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Remember the year 2000? When the PlayStation 2 came onto the scene and blew our Sega Dreamcasts out of the water? What about 2005, when Microsoft released the Xbox 360 and ushered in a new generation of game consoles, thus starting the latest round of console wars.

The only thing gaming fans love more than games is to argue about which system is superior. . .

“The Xbox 360 rules!”

“No, the PS3 is so much better!”

“Xbox!”

“PS3!”

“Aren’t you two forgetting the Wii?”

. . .(sound familiar?)  But the numbers never lie.

For Sixth Generation consoles (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube), Sony blows the others out of the water, with almost 140 million consoles sold.  Microsoft’s Xbox had 24 million by late 2007, and, despite the lack of recent sales data, still probably trails Sony by more than 100 million consoles. The GameCube clocks in at a lowly 22 million (as of last summer).

The tides turned, however, with the Seventh Generation of gaming consoles. To date, the Nintendo Wii has sold more than 50 million, the Xbox 360 more than 30 million, and the PS3 almost 23 million.

But even though these sales figures are great indicators of a console’s performance on a global scale, they do not necessarily reflect a gaming system’s worth to individuals. Resale values are much more important to users. Just take a look at these numbers:

As you can see from the above price trend, a perfect 20 GB Xbox 360 is worth a cool $70.

A perfect Wii can be sold for $108.

And a 20 GB PS3 in perfect condition is $119 in your pocket.

Considering that the 360’s original price was $399, the Wii’s was $249.99, and the PS3’s was $499.99, it looks like the Wii has won this round of the gaming wars. But we could have predicted this outcome—without even knowing Nintendo’s massive sales number.

Look at the trends: the average Gazelle offer price for the Wii has stayed remarkably constant, falling only $21 since last October. The PS3 and Xbox 360, on the other hand, have each lost $49 in value. Clearly, time is a gamer’s enemy when it comes to selling those old systems.

Today we went to Zipcar’s launch event for it’s Low Car Diet program. If you’re not familiar with Zipcar, it’s the world’s largest car sharing company providing cars on demand in dozens of cities through the US, Canada and the UK. And if you’re not familiar with Low Car Diet… it’s a summer promotion run by Zipcar where they get 30 people in a bunch of cities to live without their personal car for 30 days. Instead they rely on walking, biking, public transit, and a limited amount of Zipcar usage.  Since after joining Zipcar, their members say they typically drive thousands of miles less per year, save hundreds of gallons of gasoline, and prevent all that pollution we’re big fans of this program.

We were one of a few sponsors, including Montague bikes (this is actually pretty cool you can take the front wheel off and fold the bike in half to easily fit in your car in about 10 seconds), Vitamin Water , and RunMyErrand.com so we were in good company. The event was held inside the main entrance of South Station off Atlantic Ave. There was some good networking time before the start of the press conference and we met some great people from each of these innovative companies. The press was out in full force (I’m sure you can catch it on any Boston news station tonight) and Zipcar GM Dan Curtin, Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith, and Boston Mayor Menino all spoke. Each applauded the participants in the program for going car-free and talked about the need to continue to work together on innovative solutions to solve the city’s environmental challenges.  We agree, and we’d love to work with Boston to prevent those thousands of cell phones and other electronics from being thrown away each day. We then got to see a demo of Zipcar’s iPhone app., which allows you to reserve, unlock and even honk the horn of your reserved Zipcar all from your iPhone- pretty cool, and the Mayor even tried it out on a bright yellow Mini Cooper parked outside.

We met lots of great Boston residents and got to tell them all about Gazelle. We raffled off an iPod Touch to a lucky winner, and handed out coupon codes for 10% on the next transaction with Gazelle. Shhh….here’s a little secret, the code is “3GS” in honor of our favorite new iPhone, use it at checkout for a bump on your next transaction.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our Twitter contest so far. Keep tweeting, we’ll be picking our second winner next Friday, June 19th just in time for the launch of the new iPhone 3G S.

Below is our winner and some for our favorites from this week!

Our first Twitter winner is Blogathomemom. We think it’s time you moved on from your RZR to the new iPhone too! Congratulations on being our first $199 winner- we hope it helps you upgrade!

blogathomemom: dear razr, you’ve looked cute and stylish, it’s nothing you’ve done wrong, it’s just that I’ve moved on… I need an iPhone #RIPhone

Additional favorites:

globalprincess: The time has come to lay to rest my newest cellphone that was the best. Now my 3g is old news the 3gs has got me singing the blues #RIPhone

Alexandrialeigh: Phone battles valiantly with glass full of beer. Struggle ensues. Beer emerges victorious. #RIPhone

gkimberwhiteDear Moto, I know it’s not cool to break up over Twitter, but my cellphone is unreliable & this way I know you’ll get the message. #RiPhone 

MissionDesigns: motorola i836 you were a piece of junk. Now it’s time for me to move on. Sprint really stunk. #RIPhone

txa1265: Ode Smsng u740 perfect phone for me To talk Id flip you to, text Id flip you fro. New job had no-cam policy,darling u740 had to go #RIPhone

As you can tell from the buzz on this blog and others across the Internet, the new iPhone is coming! To celebrate the release of the iPhone 3G S, and memorialize our old phones, we’re holding a contest on Twitter.

Here’s how it works:

1.    Log on to your Twitter account.

2.    Eulogize your old phone in a tweet that includes the hashtag #RIPhone.

3.    Win! Gazelle will award $199 to one lucky wordsmith each Friday ‘til the new iPhone’s release.

So how do you fit a eulogy into 140 characters? Just try and be as creative as possible. We suggest that you try to focus on one specific experience with your old phone or maybe write in Haiku verse. Another possibility would be to work on a simple good-bye. It’s up to you! We look forward to reading your eulogies. Remember the first winner will be picked tomorrow June 12th, so what are you waiting for!!!

Boston, MA. - Just in case you missed it last night channel 4 Boston (WBZTV) ran a feature story on Gazelle during their 11 o’clock news. They also had a chance to interview some of our customers to get their views on our service. Make sure to check out the video below for the complete coverage. You can also view the write-up here. Enjoy

Today is a big day for us.  We officially launched our new charitable giving service Gazelle For Good. This new and exciting service allows anyone to start their own charity by setting up a drive through Gazelleforgood.com.  Gazelle For Good allows anyone to raise funds for a cause by starting an online gadget collection drive.   The drives can be personalized by uploading photos and setting financial goals to keep your supporters tied to your drive. If you are looking for a way to raise funds without asking people to part with cash, Gazelle For Good is your answer.

For all the details on Gazelle For Good check out the official press release below!

GAZELLE LAUNCHES NEW SERVICE TO HELP BOOST CHARITABLE GIVING NPOs, Corporations, and Individual Fundraisers Sign On to Use New, Non-Cash Fundraising Tool

Boston, Mass. – May 20, 2009 – Gazelle (gazelle.com), the nation’s largest company rewarding consumers for responsibly trading in their electronics, today announced the launch of its Gazelle for Good fundraising service (gazelleforgood.com). This new service enables fundraisers to raise money for a good cause by collecting used gadgets instead of cash – allowing everyone to get involved and support causes in their community regardless of financial means. Dozens of organizations and individuals have signed on to use the free service, including the Epilepsy Therapy Project, Little Red Wagon Foundation, and Pluta Cancer Center. Gazelle for Good connects NPOs, fundraisers and donors by providing them with a simple, customizable tool that enables them to raise funds without collecting cash. Using the service, anyone from a single marathon runner to the nation’s largest nonprofits are able to start a personalized online gadget drive. Donors simply visit the online drive to discover the donation value of their electronics and send them into Gazelle. Gazelle turns the electronics into cash and sends a check to the fundraiser to support their cause. Individuals can add Gazelle for Good to fundraising efforts and give supporters a new way to donate, and non-profit organizations can leverage this complimentary service to subsidize cash donations, which have suffered from the weak economy. According to the recent “State of Fundraising Survey” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, only 28 percent of all charities nationwide expect to raise more money in 2009 than in 2008. Drives can be done in conjunction with other fundraising initiatives, as an ongoing program, and leading up to a fundraising event. Currently, Zachary Bonner, a 5th grader from Tampa Florida and founder of the Little Red Wagon Foundation, is walking from his home to the White House to raise awareness and money for underprivileged kids. He will use Gazelle for Good as one of the fundraising options for people to donate to his Foundation. The Epilepsy Therapy Project, committed to advancing new treatments for people living with epilepsy, has also added Gazelle for Good to its mix, giving donors a new way to support epilepsy research and the development of new treatments. Visit their gadget drive webpage - epilepsy.gazelle.com/. Pluta Cancer Center, New York’s first independent, not-for-profit cancer center, has also started a Gazelle for Good gadget drive to support its mission to create a unique treatment program for each patient that revolves around their life, rather than their cancer. Visit the Pluta Cancer Center gadget drive at plutacancercenter.gazelle.com.

“Gazelle for Good gives individual fundraisers a new tool while bringing together NPOs who need to raise funds with donors who are seeking non-monetary ways to support their favorite cause,” said Israel Ganot, CEO of Gazelle. “We want everyone across the country to know that it’s simple to help out in your community and with Gazelle for Good anyone can start a fundraiser.”

How it Works:

1.    Gazelle for Good allows anyone to raise funds for a specific cause by facilitating a gadget collection drive to gather donations.

2.    In less than five minutes, fundraisers can log on to www.gazelleforgood.com to create a personalized Web page by uploading photos and setting their financial goals.

3.    Promotional tools help fundraisers promote their site to friends, family and other supporters.

Taking a look at the crowd at Chicago’s GreenFest it’s clear that “going green” is going mainstream. The Festival expects to attract between 30,000 and 40,000 people and the busy show included high school kids, families, leaders of NPOs,, tourists, and just everyday consumers looking to see the latest and greatest.

I’ll be honest that I spent most of my free time perusing sections that were handing out free chocolate…. Or other sweets, my favorite being Really Raw Honey, which I bought a oversized jar of to bring back home to Gazelle. I also spent sometime talking to the Director of Marketing at EcoScene- a service dedicated to informing consumers to make smarter purchasing decisions by rating green products. And I learned that you can heat your water purely with solar power…. Even during a Chicago winter.

So far it’s been a great day with thousands of people coming by to learn about Gazelle- a special thanks to customers who stopped by to say “Hi” it was awesome to meet you and we hope to see you again soon.

Gazelle is participating in Chicago GreenFest, taking place at Chicago’s Navy Pier this Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be posting about the event throughout the weekend, sharing cool finds and telling you about the new companies and people I meet.  Supposedly they are going to have the world’s first completely organic candy bar and the world’s thinnest, most sustainable wallet so my hopes of discovering some cool stuff are pretty high. If you’re in the Chicago area, come to the show and stop by to say hello.  We’ll be in booth 821 all weekend long. Full disclaimer: I love Chicago.  I love Lake Michigan, Wrigley Field, and boat trips down the river.  So you’ll have to forgive my general over-excitement about getting to be here and introduce Chicago to Gazelle.

Mayor Daley has taken it from one of the least sustainable cities to ‘one to watch’ by taking on the philosophy that the environment is “everyone’s responsibility.”  Programs under his leadership have changed the way the city recycles, he’s built parks (Millenium Park of specific note) and the city- so known for its turn of the century architecture- has become a leader in modern sustainable design.  My particular favorite is the GreenWay Self-Park garage , an environmentally-minded parking garage (yes, seriously) being constructed this year on the corner of Kinzie and Clark- using everything from wind tubines to “green roofing” to eliminate traditional energy consumption. I’m looking forward to checking out its construction and meeting many more “green” Chicago businesses and services across all industries, as well as telling them about Gazelle.

I’ll be back tomorrow- until then… hmmmm…. Should I go for a run on the lake or pay tribute to the city’s invention of the Ferris Wheel by taking a ride on the 14-story replica out on the Pier…. Decisions, decisions…

People everywhere have been celebrating Earth Day since it’s creation in 1970. Today Earth Day spans across 175 countries and is celebrated by over a billion people. Over the years people have always been encouraged to recycle paper, glass, and plastics in and out of the home. Families have done a great job at recycling these materials while helping out our environment. These common materials are broken down and reused to make other products and materials. In today’s household  we see many electronic devices that are either outdated, broken, or just collecting dust. Like glass, plastics, and paper many of the components in electronics can be properly broken down and be reused to produce other devices.

Here at Gazelle we have developed our “Gazelle Recycle Network” in order for people to find responsible recyclers in their neighborhood. The Gazelle Recycle Network has been created to support our customers looking to recycle their bigger electronic items that we don’t support online. If you have any items such as CRT Monitors, Printers, Scanners, Fax Machines, you can search by zip code to find a drop of locations nearest you.

To visit the Gazelle Recyle Network and do your part this Earth Day click here!

The temperature here in Boston is finally rising, and along with it is the Motorola Razr V3M, which topped the reCommerce Hot List this week.  Unseating the iPhone, which fell to 3rd,the V3M was joined in the top 5 by it’s cheaper counterpart the V3.  The rest of the top 10 was filled in by the usual suspects, Blackberries, iPhone, the Q etc.:

1. Motorola RAZR V3m
2. Blackberry RIM 8830 World Edition
3. Apple iPhone 8GB
4. Motorola RAZR V3
5. Blackberry RIM Pearl 8100
6. Samsung Instinct SPH-M800
7. Blackberry RIM Curve 8330
8. Motorola Q
9. Blackberry RIM 8800
10. Blackberry RIM Curve 8310

In non-cell phone news, laptop volume has really picked up recently, as people are realizing how much value their laptops still have.  Dell was the runaway hot item of the week, followed by 7 other laptops.  The only non-laptops in the top 10 were a PDA and 2 gaming systems:

1. Dell Laptops
2. Toshiba Laptops
3. HP Laptops
4. Sony Laptops
5. Compaq Laptops
6. Gateway Laptops
7. IBM Laptops
8. Palm TX Handheld
9. Nintendo DS Lite Console
10. Sony PSP PlayStation Portable

Tune in next time as we will probably have to split out laptops into its own hot list!