You might not find a Toshiba HD DVD player on your local store’s shelves in North America, though not for the lack of trying. But the HD DVD format has seen delays here and now won’t be coming out until the middle of April.

Not so in Japan! It goes on sale to in Japan for 110,000 yen, or about $940. If you buy the player before April 27th, your get a bundled HD DVD copy of Resident Evil and another Japanese movie, Moonlight Jellyfish.

This player will retail for $799 when it hits North America - it’s nice to see we’re getting a price break. Though not so nice for the Japanese, I guess.

Sony’s competing BD player will hit stores in July. Samsung’s BD player is due May 23rd, though there have been rumours of a delay. (I’ve seen no official word about the delay, however.)

Reuters - Toshiba launches world’s first HD DVD player