Holiday Buyer’s Guide
Attention all holiday shoppers, here are the best deals for gamers this holiday. I know some of you are looking for PS4 and XBO deals, but they don't exist. However, many stores are claiming to have a small amount of the brand new consoles in stores for Black Friday, so be sure to check.
Best Deals on Wii U
Wii U deals are far and few between, but there are some ok deals if you look.
$160 Deluxe ($200 + 20% off)
$259.99 Skylanders Bundle
$279.99 Bundle + New Super Luigi U and New Super Mario Bros. U
I know you’re scrambling to find this deal; however, this is a local store in Kansas City. I was shocked when I saw this, and I have no excuse not to buy a Wii U. The console on sale at Cargo Largo for $200, and for their Black Friday sale you can take an extra 20% off everything in the store dropping the price of a brand new Wii U down to an all time low of $160. The one possible shinning light in this deal for everyone in the US is that Cargo Largo has an ebay store, so there’s a slim chance that you might be able to purchase this incredible deal off of their ebay store. Best of Luck.
Toys’r’Us has the lowest price with their Skylanders bundle for $259.99, but you can get a similar bundle from GameStop for $299.99 + a Backpack and a $25 GameStop gift Card.
Last but not least is probably the more likely bundle older Wii U gamers will want. The New Super Luigi U and New Super Mario Bros. Bundle.
Meijer: $279.99 + a $30 off coupon towards your next purchase.
Wal-Mart: $299.96
Toys’r’Us: $299.99
Best Deals on Vita
As with the Wii U the PlayStation Vita doesn’t have many deals, so I’ll just list the 3 of them.
$149.99 eBay
$169.99 Wi-Fi Meyer
$179.99 3G GameStop
PS+ and XBL
$29.99 1-year of PS+ (GameStop)
$10 3-month XBL (Target aka $40 1-year XBL)
Best Deals on 3DS / 2DS
$99 2DS (Wal-Mart only)
$149 3DS XL (Target only)
$129.00 3DS Luigi’s Mansion Bundle + 2GB Memory Card (comes with all I think)
$149.99 3DS Paper Mario Sticker Star Bundle (Kohl’s only)
$219.99 3DS XL Special Edition Legend of Zelda A Link Between World’s Bundle
The cheapest way to get a 3DS is well, a Wal-Mart 2DS.
The best 3DS deal is the Target 3DS XL for $149.99
www.heb.com and www.fredmeyer.com will have the best deals on the original 3DS ($129.00 and $129.99). However, the same deal can be found at Best Buy for $149.99, and most other retailers for $169.99.
5. Not really a huge deal, but you same $20 and get an exclusive Gold Zelda 3DS XL.
Best Deals on a PS3
$199 250GB PS3 SS + The Last of Us + Batman Arkham Origins
$149 12GB PS3 SS
$199 12GB PS3 SS Move Bundle + Sports Champion 2
This bundle is everywhere, and I do mean EVERYWHERE, so you can go to just about any retails that sales consoles and pick up this deal. If you’re one of those “Super Savers” then the following stores are the ones you want to visit:
Target: $199.00 + a 20% off coupon towards your next purchase (25% + Red Card)
Meijer: $199.99 + a $20 off coupon towards your next purchase.
Fry’s Electronics: $187.77
Amazon: $199.00
Wal-Mart: $199.00
Sam’s Club: $199.98
Wal-Mart is the only retailer with this sale and it’s the next best thing for a PS3.
If you really want PS Move then go to RadioShack for the PS3 Move Bundle.
Best Deals on Wii
GameStop $49.99 Used, $39.99 Used for PowerUp Rewards Members.
Ebay or Craislist has them for as low as $20.
Best Deals on a Xbox 360
$99.00 4GB Xbox 360 (Wal-Mart Only)
$189.99 250GB Xbox 360 Bundle + Halo 4, Tomb Raider, Batman Arkham City, Darksiders 2, and a Mono Headset (looks like the free one).
$199.99 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect Bundle + Kinect Sports, and Kinect Adventures
1. This Xbox 360 is a Wal-Mart exclusive, however, Kohl’s is the second runner up offering the same basic console for $139.99 if you fail to get one at Wal-Mart (your chances should be better at Kohl’s)
2. This Bundle is a Best Buy exclusive, however, the same deal can be found at www.gohastings.com for $149.99 but without Batman and Darksiders, and most retailers for $199.99. However, t
3. If you’re looking for a Kinect Bundle then this is pretty much everywhere along with the 250GB bundle, but here are the places to go first.
Target: $189.99 + a 20% off coupon towards your next purchase (25% + Red Card)
Meijer: $199.99 + a $20 off coupon towards your next purchase.
Dell: $189.99
Sam’s Club: $244.00 + Extra Controller and a Media Remote
Game Deals for PC gamers
1. Newegg GPU blowout. I'm a little biased nowadays and for PC gaming it's all about the GPU IMO (CPU and RAM tie for second), and these GPU deals are just too amazing to pass up.
AMD
HD 6750: $15 after rebate (XFX 1GB)
HD 6950: $120 after rebate (PowerColor 2GB)
HD 7790: $70 after rebate (PowerColor 1GB)
HD 7850: $100 after rebate (MSI 2GB) / $110 after rebate (ASUS 2GB)
HD 7870 GHz: $130 after rebate (MSI 2GB) / $140 after rebate (Asus 2GB)
NVIDIA
GTX 640: $60 (EVGA 2GB)
GTX 650: $100 (EVGA 2GB)
GTX 650 Ti: $100 (EVGA 1GB)
GTX 660: $145 after rebate (Gigabyte 2GB) + Assassin’s Creed 4 & Splinter Cell
GTX 670: $200 after rebate (Asus 2GB) + Assassin’s Creed 4 & Splinter Cell
GTX 680: $280 after rebate (ASUS 2GB) + Assassin’s Creed 4 & Splinter Cell
GTX 760: $200 (Zotac 2GB) + Assassin’s Creed 4 & Splinter Cell
Can I get a wow. Thank you. There are also some great deals on those looking for HDD's for their PC, Console, etc...
2. $499 CyberPower PC. While not a powerhouse PC it has everything it needs to rip through games if you sell the HD 7750 for say $50, and buy a real GPU like the HD 7790 and higher or the GTX 660 and higher, and you're good.
Best Deals on Games
I’m sure you already know which games you want to buy, and there are too many to list individually, but if you’re into Used games these are the best deals.
Gamefly $5 off all Used and Keep it games.
GameStop Buy 2 Get 1 free on all games, accessories, and consoles
The Gamefly sale gets top ranking, because Gamefly naturally prices its games SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than GameStop to being with, and en extra $5 off just seals the deal. I added 9 games into my order and compared it to the price I would pay at GameStop. With GameStop’s B2G1 and 10% off RewardZone card all 9 games came up to $150 which is a great deal, but with Gamefly the same games came up to a mindblowing $60. That’s 9 fairly recent games for $60, the price of 1 new game. The games consist of DmC, Gears of War: Judgement, Tomb Raider, Bioshock: Infinite, Halo 4, and more. If you don’t have a Gamefly membership you won’t get the 10% and you may have to pay for shipping and handling, but if you are a Gamefly member do not miss this sale.
Next-gen consoles
My biggest advice is to wait until next year to get your next-gen console. I know how tempting it is to get that Day one console (I bought my PS4), but it’s much more beneficial to just wait.
If you don’t mind used consoles then GameStop will have the best console deal next year when used PS4’s and XBO’s start hitting store shelves. GameStop usually has a Buy 2 Get 1 Free on anything used sale in the store at least once a year, but guaranteed to happen on Black Friday. The sale even applies to consoles, and if you can wait for one of those sales you can snag a PS4, XBO, and Wii U all for $800 compared to $1,200 New ($400 savings). That’s an unbeatable deal, and by then an enjoyable game library should be playable on all 3 next-gen consoles.
Shaz from Pixel Swish: "The ROG Xbox Ally is another step towards Team Xbox’s 'Play Anywhere' strategy, and perfectly embodies the company’s future and how we’re all going to be playing an 'Xbox' in the future."
The funny thing about Xbox going more PC-like is that I’ve been saying this for over a decade and finally seeing it come to fruition. People use to hate the idea, but now are embracing it, and all I want is to be put on the payroll lol.
On a serious note, I think this is the best route going forward for MS. They don’t have to get out of the hardware game altogether. They can make their home console $300 entry & $600 premium home consoles and from there partner with other hardware makers for anything beyond that. Focus on being a publisher and creating a strong OS / Cloud option for other devices like desktop, handheld PCs, streaming devices, etc…
I honestly think they should also look into NVIDIA as well, with NVIDIA starting to make their own CPUs. Their CPU is already on par with AMDs best laptop CPUs of the previous/current generation which is more than enough, and a RTX 5000 / 6000 laptop GPU hybrid (DLSS 4 / DLSS5) could do wonders for them, and bring some much needed diversity back to console hardware.
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I don't know why you'd expect them to still develop new consoles at this point. Ditching all exclusives and putting the Xbox logo on a ROG Windows device is a pretty clear message.
This isn't a good thing for Xbox. It's a long winded goodbye.
For the same reason they still have a laptop hardware lineup even though they have Windows.
Having some kind of retail presence for visibility and marketing won’t really affect them in any way.
I still expect them to have 1 or 2 SKUs that they won’t sell at a loss but will continue the trend of selling way less than the competition (though its still selling millions), just like they have their Surface laptops even though they could happily coast knowing practically every third party out there (or the end consumer) will pay them for the Windows license
You realise thos indicates that their next xbox will be an xbox branded pc right? And will cost pc prices as a result. So look forwards to a 600 dollar and 1000 dollar version with vast performance differences, with the upper range having similar performance to the ps6 that will be like half its price. The 800 dollar rog ally x makes this abundantly clear.
I saw this years ago. I don't see how it took this long for people actually close to the industry.
I said this years ago, mind you I know nothing about computers, but I always thought Xbox would go more PC-like.
As I said, and always said, I know squat about PCs, so I thought Xbox would become modular. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I thought they would build a basic frame/shell and gamers would be able to configure their Xbox how they wish, similar to PC and buy motherboards, sound cards and graphic cards. I don’t know if that’s practical or even possible though.
This was when they first entered the gaming space.
I think consoles are so cheap and punch above their weight is because everything is so tightly designed around each component. Opening up to multiple permutations with modules would probably make it more expensive to build, develop for, and manage. It's not impossible, but probably gets in that gray area where it's not much different than a garden variety PC.
Well to clear up my thought process on the matter, I figured they would every so often within a gen like a pro model system, give gamers the proprietary parts.
Let’s say the original Xbox they built it modular in mind, so certain parts they would manufacture newer slightly more powerful components. That way you can either stay with the original configuration, or swap out the parts you choose, building your own pro. Then when the next gen comes around a new even more powerful components that would put the system in the Xbox360 range. Then another half step to tweak your system to a pro of that gen.
I guess similar to how I see people here talking about new 4080 cards, I’m just making up an example, and every so often people mention nother with a number larger than the last indicating it’s more powerful.
I understand what you’re saying about how it’s much easier to just have a closed system, and much cheaper. It was just something I thought might happen when Microsoft introduced the first Xbox.
"First-person roguelikes like Gunfire Reborn and Roboquest can be quite fun when done well. Another such game is MythForce, which comes from Beamdog, the developer that brought Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 to modern platforms (while mostly ditching the co-op). MythForce features cartoon-like visuals and a fantasy theme, making it quite different from most of its peers. It will soon reach its "final form" via the upcoming Version 1.2 update," says Co-Optimus.
Today, SCS Software officially announced Project Coaches, the next evolution for Euro Truck Simulator 2, adding buses to the game.
"$199 250GB PS3 SS + The Last of Us + Batman Arkham Origins"
That seriously seems too good to be true, but i wont question it!