The holiday shopping season is upon us all and on Friday, November 25 legions of shoppers with either be standing outside retail stores or sitting in front of their PC screens in order to take advantage of the Black Friday 2011 sales prices. This year more and more stores are opening at midnight rather than wait until 4 or 5 am which means that the shopping period will be even earlier than usual.
Gamers are always looking for a good deal and a number of retail stores in the US will be offering big price cuts on consoles, console bundles and games on Black Friday. We will be pointing out just some of the best deals that have already been announced for Friday. Keep in mind that these are the sales that are known about as of this writing. Sometimes retailers save some Blac Friday sales announcements until the last minute so make sure to check with them first for any additional deals.
The information from this article comes mostly from BFAds.net, perhaps the most comprehensive Black Friday sales web site around.
Best Buy
The nation"s biggest retailer of consumer electronic items has a number of recent games, along with some older titles, on sale for Black Friday. For example, the great Batman: Arkham City will be priced at just $29.99 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions on that date, as will Battlefield 3. The Xbox 360"s Dance Central 2 is just $24.99 on Black Friday 2011 and you can get the Gears of War Triple Pack (the first two games plus the Gears of War 2 All Fronts Pack) for just $7.99.
An Xbox 360 with a 250 GB hard drive with both Fable III and Halo Reach will be on sale for a mere $199.99. Finally it is offering a very cheap three month Xbox Live Gold card for just $7.99.
Kmart
The all around discount retailer has a few sales going on for Black Friday for gamers. You can pick up Driver San Francisco for the Xbox 360 on that date for just $19.99. You can also buy the recent first person shooter Rage, again for the Xbox 360, for just $19.99.
Sears
Kmart"s big parent company will have a few game sales on Friday, including the jet black version of the Wii console with Super Mario Bros. and a soundtrack CD for $134.99.
Target
The retail discount store for people who have a little more money to spend is so far the only retailer who offers some kind of deal for The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. You still have to pay full price to get the game but you also receive an extra $10 Target Gift Card as well if you purchase the PC, Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. Target also offers an Xbox 360 4 GB console (no extra free games) for just $139.99. It also has a Playstation 3 160 GB console with two free games (LittleBigPlanet 2 and Ratchet and Clack: All 4 One) for $199.99.
Toys R Us
The biggest toy retail store chain will actually be starting its Black Friday sales at 9 pm on Thanksgiving night. The store is offering a number of recent games in a group that will allow gamers to purchase one and get anther game in the group for just $5. The titles in the "Buy 1, get one for $5" group include Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Need For Speed The Run and Rage.
Walmart
The biggest retail store franchise in the world naturally has a lot of games on sale this Friday. Some of them will be very cheap indeed like BioShock 2 for the Xbox 360 just $10 or God of War III for the PS3 for $15. It also offers a special bundle on its online site only that will let gamers purchase a 4 GB Xbox 360 with a free copy of Gears of War 3 and a three month Xbox Live Gold card for just $199. Walmart will also sell a blue version of the Nintendo Wii on Black Friday for just $99.99 (this model does not come with a free game).
GameStop
For many gamers, going to GameStop on Black Friday 2011 is like Christmas itself. That"s in part due to the fact that gamers who turn in older games will receive some extra store credit on Friday. Three older games will add an additional 10 percent in credit while five games that are turned in will get 20 percent. Finally gamers who part with seven or more game titles at GameStop will receive 30 percent of extra credit.
Some of the actual game sales at GameStop on Friday include Bulletstorm for just $17.99, Crysis 2 for $29.99, Duke Nukem Forever for a mere $9.99, and a pre-owned version of Street Fighter IV for a tiny $6.99. You can also get a refurbished Kinect camera-sensor for just $69.99 on Black Friday.
While these are once again the Black Friday game sales and console deals that we are aware of, there will be lots more, especially on online web sites. Amazon, for example, has already announced what games it will be selling on Black Friday 2011 but has yet to reveal any prices. Microsoft and Sony are expected to offer Xbox 360 and PS3 owners some sales for downloadable games and DLC for Black Friday.
And let"s not forget the PC game downloadable store fromts like Steam, Direct2Drive, GameStop"s Impulse service, GamersGate and GoG.com during Thanksgiving weekend for some PC game download sales.
If there are any significant game sales deals that we missed or announced later this coming week we will update this feature accordingly. In the meantime, drink lots of coffee, get some warm clothes and be ready to go just after Thanksgiving dinner to your favorite store. There"s some big savings to be had and you should be able to do a lot of holiday shopping