GameStop starts Nintendo reservation system
DS games console to start delivery Dec. 28
By Danny King -- Video Business, 12/23/2008
DEC. 23 | GameStop is responding to the popularity of Nintendo's DS videogame console by starting a reservation system to best ensure that customers get the console in the color they chose.
The retailer said late last week that customers can reserve crimson and black, cobalt and black, and metallic rose colored DS consoles by making a full $130 payment in advance at one of the retailer's stores. GameStop expects delivery of the DS machines between Dec. 28 and Jan. 15.
GameStop's program illustrates both the continuing surge in U.S. videogame sales and the popularity of Nintendo's platforms in particular.
Year-to-date U.S. videogame revenue through October jumped 25% from a year earlier to $13.1 billion, while Nintendo's Wii console that month outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360 console by more than a two-to-one ratio.
"The DS seems to be at the top of the wish list for many this holiday season, so we are preparing for the last minute rush and giving consumers an option in the event the color that they desired is not available," GameStop spokesman Chris Olvera said.
Earlier this month, Microsoft said its Xbox 360 sales on the day after Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, jumped 25% from a year earlier and outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 console by a three-to-one margin. Microsoft didn't mention Nintendo's Wii sales for Black Friday.
