Some call it soccer, others call it football. Some just know it as that sport they played once that got them kicked in the groin. Whatever you call it in your country, it’s a little known fact that the heads of these athletes are removable and store data.

How do you think they come up with their game plan in the locker room? Did you think the coach simply talks to them while pointing a stick at a chalkboard? No, that would be silly. Instead, each 1 GB player removes his head and plugs himself into a port, becoming part of the team “collective” and downloading game plans. Their endgame? World domination with Pele as their new God.

Pioneer is shipping three brand new Blu-ray players today. The trio initially debuted at CES, and now these Blu-ray players are making their way into the world. They include the Elite BDP-23FD, which has a Precision Quartz Lock System and capacitors to please audiophiles. Some other features include BD Live Support, 7.1-channel audio, RS-232 support and 48-bit color.

Next is the BDP-320, which also has PQLS, BD Live support, 48-bit color and high quality, but lacks the design of the Elite. The BDP-120 has 36-bit color, USB storage and a 1GB external hard drive. It does not have PQLS.

You folks who have been putting off the purchase of a new Blu-ray player can finally lay down your money and get a great deal if you hold off just a little while longer. Say, around Christmas. That’s when the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) will make the technology and licensing available to manufacturers in China, which means the usual. Cheap products. Hopefully you pick one that is quality as well as cheap.

Around that time you should see affordable $99 Blu-ray players hitting the market. What’s the poor PS3 gonna do when it isn’t the cheapest Blu-ray player anymore? Shake a tin cup at you as you enter Gamestop? This also means that prices for Blu-ray discs should lower some.

Archos hasn’t said anything official yet, but there are leaks of the Archos 2 and 4 players, with the Archos 2 listed on Amazon. Don’t expect anything too Earth shattering here. They’re just another alternative to what the company already offers.

For $60 you’ll get 8GB of internal memory, a microSD memory card slot, 1.8″ display at 128 x 160 resolution and voice recording capability. Not bad for the price. The 16GB model will cost you more of course. We don’t know much about the Archos 4. Just that it has a 4″ display and up to 32GB of internal flash memory.

Are you ready for an invasion of adorable animals? The invasion has begun with these cute alternatives to all things Hello Kitty. The new Chinese Horoscope MP3 players from EverGreen are big on cute, small on usability. Buy them all and you’ll have an animal for every month.

The controls are on the rear, forcing you to fiddle with an animal’s butt, however on the up side, you get 2GB of storage space, with just five hours of play time.

Sony intros a couple of new Profile 2.0 Blu-ray players: the BDP-S360 and BDP-S560. The BDP-S560 will feature built-in Wi-Fi connectivity that taps into BD Live content, as well as the ability to download future firmware updates without a cable.

It is also fully DLNA-ready, upscales your DVD collection, bit-streams audio via HDMI, decodes Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD Master Audio and is compatible with external media loaded up on a USB drive. The BDP-S360 is the same player, it just lacks Wi-Fi connectivity.

LG isn’t standing still with their Blu-ray disc players. Instead they are taking them to the next level for ‘09, promising support for YouTube and CinemaNow videos on their next generation decks. Along with Netflix, which is now standard, owners can browse CinemaNow pay-per-view offerings and other stores powered by the service.

You’ll also be able to sort through YouTube’s immense catalog directly from the device. No word yet on price and we’re waiting for some more detailed specs, but hopefully we will know more in early January.

Netflix streaming has made it’s way into everything and people like it. As usual, Blockbuster is behind. But here’s some good news for the company.

According to Chairman Jim Keyes, Blockbuster’s download-to-rent service in a Blu-ray player will be here by Q1 of next year. Basically, if you’re an HD film fan then you’ll be able to rent HD quality films from Blockbuster directly through your Blu-ray Disc machine. No word if this will be in the form of a firmware update for existing hardware or part of a new player, but it’ll need to standout a bit and lower the price in order to compete with Netflix.

Samsung has announced two brand new MP3 players today, the YP-U4 Litmus and the YP-Q1 Diamond. The Diamond hopes that it will be able to win “World’s Best Sound Quality”, and offers DNSe 3.0 over the Litmus’ 2.0. The litmus is inspired by Litmus paper, hence the name. Samsung is claiming a playtime of 16 hours and says that the unit will play MP3, WMA and OGG files, plus FM radio.

The Diamond has an “audio upscale function” that restores missing sound range and the player can supposedly analyze your MP3 file’s mood and genre, adjusting the equalizing effect automatically. The diamond boasts 30 hours of playtime in MP3, WMA, OGG and FLAC format. The litmus can be had in 2GB or 4GB sizes, and is available in rose, purple or blue, whereas the Diamond will be in 4, 8 and 16GB in black, white or silver. No release date yet, but I’m sure they want to get in your hands quickly.

Pioneer has several new Blu-ray players hitting Europe. The 2.0-compliant BDP-LX91, Designer BDP-LX08 and BDP-LX71 and the BDP-51FD. All feature 1080p24 support, HDMI 12-Bit Deep Color support, KURO LINK, DTS-HD Master Audio / Dolby True HD compatibility and professional-quality Wolfson Digital Audio Converters.

No word on pricing for any of them yet however. The BDP-LX71 is rumored to be coming in September, the BDP-51FD & BDP-LX08 in October and the BDP-LX91 in the cold of Winter.