After getting the unfamiliar taste of profit out of its mouth, Infogrames is hungry for more. To this end, the parent of oft-addled Atari announced that it has cozied up to fellow publisher Namco Bandai to handle distribution of the latter's titles in both Europe and Asia. GI.biz writes that Infogrames' distribution activities in those regions will be consolidated as a result of the agreement, with Namco Bandai taking ownership of some 34 percent while leaving the remainder in the hands of Infogrames itself.

According to the report, Infogrames expects to find its wallet pleasantly filled with added revenue as a result of the deal thanks to added efficiency and every Economics major's favorite phrase -- economies of scale. The report further notes that Infogrames is also open to partnering with other companies over similar deals in the pursuit of greater profitability, no doubt helped when not weighed down by any pesky big budget monkeyshines.

It's like the GameFly Austin, Texas post all over again, except now it's Tampa, FL. Heck, we'll just copy the first part of the post from last time with a few small edits: A very observant reader noticed while searching job listing website Monster.com that GameFly, the online game rental service, is looking for a manager in the Austin, Texas Tampa, Florida area. The job description clearly states: "GameFly, the leading subscription based video game rental company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA will be opening a satellite Distribution Center in Tampa. We have an outstanding opportunity for an OPERATIONS MANAGER." The listing looks completely legit and we're happy to see GameFly continuing to open distribution centers -- anything to cut down turnaround time is a good thing. We've contacted GameFly for confirmation.

If our strange deja vu keeps up and this plays out exactly like last time GameFly will respond saying, "GameFly is definitely looking at a variety of locations for an additional distribution center, but we don't have anything firm to announce just yet." The simple fact of the matter is the Ops. Manager is one of the first pieces of the distribution center puzzle. We're not expecting the Austin or Tampa announcements for a little bit, but we're glad they're happening. For those keeping track, when Austin and Tampa open, GameFly will have four distribution points in the US. We're also happy to report the East Coast center has cut down our turnaround to a week.

[Thanks Anonymous]

A very observant reader noticed while searching job listing website Monster.com that GameFly, the online game rental service, is looking for a manager in the Austin, Texas area. The job description clearly states: "We are the leading subscription based video game rental company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. We will be opening a satellite Distribution Center in Austin and we have an outstanding opportunity for an OPERATIONS MANAGER." The listing looks completely legit and we're happy to see GameFly continuing to open distribution centers -- anything to cut down turnaround time is a good thing. We've contacted GameFly for confirmation.

This would mean the rental service will have two distribution centers beyond their original California location. They just recently opened and expanded service at their East Coast branch located in Pittsburgh. For many on the East Coast, they've seen their turnaround time go from two weeks to around one week. Sadly, GameFly's growth has caused Xbox 360 and Wii game availability to appear in short supply and there was a recent $1 increase (although Netflix recently did a $1 decrease, so for subscribers of both it balanced out). We're guessing the tech-friendly city of Austin's distribution center will service the middle of the country. Don't expect the distribution center to open for a couple months though, they're obviously still staffing the place.

[Thanks Raymond]

On the heels of revamping their system, making it easier to understand for customers, GameFly announces the official opening of their East Coast distribution center today. We reported last month that Gamefly was planning on opening an East Coast distribution center in the next couple months to cut down on the week-long turnaround for East Coast members.

The new center is located in Pittsburgh and is intended to "serve East Coast and midwest members." This means that members within three states of Pittsburgh,PA can probably look forward to Netflix-style turnaround now. It's also worth repeating that GameFly really does have some of the most ridiculously good deals in used games on the market. Nothing wrong with good service and reasonable game prices.

In a move that should bring much rejoicing by Gamefly members, compounded by their distance from Inglewood, Calif., Gamefly is finally opening up an East Coast distribution center. The site is located in Pittsburgh, PA. An official announcement has not been made by Gamefly about this new hub because they are working out the kinks to "supply the best experience possible."

Part of the email sent to certain members read, "Initially, we are launching this new distribution center for only a small subset of our members so we can complete our testing and training efforts. Over the next several weeks, we'll broaden the reach of this new distribution center to more members." Gamefly says the official announcement of this new center is not expected for a month or two.

East Coast members of the service have become accustomed to week and a half long waits in receiving their next game. Gamefly's fast return, which was meant to recognize when a member dropped a game back in the mail and then send out the next title on the queue, has been a hit or miss system. This new distribution site should cut down shipping times and alleviate traffic in the West Coast center, meaning faster turnaround there. All good consumer news. Gamefly also has some of the best deals in used games, they'll even ship the buyer the "new" case and manual.

Almost everyone who has gone online with the computer or a game console has probably downloaded something at one time or another, whether it's been a song, a photo, a game, or a set of horse armor for their equine friend. But are digital downloads the wave of the future for full-on distribution? Developers are hoping so, because it will cut down tremendously on competing for shelf space at the local Mega-Lo-Mart, not to mention all those costs for printing games, manuals, boxes, shipping, and the like.

The panel consisted of Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimted one of the big "shelf" retailers, especially with their newly announced mega-game Turning Point: Fall of Liberty due this coming November. From the other end of things was Dan Conners, CEO of Telltale productions who is in the middle of releasing Sam & Max as an episodic game, before packaging everything up into a retail edition. In the middle (and sadly, without much to offer) was David Burks, the marketing manager for Seagate Technology. You gotta store the downloads somewhere, right? In all fairness, Seagate was one of the SXSW sponsors, and he probably felt a bit shoehorned into this panel.

The on-again, off-again game-industry history of Warner Bros. seems to be "on," with the announcement just days ago that the company plans to buy 10 percent of SCi; now Warner Bros. says it will distribute Codemasters games in North America. According to Reuters, the distribution deal will begin in April, 2007 and will run through May, 2008. Financial details haven't been announced.

Time Warner has maintained a positive attitude about its online distribution-and-publishing business, GameTap; could the Warner Bros. announcement be a step towards original retail publishing?