ECCO tech, a small Norwegian software development company, has developed a new web service for buying, selling and exchanging used games on various platforms (PC, XBox, Playstation, Nintendo, and more).

http://www.gamersworldmap.com

The idea of Gamers World Map is to make it easy for friends to keep each other updated on game
collections and wish lists. Members and their games are displayed on a map so that you can easily look for games in your neighborhood, or you can limit your search to any specific geographic area.

The map based search functionality makes it easy to find other gamers within your local community. Thus games can be bought and sold without postal exchange, or exchanged without involving any money at all.

You have the option of registering which allows you to list your own collection and to make available
which games you are looking to trade or sell. Even without registering you are able to search for games that are listed all over the world. A novel offer/request "match" service makes it easy to find other gamers offering games you want, and who themselves are looking for games you wish to trade.

According to the company, services like this may be considered controversial by video game developers. However, this service does not intend to reduce the number of new games purchased, but instead compete with the business model of used game stores. Exchanging used games through stores specializing in this leads to an unreasonably large value loss. This service is made to give gamers more value and more gaming for money and thereby benefiting the gaming community. Gamers World Map is currently available in English and Norwegian.

The business idea of ECCO tech is to develop a family of web and mobile services all based on the same technical foundation. Besides Gamers World Map ECCO Tech has just released a "sibling" service that will help people find their lost pets, valuables, bicycles, and more. Currently much of their software development efforts goes into the development of a novel mobile service for location based marketing, advertisement and shopping.