This one is just for my Canadian readers. I recently decided to go ahead and purchase an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player when the price dropped to $49.99. I figured, even though the format lost the war, there's still a lot of quality titles that should start to be available on the cheap.

Anyhow, a fellow Xbox.com forum member tipped me off to a rebate offered by Best Buy. Any HD DVD player purchased January 1, 2007 or later is eligible for a $50.00 rebate. So in essence, you're getting the drive for just the taxes, or about $6.50. Well worth it, in my opinion.

Best Buy has since taken the 360's HD DVD player off their web site, but they should still have some in-store stock. It is eligible for the promotion, though you may need to ask them to check the "online promo directory", as the first store I went to wouldn't give me the rebate - claiming it wasn't an HD DVD Player but only an HD DVD drive. When I visited to the second store, I went armed with a printout of Microsoft's product page that clearly said "Xbox 360 HD DVD Player", but I didn't need it.

Link to Microsoft's product page: http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/hardware/x/xbox360hddvdplayer/default.htm

Link to the rebate: http://www.bestbuy.ca/marketing/bluray_promo/EN/default.asp?logon=&langid=EN

Source: http://forums.xbox.com/38/7580737/ShowPost.aspx#7580737 [Thanks, Sawdust360]

Update: This story was featured on Xbox 360 Fanboy. Thanks, Dustin!