Black Friday Gaming Deals

Ah, "Black Friday" -- that day after Thanksgiving shopping madness where people cast off their contentedness from the day before, in exchange for the chance to save a buck or two on that thing they can't live without, and punk gamers can play tug-o-war with old grannies horribly transformed, for that last NDS Lite (two guesses which one I was).

First, some general stuff.

If you're someone (ironically, like me) who wants a full list of deals so you can determine your own prioritization, CheapAssGamer.com just posted their list (Updated: now has a handy breakout by platfrom). You can also go to some of the better-known Black Friday aggregate sites that let you view just the gaming deals (*):

• * http://www.black-friday.net/video-games-black-friday.html
• http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/
• http://bfads.net/
• http://www.theblackfriday.com/index.shtml
• http://www.blackfriday.info/
• http://www.dealtaker.com/blackfriday.html

Oh, and I'm not hitting tertiarily related gaming deals (like TVs and couches), but there are some good deals out there if you're interested (like Samsung LCD TVs at Best Buy).

Other caveats? Erm, prices may change, games may be available for more / fewer platforms, deals may be for the weekend, Black Friday, or early a.m. doorbusters, I may have screwed something up, blah blah blah.

Now onto my lists.

There are some decent gamer deals this year, and you could slice and dice them a bunch of ways, but for this post I'm going to focus on these four categories:

1. The Fantastic Game Deals
2. Big discounts on newly released titles
3. Handheld and Console bundles, Accessories
4. The Non-deals

1. The Fantastic Game Deals

There are some people who seem to have unlimited time and money to game -- Let's call them "unemployed slack-bastards".

But that's not who I am.

I have limited time and funding (I have to share with my comic book and toy fetishes), so I hit some of the bigger players (Fallout 3, Gears 2, etc.), some more casual titles (stuff from PopCap or The Behemoth), and stuff I'd rather rent than buy (lightweight hack-n-slashers, etc.).

For me, the sweet spot for Black Friday "Fantastic Game Deals" falls into that "stuff I'd rather rent than buy" -- those prices where I can buy a game I want to try for close to the price it'd cost to rent. An additional nuance is if I can find rent-price co-op titles, I can also take care Christmas giftage for my gaming brethren. Keep in my mind my personal cut-off for these kinds of deals is ~10, but there are some decent deals to be had for $15-20.

Here are some of the deals that have my attention:

• Assassin's Creed PC $9.99 (Best Buy)
• Assassin's Creed Xbox 360/PS3 $9.99 (Game Crazy)
• Bioshock PC $9.99 (Best Buy)
• Boom Blox Wii $20.00 (Target)
• Buy 1, get 1 free on all new $18.99 or less games (Game Crazy)
• Command & Conquer Collection PC $9.99 (Best Buy)
• Conan Xbox 360 $9.99 (Circuit City)
• Cooking Mama NDS $9.99 (Circuit City)
• Dark Sector Xbox 360/PS3 $9.99 (Game Crazy)
• The Darkness Xbox 360 $4.99 (Game Crazy)
• Dead Rising Xbox 360 $9.99 (Circuit City)
• Death Jr NDS $7.99 (Game Crazy)
• Disney Princess: Royal Adventure GBA $4.99 (Circuit City)
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars PC $4.99 (Circuit City)
• Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions PSP $9.99 (Best Buy)
• God of War PS2 $15.00 (Target)
• Halo 3 $30.00 (Target)
• Justice League: Heroes NDS $9.99 (Circuit City)
• Lego Star Wars: THE COMPLETE SAGA Wii $10.99 (Costco)
• The Little Mermaid GBA $4.99 (Circuit City)
• The Little Mermaid NDS $9.99 (GameStop)
• Resident Evil 4 PS2 $9.99 (GameStop)
• Saints Row Xbox 360 $9.99 (Best Buy)
• The Simpsons Game Xbox 360 $9.99 (Best Buy)
• World of Warcraft PC $9.99 (Best Buy) (Circuit City) (GameStop) (Meijer) (Toys R Us)
• World of Warcraft Battlechest PC $14.99 (Circuit City)

2. Big discounts on newly released titles

There are a bunch of newly and relatively newly released titles that have shipped, and the barrier to purchase goes down tomorrow. While not the "Holy Crap" deals some of the above are (with the possible exception of Brothers in Arms), they make for a much more accessible way to get more recent titles.

• Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway PS3/360 $17.99 (Toys R Us)
• Brother in Arms: Hell's Highway PS3 $19.99 (Best Buy) (Game Crazy)
• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Xbox 360 $19.99 (GameStop)
• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway PS3/Xbox 360 $19.99 (Circuit City) (Game Crazy) (Target)
• Call of Duty 4 GOTY Xbox 360/PS $39.99 (GameStop)
• Call of Duty World At War Xbox 360 / PS3 $49.00 (Target)
• Civilization Revolution NDS $19.99 (GameStop)
• Crysis Collector's Edition PC $19.99 (GameStop)
• Dead Space Xbox 360 / PS3 $30.00 (Target)
• EndWar Xbox 360 $37.99 (Best Buy)
• Far Cry 2 Xbox 360 $37.99 (Best Buy)
• Guitar Hero Aerosmith Wii $24.99 (Best Buy)
• Guitar Hero Aerosmith w/2 Wireless Guitars Wii $99.99 (Target)
• Guitar Hero III Bundle PS3/360 $54.99, and add a wired guitar for only $9.99 (Circuit City)
• Left 4 Dead Xbox 360 $49.99 (GameStop)
• Ninja Reflex NDS $9.99 (Circuit City)
• Ninja Town NDS $14.99 (Best Buy)
• Soul Calibur IV PS3 $37.99 (Best Buy)
• Teenage Zombies $11.00 (Target)

3. Handheld and Console bundles, Accessories

Looking for a new or additional system? Your deals are below:

• Ice Blue DS w/Free Brain Age game & Carrying case $139.99 (Circuit City)
• Ice Blue or Mario Red DS Lite Bundle $149.99 (Purchase any Nintendo DS before 11am, and receive $25 OFF on your next Nintendo purchase) (K-Mart)
• Mario DS w/Free New Super Mario Brothers game $139.99 (Circuit City)
• Mario Red & Ice Blue DS Bundles $136 (Wal-Mart)
• Nintendo DS Brain Age or Mario Bundle w/ Free DS Accessory $19.99 or Less $149.99 (Toys R Us)
• DS accessories $9.99 each (Sears)
• Nintendo Wii Family Bundle (Wii Console, 3 Wii Remotes, 3 Nunchunks, Wii Sports game, Mario Super Sluggers Wii Game, King of Clubs Mini Golf Wii Game) $425 (Sam's Club)
• PS2 console (Silver or Black) + $30 Gift Card + Free $19.99 Game $129.99 (GameStop)
• Xbox 360 Arcade Holiday Bundle + Refurb 20GB HD & Wireless Controller $199.99 (Circuit City)
• Xbox 360 Arcade Holiday Bundle w/Rock Band 2 Game $199.00 (Dell.com)
• Xbox 360 Arcade Holiday Bundle w/free Guitar Hero III + Wireless Guitar $199 (Wal-Mart)
• Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle + Gears of War 2 and the Gears of War 2 Amazon.com Exclusive Lancer $399.99 (Friday only, saves $200)
• Xbox 360 Pro 60GB Holiday Bundle with Tony Hawk Proving Ground & NBA 2k9 $299.99 (Best Buy)
• Xbox 360 60 GB Pro Holiday Bundle + $30 Gift Card $299.99 (Circuit City)
• Xbox 360 60GB Pro Holiday Bundle with $60 Gift Card $299.99 (Target)
• Xbox 360 Pro or Elite Holiday Bundles and get a Guitar Hero II bundle free $249.99/$399.99 (Game Crazy)
• Buy Xbox 360 Holiday Bundle (any), get Rainbow Six Vegas 2 free (GameStop)
• Xbox 360 System (any) and get a free wireless controller (Sears)
• Xbox 360 Wired Guitar Hero Guitar Controller $10.00 (Toys R Us)

4. The Non-deals

I think Kotaku.com calls these "the uneducated parent deals", but beware of console "deals" that are list price, and then list "with [1,2] free games!" -- The current Xbox holiday bundles ship with free games, so the retailer isn't doing you a favor. Also, beware of games deals like the Orange Box for $19.99 (places like Target have this as their new regular price.

Happy shopping!