationwide." Does limiting the game's retail range imply a lack of faith in the game or its commercial appeal? We'll find out on October 2nd... if we can make it to our neighborhood Wal-Mart, that is.

[Via DS Fanboy]

We don't want to alarm anyone, but Nintendo's own Shigeru Miyamoto will be coming to San Francisco this march to conduct a keynote at the Game Developers Conference. Before anyone gets the wrong impression about this and rushes to Wal-Mart for some poster board in an attempt to be internet famous, please, don't. It makes for fantastic blogging fodder to be sure, but lets spare the development community what should be reserved for the internets.

As his first GDC keynote since 1999, Miyamoto's appearance could possibly be the most popular event at the conference. It's not indicated exactly as to what Mario's papa will be talking about beyond "the creative process behind his work on highly-regarded software as well as his thoughts on new Nintendo hardware", his keynote is titled "A Creative Vision." Maybe if we're all good boys and girls, he'll drop less "bombs" and clue us in on the secret of the DS printing money.

Chris McVeigh, one of our Canadian reader-moles, sent a detailed report about Wii sales in Bathurst, New Brunswick. McVeigh's small town of 15,000 is overflowing with Wii goodness; the local Wal-Mart stocked 96 Wii systems and is still long on remotes and nunchuks.

While the store sold its Wii consoles by noon -- McVeigh got one without any camp-out -- his story reminds us to search for remotes and nunchuks in rural areas; those stores may still have stock. Road trip to Bathurst, anyone?

[Thanks, Chris.]

Yesterday it was BB guns, today a report from a Putnam, Connecticut PS3 line involves real guns. Early this morning, two armed gunmen approached a line of PlayStation 3 hopefuls gathered outside of the Putnam, Conn., Wal-Mart, demanding money from those in line. "One of the patron's resisted. That patron was shot," police Lt. J. Paul Vance told the AP. There has been word of the victim's condition and the hunt for the two gunmen continues.

Elsewhere, in Elk Grove, California, two different gunmen walked into a GameStop yesterday morning and made off with four PS3s. No injuries were reported and the robbers are still at large.

Reports of general chaos and disorder in PS3 lines across the country have been pouring in all day. Engadget has collected links to many of them, and we'll update here with any others as we hear about them.

[Thanks to everyone who sent both these stories in.]

Read - Shot waiting in line
Read - Gunmen Steal PS3s

Former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards is one of the millions of parents across the country who want to secure a PlayStation 3 for their children this holiday season. No surprise there -- what is surprising is that an Edwards staffer tried to secure the system from Wal-mart, a retailer that Edwards has repeatedly targeted for unfair treatment of its employees.

Edwards confirmed to the AP that his wife Elizabeth mentioned her desire for the PS3 to a staffer, who then used the senator's name to try to secure a system from a Wal-mart store in Raleigh, NC. Edwards said he and his wife said they were not aware of the staffer's actions and that the staffer feels terrible about his mistake.

Wal-mart, for its part, is doing its best to make an issue of the gaffe, accusing Edwards in a statement of trying to jump to the front of the line "while the rest of America's working families are waiting patiently." Strong words, but really, what self-respecting PS3 hopeful wouldn't use a bit of name-dropping if they thought it would help them secure a system on launch day?

[Thanks Vinnk]

Joystiq has been in contact with Wal-Mart corporate to get Wii and PS3 launch details. We've got something old, something new, something rumored and a bunch of stuff true.

The old: We can confirm almost everything from our previous post on Wal-Mart Wii and PS3 launch details from the "Wal-Mart Wire." The dates, the times and the ticket information is on point. The Wal-Mart stores should only give out the number of tickets for units they have. No word yet on official numbers per store, but Wii numbers should be no less than 20.

The new: Wal-Mart corporate says, "We currently have plans for a Thursday, Nov. 16 midnight event to launch PS3. In addition, Wal-Mart store #890 in Orlando, FL will host the Playstation Patrol truck Friday-Sunday." As for the Wii, Wal-Mart corporate says they are currently not accepting online pre-orders due to the popular demand, but are evaluating options for additional pre-orders before the official launch on Nov. 19. The Wii pre-order is online only, not in stores. They will let Joystiq know when a decision is made regarding the pre-order. Although the "Wal-Mart Wire" speaks directly to a midnight launch for the Wii, as does the poster above, details and confirmation can not be given at this time.

The rumor, not confirmed by corporate: If there isn't one already, all Wal-Mart stores should have a cardboard display case with free books called a "Wii Buyer's Guide" within the next couple of days. These will be replaced with the "Playstation 3 Buyer's Guide" by the 17th or when all the "Wii Buyer's Guide" are taken. The picture above is from the December issue of the Wal-Mart monthly flyer (tab) and pertains to electronic items from Nomember 12-19 (not to be confused with the weekly sale ones). A Wal-Mart employee tells us, "My store has already cleared shelf space for the PS3 and Wii accessories. Something interesting to note is that they have also restarted carrying Gamecube accessories, right next to the space cleared for the Wii. It's the first time I've seen Wavebirds on sale in over a year."

All the information regarding Wal-Marts launch details are not ironed out, but we'll update as we receive and gather more info.

[Thank you Mr. Ninja for the updated scan]

Want to be able to stroll into a store on launch day, and come back out with a hot Wii in your hands? Check out the guide that Wiiloaded has up. Of course, if everyone reads this thing, then you'll be screwed. Cross your fingers and take some of their helpful advice like: find a 24 Wal-Mart to camp out in because it'll be warm, check out who is jumping on the midnight release bandwagon (Circuit City, Wal-Mart, probably more to come) and get there early, or visit a Sam's or Costco because they are frequently overlooked during console launches.

Also helpful is the Target Wii allocation list that was dropped online. It hasn't been verified, but if the info is true then it will help you choose which Target to, er ... target. Here's a helpful online doohickey that you can use to search and find out how many Wiis your Target will get. Apparently our local store is getting 220, when they got zero on Xbox 360 launch day. Plus the sheer size of the Target Wii areas and the amount of accessories they have been offering for more than a month before launch make us think they'll be getting quite a few.

With one million plus Wiis to be made available on launch day, and three million more available by Christmas, we don't think you'll have problems getting one. People are going to be divided between the Wii and the PS3, and that's going to hurt sales of both consoles while buyers try and decide what to get. Because Nintendo will have scads of Wiis in the stores, it'll make it that much easier to get one without resorting to eBay, Canada, or the black market. Only turn to those options if you're seeking a PlayStation3. Those are gonna be hard to come by.

[Thanks, Marko K. and Rob Templin]