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Rumor: Silver DS Lite To Hit US In September

Zach Lott — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:08:01 -0500

Here's a story for those of you who are obsessed with having yet another color of the DS Lite: 1up is reporting that the metallic silver DS Lite may become available in the U.S. on September 7.

The rumor originated from Kotaku, who received a blurry picture from an anonymous employee showing the street dates for three products, including the silver DS Lite, which has been available in Europe and Japan for a while now. Kotaku has since received word from various readers claiming to be GameStop employees that the store will be the exclusive seller of the new DS Lite.

We'll let you know if this becomes official in the coming weeks.

What's the Deal with Patapon?

Shiva Stella — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:29:03 -0600

Hmm. You look familiar.

While bouncing around on Gamestop's latest price-drop listings page today I happened to come across Sony's Patapon, a PSP game that looks very similar to the popular PSP hit, Locoroco (and that's not a coincidence).

While it's customary for price-drops to occur for really old games you should already have played and really bad games you should never touch, why is there a $10 drop for a game that isn't even out yet? Is it so horrible that they're dying to rid themselves of stock they currently don't have or are they just trying to solicit pre-orders? Or maybe it's merely a really nice deal?

I am become confused...

Iron Chef America Coming to a Wii/DS Near You, Eventually

Shiva Stella — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:11:37 -0600

Here's something interesting for Food Network fans, as some eager gamers have been watching GameStop's listing for an Iron Chef title disappear... and reappear.

At current it's confirmed that the game is being developed and is based on the American version of the show (disappointing because it would be hilarious to play through the Japanese version, although this way you're almost promised to see Alton Brown); furthermore it'll release for the Wii and DS units, but as far as a launch date goes, that's TBA.

See you in the kitchen.

GameStop Ending Product Replacement Plans for 360?

Shiva Stella — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:33:06 -0500

There's a rumor floating that GameStop is going to cease offering product replacement plans for its Xbox 360s sold, according to a company memo that was leaked by Gamersreports.

As for why GameStop is resorting to this action, it's suggested that the company is losing too much cash on the deal, as Xbox 360s have been known to suffer some serious blips on occasion. At the link you'll find imagery of the memo, courtesy Gamersreports. The memo does state that the 1 year manufacturer's warranty offered by Microsoft is still in effect (though why wouldn't it be?)

The memo is a touch difficult to read as it was taken via cell phone.

Assassin's Creed is Gold

Shiva Stella — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:18:50 -0500

Just in case you might have missed it last night, Ubisoft has confirmed that its Assassin's Creed has gone gold and is indeed launching on November 13 for the PlayStation 3 and and Xbox 360 consoles with an MSRP of $59.99.

A limited edition will also be available, running at $69.99. Furthermore, eager gamers who pre-order the title at GameStop will receive a fancy art book.

As an aside, a Nintendo DS version is also launching on February 5, with a rumor of a PC version still up in the air. You can check out various versions and other goodies by clicking here. Tell them GameBump sent you.

Once again, GameStop pledges to cut down on M-rated sales to minors

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:26:13 -0600

It looks like it's that time of the year again, when everybody becomes up-in-arms about stores selling M-rated games to minors. TV news crews send kids with hidden cameras and have them try to buy M-rated games, newspapers write about all the stores' different policies, and then GameStop et al release statements saying they're working on ending underage sales.

According to Destructoid, GameStop now says that selling such a game to a minor means you're fired. What was it before? A congratulation?

I worked in the games department at a CircuitCity a back in 2003-04 and there was not one instance where an underage kid even tried to buy an M-rated game. If anything, their parents are buying these games for their kids without having any idea what they're doing.

Oh well, anything is better than all this proposed legislation floating around. If a misguided kid wants to buy an M-rated game and his misguided parents don't care, and a misguided GameStop employee lets him -- should the GameStop employee, probably just trying to work his way through public highschool, be the only one of those 3 people to be punished?

I guess so.