Best Buy is offering anyone who purchased an HD DVD player before February 23, 2008 a $50 gift card for their troubles now that the format is virtually extinct. Best Buy will also be adding HD DVD players to its Trade-In Center program starting March 21st. The gift card program is expected to distribute close to $10 million dollars in gift cards across the US. "The DVD format war has divided our customers in a way we haven't seen since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago," said Brian J. Dunn, president and chief operating officer for Best Buy. "At Best Buy, we understood and shared our customers' frustrations as they were being asked to choose one format or the other. Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs."

[via Engadget]