Blockbuster putting videogames in "new releases" starting with "Grand Theft Auto IV"

Even if you haven't been in a Blockbuster store in a while, you probably remember the importance of that "new release" outer wall. I know when I was a kid, before Netflix and before Xbox Live video downloads (the two ways I rent movies today), going to Blockbuster on a Friday and scanning the outer walls for anything new and exciting to bring home and watch that weekend was always a big and exciting event (surmise what you will of my social life as a child).

That's why it's a pretty big deal for gamers -- albeit not nearly as big a deal as it would have been a decade ago -- that Blockbuster Video is adding videogames to that valuable "new releases" real estate on the outer wall. During an interview I did with Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes about "GTA IV," he confirmed to me that his troubled chain is using the game to launch video games on the "new release" outer walls:

The magnitude of the "GTA IV" launch is a real springboard for us in some ways. Based on the huge expected popularity of this game, we made the decision to use it as the centerpiece for our move to the wall. This is a big event for Blockbuster. The new release wall is sacred ground for us. With the introduction of "GTA IV," we are going to launch a new release section of the wall with all three major platforms represented. We think that's going to attract a lot of people to our game offerings.

Blockbuster, of course, has been struggling in the face of intense competition from Netflix, online downloads (legal and illegal), the big box stores, and a general slowdown of the homevideo market. It's attempting to buy Circuit City in a bid to gets its hands on more digital devices that are used to distribute and watch movies at home.

In that context, the videogame biz, with its 50%-plus growth rates, has got to be mightily attractive. So while Blockbuster putting videogames on the new releases wall should result in greater respect for and consumption of games in the mass market, it's even more a sign of how badly the traditional entertainment industry wants a piece of the fast growing videogame coin.