Scans of a flier have been going around various message boards, showing Gamestop requiring a total of $50 worth of trade-ins as your deposit on a PS3 or Wii preorder. Cash or store credit aren't accepted. It turns out the promotion is limited to Hawaii, however Gamestop is using it as a kind of test bed to see how customers react. If this pre-order method proves successful, they may expand it nationwide.

The benefit for them is obvious -- software stores make a large chunk of their money from used game sales, and $50 in used games is worth more to them than $50 cash. For the consumer, it's not quite such a perfect deal. If you're like me and you don't have any games you want to get rid of, you're shut out of a preorder altogether. Gamespot suggests that the added money the stores get from the trade-ins would keep them from resorting to selling new consoles in bundles for extra money, but why would a store drop one money making method for another when they could have both?

I do wonder how this would affect those turds who preorder a dozen consoles to sell on Ebay. Many of them are not gamers in the least, and wouldn't have any games laying around to trade in. I suppose they could hit the flea markets and garage sales, but at some point that has to become more hassle than it's worth.