Black Friday - Gamer Boon or Bust?

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I ask you dear reader, what could make the local paper grow 2 inches in thickness on a Thursday?


We're talking about Black Friday.

From Freddies to Frys, Kohl to Kmart, Target to Toys R Us, Amazon to Walmart, everyone is trying to separate you dear gamer from your hard earned cash. Even grocery stores are getting into the Black Friday madness. Some stores (Best Buy/Frys) open up at 5 am while others (Toys R Us) start at midnight and still others (The Shack) start at 10 am Thanksgiving day. And why not? The economy is down, and retailers are hurting.

Attack of the Advertisements

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Here's the ads from my local paper. Click on the images to zoom in, they're big.

Best Buy



Fred Meyer


Fry's Electronics


Game Crazy



Game Stop




K-Mart


The Shack


Target

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Not to mention the online sites with Black Friday Deals, such as Amazon or New Egg.

Sure, there's some deals in there. Who wouldn't want to save $10 on a SATA laptop hard drive. And some games are discounted (though one might note everyone has new releases like Uncharted 2 at $59.99).

But I ask, as you forget your turkey and ready your battle plans, is it worth it? Long lines, few real deals and lots of frustration. Might it be better to remember, Thanksgiving is a time to spend with your family, not shopping for them. Yes, everyone likes to get a good deal and yes, some may rationalize the time spent shopping as doing stuff for their family. That said, if you can, stay in bed, enjoy your Friday.

For those who just can't, well I guess I'll see you at Fry's @ 5 am.

Upcoming Posts

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Yes, I know I haven't gotten everything on the last list, but here we go:

• Uncharted Review
  
• Assassin's Creed 2 trailer review (Waiting on the lawyers)
  
• Wii Fit Plus - A Party Game?
• Black Friday - Boon or Bust?
• Wii PlayOn
• The PS3 Music Player
  

This list doesn't imply the order in which these articles will come out, and we reserve the right to add and/or remove as need be.

Backing Up Your Game Saves

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I'm starting over on Uncharted today. 0 treasures, no rewards. Why would I do this?

Well, I had unlocked crushing, and I secured every other medal in the game. Then I got a beta code, and installed it. The game was fun, till it crashed.

When it crashed, it corrupted the file system, and the backup to restore from. Now my BC PS3 is stuck in a reboot loop, trying to restore the file system.

This close to Black Friday, I figure I'll wait and upgrade the HD. In the mean time, I have to start over on my second PS3.

I lost my game saves for about a half dozen games. While that sucks, it's not nearly the number other people have. So I wanted to take this moment to remind you, back up your game saves. Do it today, right now. You never know when things will go bad.