The St. Paul Business Journal has a new article up discussing circulation gains for Game Informer magazine, the U.S. video game mag which is bundled by GameStop with its 'loyalty card' for secondhand purchases (and is also available for standalone purchase/subscription), and which keeps shooting up in circulation numbers.

The article reveals: "The video game magazine, which has its offices in the Minneapolis warehouse district, said its rate base guarantee -- or the circulation level it can promise advertisers -- has increased from 1.8 million in 2006, to at least 2.3 million for 2007." The magazine's associate publisher says it's largely down to next-gen consoles, and then concedes: "Subscription sales through the magazine's partnership with retailer GameStop have also risen."

Well, of course, GameStop actually owns Game Informer Magazine, and I'd wager cash money that pretty much the entirity of that circ increase is down to the favorable subscription deal at GameStop (a year's sub is basically free when buy just a few secondhand games, since you get a 10% discount on used games and they put that toward the $15 subscription/card price).

Nonetheless, as Kevin Gifford has been commenting recently in his column, the Game Informer folks have been using some of that high-circ freedom to run some good quality features and analyses of the game scene, from Columbine RPG analyses to higher-end interviews. Their review scores may skew a little high at times, but the Minneapolis kids are alright with us!