Crispy Gamer News

While most retailers ate their hats in December (yes, even Wal-Mart), games retail Gamestop did pretty well. Don’t let it go to your heads, folks. The country’s largest video game retail announced today that sales for the November to December 2008 period jumped more than 22 percent over last year’s numbers.

Gamestop’s sales hit $2.86 billion during the holiday season, driven by new games like Call of Duty: World at War, Guitar Hero World Tour, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Gears of War 2 and Wii Fit. Hardware sales were led by Nintendo’s Wii (of course) and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Based on those better than expected sales, Gamestop has raised its fourth-quarter earnings guidance by 2 cents  $1.31 to $1.34 per share. Analysts that watch the interactive entertainment segment predict a share price of $1.31 a share. The company did not disclose how much of these sales involved used software and hardware.

I am not sure if Amazon.com is trying to cut the throats of traditional retail or not this holiday shopping season, but the online retailer is certainly offering some great deals on video games. On Monday, December 1 until 11:59pm Pacific Time, consumers will be able to take part in a number of great Cyber Monday deals, which I have listed in their entirety after the jump. Supplies are limited, so get them while you can.

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Quick. Somebody call Gene Hackman. It looks like GameStop is working on its own sequel to The French Connection. The video game retailer announced early this morning that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Micromania, France’s leading video game retailer with 332 locations throughout the country.

The deal, worth about US$700 million (EUR 480 million) in cash, is subject to clearance by the European Commission and is expected to be finalized next month. Under the terms of the agreement, GameStop will purchase virtually all of the outstanding shares of the company. GameStop intends to fund the transaction through cash on hand, a draw on its existing revolving credit facility, and a $150 million committed term loan from Bank of America. The deal will mark GameStop’s first foray into the French market, and will expand the franchise’s foothold in Europe to over 1077 total retail locations.