Pokémon fans are being offered another chance to get a free Pokémon starting this Saturday, February 27, at Gamestop. Anyone who brings in their Nintendo DS with a copy of Pokémon Pearl, Diamond or Platinum will be able to receive the free gift. Jirachi, a dual-type Steel/Psychic legendary Pokémon,  is available until March 13. A nice bonus since March 14 is the release of the new Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver bundles. Anyone that takes advantage of the free Pokémon will have access to a special training route on the Pokéwalker, the pedometer accessorie included with the new games.

Gamestop is currently offering a crazy deal on trade-ins. All games are now receiving a 50% trade-in bonus. This deal also stacks with the 10% bonus you get from having and Edge card. With most new and popular games getting around $30 in trade-in credit, this deal would offer you a chance to purchase a new game with very little money needed. This promotion is going on until March 14.

We all know that Diablo 3 isn’t coming out for at least another year.  But that doesn’t Gamestop in trying to snag up some early pre-orders. Right now, on their website, you can pre-order Diablo 3 with no incentives.  Well, except for the thought that you theoretically own a copy of it.

[via Gamestop]

Back when I was a pubescent teenager, I always wondered how to get the lady types to want me.  If Gold4Jetpack.com existed back then, that would have been my answer.  Kids these days have it so easy now.  All they have to do is go to GameStop or Gold4Jetpack.com, pre-order Darkvoid, get the special Gold Jetpack and ladies would magically appear on my lap. Wow!

Last night, GameStop got a taste of their own medicine. Instead of robbing people by selling games out of their original packaging and selling them as new, a couple of robbers robbed FROM GameStop.

San Diego Union-Tribune says:

“About 9:30 p.m., two men entered the store on Plaza Bonita Road after it closed and one of them was armed with a gun, according to National City police. They ordered employees to the floor, hit one of them in the head and tied them up.

The robbers took every video game system in the store, along with other merchandise and an undetermined amount of cash, police said. Police were called about 11:40 p.m. ”

If these robbers are smart, they wouldn’t say or do anything on the internet that has to do with this robbery.  If these robbers are dumb, which I’m sure they are, they would probably start using craigslist or ebay right now to sell off their “five fingered” discount items.

[source]

Jamie is currently at the finals of the GameStop/Capcom Street Fighter 4 National Tournament in San Francisco. She has been there all day and has just called in with the two people that have made it to the finals. But first, here is the list of players that made it to the tournament:

Plano, Texas – David Hem – C.Viper
San Jose, California – Chris “CSB” – Balrog
Chamblee, Georgia – Mike Ross – E.Honda – RUNNER-UP
New York, New York – Justin Wong – Rufus – CHAMPION
Irondequoit, New York – Rahsaan “EvilRahsaan” – Dhalsim
Glendale, Arizona – Juicebox Abel – Abel
Chicago, Illinois – Ari “Floe” Weintraub – Sagat
Tukwila, WA – Jason “A-Dhalsim” Cole – Balrog – SECOND RUNNER-UP
Louisville, Kentucky – Jason “DreamTR” Wilson – M. Bison
Bloomington, Minnesota – Kyle “Coyotegrey” – Zangief
New Jersey, New Jersey – Christian “CapMaster” O’Hanlon – Sagat
Orlando, Florida – Trent “GimmeThemShoes” Vandeven – ???
La Place, Louisiana – “jakob002″ – M. Bison
Halethorpe, Maryland – Eric “Ramza” Kim – Sagat
Maumee, Ohio – Antwan Ortiz – Balrog – SECOND RUNNER-UP

Michael Ross VS Justin Wong. – Finalists

One will be using E. Honda, and the other will be using Rufus. More on this story as it unfolds. Here is a video of the final round:

=====

Update: Justin Wong won using Rufus (4 to 1). Congratulations, he has just won the GameStop black belt.

Update: Justin moved on to play some champions from other countries.

Update: The international matches were a round robin. International finals happening now between Justin Wong and Daigo. Winner gets a trip straight to the EVO finals. Here is a video of the match:

Update: Daigo wins in a clean sweep. Congratulations to Daigo. Jamie will post photos from the event when she can.

Picture of trophy, linked from Capcom Unity.

According to Kotaku, Gamestop may be in violation of Federal Trade Commission regulations for its practice of selling played games at full MSRP price. For those that are not aware, Gamestop employees are allowed to check-out products as a sort of free 4-day rental, which includes new, unopened games. Games that are checked-out are usually returned and sold for the full price of the new game, as opposed to the used price, which might be deemed by the FTC as a deceptive marketing practice.

For more on this story, visit Kotaku.

 

I guess when you work for a company that has no problems selling video games and always has a growth in profits, your copywriters do not need to work hard.

[via College OTR]

I don’t know how things like this get on to a very corporate website, but I hope they keep it up. If you look at the Chrono Trigger description, you’ll be thinking the same thing. “Huh?”

[via GameStop]

But who gets magazines anyways. There are other “sources” nowadays. /tsk tsk. That kid must have been a computer noob.