Video games retailer GameStop is revamping its game trade-in program in a way that will ultimately put more money in consumers' pockets. According to a report on Kotaku (based on a leaked internal memo sent to employees), the new system will officially launch on Aug. 18 and will vastly simplify the retailer's current trade-in program.

Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House said during a presentation at the Develop conference today that the company changed its 2013 E3 script at the last minute because of fan reaction to various missteps by Microsoft on a number of issues - particularly its stance on used games. House emphasized that it never changed its policies in response to Microsoft but it did tweak its E3 press conference presentation to highlight the PS4's strengths.

A new Android app on Google Play promises to make trading games as easy as 123. The new app is called Jiggster and it allows users to list the games they are looking to swap and what titles they are interested in.

A new game trading company called Game Gorilla wants to help you make safe trades of your games with strangers by serving as the middle man. The company is currently running an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign to raise $50,000 to make the service a reality. If fully funded the company hopes to provide a service that lets users trade console games with anyone in the United States for $5 plus shipping and handling.

It will soon be legal to rips CDs, DVDs, and other media in the United Kingdom, according to this TorrentFreak report. The UK government has released a guide informing its citizenry that an upcoming revision of copyright laws in the country which will make it perfectly legal to make backup copies of CD and DVDs for personal use. Those changes will be in effect this summer.

GameStop reported sales of $3.68 billion for the forth-quarter of 2013, a 3.4 percent increase over the $3.56 billion the company reported in the same period a year ago. It comes as no surprise that the retailer attributed the increase in sales to the launches of Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One in November of last year.

A source close to the situation (who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to talk about the matter) has informed us that GameStop is in a battle at locations around the country that are in a general proximity to Walmart. Walmart launched its video game trade-in program today, offering consumers the ability to trade in their old video game software for in-store credit.

Walmart announced this week that it is getting into the used games business. Beginning March 26, customers can trade in their video games and apply the value of those items immediately towards the purchase of anything sold at Walmart and Sam's Club, both in stores and online.

Those trade-in games will be refurbished and made available for purchase in like-new condition starting this summer. Walmart says that this new category of merchandise is new ground for the company but it decided to give it a shot because customers have been asking for it.

According to this Eurogamer report UK retailer HMV is getting out of the used games business to make room for other merchandise. A "UK industry source" told the publication this morning that HMV is no longer buying used games or game systems.

According to the web site for law firm Osborne Clarke, the results of the German court case against Valve for not allowing Steam accounts to be transferred or the ability to sell pre-owned Steam games are in.

Are big publishers finally turning a corner on trying to tame the used games market? If you believe some Sony and Electronic Arts executives this week, it sounds like they are finally acknowledging that the used games market is an important part of the video games ecosystem. Yesterday Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House told Game Informer that used games sales generally go back into buying new games.

Kicking off a series of successive nut punches to Microsoft, Sony announced during its E3 press conference that the Playstation 4 will feature no new restrictions on used games.

Ah but the Playstation Network Terms of service clearly state that you can not resell disc-based software "unless expressly authorized" by Sony.

Wait, so can we or can't we?

Both a Sony rep and Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida have clarified that we will be able to resell our PS4 games.

Sony is reiterating what it said during E3 earlier this year: users can sell their used games without too much trouble. The clarification comes on the heels of an update to the company's Sony Entertainment Network terms of service. Besides saying that it reserves the right to monitor PlayStation Network users' actions and share it with authorities as it sees fit, the updated agreement also states that games are services and cannot be resold.

The update to clause 7 reads:

If you don't already own a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 and don't mind buying a refurbished used console, then a sale announced by retailer GameStop might be of interest to you. GameStop is cutting the price of its refurbished PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles from October 11 - 24. No doubt it wants to unload some of its older inventory to make room for the next-generation Xbox One and PS4 launching in late November.

Yesterday, it was suggested that GameStop received a new shipment of the fairly rare and in demand RPG Xenoblade Chronicles and is selling them as 'used' for $90.

Why would GameStop mislabel a batch of new games as 'used' when it could command a higher price selling them new?  Like the number of licks required to reach the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know because all anyone's been able to get out of the games retailer is why a used copy of Xenoblade costs so darn much.

When you go to eBay, Craigslist, or some off-the-beaten-path retro game store you expect some level of price gouging to happen. People selling old games in these spaces categorize them as collector's items and try to sucker you into paying $500 for an old copy of a game (like Minish Cap for GBA). But when GameStop does it, you have to wonder what the heck is going on. Apparently that is exactly what the world's largest video gaming retailer is doing, according to this Kotaku report.

A federal judge in Camden, New Jersey has given the greenlight on a lawsuit against GameStop filed by three customers who claim that three of the company's South Jersey stores sold used games that sometimes cost more than buying the game new. The lawsuit alleges that GameStop did not disclose to customers that buying used games would have additional costs of anywhere from $10 - $15 online. All three of the plaintiffs bought EA games, which up until recently contained online passes.

GameStop is giving a $50 credit to users who trade in Xbox 360 versions of select games for Xbox One copies. The promotion covers standard retail editions of Call of Duty: Ghosts, Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

Codemasters revealed today that it will drop its plans for an "online pass" in its upcoming Formula One racing title, F1 2013. Earlier this year EA announced a similar discontinuation of its online pass system, prior to the reveal of the Xbox One and PS4. Codemasters did not say if it would drop the online pass system for its other racing franchises Grid and Dirt. Typically online pass systems require consumers to enter a code that comes bundled with the game before they play it online.

Earlier this week, Ready at Dawn Studios boss Ru Weerasuriya opined that retailers not sharing the profits generated from used game sales with the publisher/developer is not fair.

GameStop is taking everybody for a ride with the pre-owned games market, according to Ready at Dawn Studios boss Ru Weerasuriya. And by everybody he means developers and publishers. Speaking to GII, the head of the studio for God of War: Chains of Olympus and upcoming game The Order: 1886, thinks retailers like GameStop are making "a living at the expense of everybody else."

While Microsoft, Sony, and even Nintendo seem to be on the same page about messing with used games on their new systems, publishers are still being non-committal about how they will approach used games sales in this new generation. In the past some have tried everything from always-on DRM to online passes and even forcing customers to use software clients in order to play their games.

According to fresh comments from former Epic Games creative director Cliff Bleszinski, Sony is responsible for Microsoft's decision to abandon restrictions on used games and region locking - not consumers who complained about it online. During E3 week Cliff Bleszinski threw his support behind Microsoft's Xbox One and its new DRM measures.

The former Epic Games developer then took to Twitter to state that Sony had played into some of the negativity around the Xbox One, which eventually saw Microsoft change tact.

The world's largest video game retailer issued a statement praising Microsoft's new policy on Xbox One as "great news" for gamers and is a testament to Microsoft's understanding of the importance of the used game market. The retailer said it welcomed the news, while analysts rightly noted this morning (as the company's stock saw an uptick in trading) that GameStop stands to benefit greatly from Microsoft's shift in policy.

Realizing that it has lost the war on Xbox One's online requirements and its used games policies, Microsoft announced today that it is abandoning them altogether. Microsoft has changed its stance on always online and used game policies to be more like they were on Xbox 360. In a blog post explaining the changes President of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, Don Mattrick, laid out the changes.

Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated analyst Colin Sebastian offered his E3 Expo wrap-up report to investors, saying the Sony's PlayStation 4 was the clear winner at the trade show which ends in a few hours.

Sebastian said that after meeting with multiple publishers and evaluating all of this year's E3 press conferences, his firm remains cautiously optimistic on the sector. He said that platform holders still need to offer a compelling reason to upgrade, and a clear value proposition for mainstream audiences.

When asked by CVG if Microsoft plans to change course on its "connect once a day" requirement and policy on used games for Xbox One, Microsoft executive Phil Spencer said that his company's stance on those issues is fixed and "definitive" - at least in the short term.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that if game developers and publishers are worried about used games cannibalizing new games then they should simply make better games. He also said that it is important to support the used games market because the sale of a used game usually goes towards the purchase of a new game.

The best way for console makers to deal with the used games market is to ensure their games are so good that people don't want to trade them in, he told Polygon. But supporting used games is also important, he added.

EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said during an Electronic Entertainment Expo analyst call today that the company is formulating a customer-friendly strategy for used Xbox One and PS4 games based on information released by platformer holders Sony and Microsoft.

Gibeau said the secondhand market has "certainly been a topic of discussion this week" and that his company is still digesting the information revealed earlier in the week. He promises a more definitive statement on the topic at a later date.

Legendary Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto says that used games are less of a concern than the elephant that has always been in the room: piracy. Speaking to CVG Nintendo's most prominent and prolific game creators said that piracy is a bigger threat to his company's business than the used games market.