Best Buy and Target announce video game trade-in programs

[Bob369963]

Best Buy and Target announce video game trade-in programs, clearly don't read webcomics

By Paul Miller posted Aug 26th 2010 6:26PM
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For some reason the used-video-games-as-controversy stars have aligned, and Best Buy and Target picked now of all times to announce new used game trade-in programs. Target is going to offer in store credit for all sorts of electronics trade-ins, including games and DVDs, with just a few stores for now, but expanding to 850 stores by the end of the year. Target isn't making any mention of reselling that stuff just yet, but Best Buy plans to start selling used games "soon," on top of the 600 stores it's launching it own trade-in program in this week. What's so special about all this? Well, THQ CEO Cory Ledesma just made headlines for a bit of a rant about the topic ("We hope people understand that when the game's bought used we get cheated"), and then Penny Arcade weighed in with a comic, as is their wont, which kicked off a bit of a gamer vs. publisher vs. retailer internet battle of the words. Which is our favorite kind. With online distribution, one time unlock codes, and DLC all warring to make used games obsolete, this debate might be moot in a few years time, but for now there's no shortage of opinions on the subject, and we'd love to hear yours in the comments!