Ah, the prices for HD DVD players just keep falling. This time it's not one of Toshiba's standalone players, but the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360. Starting August 1, the player will shed $20, dropping to $179. If that isn't enough to entice you, the press release notes that "buyers can choose five HD DVD titles for free from a selection of 15 popular titles via a mail-in offer."
All that said, in terms of pure hardware costs for a game console/next-gen DVD player, the 60GB PS3 (with built-in Blu-ray player) remains the better deal at $500--it's obviously more convenient to have a drive actually built into your game console. In case you're wondering, Sony too is offering five free Blu-ray movies from a selection of 21 titles with the purchase of a PS3. I'm not sure which list is less impressive, but I only saw about three titles I want from either.