Shop Talk

from MediaFile:

When gamers hit Toys R Us and other tales of Black Friday

Sprinkled among the snaking lines of parents at a Toys R Us in New Jersey on Black Friday were diehard gamers. Many had no children to spoil. Nor were they particularly happy to be in the Toys R Us; but with gaming hardware fast selling out across the region, they followed the scent of the deal.

The Kinect moved especially fast, if early anecdotal evidence is any measure. Brisk sales of  hardware like the PlayStation3, Xbox and Microsoft Kinect on the nation's biggest annual shopping spree also bode well for software sales, says Mike Hickey, a Janco Partners analyst.

But which games were enticing fans to shell out on Black Friday?

“ We’re seeing strong sales of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft), Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft), Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision Blizzard), Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive), Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda), Gran Turismo 5 (Polyphony Digital) and Donkey Kong (Nintendo),” Hickey said.

Many of the hottest video items weren't even on sale. The Microsoft Kinect, which was not discounted at any retailer on Black Friday (in fact, the price got jacked up on many secondary sellers' websites), was out of stock both in stores and online at WalMart, Target and Best Buy.

GameStop also weighed in on Friday morning, telling Reuters about the traffic at its 800 US stores which opened at midnight, which were helped in part by the interest in the Kinect.  “Preliminary reports from our stores record a lot of excitement,” said GameStop’s president Tony Bartel,” and there were many customers lined up at 5 am when the rest of the stores opened.

NPD analyst Stephen Baker said video games were “one of the better categories this holiday,” but low-priced televisions and aggressively priced laptops were  the biggest sellers on Black Friday.

Want that hot new video game? Make a reservation

Shoppers eager to secure a copy of the hottest new video game can soon walk into a Target store and pay $1 to reserve a copy ahead of its release.

Starting April 19, Target is launching a “reservation program” for what it expects will be the best selling video games.

That means shoppers can purchase a $1 reservation card in the electronics department of its stores.

When they bring the card back to the same store within 7 days of the video game’s release the can buy the title. They will also receive a $5 Target gift card that can used for a future purchase.

“We will hold inventory so in essence, it does guarantee you the product within the first seven days,” said Target spokesman Joshua Thomas of the program.

Target already lets customer place preorders for video games on its website. But Thomas said it the in-store reservation program has an added benefit  — it will hopefully bring shoppers into its stores more frequently. They can come into its stores to make the reservation, to pick up the game when it’s released, and then again to use the gift card.

Target said the reservation program will kick-off with titles such as “Punch Out!!” from Nintendo , “Ghostbusters” from Atari, and “Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings” from LucasArts.