GameStop to Release "Certified" Gaming Tablet Based on Refurbished Hardware

It's a twist on that old NBC sitcoms slogan: if you haven't used it, it's new to you!

GameStop (NYSE: GME), the world's largest retailer of video games new and used, is getting ready to sell consumers a specially-branded tablet that will neither be new nor special.

According to GamesIndustry.biz (via AppleInsider), the GameStop tablet will not be produced using current hardware. But instead of selling a newly manufactured version of an older device, the video game retailer plans to purchase a number of existing (and apparently used) tablets to resell in its stores.

“I don't see any need to create a new one with the three hundred or so on the market already," Tony Bartel, President of GameStop, told GamesIndustry.biz. “We have a refurbishment centre and we can bring in the product and preload certain games onto it. It's an Android device.” Bartel said that this tablet will be a “GameStop certified gaming platform.”

Why would the company take this path? Looking at the cost benefits, GameStop may be aiming to sell a tablet well below the typical iPad-style pricing of $499. Judging by the success of the HP TouchPad, consumers are clearly eager for cheap alternatives.

However, it is unlikely that the company will be able to sell a tablet for anything less than $150, which is still too much for a used, last-generation Android tablet. It might be a fun device – it might even end up being the preferred alternative to the iPad. But now that consumers have had a taste of what a brand-new, $99 tablet feels like, they're not going to quickly pay more for an older and weaker (and used!) device.

But there is one key element that GameStop has gotten right: the company plans to ship a dedicated controller for the tablet, essentially turning the device into a portable game console with a built-in screen.

“So we've created a controller that we're testing to really allow for immersive gameplay,” Bartel explained to GamesIndustry.biz. “It's hard to imagine how to stream a game – let's say Modern Warfare 3 – onto a tablet and then play it with your finger.”

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