Your local Best Buys store didn't have its act together. Product rollouts are scripted down to the installation; evidently somebody screwed up.

Differing technologies has become a way of life in the tech industry. It's like it wouldn't be the tech industry without conflicting protocols, conflicting strategies, conflicting applications, etc.

But in the case of HD DVD and BluRay, you're right. It is the Beta/VHS war once again, albeit with bigger corporate players. Instead of tape, the media is a laser disc. Other than that it is the same.