Mega-chain Best Buy is sending $50 gift cards to customers who bought HD DVD players or attachments from its US stores prior to Feb. 23 (coincidentally, for our readership, the date Microsoft declared the format dead to the company). CNN reports most customers won't have to do a thing to receive the card as they'll be identified through the Reward Zone program, service plans or online purchases. If you're a customer who won't be identified in this manner, just grab a receipt (you do keep those, right?) or provide your credit card info to the company for proof of purchase. Gift cards will be sent out by May 1.

Circuit City provided a similar deal earlier this month to recent HD DVD adopters by allowing them to return the product if it had been purchased within 90 days. Both Best Buy and Circuit City's online trade-in programs (run by the same company) will allow you to unload your player beginning March 21. Before anyone thinks they're being witty, only HD DVD players can be returned for store credit, you're not getting $50 per movie disc purchased. Although this format war was in no way these retailer's fault, it's very nice to see them taking care of customers left out in the cold.

While the rampant price fixing in the video game industry can be annoying, at least you know that you'll usually pay the same price for new game hardware, software and accessories no matter where you shop. Not always though, as a quick glance at BestBuy.com show some Xbox 360 accessories being sold at inflated prices.

Best Buy's selection of Xbox 360 cables, controller-charging kits and the universal remote have all been marked up by $3 over the MSRP. Best Buy's price increase does not seem to apply to controllers, hard drives, memory units or the the wireless headset (oddly enough, the wired headset price has been increased). Other retailers continue to match or even beat Microsoft's set price on accessories -- Amazon has good deals on the Wi-Fi adapter and play-and-charge kit, while Circuit City goes below the MSRP on battery packs and faceplates.

Three dollars might not seem like much, but the increase is enough to make us reconsider Best Buy for our gaming needs. Here's hoping the extra money made off Halo 3-incensed dupes makes up for the loss of business.

[Via Gizmodo]

[Update: Best Buy has sent an e-mail to all Rock Band pre-orderers admitting to the mistaken listing and cancelling the existing pre-orders. "We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. Because you are a valued customer, we would like to offer you a $5 Digital Coupon* toward a future purchase at www.BestBuy.com," the note reads, in part. Hey, it was always a long shot, but at least we get a coupon for our trouble.]

If you've been reading the updates to our story on the $60 Rock Band package with included controllers offered by BestBuy.com, you know that the site stopped taking pre-orders some time Monday night and took down the product entirely on Tuesday morning. Well, this morning things started getting really interesting.

BestBuy.com re-posted the product description pages for Rock Band this morning with a few key changes. The product description now clearly states that the drum, guitar and microphone accessories are "sold separately" and "optional" (Optional? We'd like to see them play the game without 'em!). These notes were not on the version available on the site from at least last Thursday through Monday night, as the above scanned printout clearly shows. Pre-orders are no longer being offered for the item, which has the same SKU and Best Buy ID number as the original posting.

So what about those of us that pre-ordered before the bait-and-switch. We called Best Buy and talked to a customer service representative who seemed just as confused as we were. First she checked to see if she could simply add the peripherals to the order but, unfortunately, BestBuy.com does not yet have the Rock Band controllers in its system (unlike Amazon and GameStop). She then checked to see if other orders placed on Monday had received any special consideration, but none showed any change from the original order. At one point she tried to argue that the original description may have just meant that the game merely supported the peripherals, but the printout we have clearly states that the peripherals were included (that one little word is key here).

We were then forwarded on to a BestBuy.com floor supervisor, Chris, who we walked through the whole situation once again. Chris asked us to fax the printout we made of the earlier version of the page and said he would forward the matter to their corporate headquarters. Chris said in situations like these the corporate HQ has to decide whether to amend the orders already placed or provide some other form of restitution to those affected.

Chris said he expected to have some sort of answer by tomorrow, and you'll be sure to hear about it as soon as we do. In short, don't cancel those pre-orders just yet. Joystiq is on the case!

For those hoping that the expected $50 Xbox 360 price cut would bring the Core model down to the Wii-diculously great price of $250, we got some bad news. According to a source at Best Buy who sent Joystiq these images, the Xbox 360 Core model is dead and remaining stocks are all that's left of the system.

The sheet, according to our source, shows the description of the Xbox 360 Core hardware and underneath it is the word "deleted, meaning it is being taken out of the system." The out of stock date reads 7-29-07 and the larger image (found after the break) shows the pref code "y." According to the source, "This means replenishment of this item is not expected."

In a statement from July 16, when we originally heard rumblings that the Xbox 360 Core was over, a Microsoft spokesperson told us in regards to it being discontinued, "No. Xbox 360 Core remains an important member of the Xbox 360 family." Well, if the Best Buy papers end up being true, an important part of the family is about to swim with the fishes. Like Fredo from The Godfather, it breaks our hearts. We've contacted Microsoft to see if they'd like to revise their "important member" statement.

[Thanks Anonymous]

Update: We heard back from a Microsoft representative who said, "Nothing's changed since last week."

Best Buy waffled on the ESRB yesterday by adding Common Sense Media ratings to their online listings. The new Best Buy page redesign also has larger ESRB ratings and reviews by GameSpot and GamePro.

As GamePolitics says, "We're not sure what prompted the move, which seems to provide Best Buy with a redundant layer of ratings. As it stands now, customers can see the entire ESRB rating on the product page, but need to click through to access the Common Sense Media information."

One can say that this Common Sense Media rating is just an alternative to the ESRB, but on the other hand, it is rather insulting to the ESRB that Best Buy doesn't think that the industry is doing a good enough job of self regulation (they trust MPAA rating for movies). The thing that really just sticks in our craw is that they are "common sense" ratings. Whose common sense? For a country clearly divided among red and blue states there isn't too much consensus on what common sense is anymore.

Update: ESRB spokesperson Eliot Mizrachi told GameDaily.biz, "ESRB ratings are just one tool among many that consumers can and should use to help them make informed video game purchase decisions. Best Buy continues to be a strong supporter of ESRB ratings, and this move expands upon the resources they've been offering their customers, including game reviews from GameSpot and GamePro. The reviews that websites like these provide are a useful supplement to the basic information that ratings convey, offering additional detail about game content that can only further help parents choose games they deem appropriate for their families."

The hard evidence is starting to flow in that retailers have had about enough from the PS3's 20GB model. A Best Buy employee sent us a printout from their computer system showing the status of the 20GB model as "discontinued." We confirmed the printout information by contacting three separate stores. This does not mean the 20GB PS3 model's production has been discontinued -- just that Best Buy will no longer carry it.

When Joystiq spoke with Sony's David Karraker earlier this week he told us, "Overwhelmingly, retailers have been requesting the 60GB model, the mix has been about 80 percent 60GB, 20 percent 20GB retailer orders." With Best Buy's decision to no longer carry the unit, a major retailer has walked away from the 20GB table, obviously the margins were better on the 60GB model. Sony says they are still producing 20GB models.

Are you a diehard Halo fanatic guaranteed to pick up the upcoming sequel on the first day of release? Here's a deal that might interest you.

If you are willing to shell out the full price of Halo 3 now, Best Buy's online store will sell you 1600 MS points ($20 in US currency) for $4.99. It sounds like a pretty good deal, so long as you had nothing better to do with $60 or $70 for the rest of the year. Best Buy loves it, of course, since they're getting the money virtually free for now and can invest it in a way that more than makes up for the $15 loss they incur for the MS points.

I was rubbing the sleep from my eyes after waking up way too early for a Sunday morning when I got a call from my 13-year-old sister, Paige (pictured to the right). "How's it going?" I asked. "Not good," she said.

Paige wasn't that excited about the Wii when it first came out, but sometime in mid-December the hype (and the promise of a new Wario Ware game) hit her like a ton of bricks. Since then, she's been clamoring for the hard-to-find system in a big way, constantly working the phones to nearby Rockville, Md., retailers and scanning sites like iTrackr in the hopes of catching a shipment. After a few weeks of fruitless hunting, Paige was begging me to ask my "Nintendo girlfriend" (a.k.a. my PR contact) to send her a system. When I told her it doesn't quite work that way, she told me to use my "sexy looks" to sway her. Apparently the search for a Wii had made her delusional.

I knew I probably shouldn't be encouraging my sister's compulsion, but when I saw all the chatter on Joystiq about retailers holding Wii systems for sale, I had to tell her. After poring over the available data Saturday night, we developed a plan to wake up early and stake out the most likely candidates before they opened on Sunday morning. Paige and my mom would hit the Rockville stores, I would try the retailers in my local Laurel, about an hour away (yes, I got recruited into camping for my sister. Yes, I am a sucker.)

We should have included "give cash not gift cards" as one of our gamer-focused resolutions for 2007. See, most companies that we buy our games from offer gift cards. Problem is, of the $80 billion in gift cards purchased last year, experts estimate that $8 billion (some 10%) will never be redeemed -- an amount that dwarfs credit- and debit-card fraud together, according to the New York Times. Heck, Best Buy alone earned $16 million from unredeemed gift cards last year, the Times said.

Go redeem those cards. $16 million buys a lot of game loot. Don't let it rot.

[Photo credit: Flickr user XoXoAndy&LebronXoXo, who has accumulated $365 worth of the cards.]

BestBuy.com and Best Buy stores, following a well publicized New Year's Eve sale, still have PlayStation 3 units available. We've received documentation from sources using Best Buy's Retek Store System (RSS) showing megalopolis' like Los Angeles are sold out, but states like Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota are stocked. This is all a moot point because BestBuy.com has units for purchase. If gamers want a unit, it's available.

One of our sources says, "It would appear that nobody is really buying them. As of today, my store only had somewhere around 12 units left, but other stores were in the 30s ... While some people are blaming it on the fact that nobody wants a PS3, I like to imagine it's because the parents who would be buying them already jumped for a Xbox 360 or managed to get a Wii. After all, if I just spent $600 on little Susan for Christmas, I would not want to drop another $600 minimum for her. No kid is worth that much."

Although it could be the sign that PS3 supply is starting to exceed demand, this Best Buy situation could merely be an anomaly. Amazon.com can't keep units in stock, but we don't have data on how many units Amazon.com received. It's certainly an indicator of things to come when a major U.S. retailer has PS3 units available online and in stores that aren't being sold less than two months after launch.

[Thanks to our BB guys]

According to unofficial Best Buy sources, stores are sitting on their PS3 shipments since 12/21 for a flyer advertisement being released New Year's Eve (12/31) stating they have a minimum of 25 60GB units per store. Our sources have the number at around 40 per store currently -- but it can be more in some locations. One source, using Best Buy's Retek Store System (RSS), says some stores have 60 units. We will continue to follow this story as more information comes in.

The Best Buy source who sent us the internal memo -- originally sent 12/18 and a portion of which you see above -- does apologize for the grammar in the email received from his Retail Supply Chain Manager regarding this New Year's Eve PS3 sale. We'd remove the "rumor" tag from this post if the grammar of our email evidence didn't send up red flags. If the information does pan out we are happy for those getting a PS3 on New Year's Eve and we shake our heads at the atrocious use of the English language by this Best Buy manager. We say again that this is still a rumor, but might help explain why those eight PS3s are just sitting in a Best Buy cage instead of being sold.

[Thanks Anonymous and all others]

Although the title should be Duke Nukem Forever (in the Making), is it finally coming out? It was announced way back in 1997, meaning that there are tons of young gamers out there who have never even seen a Duke Nukem title, so they have no idea what all this about anyhow. Best Buy is listing it for sale now on January 2nd, 2007 for $59.99. They also claim that, "Duke Nukem is an action hero for the ages, with his big muscles, big guns and an even bigger sense of humor." For the ages. Yep, they sure would have appreciated this guy back in 1300 AD. He could've teamed up with Ash, ftw.

The listing is probably pure crap, especially since both the Take 2 and 3D Realms sites say nothing about a final release date. But, it sure makes us wonder. Is this thing ever going to see the light of day? Several key members of the Duke development team left 3D Realms in August, which surely hurt the work on this title. Your guess is as good as any if this listing is real or not. But for the adventurous readers out there, pre-order and cross your fingers.

Of course, if it doesn't come out, we're pretty much used to waiting at this point, as evidenced by a similar situation last year. However, if a miracle happens and it hits the shelves, where will we point to as the longest game in development from now on? Does anyone still care about Duke at this point?

[Thanks, Kurt & Tim]

This video just sort of makes you stare at the screen with your jaw gaping open and go, "What the?!" A girl in South Austin who knows nothing about gaming at all "heard that this was going to be good," and has decided to wait in line at a Best Buy for a PS3. The reporter asks "What do people do for a living in order to come out here and camp out?" Casey's extremely truthful reply, "I don't do anything, honestly ... I'm just doing it for the thrill. Something to get out of my usual ... you know." We have a feeling she was about to say "boring life."

The reporter accurately goes on to identify her as a girl, proving that there is still some top-notch news reporting going on out there, folks. She then goes on to say, "Us girls don't really fit into this environment with all this gaming." This is about as bad as the "math is hard!" Barbie doll, which we suspect the reporter probably owns and has propped up on her makeup mirror. Any female gamers out there care to issue some rebuttal smackdown to this reporter wannabe? Casey says all the guys in line have been really nice to her (mm hmm) by helping her set her tent up and take it down, and that friends have been bringing her blankets, gloves, and a beanie because it's cold out there. We wonder what she showed up in line with.

Anyhow, Casey, we truly hope this is everything you want it to be. If it's not, eBay can help you turned those failed dreams into some bling. We have a sneaky suspicion that's really what she's doing in line anyhow. Let's do the math: does nothing + heard it was good + not a gamer = look for this console to be listed at about 8:37AM central time on Friday.

"Those waiting in line cannot pitch tents until the store closes at 9PM ..." We can guarantee that there's some tent-pitching going on in that line. We're at less than 24 to go, and it's fanboys on high alert! Plus look, a girl!

[Thanks, Collin]

Hardcore just got a lot more hardcore. PlayStation 3 devotees camping outside of a Lexington, Kentucky Best Buy were showered with BB-gun pellets last night in an apparent drive-by shooting. The suspect, who is still at-large, even managed to peg a local news reporter interviewing one of the stationed hopefuls. No serious injuries were reported.

As for motive, Engadget opines the shooter was bitter about missing out on a pre-order opportunity. Our guess, an Xbox fanboy soldier giving Sony's fresh recruits a taste of the war to come.

According to a memo obtained by GameDaily BIZ from smaller video game chain Rhino Video Games, Sony has "decided to limit the supply of hardware (systems and accessories) to its top five volume retailers (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.)" on the November 17 launch day.

However, we know of at least seven major retailers receiving PlayStation 3 units on launch day. In addition to Target and Wal-Mart, we know GameStop / EB Games, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears and Toys 'R' Us are having PS3s on launch day. We know supplies will be very limited and GameStop won't be fulfilling all of its PS3 pre-orders (already conservative figures).

That smaller retail chains will not have PS3s on launch day is not that surprising, but only the "top five retailers" is wrong and makes the memo a bit suspect. Rhino Video Games will not be getting PS3s on launch day -- a fact reaffirmed on its website -- the rest is not true. Rest assured, there will be PS3s for sale at all retailers by the end of 2007. We hope.