BLOCKBUSTER LOOKS FOR HELP FROM SUPER MARIO BROS.

Just days after staving off bankruptcy yet again by securing a new forbearance agreement with debtholders, Blockbuster launched a new marketing campaign touting its recent decision to include video games in its lowest priced ($8.99) video-by-mail subscription plan. In a mass emailing, Blockbuster’s ad features a character from Nintendo’s 25-year-old Super Mario Bros. franchise and proclaims, “Choose from more than 3,000 games.” Blockbuster thereby challenges the principal videogame online renter Gamefly, which offers more than 7,000 games but at a steeper monthly subscription price, $15.95. Investors appeared unimpressed by Blockbuster’s latest move, and were swayed more by Blockbuster’s latest quarterly report showing that its net loss grew to $69 million from $37 million during the same period last year as its gross revenue plummeted 20 percent to $788 million, primarily due to store closures and a nearly 30 percent drop in the average number of subscribers to its by-mail service.