Looking for some videogame action, but want to save a buck or two on the side? Then you'd better head on over to your local Target or Circuit City this week, as they've got quite the deals lined up for the budget-conscious gamer. From today's latest releases to the classics of your childhood, look no further than this article to get the full info on what you can buy with the money in your wallet. Click on the read more button for more info.

If you own a Nintendo DS, and still haven't bought Advance Wars: Days of Ruin or plan to buy Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles, then you may want to check out Circuit City's offer. They have a nice 20% discount on all Nintendo DS games. Yes, all DS games. Read the full article to find out more.

If you're in the market for a Nintendo DS Lite but want your future handheld to be just a bit more unique, then the Cobalt Blue/Black DS Lite may be just the thing you're looking for. Of course, you may have to wait a bit longer, as it seems there's a slight issue about its availability. Check out the entire details after the jump.

If you're on the brink of gaming starvation because you've been playing old titles over and over, Circuit City's US$ 8.96 game list just might be what you need. With news of such a deal, Videogameplayerz has managed to acquire a list of the games included.

To know more about the list, head on over to the full article.

If you've been planning to get a handheld console, now may be a good time. Circuit City is currently offering PSPs for US$ 169.99 while the DS Lites are at US$ 129.99. Purchasing either of the two will earn you a free game worth $ 19.99 or less.

There are plenty of titles worth trying out with a low price tag. For the PSP, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition can satisfy your need for speed. Fight Night Round 3 is for avid boxing fans, while GTA: Liberty City Stories is for those who want to take the action beyond fist fighting.

Lots of highly praised games for the DS can be yours for free too, like Guilty Gear Dust Strikers, Cooking Mama, Sonic Rush, and Big Brain Academy. A couple of these have been on sale, but still, the best things in life are free.

As people say, you can never be too early. If buying online is your thing, Circuit City is a good place to start your handheld adventures.

The online retail store Circuit City is on a generosity streak for the moment, as we pick up word on their current video game bargains for titles you guys may take a fancy to. First up is EA Game's Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for the PC, which will be selling for US$ 39.99 come its release this March 27 (as listed on the site).

Also up for grabs is a copy of THQ's S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl for the PC, which sells for just US$ 29.99. S.T.AL.K.E.R. was released earlier this March 20.

That's just the cherry topping for the rest of their sweet deals,as we report three other games being sold for just US$ 19.99:

• Meteos: Disney Magic (DS)
• Diddy Kong Racing (DS)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360)

In line with these prospective bargains, make sure to keep an eye out for C&C 3's Xbox 360 release in May, in case Circuit City decides to give this port a discount as well.

Good news for Nintendo DS owners, as two good DS games have finally gone on sale over at retail store Circuit City. Now going for an affordable US$ 13.99, it won't hurt so much now to give away Cooking Mama and Big Brain Academy as presents for someone whose birthday is coming up, or for your little brother who has been asking for them for months now. So, for less than twenty dollars including shipping, go ahead and make a friend happy, and get them another game for their DS.

Cooking Mama is an adorably cute cooking simulation game that was published by Majesco Entertainment and released in the U.S. in September last year. Meanwhile, Big Brain Academy is a game that falls under the edutainment category. It was developed by Nintendo and released in June last year. The game tests the player's capacity when it comes to logic, memorization, analysis, computation, and visual identification.

While legislation to incur stricter penalties for mature games isn't exactly taking off, it looks like the retailers aren't going to be taking any chances. According to insider info taken from the GameStop retail chain, any employee caught selling M-rated (that's 17+) games to minors will be fired.

This info comes in light of GameStop's conference call last week, wherein managers were informed of the stricter policy. The new rule further details that not only will the offending employee get the boot, but his direct superiors (the managers) will suffer a similar penalty - probably in an attempt to reinforce command responsibility. It will be remembered that GameStop is a member of the ESRB Retail Council, alongside Circuit City, Best Buy, and Blockbuster Video.

Given the sort of flak we've been hearing on gaming (not just here, mind you), we'll consider this as a form of good news from the retailer's side - glad to know they're doing what they can to ease the flames. Unfortunately, we do see one loophole to this rule - what about the parents buying these games for their minors? Then again, that's just us. What's your say on this, guys?

Ben Kuchera over at Opposable Thumbs has it right: for $20 and a chance to make virtual food, Cooking Mama is a great deal. But he can't find it. His quest to get a copy:

• He went to a game store that had only two copies. They were sold out.
• The next one could hardly cover their pre-orders.
• The third one had a copy. But it was being tried out by an employee. So it wasn't available yet.
• At EB (Gamestop), the game is back-ordered and none of the stores in Ben's area were expecting any more copies.
• Best Buy is sold out.
• Circuit City hasn't heard of the game.

He brought up an interesting point: he hasn't seen a review. This game is "one of the quietest cult hits."

What's our take on this? It looks like game vendors underestimated the demand for this game. And why should they have expected people to look for it? It has no violence (except for boiling things, I suppose). There are no bombs, rockets, or huge explosions (the pot gently simmers most of the time). And Mama is fully clothed. Yet the gameplay and premise of the game has made it something to look for, and the use of the two screens is clever. In other words, if you liked WarioWare, you'll like this game. If you can find it.

Buy (if you can find it!): [Cooking Mama]

Just this summer, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) launched a new initiative that would definitely strengthen its video game ratings system: the "seal of approval" and its mystery shopping program were initiated.

Not only will these new programs strengthen the ratings system, it's also supposed to boost public awareness regarding games and their ratings - or at least that's what they're hoping to happen.

Included in these new programs by the ESRB is dubbed "Commitment to Parents." This will require retail stores who have signed up for the program to agree to train their sales staff about the board's rating system, promote the said game rating system and set up a system for complaints made by consumers regarding sales violations.

ESRB's programs may have been implemented during this crucial time that the gaming industry is under scrutiny by a lot of politicians and parent groups. Some people though are considering this move by the board a mere show as their rules regarding the sales of games are voluntarily being heeded by most retail stores.

Rocky Mountain News conducted its own mystery shopping experiment where they used a 15-year old kid to try and buy Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from five major stores - Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, Circuit City and Target. He wasn't able to purchase the game, meaning these major retail stores are enforcing these ratings.

According to ESRB's president, Patricia Vance, since most stores already respect the rating system for games, it's up to the parents to respect (or voluntarily follow) the ratings. Vance said that most of the time, the parents are the reason how underage kids get their hands on games with a 17 and above rating - thus, the "Commitment to Parents" program.

Let's just see if these new programs help in getting politicians' and concerned groups' eyes off the gaming industry soon.