Video game mega-chain Gamestop has started selling Android tablets in a select group of stores around the country this holiday season. The tablets come pre-installed with a hand-picked selection of games, and guess who's on the list?

Riptide GP will be preinstalled on thousands of Gamestop tablets and playable in demo stations at over 200 stores around the country (including Powell St in San Francisco). We're in pretty elite company, too: the other games in the lineup are Dead Space, Monster Madness, Sonic CD, and Re-Load. That's a pretty package of gaming goodness right there.

The other thing Gamestop is rolling out that we're pretty excited about is a bluetooth gamepad, for $39. One of the great things about Android is you can easily connect a gamepad via Bluetooth or USB; prop your tablet up on the table or connect it via HDMI to your TV, and you've got yourself a game console that travels. The problem's been that decent Bluetooth gamepads are hard to find -- hopefully the Gamestop intiative will change all that, and encourage more developers to add gamepad support to their games!

More info on the Gamestop deal can be found here, in this article on Inquisitir.