First books, now movies, the price wars between the biggest retailers just keep getting hotter. Walmart, Target and Amazon are all slashing pre-order pricing on some hot new releases like "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."

Walmart said Thursday it would reduce prices for soon to be released DVDs to $10 at Walmart.com. Target and Amazon quickly followed, threw in free shipping and forced Walmart to drop its prices down to $9.98. Keep in mind, the deals are for online pre-orders of movies not yet released.

All this price cuttings seems like a great deal for consumers, but is it really? Highly competitive pricing can't be sustained for long, or extended to the entire category. Retailers simply can't sell things at a financial loss indefinitely. They do it to increase traffic, turn up the marketing machine, get a lot of press and sell other, more profitable items.

Once upon a time, two or three years ago, when the housing market was robust and homes sold in a matter of days, people seemed to move a lot.

Or ,even if they didn't move, they thought they might. Everything seemed so temporary. We had "starter homes" and people were "trading up." Homes were financial investments rather than investments in something far less tangible -- our community.

If there's one side effect of the recession that warms my heart, it's the fact that people are less mobile, less likely to move so much.

Homes aren't selling, employers aren't recruiting and paying relocation costs at the same high rates, and people are settling into their homes with the knowledge it's going to be awhile before moving becomes an option.

Retail theft is on the rise, but not from hard pressed consumers looking to make ends meet. Rather, organized groups or gangs are hitting stores, stealing large quantities and reselling the goods, often online.

Anyone looking for a deal should be wary, a lot of those too good to be true prices, really are. Popular product categories like electronics are popular "hot" items, but health and beauty products and pharmaceutical items are increasingly being stolen and resold.

The National Retail Federation issued a helpful alert this week along with a detailed list of products, including many popular brand names.

Walmart has come a long way in terms of cleaning up its image, but hating the company is still something of a national pastime. At least, if you go by the comments Walletpop readers leave on most Walmart themed stories. But is our collective dislike for the Walmart empire still going strong?

Fortune's Hank Gilman gives thoughtful consideration to the issue this week. Gilman outlines the many practices that made Walmart "the most evil company on the planet" -- like hard to obtain health benefits, union busting activities, or main street decimating predatory practices.

"But that was then," Gilman writes. "Now the masses don't seem all that concerned about the biggest retailer in America stomping us all like the aliens did in Independence Day."

Sears is greeting our collective obsession with deals with open arms. Rather than waiting until after Thanksgiving, Sears is offering doorbusters each week until Christmas. Starting this Friday, October 30.

According to the company, the sale starts this week on Friday at 5 p.m. and extends through Saturday at noon because of Halloween. Beginning the following week, "Black Friday Now" continues on Saturday mornings through Christmas. New doorbuster values start each Saturday at 7 a.m. and are valid through noon.

Here's a sample of what to expect this week:

• 50 percent off (save $200) Craftsman® 302-piece mechanic's tool sets
• $79.99 (reg. $259.99) 3/8 ct. tw. diamond stud earrings
• $174.19 (reg. $259.99) 7 1/2 ft. Wakefield Christmas tree with 700 Never Out(TM) clear or multi lights
• 50 percent off all DieHard workboots (reg. $75.00) and $19.99 (reg. $39.99) on all Covington low-shaft boots
• $399.99 closeout (reg. $699.99) ProForma XP elliptical 16-in stride length

A sneak peak at the following week's deals reveals a 42" Zenith Plasma TV for only $499 (reg. $649.99). Can't make it to the store? Sears is offering pre-ordering starting October 29 at Sears.com.

Sears actual Black Friday sales list is also up perusal on Black Friday Info.

"We will not be beaten on price," says Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores and head of the U.S. division. Castro-Wright was speaking to analysts yesterday, trying to reinforce Walmart's low cost message and describing how it plans to cut prices each week leading up to Christmas.

Does this mean you can expect incredible deals at Walmart this holiday season? Yes, and no.

"You can expect some fantastic bargains at Walmart, but you can expect fantastic bargains at all sorts of other retailers, as well," says one retail insider, who prefers not to be named. "Come on, who in the retail industry didn't expect Walmart to make a lot of noise about their pricing in advance of the holiday season? This is what they do, it's really all they know how to do."

So why did roughly 1,400 news outlets pick this story up? Because the statement was media bait.

Walmart's competitors are getting much better at matching or beating prices, as evidenced by the pricing study done this summer by retail consultants McMillan/Doolittle and reported exclusively by Walletpop. In that study we compared prices on a list of identical items. Target and Walmart were about equal in price, with Target actually $1.35 cheaper than Walmart, but close enough to call it a draw.

Analysts -- the people who issue buy, sell or hold ratings on retail stocks -- know that big retailers are achieving price parity and Walmart executives were speaking to analysts, trying to reinforce their dedication to low prices.

But they were also speaking directly to you, the consumer. Low prices are what distinguishes Walmart, and it doesn't want shoppers to forget it. Strategically cutting prices on gift and seasonal items leading up to the holidays isn't new. In the past, Walmart would talk about rolling back prices as the holiday got nearer. "But now, they want more credit for being the price leader," says our source. "And they're screaming it from the roof tops."

Target is finding itself in a little hot milk after advertising a soymilk as organic when in fact it's not, according to a complaint by an agricultural watchdog group.

The Cornucopia Institute, a not-for-profit, has filed a complaint against Target, claiming it misrepresented a product as organic in advertisements. This was filed Tuesday with the National Organic Program, Office of Compliance:

"Target Corporation advertised Silk soymilk in newspapers with the term "organic" pictured on the carton's label, when in fact the product's manufacturer, Dean Foods' White Wave division, has been sourcing this product line with conventional soybeans. The newspaper ads potentially reached millions of consumers in the Midwest, and possibly nationwide, with the false representation. Additionally, The Cornucopia Institute has transaction records for purchase of the 'natural' conventional) Silk soymilk that was promoted by Target Corporation as organic."

Target didn't return WalletPop's calls seeking comment by press time.

Cornucopia admits that the mislabeling could be a mistake by Target.

Walmart fired a deafening shot at Amazon.com Thursday, announcing plans to sell 10 hot new books for just $10 at its Web site, Walmart.com. Yep, that's right, hardcover books from bestselling authors like Dean Koontz and James Patterson for just $10.

And here's the fun part: When Amazon said it was matching those prices, Walmart dropped its prices again, to $9 per book. It's a price war on the tallest order. (You can already preorder books).

"If there is going to be a 'Wal-Mart of the Web', it is going to be Walmart.com," said Walmart.com CEO Raul Vazquez in an interview with the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). "Our goal is to be the biggest and most visited retail Web site."

Speculation on just how bad holiday sales will be for retailers is rampant. Predictions, recent sales figures, the number of imports coming through our nation's ports -- the oddsmakers are tallying up the data but still can't reach a conclusion.

Holiday sales predictions are making about as much sense as Congress these days. But with September retail sales figures announced Thursday and Black Friday approaching, the punditry is in high gear.

The recently released financials don't do anything to clear the matter up. Some retailers posted small gains, some losses, but the overall takeaway is positive since even the stores that had sales decline in September, like Target beat Wall Street's expectations. They lost less money than anyone thought. (Nowhere near as harsh as last year's declines
but the drop in sales for September 2009 is on top of the double digit declines experienced in September 2008.)