Video game- and DVD-rental/game buy-back kiosk company e-Play suspends operations

Less than a year after a trial rollout in northeastern Wal-Marts, e-Play LLC appears to have gone defunct.

The company installed DVD- and video game-rental kiosks that also served as used video game buy-back terminals in limited numbers of Wal-Marts and then Best Buy stores, starting around the middle of last year.

Reports surfaced yesterday on Barron's and Gamasutra.com, among others, that the company had been shuttered.

The company's Web site has been replaced by a screen saying only "e-Play, LLC has suspended operations. Thank you to all our customers. For more information call 1-866-602-6014." The recorded message at the number provides only instructions for how to drop off games, followed by an opportunity to leave a message.