Man, have you seen the list of new releases for this week? Don’t even bother: unless you desperately want retro re-releases like Chrono Trigger or Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (and there’s no shame in that) the marquee title is the rubbery werehog opus Sonic Unleashed. Those that have been following Sonic’s downward spiral know this is no cause for joy. Nintendo even released Boogerman on Virtual Console. BOOGERMAN. It’s like everyone suddenly ran out of games to sell.
So somehow we have a barren week in November. Unsurprisingly, it’s also Thanksgiving week. The industry is sending a message loud and clear: stop buying games for yourself, and start buying them for other people.
And belts are tight this year. But that has also led to retailers turning Black Friday into less of a day and more of a season. You can use that to your advantage, if you figure out where to look:
-First of all, go to CheapAssGamer. Every. Day. I didn’t find every single thing in this list there, but naturally, they had them all anyway. They also have the full list of what you can get at those horrible door buster sales, so those of you that enjoy risking life and limb before the sun comes up, all in the name of sweet capitalism, can check that out. If you don’t make it back, we will try to get a good deal on your tombstone.
-Amazon has been doing a video game deal of the day for like, ever, and it’s a worthwhile deal often enough that you should probably look at it every day during your holiday shopping—I’ve gotten more than one perfect gift at well below MSRP doing this, and it only takes seconds a day. But Amazon is also doing a daily “Countdown to Black Friday” deal, and these can be real doozies—take this most recent one, which offers the Xbox 360 Elite for $400 with the perfectly fun LEGO Indiana Jones, the totally pleasant Kung Fu Panda, the charming but technically hobbled (and brand new) The Last Remnant, and $50 worth of Microsoft Points all free. If you’re one of the proud few to still have a job, these are good times.
-Red Octane is content selling you Guitar Hero: World Tour, its new guitar, Guitar Hero III, and its Les Paul for $100, all together with coupon code B1G1FREE. That’s a lot of guitar heroing—so give the new one to somebody you really love, while perhaps sitting on the old one in case you need some kind of emergency present for someone you don’t like as much.
-Have you managed to get all your gifts at steep discount using tips like these? Reward yourself with a cut-price curio. Nestled well in GameStop’s weekend flyer is the recently released Armored Core For Answer, cut from it’s standard retail price to just $19.99. This column makes the game look absolutely fascinating.