Wal-Mart releases official Black Friday ad

The much-anticipated Black Friday sales ad from Wal-Mart was released today after much of its deals had been leaked to online bargain sites.

The ad, which comes six days ahead of schedule, contains a number of hot early-bird specials (5 a.m. to 11 a.m.), while supplies last:

• Emerson 32” LCD 720p HDTV for $248
• Emerson 42” Plasma 720p HDTV marked down to $448
• Magnavox Blu-ray Disc player for $78 instead of $128
• E-Machines laptop for $198, regularly $300
• HP G60 laptop for $298, down from $600

Some shoppers trolling online bargain sites were also excited about the doorbuster Playstation 3 Console with 120 GB hard drive for $299. That’s regular price, but it comes with a free bundle of the games Infamous and Batman: Arkham Asylum, as well as the Blu-ray version of The Dark Knight.

All day Friday, Wal-Mart will be selling the 8GB iPod for $195 with a $50 iTunes gift card included.

For those with smaller budgets, it’s also offering a Tom Tom  One 125-SE GPS for $59 (regularly $164 on Amazon), as well as a number of $4 kitchen appliances such as a slow cooker and hand mixer.

Some of these deals will undoubtedly be available online, preempting that cold-weather campout. But probably not all, says Brad Olson of BlackFriday.Gottadeal.com.

Of all the leaked Black Friday ads we've seen, it appears that Target and Wal-Mart are the ones to beat this holiday season. However, Wal-Mart will price-match other stores' deals (in store and online, as long as the product is identical). DealNews has posted information on retailers who match prices here.

Related reading:

• Best Buy
• Kmart
• Kohl's
• OfficeMax
• Sears
• Target