News Round-up 26th March 2012

More Bad News for GAME as Administration Takes Hold

Numerous MCV reports have revealed the extent of GAME’s administration, which was made official today. PwC, the Group’s administrators, have closed 277 GAME and Gamestation stores, as well as axing 40% of the workforce. This means that over 2000 people have lost their jobs, 15 of which from GAME’s head office, including CEO Ian Shepherd.

Customers will no longer be able to use Reward Card or Gift Cards in stores either. Refunds and exchanges are also not being accepted. A full statement from GAME (quoted from MCV) reads:

Here’s some important news about us. GAME Group plc (the parent company of GAME in the UK) is now in administration. We want you to know that the Administrators aim at this time is to continue trading while they seek to find a new owner for the business.

In the meantime, we’ve had to make some changes. We’ve summarised them below. Some of them are temporary, some are permanent.

1. Online Sales: We expect some disruption to our online services over the next few days while we make some changes. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

2. Refunds and Exchanges:Until further notice, we will not be able to offer refunds or exchanges for products purchased either before the administration or for products purchased from the date of the administration. 

3. Pre-Orders: No new pre-orders can be taken until further notice. No refunds can be given for any pre-order deposits which have been paid. We are reviewing this over the next week.

4. GAME Reward card: We have had to suspended use of GAME Reward Cards. This means that points can be earned but NOT redeemed until further notice.

5. Gift cards: We have also had to suspend GAME gift cards. The value on these cards cannot be redeemed. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

6. GAMEWallet: The value stored in GAMEwallet accounts will be suspended until further notice following the appointment of administrators.

7. Pre-owned Software: You can still buy pre owned products at great prices in your local store or online. If you trade in a pre-owned software item then you will still be able to accrue reward points and use your trade in to exchange for another item. You will not be able to trade in pre-owned software for cash. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

8. Pre-owned Hardware:We have had to suspend trade in for pre-owned hardware at this time. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

9. Click and Collect titles:We have had to suspend this service. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.

Angry Birds Space Makes a lot of People Happy

Angry Birds Space has been downloaded an incredible 10 million times in just three days. The official @AngryBirds twitter account revealed: “10 million Angry Birds Space downloads in less than 3 days! Thanks to our fans, stay tuned for more”. The app is still unavailable for Windows Phone users, but Rovio are believed to be working on a port, according to Eurogamer.

Wii U Hardware “On Par” with Current Gen – Darksiders II Developer

The developer of Darksiders II, Vigil, has been quoted in an interview with Swedish games website GameReactor (translated by Eurogamer) stating that the Wii U tech is “pretty much the same” as current hardware. According to Marvin Donald, the game’s director, Nintendo doesn’t yet have an official Wii U launch date, but they hope Darksiders II will be a launch title.

“We got the game running on their hardware pretty quickly, and the controller’s been great to work with. Now it’s just down to deciding what we really want to do to make it a unique experience on the Wii U; taking advantage of the extra screen and the touch capability and all that. So, we’ll have a few new features for sure, but I think visually, for the most part, it’ll be pretty much the same.”

“So far the hardware’s been on par with what we have with the current generations. Based on what I understand, the resolution and textures and polycounts and all that stuff, we’re not going to being doing anything to up-rez the game, but we’ll take advantage of the controller for sure.”

What do you think about this news? Did you expect the Wii U to be more powerful than current consoles? Or will you be happy if Nintendo can compete with the graphics of the 360 and PS3?