I’m a weirdo because I actually miss working retail Black Friday. For those of you living under a rock, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving (this year it is November 29), where all the retailers across America have super huge deals on damn near everything. It sounds boring because everyone’s moms go and buy Christmas presents during this time, but it’s actually really fun and you can get a lot of awesome deals for yourself. I’m going to be hunting for leaked Black Friday ads on cool, relevant stuff. This year I’m going to start out with Gamestop’s leaked Black Friday ad, because Gamestop employees get off on leaking company docs on the internet.
If your town has a freestanding Gamestop, that is really going to be the best place to go for games. It’s not going to be as crowded as a mall Gamestop or a strip mall store, and they’re usually open more hours. I worked in a freestanding Gamestop for a couple years. It was a really busy store, but since Black Friday hours are drawn out, it never got really crazy and crowds weren’t scary like Walmart or BestBuy. If you’re just looking for deals on gaming stuff only, this might be your best bet. Also, a lot of locations will be open at midnight, so the traffic will be spread out all day long. So, lets look at the ad.
Page 1 (Click on each page to make it bigger)
I think the most exciting deal on this page is Battlefield 4 for PC. I’m going to try to talk my boyfriend into streaming the game, but he bought it on a console and capture cards are pretty pricey. Buying the only console game you’ll ever stream for $20 is much better than buying a $100 capture card to stream one game. The holiday last gen bundles are cool, I guess, and I think the two free games for the PS3 are the best deal because they’re fairly new releases. Also the original Wii for $40 isn’t bad if you know how to hack one, because then you can just download the games you want for free. Plus, just buying the used games for it is probably dirt cheap.
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Three months of Xbox Live for $15 is pretty awesome. Also, Diablo 3 for $40 isn’t bad too. I’m also kind of interested in getting Lego Marvel and they’re also offering a free key chain while supplies last.
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Borderlands 2 GOTY for $30 is a great deal, as well as $30 Skyrim and Saints Row IV. If I didn’t already have Dishonored and the DLC for it, I would get the GOTY edition for $25 and I am interested in Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City together for $25. I just noticed some small print in the corner: “Get Call of Duty Ghosts for free” for trading in an iPhone 4s or an HTC One. Interesting…
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A year of Playstation Plus for $30? That is amazing. I don’t use my PS3 that often, but I got a free year of Playstation Plus when I bought it and I love the free games. They’re a much better deal than the Games For Gold that you get for Xbox Live. Plus you get very awesome monthly discounts on games. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is also catching my eye for $40. I hope this deal is available for PC too. Is that Dragon’s Crown for $30? Sign me up for that too.
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Some good deals on here too. Beyond: Two Souls, The Last of Us and Dual Shock 3 controllers for $40 each. Ni No Kuni for $15. Deadpool and Kingdom Hearts for $20. I really need to build up my PS3 collection, by the way.
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This is Vita stuff and some tablets, so…
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PC deals! This is my life… Starcraft 2 and Heart of the Swarm for $20 each, good deal. World of Warcraft Battlechest for $5 and Mists of Pandaria for $10. It also looks like you get free WoW time for purchasing any Blizzard game that’s not Diablo. Another great deal is Elder Scrolls Anthology for $40. I’d be interested, but I already had all the games before it was released.
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Look at that Zelda 3DS XL! $10 off Monster Hunter, but everything else looks about full price.
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Wii U deals. Everything looks to be nearly full price. Gamestop adds a lot of fluff to their Black Friday ads sometimes.
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Looks like we have special pre-owned price drops and a 30% trade in bonus when you pick store credit. Wow, buy one get one on dance games? Back when I had a Wii, it was hacked, and I downloaded every dance game and played them religiously everyday. Yeah, that’s embarrassing. I can’t help but laugh at the “Collectible and Rare” sale on Xenoblade and Metroid Trilogy for $40 when they used to be about $80 each.
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Here are some deals on used last gen systems and used phones/tablets. Gamestop makes you call them iDevices. By the way, don’t buy used headsets. That’s disgusting.
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This is the end. Of course Gamestop always does a buy 2 get 1 free on used games and accessories.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the play by play on the Gamestop Black Friday ad. When it comes out in stores, be sure to read the fine print because not every deal is available after Friday. I’ll also be covering every leaked Black Friday deal I can find, and I promise to point out if future deals from other retailers are better than the Gamestop deal.