Holding on to my own copy of Katamari Forever as of two days ago, I was quite astonished to have it what seems to be ‘early’.

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Well, who would have guessed that the Wii would still be in short supply after all this time? I wouldn’t have thought so, that’s for sure. If you asked me a year and a half ago, I would have put my money on any of the other systems being in short supply. Nevertheless, here we are with the Wii reportedly in low supply for the next six months.

During its investor’s phone call GameStop COO Dan Dematteo was asked by investors if he saw an end to the post holiday shortages that affected the 360 (were those true?), DS (who doesn’t own one?), and Wii (is Nintendo causing these?). He chose to focus on the Wii since it seems that it is the only system that still might be in shortage, saying that supply “won’t meet demand for the next 2 quarters.” That’s a bit of time, huh? I can’t believe Nintendo would be intentionally doing this still, even though I never believed they were in the first place.

Dematteo also commented on the other systems, saying that the 360 and DS were in good supply while the PSP was getting a bit hard to find. As for the PS3, he said they have plenty of those for all the people out there wanting to pick one up when GTA IV releases… which is also coming out for the 360. I guess it could still spur sales.

GameStop CFO David Carlson also had a word to say about some price cuts coming for both the PS3 and 360. The company is predicting a $50 price cut for each system within the next year. With the positive response the 360 had in Europe after their recent price cut, this can’t be that far from the truth. At least for the 360; do you think that Sony can lose even more money on every system they sell?

Consumerist.com has an article about GameStop, and how exactly you should be shopping there. The article is called 28 Confessions Of A GameStop Shift Supervisor. A GameStop employee gives us 28 tips about GameStop, including explanations of store policies, tips on trading in games, and why the hell so many employees ask you to reserve games so much. I suggest reading this if you certainly want the best out of your GameStop experience…if it’s not already obvious what you should be doing in the store in the first place.

Kotaku reports that GameStop managers have been instructed to take down any signs advertising the Xbox 360 Core package to prepare for the new Core package which contains the console, 256MB memory card and wireless controllers. The old package, for all of you out of the loop, is the most basic of all Xbox 360 packages and just contains the console itself, without any memory device, and a sole wired controller. Let’s hope that this rumor turns out to be true, so that even the cheapest of the cheap can save their games without being forced to buy separate overpriced memory cards.

There were huge Halo 3 launch parties across America and the rest of the world (although later). Those were the ones that got covered, that everyone wanted to be at, and that no doubt had by far the worst lines and wait times. While those select cities may have made the biggest deal out of Halo 3’s launch, thousands of other retailers were open across the country to make sure everyone got their copy as early as possible (without being incredibly lucky or downloading it illegally). One such midnight launch happened in Prescott, Arizona, and I was there for it all.

It may not have had the flash and flare of the big city launches, but there were less people to wait behind and it was still plenty of fun.

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“We’re more popular than Jesus.”

— Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, 2007

It’s Official: Halo 3 is the biggest entertainment launch in history. It made $170 million in the United States in the first 24 hours alone, beating everything from movies like Spiderman 3 to books like Harry Potter. While that is the biggest record Halo 3 has broken, it’s not the only one - September 25th was the most active Xbox LIVE day in history, with over a million people online within the first 20 hours. It was also the fastest pre-selling game ever, with 1.7 million preorders.

And this is only the beginning, as GameStop’s Senior Vice President of Merchandising Bob McKenzie expects “it to be the biggest video game title generator in GameStop’s history,” and Jill Hamburger, vice president of movies and games at Best Buy, says it “is on track to become the number one gaming title of all time.”

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The Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction demo CD is out at your local GameStop if you have $5 to put down on the actual PlayStation 3 game. Just pre-order from GameStop and you get the demo disc. Now, if you don’t want the game, but you still want to play the demo (and if you’re one of the few who actually own a PS3), then you might want to wait for the demo to be released on the PlayStation Network on October 4 for free.

It’s either pay and play now, or play for free later. $5 vs. free? Eh, I’d choose the free play, but for those of you who want this game badly, and plan on buying it, I guess $5 isn’t so bad.

According to IGN, Lair is already for sale at some stores and should be available at even more tomorrow morning. However, it’s not a mistake by a worthless employee - Sony was the one that told them to let let loose a bit early (5 days to be exact). A post at Evil Avatar reveals that Gamestop, EB Games, Circuit City and Best Buy have all been told to start selling the game.

They’re probably hoping that gamers will pick it up now and won’t get a chance to see the reviews. It isn’t getting great reviews, with IGN even giving it a 4.9 (out of 10) - and the only way Sony is going to make much is if the people buying the game don’t know how bad it is.