GameStop Prices in the Retail Guide

As you know, we've had GameStop prices on our site for a couple months. That's handy when you're looking to price a few games or when comparison shopping. If you run a retail video game store, checking the website for every game in your store might be a bit tedious.

To make it easier for retailers to price their inventory competitively, we now include GameStop prices in our Retail Price Guide. By downloading a single file, you can make sure that you never charge more than GameStop.

You could print "Our Price: $9.99 GameStop: $12.99" on your price labels. Or advertise locally that you always beat GameStop prices. However you use it, we hope you enjoy the new information. As always, our price guides are free for NES, SNES, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. You only have to pay if you want prices for the other consoles.

Game Collectors Have Family and Friends Too

Some researchers have said video games can cause social problems and lead to aggressive behavior. Our data at VGPC shows that gamers still have family and friends and their video game addiction hasn't driven all their loved ones away.

Traffic to VGPC.com dropped more than 30% on Thanksgiving Day. We assume those who didn't use VGPC on November 26th were eating grandma's pumpkin pie, playing football with their friends, or in a turkey induced coma.


If we compare the traffic hour by hour on Thanksgiving Day vs the previous Thursday you can see that traffic on the site was pretty much the same the whole morning and late in the evening but the big difference was during the traditional meal time between noon and 3pm.

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Gamers do have family and friends, but they only want to spend a few hours with them before they get back to their game shopping. And by Black Friday, they are back with the rest of the US comparing prices in full force.

Atari Air Raid Up for Sale - Super Rare

An auction for Air Raid for Atari 2600 was just listed on ebay last night, it's already selling for $1,999. Air Raid is definitely one of the most sought after Atari games for any collector.

Air Raid was the only game ever made by MenaVision and only five have ever been found to date. The game has a very distinctive cartridge too. It is sky blue with a handle for easy loading and unloading in the 2600 console.


Air Raid is a shooter like Space Invaders but the action takes place over a city instead of in outer space.

The exact number of Air Raid cartridges that were produced is unknown and not very much is known about Menavision either.

With the auction of Music Machine two days ago, this is turning out to be a great week for Atari 2600 collectors, or at least the two collectors who buy these games.

UPDATE: Thanks mndrix for the reminder, the auction closed at $2,850, which makes it one of the most expensive Atari 2600 games.

Sealed Music Machine Sells for $5,250

A super rare, sealed Atari 2600 game called Music Machine sold on ebay for $5,250.

The game was sold in Christian stores and there was an LP and cassette with the same name. The game tries to teach kids about the "Fruits of the Spirit", which are love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Here is how the seller described it:

"Symbols representing character-building qualities (the Fruit of the Spirit) are raining down from above. Stevie and Nancy need your help to collect the symbols and to avoid the mischievous pudgeons...and with each gift of Love you collect, the symbols rain heavier and faster. Get points by collecting the Fruit of the Spirit symbols. Play alone or challenge a friend. Read the booklet and learn a valuable lesson."

Apparently Christian video games make great collector's items. Other games like Super Noah's Ark 3D, Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, and Sunday Funday are all rare and fairly expensive too.

Maybe I should take a trip down to the local Christian bookstore and buy every video game they have in stock. Or maybe they no longer make Bible video games because they didn't sell very well and that is why they are so rare and expensive now.

On a side note I can still sing some of the songs from the Music Machine cassette that I made my mom play in the car when I was a kid. If only I had begged her to get the video game too!

Sources: Kotaku and HotBloodedGaming

Happy "Lowest Game Prices Week"

Historically, a day during the second week of November has the lowest used game prices of the whole year. The exact day shifts around from year to year so I can't say exactly which day it will be this year. So I making the whole week a holiday and calling it "Lowest Game Prices Week".

Price usually follow a trend similar to this:

Prices drop at the beginning of the year
Hold steady during the summer months
Drop a little more in October and early November
And then spike up in late November and December

This week is the best time to buy used games during the whole year so celebrate the holiday by treating yourself to a classic you've never played before. Or buy those Christmas presents now before the prices start going back up.

I'm waiting to hear back from Hallmark on making some greeting cards for the occasion but haven't received a call back yet. Hopefully by next year Hallmark will officially celebrate it. If there can be an International Magic Week, there can be a "Lowest Game Prices Week".