Xenoblade Chronicles took its sweet time coming to the Wii in North America, with Nintendo eventually publishing as a limited release on the Nintendo Store and through GameStop. It had been long anticipated and clearly sold well for the available stock, as it reportedly became hard to find and rare after launch.

Naturally, its rarity has allowed private sellers on websites such as eBay to charge premium prices for second-hand copies, but in an interesting development GameStop is being accused of printing new stock and branding it as "used", before promptly slapping a $90 price on copies, as shown on its website at the time of writing. Kotaku has been in contact with a source that states "the retailer printed a few thousand copies of the game with no shrink wrap" to restock this inventory.

It seems that consumers have noticed the sudden emergence of stock in plenty of GameStop stores, in marked contrast to previous long spells of copies being tough to find. Posts around the web — such as on NeoGaf — point to evidence of a reprint (such as different cases being used) and assert that these used copies often feel new, with unused Club Nintendo codes also common.

GameStop is yet to provide comment beyond saying that it is being looked into, and it would be cynical indeed if new copies were being printed and distributed as "used" at high prices.

If the story develops we'll update this article.

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