GameStop opens new shop in Limerick
GameStop opened a new store in Limerick on Friday, and it has plans to open four more shops “in the near future,” creating 25 new jobs.
The new Limerick shop on William Street is the third in the city, adding to current outlets at the Crescent and Parkway shopping centres.
Owned by the US retailer of the same name, GameStop now has 56 shops across Ireland and the UK, with the vast majority in the Republic and the North.
The company says it has a large stock of Wii Fit games, but it claims the “game is expected to be in short supply this Christmas so Wii fans should do their Christmas shopping early!”
GameStop are also operating what it calls “a new innovative ‘Play For Free’ scheme” where “Gamers who purchase any games console between now and Christmas, can return it if they don’t like it for any reason, and they will receive a full store credit in return.” Terms and conditions, of course, apply.
GamesStop Ireland up for industry award
GameStop Ireland, a branch of the international retailer, has been nominated for an MCV Industry Excellence Awards organised by the UK computer and video games trade magazine MCV.
The retailer is one of five in the “Specialist Retailer” category of the awards are set to be held in London in two weeks time on April 10. They are up against Game who also operates in Ireland as well as UK stores Gamestation, CHIPS, and Gameseek.
The Irish section of GameStop controls 51 stores mainly across the Republic and the North, as well as a number in Britain.
The company is still in a process of expanding the number of outlets in Ireland which started when game GamesStop bough Irish retail GamesWorld in 2003.
“GameStop is very proud to be nominated for a MCV award in the Specialist Games Retailer category. MCV magazine and website is the leading information resource for games retailers, media, publishers, distributors and anyone working in the games industry” commented Michael Finucane, commercial director at GameStop.
Xbox 360 price drop from Friday in Ireland
Microsoft have revealed an expected Xbox 360 price drop for Europe today, in Ireland the entry-level console will have an estimated retail price €199.99 from this Friday, March 14.
The standard Xbox 360 with a 20GB harddrive and wireless controller is expected to retail for €279.99, while the 120GB ‘Elite’ console will €379.99.
According to the company, these will see the prices come down €100 for the entry-level console, the Xbox 360 Arcade, and €80 for both other packages.
“History shows that €199 is the price point where a consoles audience begins to expand, and with these new estimated retail prices in place we’re ready to bring more consumers into the Xbox 360 world,” said Chris Lewis, vice president, Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business Europe.
Xbox 360: Low impact on GameStop chart
- Nintendo DS appears the most on retail’s chart
- Follows Xbox low ranking on Chart-Track game chart
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console only appears once across two weeks of top-10 charts from retailer GameStop Ireland.
So-far this year the games retailer has sent out two ‘GameStop Top Ten Bestsellers’ for the weeks ending Saturday, 12 and 26 January (both viewable below).
The Xbox 360 only appears once in the two weeks, at number six for Burnout Paradise, while the PlayStation 3 version of the same game topped the chart and the PS3 has four places across the two weeks. The hand-held Nintendo DS holds the largest amount with eight places in the two weeks, the Nintendo Wii has three, and the PS2 has another two for Sony.
GameStop’s chart can only be viewed as a snapshot of the retailers top sellers within the two named weeks. However, it mirrors the Xbox 360’s low ranking on the Chart-Track Irish games charts. The chart includes a large selection of retailers in Ireland, but not Gamestop, Xtravision, or Smyth’s Toys.
Microsoft had complained that GameStop - in Microsoft’s words, “the largest video games retailer in Ireland” - was not included in the Chart-Track data, but GameStop’s own charts back the picture of low games sales.
The console maker has said it does not release country-by-country numbers and told Games Toaster it
is unlikely to comment on the GameStop charts. The only independent numbers available helps draw a picture of large media coverage and advertising but small shear of the games sales market.
New data provided by Chart-Track to this publication shows that the PlayStation 3 gained a larger percentage 5.8 percent from March to the end of last year then the 5 percent Xbox 360 obtained in 2006, its first full year. Chart-Track’s data is complied at the point-of-sale from a large selection of retailers including Game, Tesco, Argos, PC World, HMV, Play.com, Currys, Golden Discs, and others.
GameStop Top Ten Bestsellers
- Week ending Saturday January 26, 2008
- Burnout Paradise | PS3
- Mario Sonic at the Olympics | WII
- New Super Mario Bros. | NDS
- Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training | NDS
- More Brain Training | NDS
- Burnout Paradise | Xbox 360
- Super Mario Galaxy | WII
- The Simpsons | NDS
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | PS3
- WOW 60 day pre paid card | PCR
GameStop Top Ten Bestsellers
- Week ending Saturday, 12 January 2008
- Uncharted: Drakes Fortune IRL | PS3
- Super Mario Galaxy | WII
- Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training | NDS
- More Brain Training | NDS
- Fifa 08 | PS3
- Bee Movie | NDS
- WOW 60 day pre paid card | PCR
- Need For Speed ProStreet | PS2
- The Simpsons | NDS
- Fifa 08 | PS2
Xbox 360 HD player with free films
- Free films offer open in Ireland until end of January
Buyers of the of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player in Ireland will be offered the chance to redeem five free films for the add-on. The Xbox 360 player (pictured right with the games console) retails at around €170, while the offer runs until January 31, 2008.
The player is currently facing a massive advertising push by Sony’s rival high definition format Blu-ray. The Sony format is included in the company’s PlayStation 3 console.
The two HD formats have been lined up by their backers as the successor to the DVD. Both are in a format war last seen with VHS and Betamax in the 1980s — like then, it is unlikely the two formats will survive in the medium to long term.
The Xbox offer includes 13 titles from Warner Brothers, Universal, Dreamworks and Paramount. These are: Serenity, the Chronicles of Riddick, Hulk, Children of Men, the Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,
Troy, Full Metal Jacket, Corpse Bride, the Prestige, Swordfish, Black Rain, Dreamgirls, and Word Trade Center.
Orla Sheridan of Microsoft Ireland said: “The HD-DVD player for Xbox 360 gives customers a high quality and affordable way to enjoy state-of-the-art HD-DVD movies. We’re delighted to enable everyone to enjoy the technology to the full and offer some fantastic movie releases, completely free”.
GameStop expands with new shops in Finglas, Gorey, Castlebar, and Limerick
Games retailer GameStop is continuing to expand on its Irish locations with new stores recently opened in Finglas, Gorey, and Castlebar, while Limerick is to get a third store.
GameStop Ireland will have 50 shops under its control by the end of the month, including two in the UK.
The retailer has massively expanded since the US games giant bought up and re-branded independent Irish retailer GamesWorld in 2003. In the last two years alone, it has nearly doubled the number of locations in the Republic and the North.
Its parent company runs 5,000 stores across Europe, the US, and South America.
Richard Dean Anderson to launch Halo 3 in Dublin; Record breaking attempt planned
Actor Richard Dean Anderson is to launch Halo 3 in Dublin on Tuesday, forming one of the main elements of Microsoft’s Irish high-profile release of the highly anticipated Xbox 360 game.
News that the actor, most famous for playing MacGyver and more recently Jack O’Neill on Stargate SG-1, will launch the game was confirmed this evening to Games Toaster by a Microsoft spokesperson.
However, his visit to Dublin is still somewhat shrouded in mystery as there is still little detail of Anderson’s visit.
Record breaking attempt
Meanwhile, tomorrow - in the build up to the European release on Wednesday September 26 - Irish gamers will attempt to set record breaking times completing Halo 2.
The Guinness World Record - also organised by Microsoft - will start midday at the Dublin city centre in the morning. Microsoft expects hundreds games to turn up to the event at the Xbox Live Gaming Centre / Xbox Live Cafe.
The current record holder is Cody Miller who finished the game in three and a half hours with the ‘legendary’ difficulty setting on in August 2005. The publisher and console maker will be incentives such as prizes of
the limited edition ‘Legendary Edition’ of Halo 3, Marvel Halo graphic novels, and Halo 3 branded merchandise.
Promotion around Ireland
Microsoft also said that the game will be promoted across mediums and are aiming to make it one of the most high-profile entertainment launches. The Halo 3 TV advert, a still of which is pictured above, is just one example.
On the streets, Halo’s star Master Chief - or at least a person dressed as him - will appear on Grafton Street in Dublin this Saturday and Sunday, and move on to Cork, and Galway after that.
By the time of the launch, shoppers entering the main entrance of the St Stephens Green Shopping Centre will be greeted by Halo branding. This will link in with retailer Gamestop’s midnight launch at their new store at the shopping centre. Full details of of Gamestop’s midnight opening across Ireland can be viewed here.
GameStop opens midnight for Halo 3
Gamestop say they will open 14 of its 46 in the Republic and Northern Ireland at at midnight on Tuesday for the European release of Halo 3.
The retailer are to have midnight openings at Henry St, Stephens Green, and Clare Hall in Dublin, along with their outlets in Belfast, Derry, Limerick, Drogheda, Wexford, Tralee, Letterkenny, Mallow, Midleton, Killarney, and Bangor.
Other retailers, such as HMV, GAME, and Smyths, are also likely to have midnight openings in at least the main cities.
A Microsoft spokesperson told us this evening that, in Ireland, “Michael Finucane from Game stop says that pre-orders are running at twice the rate of Halo 2″, while a statement released this afternoon says the company worldwide is “running off 81 games per second to ensure that they meet global demand for this title”.
“It is fantastic to see the level of interest shown by Irish gamers, all of whom are eager to be one of the first people in the country to get their hands on what is set to be the must have game this Christmas,” said Orla Sheridan, country manager at the entertainment and devices division of Microsoft Ireland.
Halo 3 demand high says Irish retailer
Microsoft Ireland are reporting “Huge demand” for pre-orders of Halo
3, what it is calling the fastest pre-sales in video game history,
while Gamestop are say the
demand has been “nothing short of phenomenal”.
Worldwide pre-orders of Halo 3 have exceeded the 1 million according
to Microsoft, the publisher of the game and maker of the Xbox 360 games
console. No Irish sales numbers were released.
It’s set to be released in standard, limited, and “legendary
edition” - according to the publisher, the ‘legendary’ version is
expected to sell out before its September 26 launch.
Midnight openings are expected across Ireland for the launch of the latest Halo game.
“What we’ve experienced is nothing short of phenomenal, Halo 3 has
eclipsed the previous record set by Halo 2″ said Michael Finucane,
commercial director at Gamestop.
“It set a benchmark for others to follow and is a real indication of
how video games has now come to the forefront of the entertainment
industry… The excitement for Halo 3 is incredible”.
Irish pricing for Halo 3 console revealed
Pricing for the limited edition Halo 3 Xbox 360 was released today by games publisher Microsoft.
When the console (pictured above) is released Wednesday two weeks,
September 26, it will retail at an estimated price of