It’s time to turn out the lights and empty the popcorn for troubled rental chain Movie Gallery which, according to the Wall Street Journal, will close all of its United States stores. Movie Gallery had stores under that name and also owned Hollywood Video and its Game Crazy retail offshoot.

The company had originally used the dreaded word “reorganization,” which often leads to this outcome anyway. After filing bankruptcy twice in a little more than two years, Movie Gallery couldn’t keep it going. WSJ reported that Movie Gallery never recovered from taking on $600 million in debt through the 2005 acquisition of Hollywood Video and Game Crazy. Those were better financial times and going to a video rental store was how almost everybody picked up a movie for the weekend.

Preorder items quite often determine where someone will actually pick up a certain game. When it comes to the forthcoming Wii on-rails shooter Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, players have a choice. They can go with the ever-so cool, but slightly impractical, zombie face t-shirt preorder that is only available at GameStop stores. You can pull the shirt up over your face to create an impromptu zombie mask. Or, you can go take the more subtle approach and preorder at Game Crazy so you can get the Raccoon City Police money clip.

Preorder items quite often determine where someone will actually pick up a certain game. When it comes to the forthcoming Wii on-rails shooter Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, players have a choice. They can go with the ever-so cool, but slightly impractical, zombie face t-shirt preorder that is only available at GameStop stores. You can pull the shirt up over your face to create an impromptu zombie mask. Or, you can go take the more subtle approach and preorder at Game Crazy so you can get the Raccoon City Police money clip.

Both items have their obvious pros and cons. The zombie t-shirt is a t-shirt that turns you into a zombie…

The economic pressures have gotten to yet another company, as Movie Gallery-owned Game Crazy is closing 200 stores. Blockbuster Video is also having serious problems, as game rental services including Gamefly are doing quite a number on traditional video game rental stores.

It’s never good to hear about 200 stores closing but the silver lining for gamers is the chance to pick up some games on sale. Clearance sales at those locations are beginning now, so you will want to check and see if one of the locations near you is closing.

If you’ve got an upcoming game reserved at a Game Crazy, you’ll want to make extra sure that the location is staying open (although the Hollywood Video portion of the stores are remaining open). Destructoid is reporting that a lot of the stock from the closing stores include consoles and this year’s game releases which are getting moved to other locations.

The game retail market could be getting a little more competitive, if the photo of a recent Best Buy ad is any indication.

An eagle-eyed Cheap Ass Gamer reader in Utah spotted a Best Buy advertisement proclaiming the retailer would match GameStop and Game Crazy’s used prices on new games. Right now this may be a test to see if the program is workable on a larger scale.

The latest Atlus newsletter offers an interesting deal for Atlus fans. Apparently, Game Crazy stores are going to be getting a limited stock of old Atlus games to sell. People who stop in can place an order for some select Atlus titles. The deal isn’t available online – the email clearly states that you have to actually visit a Game Crazy store to take part. The ad doesn’t say anything about prices, so make sure to ask before placing any orders.

The ad clearly shows six games, with at least four hard to find titles…

Namco Bandai has just announced an amazing incentive to preorder Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm for the PS3 at certain stores – downloadable content (dlc). That’s right, you’ll get free stuff, only available by a direct download, if you decide to preorder the game at GameStop/EB Games or GameCrazy. There is a dilemna though – each store will have a different preorder deal.

If you stop by your local GameCrazy and preorder, you’ll receive a download card with your game that will unlock the Hidden Leaf Village’s Second Hokage as a support character and also provide a new single-player mission. If you decide to go to GameStop/EB Games’ website or store and preorder, you’ll get a card that unlocks the First Hokage support character and another single-player mission. Since these are going to be cards that unlock dlc, they’ll most likely be good for one download only, so you’ll have to decide which Hokage you think looks best…

For all those early risers braving the traffic and long lines at checkout counters, here’s a quick look at Game Crazy’s Black Friday advert. Most GameCrazy stores are located next to a Hollywood Video store (since they are owned by the same company) and will open early, though times will likely depend on individual stores more »