gamestop posts

It's been quite a while since GameStop's Indie Game Challenge was announced, but today the list of 12 finalists (six professional, six non-professional) was announced at long last. Unlike the Independent Games Festival, there is also a public vote on the competition's web site that determines which of the finalists look the best to them (via a video only) and then they vote for which game they think should win the $10,000 Gamer's Choice prize. However the two big grand prizes of $100,000 each (one for the pro selections and one for the amateur selections) are selected by a panel of judges from GameStop, The Guildhall and Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. There are a few other prizes for specific areas of excellence (technical, art, design). You can check out the list of games, vote, and watch game videos on the official website.

The list of games covers many different genres, from puzzle to arcade. Four of the IGF finalists have a spot on the IGC list as well: Cogs, Miegakure, Vessel, and AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Some other notable games include Gear, which was an honorable mention in the IGF student showcase, and the multiplayer arcade game Altitude, which had a recent launch on Steam.

It's a bit of a last minute announcement but Star Trek Online's fan Facebook page has alerted its fans to a Tumblelog post that gives info on some midnight store openings at GameStop tonight. A few of those stores will begin selling copies of Cryptic Studios' long awaited MMO game. The list is pretty small so we will have it after the jump.

If you are lucky enough to have pre-ordered your copy of the game at one of the below locations you can pick it up at midnight tonight. You will also be eligible to win some prizes including those collectible Del Taco Star Trek Online cups, a digital copy of all the Star Trek comic books ever released and more.

[Via Voodoo Extreme]

With the holiday shopping season now over, retailers are now revealing how they did over the time period. Unfortunately for game retailer GameStop, it announced some lower holiday sales numbers than first predicted. Total revenues were $2.86 billion for the nine week period that ended January 2, which GameStop said was flat compared to the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales actually went down 6.8 percent for the period.

GameStop had a number of reasons for the lower numbers including the overall economic conditions along with winter storms impacting sales in December and even dealing with shortages of certain game titles. GameStop has now announced that it will lower its fourth quarter 2009 financial guidance.

Digital Illusions announced last month that PC players would have to wait until "early 2010" to get into the multiplayer beta for Battlefield Bad Company 2. Now a listing on GameStop's web site indicates that if you reserve your copy of the game now, you will get access to the beta test on January 28. The site also states the beta will end on February 25.

Naturally this info should be considered a rumor since it comes from a retailer and not from DICE itself. However the timing of the beta would seem to be about right considering the full game is scheduled to ship to stores on March 2.

[Via Blue's News]

We've already reported on GameStop's and Amazon's special pre-order offers for the upcoming MMO Star Trek Online but today Atari revealed all of the retailers who will be offering their own pre-orders specialsfor the next game from developer Cryptic Studios.

The other retailers and download sites participating in the pre-order program include Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Direct2Drive and Steam. Each retailer offers up their own unique pre-order special and all of them give their customers access to the game's upcoming Open Beta event and the Early Start event which lets players get online three days before the official February 1 launch. You can check out all of the retailer's pre-order specials after the jump.

[Via email press release]

We've been waiting to hear about any kind of Collector's Edition for Star Trek Online and now GameStop's web site has delivered with the details on this special version of the upcoming MMO from Cryptic Studios and Atari. The $79.99 Collector's Edition will ship on February 2 at the same time as the regular edition.

The Collector's Edition will come in special packaging with a "high quality brushed aluminum finish" and some kind of "futuristic 3dX holography". The contents will include a special version of the game's manual that will be hardbound and will also contain artwork from the game. A cast metal version of the game's badge-communicator is also included as is three guest passes to allow friends to play Star Trek Online for three days. You also get special in-game uniforms from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine TV series. Finally there's a special in-game item; the Red Matter Capacitor which in the game can give your ship's equipment extra energy for a short period. The Red Matter Capacitor was a key part of the current J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek movie.

As we already reported, GameStop has a pre-order bonus for Star Trek Online that will give players access to a old-school Constitution Class starship as well as access to the game's open beta and an early access to the game's launch. Amazon.com has their own pre-order bonus that also grants access to the beta and adds an exclusive Borg Bridge Officer to the game.

GameStop is not known for their digital download offerings but for today's Cyber Monday 2009 promotion the gaming retailer is offering 50 percent off of 50 downloadable PC game titles. While the game's prices appear to be normal at first when you put them in the site's online checkout page they go down to the promised 50 percent amount.

Some of the more recent games that are a part of this promotion include Fallen Earth, Section 8, and Sacred 2, all of which can be purchased for $24.99 each. Other games on sale include Assassin's Creed for $9.99 and Port Royale 2 for a mere $2.59.

Tomorrow is the last race of the season for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and in the pack trying to win at the Homestead-Miami Speedway will be driver Joey Logano. His number 20 car will be outfitted with a special Modern Warfare 2-GameStop design that was made specifcially for this race.

Logano will be going for his sixth win in the Nationwide Series this year (which is one step below the main NASCAR Sprint series) during the Ford 300 race event. The race itself is being broadcast on ESPN2 at 4:30 pm Saturday. Too bad there's not a Left 4 Dead 2 race car to go against it.

[Via email press release]

It's just over a week until Black Friday 2009 hits and tons of retailers are cutting prices to the bone for the biggest sales day of the year. If you happen to find yourself at a GameStop store on that day you will be able to get a few PC game bargains. The biggest one has to be for the just released Left 4 Dead 2. Valve's zombie shooter sequel will be on sale during Black Friday for just $29.99. That's a massive $20 price cut on a game that was just released this week.

The entire GameStop Black Friday PC game sales list, as provided by bfads.net, is as follows. Keep in mind that GameStop's stores open at 6 am on that day and the sales are for just two days only.

Guild Wars Trilogy - $24.99
Left 4 Dead 2 PC - $29.99
World of Warcraft - $4.99
World of Warcraft Battle Chest - $19.99
The Sims 3 World Adventures - $29.99

The largest game retailer in the US, GameStop, reported its latest financial results today and they are mostly on the higher side. For its third fiscal quarter that ended on October 31, the retailer had $1.83 billion in revenues, up from $1.70 billion from the same period a year ago. Profits were $52.2 million, up from $46.7 million from the same period a year ago.

Of course those numbers don't include game sales from this month where some of the biggest releases of the year like Dragon Age Origins, Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 will surely increase sales even more at the retailer. Indeed GameStop states in its press release, " . . . we expect a solid fourth quarter in sales and earnings." We would think so, too.