Target and Best Buy Jumping on the Trade-In Bandwagon

So the question now becomes, if you have the choice who will you choose? It’s nice to see this level of competition come out of two of the country’s biggest retailers but is this too little to late? Does this mean that the notion of used games and trade-ins is still a viable revenue stream for retailers despite all the talk about digital distribution pushing this system out? Totally. Even if you don’t use that in-store credit to buy a new game or to cut that new game purchase price down, you now have store currency and that’s the key here. Ultimately this more than anything else may be the overwhelming factor in the success of these programs from Best Buy and Target. If Gamespot isn’t worried, they should be.

This Week’s WTF — Kmart Posts User Reviews In Retail Stores

So you as the excited gamer go to the Kmart blog to post your awesome review of a game, you get no swag, no credits, the review can be changed and you won’t get paid or store credit either. You could actually start your own blog and post reviews and get better readership. Will this new strategy actually help them sell games or make your shopping experience at Kmart better? See question 1.

Looking for 360 Slim? Good Luck

But think about this strategy. With the Slim not having it’s own name and essentially having all the components that have up until now been separated (bigger hard drive, integrated wi-fi, kinect enabled) it’s quite feasible by year’s end we’re looking at what will be the standard 360 model until the next console eventually appears. That being the case, it’s understandable then why there would be such a demand, especially if this will be the main model available in stores heading into the holiday season.

So if you are itching to get your hands on one of these new fingerprint friendly, hush-quiet, sleek models you should be able to get one …. eventually.

Target Brings Back the Bullseye Lounge to E3– Snacks And Games Galore

Plus the company’s acknowledgment of the potential profit from upgrading their gaming merchandise is a move that definitely give them a heads up in video game retailing on their competitors and could possibly cement their branding with the big three for the place to offer exclusive deals like they currently do with Gamestop.

Does this mean Target will become the videogame superstore to Gamestop’s .. game store? Can you buy, Cheetos, socks, a DVD and Mario Kart at Gamestop?

Doorbusters and Videogames — Aint Capitalism Grand?

As to whether this holiday shopping season will salvage the videogame sales slump will be determined in a month or so but for now retailers are certainly doing their part to make it happen.