Walmart has finally decided that it will share its video game software and hardware sales data with research firm NPD Group. The firm had been hampered by not having sales data from Walmart and instead had to estimate weekly and monthly figures related to the retailer. NPD today confirmed that it has reached an agreement with Walmart to receive and analyze its point-of-sale information from it retail stores and Walmart.com.

The agreement also covers many other industries that NPD tracks, including Entertainment, Apparel, Home, Hardlines, and Toys.

According to this MCV report retailers are telling the publication that if publishers stop using online codes, they would be willing to share used game revenues with them. This would - at least anecdotally - show that online pass code schemes employed by companies like THQ, EA, and others are having some sort of negative affect on used game sales.

According to new data released by analytics firm comScore, online retailer raked in an estimated $35 billion in the United States during the lucrative holiday shopping season that runs from late November to December. The biggest jump with this 56 day shopping season took place on Black Friday - a day usually reserved for traditional retailers to make big bucks on sales. On the day following Thanksgiving, online sales increased an impressive 26 percent to $816 million. Cyber Monday also produced record results.

For its end of year sale, game rental company GameFly is offering 50 percent off its used game titles. Obviously all of these games have been man-handled by rental customers, but that shouldn't stop you from finding a good deal. At a glance - taken from this sale page - GameFly is offering Brink Xbox 360 for $6.99, LA Noire PS3 for $11.99, Two Worlds II PS3 for $9.99, Mario Strikers Charged Wii for $12.99, Enslaved Xbox 360 for $9.99, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded DS for $19.99, and Rabbids Travel in Time 3D 3DS for $19.99.

New data released by Japanese retail research company Media Create reveals that the 20 titles that launched with the PlayStation Vita sold a combined 300,000 units. This happened, according to the firm, in the first two days of Vita's launch. The system sold an estimated 325,000 units in the same timeframe. According to Andriasang - who translated Media Create's numbers, this gives the Vita an attach-rate of around 0.92 games per system. That rate might be a bit higher because these numbers don't take into account games purchased online through PlayStation Store.

GameFly is finally putting that acquisition of digital distribution platform Direct2Drive to good use. According to a Joystiq report, the video game rental company has launched the public beta for its PC game distribution client. The highlight for GameFly members is that they can play the entire PC library for no charge.

Crime is taking a bite out of retailers' fairly decent sales numbers for the holiday season so far, according to trade group the National Retail Federation. According to estimates from the group, around 40 percent of theft is caused by organized crime rings, "returns" fraud, and shoplifting. Crime has costs U.S. retailers tens of billions of dollars already according to the group.

Dino Patti, CEO of Limbo developer Playdead, says that retail in its current state is "broken" and "inefficient."

The National Retail Foundation has launched a $10 million dollar advocacy campaign to push its national agenda onto the political scene for the rest of the year. The trade group representing traditional retailers says that it will spend some of that money on lobbyists to push a 13-point legislative agenda important to its memberships. Notable exceptions include corporate tax reform, fixing or repealing the employer health care mandates passed by President Obama, and enacting the "Main Street Fairness Act." The latter should be noted by consumers because it wants U.S.

Former DOOM and Quake designer American McGee thinks that retail is an outdated model and in Shanghai (where he lives and does business with his company Spicy Horse) no one buys games anywhere but online. In an interview with Industry Gamers McGee said that retail is just a place in China where everyone manhandles merchandise they want before they go home and buy it online.

Video game retailer GAME Australia has revamped its customer reward card with a risqué new feature that lets customers use their fingers to simulate various male naughty bits. The cheeky marketing gimmick has drawn a lot of attention - with a slight bit of it being negative. MCV is reporting that multiple complaints have been filed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). GAME did not acknowledge or comment on those complaints; instead it talked to MCV about how wonderful the rewards program is for its customers.

While Amazon might be on the precipice of usurping legislation passed earlier this year by the state of California with a voter referendum this November, lawmakers are on the attack. The New York Times chronicles the fight going on in California in this article, which is interesting because it pits traditional retail in the state against online retailers.

Microsoft claims that over two-thirds of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions purchased are obtained at retail, as opposed to using Xbox Live to renew subscriptions or buy new ones. According to what Microsoft tells MCV, 68 percent of the premium subscriptions for Xbox Live are purchased via retailers.

Robin Burrowes, marketing manager for Xbox Live, also said that Microsoft is "very respectful" of retail, and has no plans to simultaneously release Xbox 360 titles at retail and via digital download at the same time.

Konami Europe's top executive says that publishers are taking a shellacking from retailers in the United Kingdom because of their competitive pricing and constant sales battles and he's had enough. Speaking to MCV, the publisher’s European chief Kunio Neo said that the UK market is suffering, while other territories such as Germany are thriving. He blames the constant sales battles among retailers in the UK and he has a message for them: Stop the price wars.

Independent video rental stores across the U.S. and Canada are banding together for a common cause: to promote a Video Store Day Oct. 15. The goal of this special day is to show the public that there are still alternatives to rental kiosks like Redbox and from Blockbuster, and streaming entertainment services such as Netflix and Hulu. Clearly local video rental stores have taken a savage beating at the hands of those juggernauts.

Target is ramping up its in-store trading program to include more items that have a cash value and can be used towards purchasing new goods, the retailer announced today. The company said today that customers can save money on "back-to-school purchases: by trading in their used electronics and video games. Target’s Electronics Trade-in service (in partnership with NextWorth) has expanded to 1,490 of its stores across the country where Target Mobile centers are located, and new product categories have been added to further expand the service.

Australia's Productivity Commission, an independent advisory board that focuses on the "economic, social and environmental issues affecting the welfare of Australians," is now setting its sights on video game prices in the country. A new report entitled "Economic Structure and Performance of the Australian Retail Industry" details the sticker shock Australians face when it comes to buying video games. The report details the practice by publishers of artificially increasing the price of games.

New research from the NPD Group reveals that many consumer electronics purchases are made with the express purpose of letting the kids use them. According to the company, 78 percent of portable video game systems purchased and 56 percent of portable digital media players purchased were for kids. The research also shows that there are almost as many kids using computers (73 percent) these days as there are using televisions (74 percent). Three-fifths of kids (60 percent) are using a portable or console gaming system as well.

It only took them a decade to come around. Walmart has decided to begin providing its U.S. sales data to outside parties, including research firms we care about such as Nielsen and NPD Group. All this is according to a report in Advertising Age.

For the last 10 years, NPD has been unable to provide data for retail game sales at Walmart and its Sam's Club stores, leaving a gaping hole in the numbers that firms such as NPD provides. With access to the Walmart and Sam's Club data, NPD could provide a more detailed picture of how video games are performing at retail in the U.S.

Nielsen has said that it will start providing Walmart and Sam's Club data to its clients in "a few months." NPD has not commented officially on this story.

Source: Gamasutra

The National Retail Federation has released its annual Organized Retail Crime report for the previous year. The National Retail Federation’s Organized Retail Crime survey, now in its seventh year, is conducted every spring to gauge the impact and severity of organized retail crime. The survey focuses on large scale theft of goods such as jeans, videogames, and house wares - anything that is popular and easy to sell.

Are retailers in the United Kingdom discriminating against games that dare to associate themselves with Valve's popular digital distribution system? One publisher says says yes. According to Russian publisher 1C Company, some brick-and-mortar retailers are refusing to stock its PC titles that have ties with Valve's Steam platform. 1C Company claims that UK retailers have told them that if their game uses Steamworks, they won't be allowed on store shelves.

"[Steam's confidence] compares very favorably to that of the retail chains," 1C's UK publishing director Darryl Still told CVG in an interview. "[Those retail chains] recently sent a command to publishers that if they include Steamworks in their title it will not be stocked."

"Those guys need to grow up, stop bullying, and focus their attentions on making their offerings as attractive as the people they are obviously looking over their shoulders in panic at," he added.

New research, based on three different surveys, finds that parents want a universal ratings system for all media formats. The research, which gathered the responses of 2,300 adults from three different surveys found that most parents were generally satisfied with ratings related to television, movies, video games, music, and handheld devices. Nevertheless, a majority of surveyed felt there should be some sort of universal rating system for all media, including web sites, music CDs, and games played on handheld devices.

Some parents also said that the differences in the ratings systems for different types of media were often inconsistent and confusing, though most complained about television ratings that didn't properly convey what kinds of content a given program contained.

The United Kingdom's Department for Culture, Media and Sport said this week that complex technical details are behind the delay of implementing PEGI age-ratings for video games in the UK. There is some doubt that the ratings system will become law this year, but the DCMS says that it is working hard on getting it done.

"We are working to put the scheme into implementation as soon as possible," a DCMS spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz, but did not offer a revised timetable.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, UKIE, the Video Standards Council, and ratings body the BBFC, are said to be at a "delicate" stage in the negotiations. Sources familiar with the matter tell GameIndustry.biz that there is a general optimism that the system has a chance of becoming law "by Christmas." All involved want to sort out the details and get things right the first time, before pushing forward.

Forget about the "rent is too damned high" party, gamers down under are getting robbed by retailers, according to a consumer group. Australian consumer rights publication CHOICE has submitted a document to the government's Productivity Commission last week demanding retailers lower the price of games.

The group called on "importers, distributors and retailers to pass some of the savings they are enjoying thanks to the strong Aussie dollar on to Australian consumers." As an example, CHOICE claims that Australian consumers can save about 90 percent on the price of Portal 2 if they purchase it abroad instead of at home.

The Australian dollar is worth about as much as the US dollar, CHOICE says, but the price of video games has not come down in the country.

UK retail outlet Dixons Retail will start selling games via a new digital game download market. The new online service will run across three websites: bespoke Dixons, Currys and PC World. Like every other digital distribution platform, customers buy their PC games online, download them onto their computer and can write reviews for them afterward if they so desire. The new digital store uses the gaming download service Ztorm.

The first 10,000 customers who sign up for the new online games store can choose four free games worth up to £50. Chris Rogers, category manager of gaming at Dixons Retail said that new offering enhances the retailer's existing gaming offerings.

“With hundreds of games readily available, we’re confident that the download site will be hugely popular,” he added.

Source: MCV UK

According to an Edge report citing multiple sources inside various UK retail chains, consumers are growing tired of the PlayStation Network outage (now in its third week) and are trading their hardware for Xbox 360 systems. The various sources are saying that consumers are trading in PS3 consoles and games for cash or for replacement systems, and that PSN point card sales are on the decline.

"In the first week of downtime we did not really see any major change in sales or trades,” said an unnamed store manager at a major UK retailer. "However from the second week onwards we have seen an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 instead.

South Australian Attorney-General John Rau says that he will support a measure that introduces the R18+ classification for games in the region, and replaces the MA15+ rating. Under Rau's new version of video games classification system, the ratings would be "G," "PG," "M" and "R18+." M15+ would be completely eliminated. Rau hopes that his new system will be adopted by all of Australia, but he's certainly willing for his region to "go it alone."

"At the moment, the MA15+ classification is like a crossover point between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable," Rau said to ABC News. "We want that to be a very clear gap. We will have a new classification R18+ and the MA15+ will disappear."

Bo Andersen, President & CEO of the Entertainment Merchants Association today applauded the efforts of video game and DVD retailers in enforcing ratings systems and keeping adult material out of the hands of teenagers. Both groups did pretty well in the latest "undercover shop" by the Federal Trade Commission, which seeks to identify the level of ratings enforcement by leading video game, DVD, music retailers and movie theaters. Andersen said,

"[The] EMA is pleased with the leading performance of its members in enforcement of the video game ratings and the significant improvement in enforcement of the DVD ratings. The credit for these improvements goes to the individual retailers who have made ratings enforcement a part of their corporate culture, and in the case of video games, the ESRB and their ESRB Retail Council."

The latest Federal Trade Commission undercover shopper survey found that video game retailers continue to enforce the sale of "M-Rated" games to minors better than any other industry. Overall, sales of R-rated movie tickets, R-rated movie DVDs, unrated DVDs, music CDs carrying a Parental Advisory Label (PAL) that warns of explicit content, and video games rated "M" to minors were on the decline.

"Our undercover shopper survey demonstrates some progress," said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. "But more needs to be done."

The FTC recruited 13- to 16-year-olds, unaccompanied by a parent, to attempt to buy media content that was not appropriate for their age groups. The undercover secret shopper program ran from November 2010 to January 2011. Teenagers attempted to buy these products from national and regional chain stores and theaters across the United States.

While rumors last week indicated that Nintendo might slash the price of the Wii console to $150, retailers around the country seem to have taken the matter into their own hands. What we do not know is if these price cuts are sanctioned by Nintendo or if retailers simply decided to slash the price to move stock. Whatever the reasons, the Wii is available at a number of retail outlets for $169.99. Best Buy was apparently the first retailer to list the lower price sometime on Friday, but others soon followed.

Now retailers such as GameStop, Target, Toys 'R' Us, and Amazon have listed the Wii at the same price. Walmart has lowered the price of the white Wii system to $179.

We do not know if this is a permanent price drop, sanctioned by Nintendo, or simply an indication that retailers are losing confidence in the Wii (the latter is doubtful). We will wait and see what happens, but if you do not already own a Wii now is as good a time to buy one as any.