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Wal-Mart wants your copy of NFL 2K1: Now accepting trade-ins
Adding to the already robust list of big box retailers offering game trade-ins, Wal-Mart is apparently entering the fray with a variety of less than fantastically functioning trade-in kiosks (read as: robots). Some photos were snapped by the folks at NeoCrisis and, according to the writer's experience, GameStop probably shouldn't be too worried, as no games were actually able to be traded in.Gamasutra spoke with Wal-Mart and has found out that the kiosks belong to E-Play, a company that specializes in game rental and trade-in kiosks that are hosted in a variety of locations. The current set of machines are part of a now running pilot program, found in only 0.02 percent of Wal-Mart's 3,656 US outlets. Good news, though! The machines are said to accept games from the Xbox and PlayStation 2 era as well, so you can finally get rid of that copy of Blinx you were really hoping would become rare some day!Source 1 - CheapAssGamerSource 2 - NeoCrisisSource 3 - Gamasutra
Warner reintegrates HD DVD faithful with Red2Blu trade-in program
U.S. HD DVD fans that passed up Best Buy's offer of $3 per disc, or just those who stocked up on cheap movies after the format gave up the fight have another option coming from Warner Bros. Send in the cover art sleeve (keep the disc) including UPC from your HD DVD case (plus $4.95 per movie and $6.95 / $8.95 per order S&H) and it will send you back a brand new Blu-ray copy. There's a few other restrictions, like 1 copy per movie and 25 different movies per household, but the biggest decision is likely to be whether giving up your precious I Am Legend sleeve is worth the trade, hit up Red2Blu.com for all the details and necessary forms. It seems to us like a decent offer to make HD DVD owners whole, we'd be surprised if Paramount and Universal came through with similar plans.[Via DVDTown]
Amazon trade-in values lag behind GameStop
According to a quick and dirty sampling done by What They Play, it looks like Amazon now offers significantly less than GameStop does for many used games. The study was conducted by looking up several popular titles for each major platform and comparing the trade-in values offered by GameStop, Amazon and Game Crazy. For many Wii and PS3 games, Amazon seems to offer much less than GameStop, while it curiously offers more for Xbox 360 games. Amazon trade-ins do have a few advantages over GameStop trades; one being that trade-in credit can be used to purchase anything on Amazon and not just games. Another advantage is that Amazon accepts trade-ins for many more platforms, going so far as to even accept NES titles.Perhaps the biggest lesson of the study is that Game Crazy seems to offer more for used games than either GameStop or Amazon. Left 4 Dead is one of the more extreme examples, with Game Crazy offering $27.25, while Amazon and GameStop offer $20 and $17, respectively. Game Crazy isn't as big as GameStop and doesn't have as many stores, but it might be worth seeing if there's one near you.
Amazon offers extra incentive for trade-ins (limited time only)
Ever since Amazon revealed its trade-in program, GameStop has felt threatened. First, stock dropped 13% and CEO Dan DeMatteo gave Amazon a zero percent chance of succeeding, then EEDAR stepped in to get GameStop's back. It's like the Sharks vs. the Jets all over again.Amazon isn't taking all of this lying down, however, as it just announced an extra perk for trading in games. Not only will you get an Amazon gift card for your games, but now you will also get $20 off select new releases if you trade in 4 games before April 12, 2009. Looking over the list of new games that are available, it would seem Amazon hasn't neglected any of note: Resident Evil 5, Halo Wars, Killzone 2, and MadWorld are all there.[Via GamerDeals]
'Amazon is of little threat to GameStop's core business' says EEDAR
Citing an Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) report released in the past week, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting today that, while the announcement of Amazon.com entering the used game trade triggered a 13% drop in GameStop stock, "Amazon is of little threat to GameStop's core business." According to EEDAR, this doesn't mean Amazon is doomed to fail, but that "Amazon and GameStop can co-exist peacefully," which sounds awfully nice to us on the consumer side of things.How did they arrive at these rather broad conclusions, you ask? "EEDAR conducted a survey and recorded the trade-in value, used price, and new price of 79 game SKUs (57 that applied to the survey) at Amazon and GameStop." After doing so, they arrived at this, possibly shocking, revelation: "On average, GameStop offers a better value on trade-ins by over 3%." Seriously?To round out the EEDAR report, we'll leave you with this one, astonishing truth: "Amazon's entry into the used gaming market will expand the used market into new territories and make available to new consumers rather than steal share away from GameStop's core business." So, what's the lesson here? Competition: good for consumers, (apparently) okay for retailers.
Amazon vs. Toys R Us vs. GameStop: Which is the best trade-in service?
Amazon and Toys R Us have set their sights on some of GameStop's market with their new trade-in programs. But will they succeed? Is there any reason for customers to offload their junk with any of these new services? Cheap Ass Gamer's Shipwreck compared the three services to try to arrive at an answer.Shipwreck examined each of the three services in terms of factors like commitment to used games, locations, ease of transactions, and, of course, price. The conclusion is a favorable one for GameStop: Shipwreck notes that GameStop has had competition before, and "Toys R Us and Amazon aren't positioned in ways that are significantly different than those who have already thrown their hats into the used game business ring."
GameStop stock drops 13% following Amazon trade-in program announcement
Even though GameStop's CEO is confident that Amazon.com's plan to enter the used video game market won't be successful, it appears GameStop investors aren't as optimistic. Shares of the company dove 13% on Thursday, ending the trading day $3.54 lower.Variety reports that Amazon.com's used game ambitions (and to a much lesser extent, Toys 'R' Us' plans) worried investors today, causing a huge GameStop stock sell-off. Used game sales account for 44% of GameStop's gross profit and having Amazon as a competitor in one of its most lucrative operations just doesn't bode well for its stock price. As far as we're concerned, competition among businesses is always good.Shares of Amazon stock seem to be unaffected by today's news.
GameStop: Amazon trade-in program has zero percent chance of working
Thanks to advances in internet technology, inflammatory retorts between industry figures can now be developed and distributed at the speed of light. For instance, when Amazon announced today that it'd begun experimenting with a trade-in program for video games, GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo formulated his response and fired it off to Edge Magazine in the blink of an eye: "I give the probability of this working at zero," he promptly declared.DeMatteo explained that Electronics Boutique attempted to apply the same mail-in trade offer that Amazon is working with several years ago, reaping unfavorable results. "With consumers, there is an immediacy for currency when they want to buy a new game," he explained. He also stated that -- okay, listen, we'd love to finish this post, but we've got this copy of Ty the Tazmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue sitting on our bookshelf, and if we don't trade it in within the next few minutes, we are going to totally freak out.
Amazon testing trade-in program
We like buying games on Amazon, because we like saving money and we despise the nightmarish no man's land called "anywhere outside of our house." But sometimes we must brave the elements and go to GameStop: specifically, when we have some junk to trade in. Amazon is working to correct this issue: like Toys R Us, the retailer has started a trade-in program for video games!To trade a game in to Amazon, all you have to do is visit the trade-in section of the site, select the games you want to trade in (at least $10 worth), print a free shipping label and send it out. You'll get a gift card in return -- plus an extra 10% if you do it before March 19. Unfortunately, the trade-in values seem roughly commensurate with GameStop's, which means they're pretty low. But sometimes eBay is such a hassle! We wonder about GameStop's future if enough retailers band together to provide GameStop's services without requiring people to visit GameStop's stores.[Via CAG]
Rumored AT&T trade-in program could provide easy alternative to eBay
No question, you'll totally score more for your old handset by listing it on eBay or Craigslist than turning it over to AT&T, but wouldn't it be nice to have the option if you're really in a bind? According to Boy Genius Report, the aforesaid carrier is mulling the idea of implementing a trade-in program that would allow existing subscribers to put a "used value" towards the purchase of a new phone. While none of this has yet to be confirmed, we're told that any phone traded in must be less than two years old and in relatively good shape, and the new phone you're after won't have any subsidies attached; your trade-in value is the discount. Oh, and regardless of how awesome that shiny new whatever is, the maximum value of any trade is capped at $200. We'll keep an ear to the ground for more, but we wouldn't be shocked at all to see this go live sooner rather than later.
Wii Warm Up: To sport, or not to sport
Wii Sports is actually worth a bit of money. We know. We checked. Why? Well, we were thinking about how often we really play it when the idea for this Wii Warm Up came to mind.So, what about you all? How do you feel toward Wii Sports? Have you gotten rid of your copy? Plan to now? When was the last time you played it?
New troops charity seeks your handheld spares
You should have seen us when we were fifteen. 'Orrible, we were. All sulky, zit-ridden, and full of attitude (of course, we're regular sunbeams now) as we moped around in our NAFNAF jumpers and spent most of our free time scowling at the profound injustice of the world.We certainly weren't as impressive or as honorable as, say, young teens Peter Gallagher and Jack Wilson, who spent an inordinate amount of time and effort setting up GamesforHeroes.com, a non-profit, registered charity that aims to get handheld games and systems (DSes, Game Boys, that Sony one, N-Gages) into the mitts of the brave men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gallagher tipped our daddy site Joystiq about their project, and asked if they could shed some light on this worthy cause. They did, and now we're doing the same!Obviously, there are similar initiatives going on elsewhere -- at least one of which we've posted about -- but you can never have enough goodwill, eh? Hit the "Read" link below to see how you can help out.[Via Joystiq]
Wii Warm Up: Trade-ins
News of GameStop's trade-in offer on Mario Kart Wii may well have had some of you sifting through your collections for those barely used copies of Cabela's Big Game Hunter and Carnival Games, but is trading in your games a regular thing for you kids? This blogger has always been something of an anti-hoarder, and consequently I've become a serial trader in the last year or two, after discovering that reasonable deals could be had on the high street, if you look in the right places.
Trade-ins can get you Mario Kart for $10
We haven't come across many deals for Mario Kart Wii, but one way that you might be able to get the game cheaply is through GameStop. By now, most of you are probably familiar with how the games retailer works (and can efficiently read post titles), so the fact that trade-ins are involved shouldn't surprise you. Specifically, though, this deal is like the recent Brawl one -- you have to trade in two games from a preset list of titles, and then you can pick up Mario Kart for ten dollars.Just check after the break for the complete list to see if there are any two games you can part with. Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
GameStop to stop taking Game Boys
Are you looking to finally unload your Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or any accompanying games? We'd suggest doing so sooner rather than later, because in a few days it will be too late (at GameStop, at least). As it turns out, the games retailer will no longer be taking these trade-ins as of April 7th. If you own these systems, though, there's a good chance that you either a) sold them a long time ago or b) have no plans to ever sell them, so we're sure this is a non-issue, for the most part. Still, this makes us feel old.[Via GoNintendo]
Best Buy Trade-in Center HD DVD prices posted
So what's your remnant of a format war gone by worth? Best Buy has updated its Trade-In Center website with prices for HD DVD players and movies, and quite frankly you're probably better off just keeping it. Prices for players are highest for combo players, like the BH-200 ($285*) and BD-UP5000 ($255), then for players equipped with high end scalers for DVD upconverting like the HD-XA2 ($165) then everything else like the Xbox 360 add-on ($21) or HD-A3 ($36). Movies (along with a player, not by themselves) net less than $3 each. Of course, there's always value in a fresh start so go ahead and check it out for yourself. *All prices assume excellent condition with all cables & manuals
Best Buy offers HD DVD owners $10 million in gift cards, trade in, shoulder to cry on
Best Buy is following Future Shop, Circuit City and others in reaching out to casualties of the format war. In this case, anyone who bought an HD DVD player from Best Buy before February 23, 2008 can request a complimentary $50 gift card for each player. For those too traumatized to even look at their discontinued hardware and software, Best Buy also announced it's adding HD DVD players and media to its Trade-In Center program, starting March 21. No word on how much a player can net you, but once it's updated, check BestBuyTradeIn.com to get an estimate and decide how much holding onto the past is worth.[Thanks, Harmin C.]Update: Best Buy just issued a press release with additional information about the more than $10 million in gift cards it plans to distribute, and details on how to make sure you get yours, check out the full PR after the break.
Play Haze for a week, get all your money back
Canadian EB Games stores are partaking in one of the most ... intriguing trade-in offers we've ever seen. If you pre-order Haze and return it within a week, you'll get all your money back (in the form of store credit, of course). What could this possibly mean? It seems to suggest that EB Games is placing a vote of no-confidence in this PS3 exclusive. Are they expecting people to return the game so soon after picking it up?We're imagining this might not be a closed-loop system. Imagine this, if you will: you buy Haze, get the store credit, and then buy the same used copy you sold back to the store for cheaper, and pocket the difference. Then, return the game again ...It won't actually work that way, but it would be a humorous loophole to take advantage of. (Oh, and we highly doubt American GameStop stores will be as dumb generous.)
Circuit City triples return time window for HD DVD player purchases
Hot on the heels of news that Circuit City may in fact be offering up a hush-hush trade-in program for HD DVD purchasers comes official word that said retailer is tripling its standard return window in order to appease early adopters. According to company spokesman Jim Babb, it's looking to "take care of [its] customers" by lengthening the return window from 30 to 90 days for all HD DVD player purchases. When returning the unit, users are given store credit, and while we are told that HD DVD movies are omitted from the policy, we've no idea if combo players are included. We're guessing no, but then again, it's not like those purchasers have nearly as much to worry about.[Thanks, Killer]
Future Shop offers trade-in credit for HD DVD players, will donate old decks to charity
Slowly but surely, we're seeing retailer after retailer conjure up its own trade-in / exchange program to deal with the finality of the format war. Canada's Future Shop, however, has certainly put an interesting twist on things. First off, it'll accept standalone HD DVD players purchased from anywhere. In exchange, you'll receive $100 off the purchase of an LG or Samsung Blu-ray / HD DVD combo player, but not a standalone Blu-ray player of any kind. Unfortunately, that means your options are pretty limited, but we can certainly understand the retailer's desire to wash its hands of anything with an HD DVD logo on it. Better still, Future Shop will be donating all of the returned HD DVD players to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada "for use in their after-school and evening programs." Now if that's not a reason to trade-up, we don't know what is.[Thanks, Josh]
