GameStop COO Dan DeMatteo anticipates shortages of the Nintendo Wii to continue for at least six months, MCV reports.

Speaking on an investor's conference call about inventory expectations in 2008, DeMatteo stated that he expects the retailer's supplies of the Nintendo Wii to fall short of demand for "the next two quarters at the least.

"Supplies have continually improved," DeMatteo added. "But we still don't know when supply will meet demand for the Nintendo Wii as they continue to sell out as soon as they hit the shelves."

Keeping up with outrageous demand for the Wii has proven difficult for retailers. Across the year of 2007, there were only three instances when the Wii and the Nintendo DS were not the month's top two best-selling pieces of hardware in North America.

GameStop CFO David Carlson added that the company also expects substantial price cuts for consoles in the coming year. "We've assumed a couple [of price cuts]," Carlson said. "The Xbox [360] and the PS3 have a $50 price cut sometime in the year. We have no knowledge or verification of those, but that's just the assumption we have used."

Video games retailer GameStop saw a 33% sales increase to a record $7.1 billion in the company's 2007 fiscal year, Gamasutra reports.

Officials from the company reported a $288.3M profit in its full financial year, a roughly 58% increase over its $158.3M profit in 2006. Sales figures in GameStop's fourth quarter saw a 46.2% increase, with profits from the holiday season accounting for $189.8M of the year's total.

In a drill-down of the data, GameStop noted that it sold roughly 546 million used video game products in its 2007 fiscal year, accounting for roughly 19% of total sales. Meanwhile, total revenue from used products clocked in at $262.2M, which represented 48% of the company's 2007 revenue.

The company was also named as the world's fastest growing retailer in the Fortune 500, with the opening of 586 new stores around the globe.

Reflecting data reported by the sales tracking firm NPD earlier this year, the company said that Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4, Harmonix's Rock Band, Ubisoft's Assassin’s Creed, Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy and Neversoft's Guitar Hero III were its five best selling games during the period.

A GameStop in Bellingham, WA—home to yours truly—was robbed at knifepoint on Monday night ten minutes after the store closed, the Bellingham Herald reports.

Employees of the store told authorities that a tall, skinny man of around 20 years of age browsed the store for some 45 minutes before approaching the register with a stack of games. As his purchases were rung up, the man started towards the door muttering to himself before returning to the register and pulling out a small knife.

The employees gave cash to the man who soon after bolted out of the store and sprinted away. This particular GameStop—the only non-mall location in the Bellingham area—resides in the well-lit, heavily trafficked Sunset Square shopping plaza. The plaza is home to over a dozen stores, including a popular movie theater.

In recent years GameStop has offered cash for systems and games; that coupled with a solid day of sales amounts to a lot of cash in the register. As game stores become more lucrative operations, they become increasingly more attractive targets for armed robbery.

Mega-gaming retailer GameStop has provided a few more details on the Wii reservation program that Nintendo of America mentioned last week, which is meant to help holiday shoppers acquire the elusive system.

For one day and one day only--this Friday, December 21--those who pre-pay for a $249.99 Wii at GameStop, in full and while supplies last, will be guaranteed a unit in January.

To commemorate the occasion, customers will be given a special case containing what GameStop refers to as a "guarantee slip". A phone call will notify them when the Wii itself arrives in-store.

Of course, some restrictions apply. The vouchers are only valid at the store they were purchased at--they cannot be transfered to another location-- and the system must be picked up by January 25.

To fight the ever-persistent Wii supply problems, Nintendo of America and mega-retailer GameStop have instituted a raincheck program to help customers acquire the much sought-after system.

Under the program, GameStop customers who pay for the system in full between December 20 and 21 will, supply permitting, receive a voucher that can be redeemed for the console in January. Traditionally, GameStop only allows customers to pre-order unreleased products.

Despite retailers selling nearly a million Wii in November, the system is still incredibly hard to come by. Over a year after launch, potential owners will still line up overnight outside retailers for their chance to buy one--a practice that is usually only seen when a system is first released.

GameStop opened its "premier" upscale store today in San Jose, a veritable Banana Republic compared to the Gap-like regular GameStop locations. The 4,000-square foot megastore combines a typical GameStop with a plasma-screen equipped tournament center.

"This world class facility takes GameStop stores and video game tournament opportunities to the next level," said GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo in the announcement. "With these continued efforts, we are offering customers another way to get the most out of their gaming and are truly giving power to the players."

Encroaching on the marketspace of San Jose's neighborhood LAN centers, the premier store has 24 networked game stations for weekend tournaments. The first tournament will occur this Saturday, featuring EA Tiburon's Madden NFL 08 and a non-cash prize of $1,000 worth of GameStop credit.

With the opening of its latest store in Jackson, CA, mega-retailer GameStop now serves gamers the latest in new and pre-owned goods from 5,000 locations worldwide.

Amador county supervisor Theodore Novelli and GameStop VP John Deegan were on hand for the balloon-decorated ribbon cutting ceremony, as were several other excited onlookers (all pictured left).

"With more customers being attracted to the video game category, they will increasingly find a GameStop convenient to them," noted GameStop COO Dan DeMatteo. "This landmark store opening underscores the strength of our business model and represents a spectacular effort on behalf of our 44,000 employees worldwide."

The core of the GameStop business model is centered around soliciting trade-ins from customers and providing them with in-store credit or cash, which encourages them to spend more money in-store, and then reselling the used ... Read more

GameStop and Valve today announced that gamers who pre-order the retail PC edition of Valve's upcoming Orange Box mega compilation will receive the same deal as their Steam counterparts: immediate access to the Team Fortress 2 beta that is currently underway, 10% off the package's $49.99 MSRP, and the Orange Box-themed rendition of PopCap's casual gaming sensation Peggle.

A similar discount also applies to those who pre-order the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions of The Orange Box, which carry an MSRP of $59.99, making them $54.99 after the markdown. The promotion runs until Orange Box releases on PC and Xbox 360 October 10. The EA UK-ported PlayStation 3 edition will follow at a later date.

Containing the whole of Half-Life 2 experience to date--Half Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two--The Orange Box also packs the cartoon-esque class-based multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 and the brain-melting puzzler Portal.

Grapevine, Texas-based mega-retailer GameStop reported its second quarter fiscal year 2007 results today, which included a 586% year-over-year increase in earnings to $21.8 million. The company's revenues totaled $1.34 billion for the quarter ending August 4, a 38.9% jump from the same period last year.

As usual, GameStop's used game and hardware dealings brought in the bulk of the earnings for the retailer--the $173.2 million in profits made up 48.5% of the total earnings. The company has been criticized by developers for making used game sales its bread and butter, as well as its toast and jam. Though total used product sales increased just 16% in the quarter, new game software sales and new hardware sales rose 49% and 87%, respectively.

The top-selling software titles for GameStop during the quarter were... Read more

Yesterday we reported that game retailer Rhino Video Games has been acquired by leading chain GameStop. Today, former Rhino owner Blockbuster officially announced the deal, with GameStop's purchase expected to close by the end of the month for an undisclosed sum. As today's press release was issued by Blockbuster rather than GameStop, the latter company's plans for Rhino's existing 72 locations, mostly in the Southeastern United States, were not outlined. Our existing information indicates that the 4,633-location GameStop plans to convert Rhino stores to the GameStop format.

"The integration of the Rhino group into the growing portfolio of GameStop stores will result in operating synergies while being accretive to earnings. The location of most Rhino stores do not overlap existing GameStop sites, and primarily serve secondary and tertiary markets where we have been very successful," said GameStop chairman and CEO R. Richard Fontaine in a statement. "Furthermore, the Rhino business model, and a very game oriented management team, will fit seamlessly into the GameStop culture."

Rumors originating from the Cheap Ass Gamer forums began circulating late last night, claiming that worldwide video game retail giant GameStop is to acquire smaller United States gaming retail chain Rhino Video Games. Most Rhino Video Games stores are located in the country's Southeast region, as well as in a few Midwest states. Rhino was acquired by Blockbuster in May 2004.

Shacknews contacted GameStop's corporate headquarters for response, but a company representative dismissed the reports as rumor and stated that the company is not commenting on the matter. However, when we contacted individual store locations, Rhino retail employees confirmed the buyout claims, noting that the acquisition has already taken place. Some employees were unaware of if and when any physical changes would occur, while others corroborated forum poster FSUEagles' statement that Rhino stores would begin conversion to GameStops later this month. Rhino stores currently buy and sell most major legacy game systems and game libraries dating back to the NES. As GameStop no longer deals in those formats, it is likely they will be phased out once Rhino locations convert to GameStops.

In related news, GameStop, which also owns retail chain EB Games, today released its 2006 holiday season financial results. The company saw revenues of $1.73 billion, a 29% increase year over year. As a result, projections for comparable store sales in fiscal Q4 2006 have been raised from 22% to 23%. Topping GameStop's sales charts for the holiday period were Epic's Gears of War, Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Harmonix's Guitar Hero II, and Yuke's' WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007. GameStop has not yet made any public mention of the Rhino deal in its financial reports.

Okay, so GameStop basically bought out EBgames and is now merging the company into them, but what does that mean to us, the gamers? 1UP's David Smith breaks it down.

A total merger of their respective brands may be further off. The deal itself is expected to go through by September's end, but Electronics Boutique will remain Electronics Boutique for at least the remainder of this year, the way many Babbage's and Funcoland locations have kept their original brands, and GameStop's execs say few store closures will result from the deal. The 170 malls and shopping centers with significant overlap between competing locations may see some thinning out as leases expire, but GameStop chairman and CEO R. Richard Fontaine downplayed the impact of such moves.

Smith also gives us some recent numbers, stating that the new company now holds close to 25% of the game sales market. A recent Digital Gaming in America (DGIA) survey says 69% of gamers usually shop at Wal-Mart, but analyst Wedbush Morgan Securities says actual sales are around 22%. He also covers the decline of PC game sales, employee reactions, and the relationship between publishers and game retail stores.

The nation's two largest videogame retailers announced today that their companies have reached an agreement to merge. GameStop is taking the primary position, merging EB into their corporation and the new company will remain named GameStop Corp.

Under the terms of the agreement, Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (Electronics Boutique) shareholders will receive $38.15 in cash, plus the equivalent of 0.78795 shares of GameStop Corp. (GameStop) Class A common stock for each share of Electronics Boutique. Based on the closing price of GameStop's Class A common stock of $21.61 on Friday, April 15, 2005, the stock component of the per share merger consideration is $17.03. The total merger consideration per share of $55.18 represents a 34.2% premium to the closing price of Electronics Boutique's stock as of Friday, April 15, 2005. The total transaction value is approximately $1.44 billion with consideration consisting of approximately 70% cash and 30% common stock. GameStop intends to fund the cash portion of the transaction through the issuance of $950 million in senior bonds and excess cash.

Comments by both CEOs reveal that the motivation behind the merger was to compete on a global scale, something both felt couldn't be done alone. However, I bet money was a big factor, too. Oh, and in other buyout news, Adobe bought Macromedia.