It would seem that the little known experiment being conducted by Walmart and Best Buy to accept trade-in games has come to an end.
Industry Gamers is reporting that the e-Play kiosks that were placed at Walmart and Best Buy locations to accept used video game trade-ins has come to an abrupt end. Seen as a chance to steal away some of the glory from GameStops, it appears to have had about as much impact as a feather on an elephant.
All of the current kiosks have been shut down and will be removed over the coming weeks.
It seems the problem was more with the third-part e-Play than the actual stores, and the retailers could try it again under a different system, but it seems unlikely that they will waste the effort.
GameStop has been the undisputed king of game trade-ins for some time, and it is seeming less and less likely that any one will be able to unseat them. Personally, since we have no GameStop in my town, I’ve been using Amazon’s trade-in service to great success. Hopefully that won’t go anywhere any time soon, but as for any other physical chain giving them a challenge, it just seems unlikely at this point.
Mr. Stout and the underage girl met on X-box Live in April 2008, and in Jan. 2009 he drove non-stop for 30-hours to California to meet the girl. Upon meeting they engaged in a sexual encounter. There is no indication of how the relationship was discovered, but Mr. Stout plead guilty to an “illicit relationship” and will now spend ten years in prison.
We have said many times here on StarterTech that you need to keep computers where they can be monitored for usage by your children, but that goes for any device that allows them to communicate with the world. We’re all for them being online, but would you let them hang out with adult strangers in person? Then why should you let them do it online?
Amazon is ready for you to start your holiday shopping for the video game fan on your shopping list right now.
Amazon is running a video game promotion from now until Oct. 31st wherein if you purchase $80 worth of video games, you will receive a credit for $40 off your next video game purchase. The credit voucher will be emailed to you seven days after our order for $80 ships to you.
This isn’t the type of thing we normally cover around here at StarterTech, but we were struck by the selection of games including some very recent releases such as Batman:Arkham Asylum, Wet, The Beatles: Rock Band and so on. You normally expect in sales such as this for them to only offer up older games that a company is overstocked on, but this offer really is worth it considering how expensive new releases are running now.
Even if you have no one to buy for, this deal is worth checking out for your own collection if you have been putting off purchasing some of the newest releases.
Netflix is finally coming to the Sony Playstation 3.
While it has been rumored for quite some time, Netflix has finally announced that its streaming service will be coming to the Sony Playstation 3 very soon. There is, however, one hitch for those who start using it right away … you need a Blu-ray disc to make it work.
Yep, you need a disc. You will need to contact Netflix to get a free Blu-ray disc that will need to be in your PS3 any time you are streaming content. This is only a temporary workaround until Sony updates the system software in 2010. Still annoying, and it makes you wonder why Netflix didn’t wait to launch the service, but oh well.
This now leaves the Nintendo Wii as the only current generation video game system in the United States without Netflix streaming capabilities, so it makes you wonder how long until that system also receives it.
We here at StarterTech stream Netflix via an Xbox 360, and we love the service. Sure it isn’t perfect, but for the price, you really can’t beat it.
Do you have a copy of Pitfall for the Atari 2600 collecting dust in your closet? Well, why not trade it in for something far more current?
Toys R’ Us has announced that it has launched a new video game trade-in program that will take any game with its original case and artwork all the way back to the Atari 2600 and 32-bit Sega Genesis. While they are accepting the games, they will not be selling them through their stores. The games will be accepted on behalf of an unnamed third-party, but considering what you can get rid of, does it really matter?
As to how the process will work exactly, Toys R’ Us has written it out step-by-step for you:
Used video games in their original cases, with the original case artwork may be brought to a Toys”R”Us Guest Services desk.
Games will then be scanned and prices will be offered for individual titles.
Gamers confirm that they want to accept the offer to exchange any, or all, of the games they brought to the store.
Once the transaction is complete, customers receive an activated gift card equal to the total worth of all games traded.
Immediately upon receiving the gift card, customers can purchase any product from iPods and toys to candy and diapers at any Toys”R”Us or Babies”R”Us location or online at Toysrus.com.
There is no indication how much they will be paying for the games, but considering how hard it has been to get rid of some older games, anything seems like a deal at this point.
Major support for this new program will begin on September 13th with mentions in the weekly circulars.
It’s been almost four years since the Xbox 360 first launched to the public, and yet there are still units out there failing.
Every owner of an Xbox 360 fears the well-known “Red Ring of Death” (RRoD) which leads to them having to ship their unit back. While the number of failed units was once as high as 50 percent in the first two year’s of a system’s life-cycle.
Well, good news everyone, Information Week is reporting that the number of failed systems has dropped to a mere 23.7 percent of systems in first two years of life! HUZZAH!
All kidding aside, this rate is still too high, and you have to wonder why it is that Microsoft still hasn’t come up with a way to solve this problem. This statistic unfortunately makes the Xbox 360 the most unreliable of the current systems on the market, but that of course doesn’t stop it from still selling in huge numbers.
While it is unlikely that the high failure rate will deter anyone from buying one of these systems, it still wouldn’t hurt for you to make sure you are very familiar with your warranty information from Microsoft and keep it somewhere where you can get to it.
After nearly three years in the market place, the Sony Playstation 3 is not only getting a price drop, but a smaller version of itself.
In what is possibly the worst kept secret in video game history, the long-rumored PS3 Slim has been announced at a game show in Germany. Priced at $299 in the USA, with a September 1st release date, the new version of the system is not only physically smaller, but it also is 34 percent lighter and draws 34 percent less power.
The new system will come with a 120 GB hard drive and all of the features of the original version such as Wi-Fi, Blu-ray player. One new feature is if you hook the PS3 in to your Sony Bravia via an HDMI cable, they will operate together, and you will be able to control the PS3 from your TV remote, and if you turn off your TV, the Playstation will turn off at the same time.
As we said, the price in the USA will be $299, elsehwere in the world it will be 299 Euros, $499 AUD, $629 NZD and 29,980 yen. Releases around the world are either Sept. 1st or Sept. 3rd.
This could be just what the doctor ordered for Sony as the PS3 has been lagging very far behind in this iteration of the console war. One of the things consumers always noted was the pricing, so not only do you finally get a price cut, but you get a better version.
More details of the Xbox Games on Demand program have been revealed, and it just keeps getting more interesting.
Yesterday we brought you some information on the Xbox Games on Demand service, and even more info has popped up now. First off, the pricing looks like it will be $20 – $30 per game. Considering the age of these games that sounds about right, but, again, the nice part of this is not having to go out and buy them. So if you really have a hanering to play Call of Duty 2 at 2 AM, now you can just buy it online and play it.
Secondly, the list we published yesterday was the list for the European market it turns out, so here is the list for the USA via Joystiq:
Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft)
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts)
Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft)
BioShock (2K Games)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios)
Ridge Racer 6 (Namco)
Burnout Paradise (EA)
Meet The Robinsons (Disney)
Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Rockstar Games)
Call of Duty® 2 (Activision)
MX vs. ATV Untamed (THQ)
Sonic the Hedgehog (SEGA)
Viva Piñata 2: Trouble in Paradise (Microsoft Game Studios)
Need for Speed Carbon (EA)
Test Drive: Unlimited (Atari)
Fight Night Round 3 (EA)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (EA)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games/Bethesda Softworks)
Prey (2K Games)
Viva Piñata (Microsoft Game Studios)
Karaoke Revolution American Idol Encore (Konami)
Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft Game Studios)
Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Game Studios)
Dance Dance Revolution Universe (Konami)
24 games compared to the 21 for Europe! YAY! We win!
A dream come true for some will happen next week when Xbox Live adds the ability to download complete games to your hard drive.
Ever had one of those nights when you feel like playing a new Xbox game, but it’s too late to run to the store, or you’re just too lazy? Well, next week Microsoft will be adding a new feature to Xbox Live called “Games on Demand” that will allow you to just buy games directly on your console and download them to your hard drive. Pricing is rumored to be around the same price you would pay for the physical copy, but there has to be something said for instant gratification.
Here is a list of the first 21 games that you will be able to purchase along with a video of what the checkout process will be like.
* Assassin’s Creed
* Need for Speed: Most Wanted
* Burnout Paradise
* Perfect Dark Zero
* Call of Duty 2
* Prey
* Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
* Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
* Fight Night Round 3
* SEGA Rally
* Kameo: Elements of Power
* Test Drive: Unlimited
* LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
* Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
* Mass Effect
* Tomb Raider: Legend
* Meet The Robinsons
* Viva Piñata
* MX vs. ATV Untamed
* Viva Piñata 2: Trouble in Paradise
* Need for Speed Carbon
As the Sony Playstation 3 nears its third year of release, prices have held study since the day it came out. There are some indicators that the price may finally be dropping.
Kotaku is reporting that they have received information that this weekend at Best Buy there will be a special deal on an 80 gb Playstation 3 packaged with Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2 for $400, the price the 80 gb version normally sells for on its own. This is not the first time Best Buy has run a similar promotion, but with the approaching holiday shopping season, this smells of an attempt to clear out some inventory.
Rumors have been circulating for some time of a redesigned PS3 that has been nicknamed “slim” due to its thinner size. Lets face it, the current PS3 is a behemoth, and combining the gigantic size with its inflated price, sales are not skyrocketing like they should have to the point that even game company executives has been asking Sony to lower the price. Thus far Sony has remained silent on the subject, but effectively pricing the console at $299 (after deducting the retail price of the games) seems to indicate something is about to happen.
We only bring this up so if you are considering picking up a Playstation 3 any time soon, we highly suggest you wait a bit as it sure sounds like things are about to change.
It would seem that the little known experiment being conducted by Walmart and Best Buy to accept trade-in games has come to an end.
It isn’t just computers any more that is leading to children being molested by strangers they meet online.
Amazon is ready for you to start your holiday shopping for the video game fan on your shopping list right now.
Netflix is finally coming to the Sony Playstation 3.
Do you have a copy of Pitfall for the Atari 2600 collecting dust in your closet? Well, why not trade it in for something far more current?
It’s been almost four years since the Xbox 360 first launched to the public, and yet there are still units out there failing.
After nearly three years in the market place, the Sony Playstation 3 is not only getting a price drop, but a smaller version of itself.
As the Sony Playstation 3 nears its third year of release, prices have held study since the day it came out. There are some indicators that the price may finally be dropping.
