These days, GameStop has a lot of reasons to celebrate. It's working on an industry that's growing every day, it's posting some serious numbers financially, and has recently opened its 1,000th store outside of the US.

The Texas-based game and console retailer has opened new stores recently in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Norway to hit the thousand-store milestone. Prior to that, the company has already branched out to Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, Guam, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

GameStop points to the booming hardware sales led by Kyoto-based Nintendo with its DS handheld and Wii console. Microsoft and Sony are also pitching in with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, respectively.

Total sales posted by the retailer last year amounted to US$ 5.32 billion and is expected to grow even more this year as hot demand continues for pole platforms. The first quarter of fiscal 2007 saw GameStop with its best quarterly performance ever with US$ 24.7 million in profits while gross sales were at an all-time high of US$ 1.279 billion.

Gamers in Finland better start taking a good look at those age ratings a little more closely, as the Finnish government has tweaked their media classification system to make Pan-European Game Information ratings (PEGI) equivalent to actual laws.

The Finnish Parliament decided to move the power for rating games from their movie ratings group, the Finnish Board of Film Classification, to the PEGI. In a nutshell, Finnish law will now reference PEGI ratings almost exclusively with regard to their laws on video game regulation. This is some sobering news for those gamers who were hoping to grab an 18+ rated game, at least in Europe.

This also makes some changes to Finnish game ratings in general. Game Politics notes in their coverage that Finland's previously given age ratings of 11+ or 15+ will now be rated as 12 or 16, as per PEGI's standard. It doesn't seem so bad, given that's it's only a few months difference, but conscientious parents might just keep some games away from previously eligible gamers.

There is one bright side to this, however, as some games that are normally rated as Teen by America's Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) happen to have much lower ratings with PEGI. If you're in an area under PEGI jurisdiction, then you can find amusement in knowing that a game like Need for Speed: Carbon has a 3+ rating there compared to ESRB's Teen rating.

Mobile phone company giant Nokia just put an end to rumors circulating for some time now that they are re-entering the games market. What's the real deal? Nokia is indeed resurrecting the dead! And while their tag line remains "Connecting people," they are hell bent to disconnect Nintendo and Sony from their handheld fan base.

"There’s going to reach a point where we and other handheld platform owners are battling for the same partners and the same consumers," disclosed Nokia UK and Ireland Head of Games Martin O’Driscoll. The official then confirmed that established publishers and developers have already signed up to produce content for their new Nseries phones and S60 software.

If this is the case, it seems that the Finland-based company has learned from its previous mistakes. O'Driscoll continued, "We’re moving into a new competitive space, where we have a real attractive offering for the games consumer. These are no longer just casual games. They are real games played by real gamers."

Accordingly, Nokia conducted a previous survey about worldwide mobile gaming habits. The study also revealed that the community will play a vital role for mobile gaming's future developments. The new series of mobile phones will be released early next year. And as to how much these phones would cost, O'Driscoll unwittingly commented,

The consumer will have to make a decision: does he wants a standalone gaming device with a limited browsing capability or a phone with an MP3 player, a camera and a bloody good games platform? I think consumers will be prepared to spend £300 (US$ 586) on a phone that offers all those different things rather than £100 to £150 for a stand alone games machine.