If you've longed for using currency that doesn't come at the expense of your credit card on Google Play, then you'll be delighted to hear that Google has officially announced the availability of Google Play gift cards.

Those cards, which come in increments of $10, $25 and $50, will make their way to such retailers as Target, RadioShack and GameStop in the United States over the next few weeks. Google says that these cards will be available on Walmart.com later this month, but not in Walmart stores for some reason.

EA Games executive vice president Patrick Soderlund said during a recent interview with Computer & Videogames that brick-and-mortar retail distribution will probably be dead in the next decade. He also thinks that the new generation does not care all that much for owning physical copies of games. He also noted that the acceleration of the digital distribution space is not slowing down, even as packaged goods sales are.

In the United States, there is no law forbidding retailers from selling an M rated game to someone under age 17 and thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. EMA, that’s not likely to ever change.

But is that the way it should be?

Across the pond in the UK, retailers are legally forbid from selling PEGI 12, 16, or 18 games to kids younger than the rating indicates.  Are the Europeans doing it right?

Retail video game sales fell 20 percent in July compared to sales in July of 2011, according to retail research firm NPD Group. The U.S. video game industry saw $548.4 million in July, compared with $686.3 million in the same period a year ago. July marks the eighth consecutive double-digit drop since November of 2011.

Declining sales in July are believed to be the result of a lack of new releases during the month, a disinterest in consoles like the Wii and the tail end of console life cycles. Consumers spending more on digital goods is also having an effect on retail numbers.

Packaged goods sales in the United States will drop 26 percent in 2012, according to analyst Doug Creutz of Cowen & Company. Creutz says that double digit declines in the sale of video games at retail are likely to continue all the way to the end of 2012 due to the tail end of the life cycle for the PS3 and Xbox 360 console, as well as the continued weakness related to the Nintendo Wii.

CD Projekt RED announced that The Witcher series has managed to hit a major milestone: over 4 million copies sold to date. The numbers come from the collective worldwide sales of The Witcher for PC and Mac, and The Witcher 2 for PC and Xbox 360. The Witcher 2 will soon be available on Mac systems. The Witcher games on PC and Mac are DRM-free, which we'd like to believe was a contributing factor in the strong sales for the series...

GAME Australia will officially shut down on July 8, with the remaining 15 stores closing across the country, according to administrator PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Last month PwC announced that GAME Australia would be closing the remaining stores but did not offer an exact date at the time. The Administrator for GAME Australia also announced that the remaining assets of the video game retailer would be liquidated to pay down the company’s debt.

In a not-so-surprising twist, Games Australia administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that at today's creditors meeting stakeholders came to the conclusion that the best thing that could be done for the troubled retailer is to liquidate the company. Today administrators Kate Warwick and Greg Hall were named as the liquidators who will oversea the final and irrevocable sale of GAME's assets.

GAME Australia administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced that it will "immediately" shut down 16 retail stores in Australia, with the remaining 15 stores to be closed in the "coming weeks." The retailer went into administration (bankruptcy protection) last month, and while there was plenty of optimistic talk about saving the chain in Australia in the lead-up to today's news, most believed the writing was on the wall for the company.

Citing an anonymous source close to the retailer, GameSpot Australia is reporting that all of Australia's GAME retail stores will be shut down by the end of next week. The anonymous source also asserts that the business is now "$120 million in debt."

Despite all the talk about a next-generation console future where consumers are not allowed to play their used games by evil platform holders like Microsoft and Sony, retailer GameStop says that such a future is unlikely. The video game retailer firmly believes that the next generation consoles from both Sony and Microsoft will handle the business of retail trade-ins and used game sales the way they always have - by mostly ignoring them. The company made its remarks during an investor meeting with analyst firm Baird Equity Research.

The Digital Media Association (DiMA), Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA), National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), and National Association of Theatre Owners declare June to be "Entertainment Ratings and Labeling Awareness Month." June has been proclaimed "Entertainment Ratings and Labeling Awareness Month" by the groups since 2004. The participating organizations are encouraging movie theaters, and retailers of movies, music, and video games to highlight the importance of ratings systems to their customers.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, administrator for GAME Australia, announced plans to close a number of underperforming retail stores in the country today. PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that it will close 60 stores in Australia and lay off 264 employees. Seventeen additional employees will be let go at GAME's head office as well.

"This is a difficult time for employees and closing the stores was not a decision we made easily," said Kate Warwick of PricewaterhouseCoopers. "However it is not financially viable to continue to operate at this level at this time."

Troubled UK retailer GAME announced via Twitter today that it has canceled its GAMEfest event this year.

"I'm afraid #GAMEfest won't be happening this year - but we do have some cool things in the works! Stay tuned," the company said to several consumers who enquired about the event.

In a subsequent tweet the company said that "by the way - this doesn't mean it won't happen next year. *wink*"

The Australian arm of UK games retailer GAME made headlines on Monday when it told customers that it couldn’t honor its pre-orders for Diablo III. As one might imagine, this was not great for the company's reputation amongst customers, but luckily Blizzard stepped in and saved the day. This news came after news on Monday that it had entered into administration and had named PriceWaterhouseCoopers as the administrator.

According to a report in the UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph video game retailer GAME has announced that its Australian division was going into "voluntary administration." The company has chosen Pricewaterhouse Coopers to deal with its current financial complications, though the accounting firm said that the 92 stores in the country would continue to run while things were sorted out. The company employs about 500 people in Australia.

One of the things we did not note when we wrote about it earlier this week is that, with the PEGI rating system coming to the United Kingdom, there will be a change in the law that retailers will want to take note of. According to the official release from the Department for Culture Media and Sports (DCMS) the Video Standards Council (VSC) will have the right to "refuse to grant an age-rating for a video game if it includes extreme content” (which means it can’t be sold in the UK).

Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2012 Global Technology Conference this week, Electronic Arts chief operating officer Peter Moore has said that retail is still "where it's at" for most customers, despite the amazing growth for the company in the digital space.

How much are consumers willing to pay for Nintendo's latest console, the Wii U? According to one report, Nintendo thinks they will be more than happy to plunk down $300. According to Forget The Box, "sources closely involved" in manufacturing Nintendo products claim that it costs $180 to make the Wii U  and an additional $50 for the tablet controller. Because of that, the sources say, Nintendo will set the retail price of the Wii U at no less than $300.

GAME came out of administration over the weekend with a new owner, and a former managing director has returned to run the company, according to GamesIndustry International. The new owner is Baker Acquisitions, who were advised by OpCapita. The firm has bought all the UK assets of GAME, and will keep 333 stores open, saving nearly 3,200 jobs. The company hopes to re-employ a small number of the head office staff.

UK video game retailer GAME has brought both GAME and Gamestation's UK websites back online after being shut down earlier this month right before it went into administration. Yesterday it was rumored that a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland was working on a deal to get GAME out of administration by the month's end. Both Game.co.uk and Gamestation.co.uk are both back up, with both sites offering a handful of deals on various new and used games. Both sites currently offer only limited functionality.

Troubled UK video game retailer GAME is troubled no more, according to this MCV report. According to MCV, GAME is set to exit administration thanks to some white knight action on the part of a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Citing sources "close to the negotiations," MCV contends that "a deal to save the retailer is incredibly close" to being finalized. If that happens, GAME could be out of administration as soon as March 30.

A group of former Irish GAME employees have been staging on-site protests at a number of now shuttered stores in Ireland and have released a statement explaining why they are so upset with the video games retailer that recently went into administration. The protests are a direct response to GAME and administrator PriceWaterhouseCoopers refusing to pay fired employees for the remainder of their contract, holiday pay owed and other compensation owed.

The group says that it will continue their protests until PwC amends its decision. The full statement can be found below:

Troubled UK video game retailer GAME has officially entered into administration, with PricewaterHouseCooopers named as its administrator. According to a GamesIndustry International report, the company has taken both game.co.uk and gamestation.co.uk down, and has begun closing stores in the UK.

GameStop is banking on a new deal with Blizzard that it hopes will shore up its digital sales over the next several years. The deal will see GameStop offer customers the ability to buy games and digital goods for Blizzard games in the retailer’s stores in the U.S. and other regions. Diablo III, coming May 15, will be the first game sold via download codes in the stores.

MCV writer Christopher Dring runs down the list of companies that might be able to pull troubled UK games retailer GAME out of its financial troubles. The names thrown around in his article include private investment firm OpCapita, US-based retailer Walmart, US-based games retailer GameStop, and retail restructuring firm Hilco. Along with listing all the reasons these companies might have an interest in buying GAME, the article lists all the reasons what harm such deals could do to the retailer.

Electronic Arts' UK Managing Director Keith Ramsdale said that he expects GAME to survive its current administration woes and return to High Street after its administration process is complete. Speaking at the Westminster Media Forum today, Ramsdale also rubbed some salt in the wounds of GAME by saying that the games it couldn't stock like Mass Effect 3 and FIFA Street were selling well through alternative retailers on High Street and online.

GAME has officially filed to enter into administration today. The UK-based video game retailer had its shares temporally suspended from trading this morning prior to making its move.

Goldman Sachs (a company our tax dollars helped keep going - you're welcome!) is the latest financial investment firm to buy stock in The GAME Group. The U.S.-based firm purchased 13,120,220 shares in the UK-based video game retail company March 12. Yesterday it was revealed that U.S. investment firm Blueshore Global had acquired an eight percent stake in the retailer. The buy-in by Goldman Sachs entitles the firm to 3.78 percent of its voting rights.

Time is running out for UK retailer GAME if you believe this story from MCV, but several companies have quietly approached the troubled retailer about an acquisition according to another MCV report. One of those potential suitors is rumored to be Walmart, which has about 9,000 retail stores nationwide. Why a general goods retailer would want to buy a specialty retailer like games is beyond me.