Now that the demise of the HD DVD format has been announced, it was only a matter of time before crazy low clearance prices hit the Web. Similar things are happening in Japan, and now it seems that the Xbox 360 HD DVD player is selling pretty well there.

According to AkibaBlog (not always safe for work), the reduced HD DVD drive for Xbox 360 made it to number 4 in the game category of Amazon Japan as of February 29th. Of course, the new price of 4,980 yen (about $48) didn't hurt things.

Mr. Geek says that the player is selling pretty well in the stores, too. Asobit Game City in Akihabara put up a point of purchase message that said  "Thanks, We won't forget about you. Appreciation to Toshiba, it's 4,980yen." How sweet! A store staffer said, "we got them just for fun, but actually, we sold them pretty well."

He also says that Akibaoo 1st Branch also sold it "as a loser." Aw, that's mean!

Have any of you sought out a cheap HD DVD drive for your Xbox 360? Do you think the movies will become coveted collectables like many Laserdiscs have? Or is even $50 still too much for you?