Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: Can new systems get Best Buy back on its game?
Check out the impending barrage of new video games. 
It is all about motion sensors and 3D as Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony introduce new systems and devices to get more people gaming.
Microsoft has a full-body motion-sensing system called Kinect. Nintendo has a new DS handheld device that can play games and show movies in 3D. Sony has the “Move,” which uses a wand like the Wii to simulate motion in games.
Which system will you buy? Don’t know? Sounds confusing?
That could be just the thing Best Buy needs to boost sales.
The largest U.S. electronics retailer posted worse-than-expected earnings amid sluggish sales and higher costs on Tuesday.
Some analysts are hoping that the new video games and 3D televisions could help lift Best Buy later this year.
from MediaFile:
Barnes & Noble plans big (e-reader?) event
Brace yourself for the next salvo in the battle of the ebook readers (or electronic reading devices, or e-reader, or whatever you want to call them).
Barnes & Noble is planning a "major event" next Tuesday in New York to announce a mystery... something.
from Raw Japan:
Blu-ray rental shelves still look bare
Some of my friends have bought Blu-ray disc players recently and brag about the breath-taking picture quality on their big flat TVs. Sales of Blu-ray recorders have outstripped those of regular DVD recorders by almost seven to three in recent months in Japan, research firm GfK Marketing Services Japan says.
But some Blu-ray users complain that movie rental stores don't have much of a selection in the format. Tsutaya, Japan's largest movie rental chain and a unit of Culture Convenience Club, says some of its stores carry as many as 300 Blu-ray titles, but that's barely a fraction of the average 40,000 DVD titles available.
from MediaFile:
Sony offers big PS3 price cut, if you can get the credit
With Black Friday only a few days away and projections for the holiday shopping season bleak, it's not surprising that Sony is making a price cut move on its PlayStation 3 video game console to lure cash-strapped shoppers.
Now, you can get a hearty $150 price cut on the PlayStation 3 console. The caveat: you've got to sign up for a shiny new PlayStation credit card first.
from MediaFile:
Sony Exec: Don’t worry, buy happy
Give the "Glass is Half Full" award to Stan Glasgow, Sony's top U.S. electronics executive, ahead of what could be the most crucial (and potential painful) "Black Friday" shopping weekend in many years. It's normally a happy time of year, filled with family gathering, gifts, etc.
This year its different. Read the papers, or a blog. Things look pretty gloomy.
Perhaps, just perhaps, things aren't as bad as they seem, Glasgow told a gathering of journalists on Thursday, suggesting that there are great bargains to be had on cool gadgets and big TVs, if consumers can overcome their apprehension.
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Resident Shop Talk Expert
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