Wal-Mart may end up having a big influence on the outcome of the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, this due to them having just arranged a $100 million shipment of HD DVD players from the Great Wall Corporation in China, with parts developed by Taiwan's Fuh Yuan and Japan's TDK. These players are set to go on sale for under $300 in the very near future.

For the full story head over to the Dailytech.

Although the news was initially pegged as a huge boost to the HD DVD camp, closer examination and more accurate translation of Chinese reports indicate that the players for Wal-Mart are "Blu-ray (or blue light) HD DVD" players, adding an extra layer of confusion to the matter. Both next-generation optical formats use blue or violet lasers, so unless the player is to be compatible with both HD DVD and Blu-ray, the exact nature of this low-priced will be unknown until we get official English confirmation.