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GameStop iOS trade-ins a big success
GameStop recently started taking trade-ins on iOS hardware, and it turns out the decision was a great one for the company: President Tony Bartel said in a statement that the program "has exceeded our expectations," especially citing lots of post-holiday traffic, as people bring in their old iPhones and iPads to clear them out of the way for newer models received as presents. GameStop will reportedly pay out up to $300 for iPhones and $400 for iPads, but of course those prices are for the highest-end and latest models. Odds are that you'll get significantly less for an older model or one with no 3G or less RAM flash storage. But it is interesting to hear that GameStop is seeing lots and lots of devices come in. Unfortunately, they didn't share actual numbers, but I'd argue that there are plenty of other places to get rid of iPhones and iPads -- I've sold my old devices on Craigslist, and just over the Internet to friends and even family. Then again, maybe some people prefer just walking into a GameStop and walking out with store credit or cash. This may be a trend to watch in the new year -- as Apple releases more iterations of their various mobile devices, we'll undoubtedly see more markets like this pop up for older versions and used items.
Report: Used and digital sales make up 35% of total console spending in the US
American gamers buy more used and digitally distributed games than their European doppelgangers, according to a study released by market analysis firm NewZoo. The organization's statistical findings show that 23 percent of console games purchased in the U.S. are used; slightly more than the European market where used games account for 20 percent of total console sales. Digitally distributed titles rank lower in both regions, taking up 12 percent of the console market in America and 9 percent in Europe. That 12 percent, by the way, represents approximately $960 million, on account of 54 percent of American console owners reportedly spending an average of $49 a year on console downloads. American PC gaming culture appears to have adopted the idea of digital distribution much faster than the console market, as an estimated 58 percent of all PC gaming dollars are spent on digitally distributed games or DLC. Now, we're no market analysts, but we think the disparity between PC and console download shares has a lot to do with PC gaming's readily available plethora of hats.
Rumor: GameStop to carry iOS devices, new and used
This is intriguing: 9to5Mac is claiming that they've heard from multiple sources that GameStop will be carrying iOS devices, including iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches, in the very near future. The announcement was supposedly made last week to the various store managers at their annual gathering in Las Vegas, and the biggest indication that this is so is that GameStop has actually mentioned accepting trade-ins for the devices on its website. That system doesn't appear to be fully up and running yet, but yeah: You'll be able to trade in your iOS device to GameStop in the future. That's pretty wild -- we'll have to wait and see how it all works, including which service provider GameStop uses for selling iPhones, and all of the other issues that might pop up around a system like this. It's unclear what value the store will assign to these devices as well; GameStop traditionally allows customers to trade-in items either for store credit or a lesser amount of cash, and that value is obviously less than they sell the devices for afterwards. We'll just presume that all of those questions will be answered in time (probably, guesses 9to5Mac, in accordance with the upcoming rumored iPhone 5 release). GameStop has recently been trying to deal with the flood of digital game sales in marketplaces like the App Store, but this looks like the company is going with a new strategy of "joinin' em," rather than beating them.
Amazon adds electronics, including iOS devices, to trade-in program
Amazon has added a host of electronic devices -- including iOS devices -- to its trade-in program. The Electronics Trade-In program is currently in beta and allows users to mail in their old, unwanted devices in exchange for Amazon gift card credits. Devices must be in working order and good cosmetic condition. A third-party merchant, not Amazon, is actually the one buying the used devices. The prices are actually more generous than I thought they'd be. I sold an original 4 GB iPhone on Craigslist a while back and had trouble getting US$75 for it. Amazon's trade-in program currently offers up to $69 for the same iPhone. A sampling of other iOS device trade-in prices includes up to $114 for iPod classics, $235 for first-gen 16 GB Wi-Fi iPads and $162 for an 8 GB iPhone 3GS. That's definitely way more than you'll get if you let your old iPhone rattle around in a desk drawer after upgrading to a new one.
Amazon adds electronics to trade-in program, pawns 2,550 gadgets and counting
If you've got some spare gadgets and need to make a quick buck gift card, there are any number of ways -- Walmart, Target, Best Buy and even eBay will instantly quote you a dollar figure these days. Now, Amazon is joining their ranks as the latest firm eager to stockpile still-somewhat-valuable tech, by adding electronics as the latest category for trade-ins. Pick from the 2,550 items currently recognized and describe the condition your camera / GPS / calculator is in, and Amazon will let you know how many dollars worth of credit it can give you alongside a prepaid shipping label. We can't tell if Amazon will give you better deals than the competition, but this beautiful brown Zune did fairly well. Never you mind that it typically sells for upwards of $40 at auction -- Amazon has mouths to feed, you know?
Ask TUAW: Outlook 2011 attachment problems, Apple TV alternatives, deleting apps and more
Welcome back to another edition of Ask TUAW. Each week this column will feature questions from readers and answers by the TUAW team. If you have questions for the following week's column, drop them in the comments, and I will do my best to get to them. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). If you're asking an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad question, be sure to note which model and version of iOS you have. For this week we've got a new batch of questions about Microsoft Outlook attachments, Apple TV alternatives, keeping an iPad, getting an iPod touch, deleting applications and more. Lee asks: I'm using Outlook 2011 on my iMac and many times when I receive attachments in emails the attachments are Winmail.dat files and I can't open them. How can I fix this? Unfortunately, those 'winmail.dat' files are created when the sender's Exchange server or Outlook for Windows client encodes the file attachment; if they've got your contact flagged in Outlook as someone who can receive 'Rich Text' messages, you'll get the Outlook PC-only winmail file. Fortunately, there is the free TNEF's Enough utility; this tool will quickly and easily decode your inbound attachments. (For those who are using Mail.app, there's also the US$29.95 LetterOpener for Mail.app, which integrates winmail.dat handling and several other Outlook-savvy tools into a Mail plugin. There's a free iPhone/iPad app, too.) You can also contact those people sending you the attachments and ask them to change the format they use when sending email to you.
Recycle old gadgets (and make a buck or two) with eBay Instant Sale
You might already hawk your valuable old gadgets on eBay, but the auction house wants to broker your smaller transactions too -- that's why it launched eBay Instant Sale this last week. If you've got a (moderately recent) gizmo you want to get rid of right away, it looks as easy as can be -- answer the two questions above and get an instant offer, plus a free shipping label to mail it out. From the looks of a few sample queries, you won't get much for older items like the Dell Inspiron 8200 above, but we found a used Palm Pixi in good condition was worth a respectable $57, and even if your old featurephones aren't worth a cent, eBay's partners will recycle them for you and pay your shipping fees. Sure, you could donate the lot and write them off your taxes, but this sounds like it might be a worthy alternative to us.
7-Eleven to begin selling used games for $20 and below
[Flickr user Emples] Beloved Slurpee vendor 7-Eleven plans to nab a share of the video game re-sale market by soon offering budget-priced pre-owned titles as part of a partnership with Game Trading Technologies, which announced the program today. The new initiative, excitedly dubbed "GREAT GAMES BELOW $20," is currently being introduced into more than 3,000 U.S. 7-Elevens (or roughly 50 percent of all franchises), with plans to eventually extend the service to most locations. "The program is available to all 7-Eleven U.S. franchisees, and we hope to have most U.S. stores on board by September," said GTT president Todd Hays. The partnership will have GTT providing 7-Elevens with a "broad selection" of used games for "various" platforms at price points of $19.99 and below. If the selections are actually decent, we fear for how costly our surprisingly frequent late-night hot dog runs might soon become.
Goozex now accepts SNES, Genesis and other retro game trades
The increasingly popular game-trading service Goozex is expanding its capabilities to encompass the game platforms of yesteryear. New to the site is an option to trade NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Genesis, Sega CD, and Atari 2600 amongst the site's growing user base. Sadly, there's still no support for our precious Virtual Boy. Now we'll never be able to get our hands on that copy of Teleroboxer we've always dreamed of owning. There's already a ton of games from each platform up for trading on Goozex right now. Like, good games. Not the nine pathetic copies of WCW Mayhem which comprise your local used games store's N64 selection.
Goozex kicks off half-price sale
For far too long, Joystiq has brought you stories of sales applicable only to certain games. But finally we can bring word of a bargain limited only by ... your imagination. That's because game trading site Goozex is offering 1000 points of its currency for just $27.50. Those of you familiar with the site know that 1,000 points is the price reserved for the newest games, meaning you'll be able to pick up nearly brand new releases for a little over $25. Or, you can buy Another World three times. Imagination! [Thanks, Cole]
Video Game Price Charts reveal biggest resale prices of 2009
VideoGamePriceCharts.com, a site that tracks average online prices for video games and consoles, has released its year-end report for 2009, and if you were buying and selling games speculatively (we all do that, right?), you'll want to check it out. Okay, so maybe you weren't picking up the now-discontinued Demon's Souls Deluxe Edition because you hoped it would get rare, but if so, you're in luck: That game topped the list, raising in value from an MSRP of $69.99 up to a high of $116. Grand Theft Auto IV's Lost and Damned retail box (which contained a code for the DLC) is another big collector's item, and if you were so lucky as to nab a copy of Bass Pro Shops' The Strike (with Fishing Rod) for Xbox 360, then reel in the money, because it raised in value over 50%. Whew! Welcome to the exciting market of video game price speculation! For a little more practical information, you can also see which companies and consoles kept their value in 2009 -- turns out MTV, Atlus and Nintendo games all did well at resale, with the Wii (surprise!) topping the market for overall value held among its games. Of course, you should really be buying games (and supporting developers) for their quality, not for their resale value, but it doesn't hurt to figure out which ones will give you a few more bucks in return when you're done.
Wii games have superior resale value
Once the current economic crisis really takes hold and you have to sell your Wii collection* just to afford this month's supply of baked beans and ramen, be thankful that Wii games officially attract the highest resale prices. See, things aren't so glum!A poll conducted by the stat-tastic VideoGamePriceCharts.com has discovered that Wii software carries the lowest margin of loss when resold, losing on average 25.4% of its original MSRP. At the other end of the table, Xbox 360 owners typically lose 37.2% of their initial outlay whenever they resell a brown and gray futuristic shooter. Not only that, but Nintendo-published games are also high in resale value -- out of 45 publishers, only Bethesda's games are sold on for more. We suspect Wii Fit may have skewed the results somewhat, but all the same: yay!Make the jump for the publisher charts!* You did sell all of the family first, right?
Gears of War 2 'Flashback' maps now on XBLM
If you bought Gears of War 2 new (and don't live in regions unsupported by Live), you can stop reading now. If you picked it up used, you didn't get a free voucher code for the Flashback Map Pack -- a set of five Gears of War multiplayer levels given face-lifts for Gears 2, which can now be downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 ($5).Think of those five bucks as Microsoft slapping you ever-so-lightly on the wrist for turning to the vile second-hand games market for your jollies. Then again, you might want to wait until Epic has ironed out all of the multiplayer kinks from Gears 2 before investing in more maps.[Thanks, Alex]
Joystiq interview: Bungie's Marty O'Donnell on the 'digital content crisis'
Marty O'Donnell caused something of an uproar recently following controversial comments aimed at used video game sales. In particular, it was the Bungie audio director's apparent assertion that content creators and publishers "shouldn't stop receiving income from further sales" that served as the biggest sticking point; after all, why should the game industry be given special treatment beyond the initial point of sale? Not long ago we had the opportunity to have a candid conersation with O'Donnell on this topic, during which he clarified his stance, and stated that while he doesn't feel games represent a "special category," he believes that "digital content is creating a crisis for the economic model of new and existing mediums."
Wii Warm Up: Worn around the edges
How do you feel about buying used games? We've found there's actually quite a split amongst gamers: some folks just don't buy used games from stores (but will buy them from individuals), some won't buy them at all, while others never seem to pick up anything new. Of course, that last could be due to levels of poorness, but we won't go into that.
Bungie: Game companies should pocket money from used sales
"It seems to me that the folks who create and publish a game shouldn't stop receiving income from further sales." That's the word from Bungie audio director Marty O'Donnell, who obviously feels that game developers and publishers should realize residual income from used game sales, much like we imagine the vehicle, book, and toothbrush industries do today ... in Bizarro World.
