GAME fully restores Reward Cards and Gift Cards

UPDATE: GAME and Gamestation stores are now accepting hardware trade-ins and pre-orders.

The shop this afternoon welcomed gamers to pre-order Rockstar's Max Payne 3, for example, due out in May.

Gamestation customers can also transfer their Elite card points to a GAME Reward card where their local Gamestation has closed down but a GAME remains.

Stores should have more games this weekend, too. GAME in the White Rose Centre in Leeds tweeted to say it was getting deliveries of mint stock from today.

ORIGINAL STORY: GAME Reward Cards and Gift Cards will be fully restored this weekend, GAME Group has announced.

Their use had been restricted while the high street shop was in administration, preventing customers from redeeming reward points and buying products with gift cards.

"While our loyalty scheme and gift cards were suspended by the administrator during the period of administration last week, now that the business is under new ownership they are being reinstated in full this weekend," GAME said in a statement issued to Eurogamer. "Customers will be able to use them as normal."

GAME Group's new owner Baker Acquisitions drafted in Martyn Gibbs, former managing director of Gamestation and subsequent bigwig at GAME until mid-2011, to be CEO of the new UK operation. The GAME Group that was is no more, and this week asked for its securities to be removed from the stock exchange.

Baker Acquisitions, owned by Comet parent OpCapita, snapped up the UK GAME business, comprising 333 shops, at the weekend. A priority for the company will be to get publishers on-board so it can sell new games - something it has struggled to do so far this year.

GAME said this afternoon it was "working hard" to restock stores. "There will be a much bigger range of products for customers to choose from in the next couple of weeks," it said.