Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 11)
ImNotCrazy said 7:46PM on 8-12-2008
wut up everybody!? 1st off let me say that i am 13 years old girl. i am a Principal's Scholar and have gotten staright A's my whole life! my school has a very high satndard and a great corriculum (did i spell that right?) i have lots of friends and everyone likes to be around me. i LOVE violent video games from Mortal combat to Grand Theft Auto to Manhunt 2 and movies like Saw!!! sometimes i even laugh when i kill some1 in a game or when some1 dies in a movie or when some1 gets their flesh burned off of them while they are alive but if it really happened to sum1 i would definitely not laugh! i imagine violent things happening 2 people that i dont like and to people that i love to death but not getting their heads bashed in...funny violent things like falling out of a car or getiing blown to peices and stuff like that but i would NEVER EVER actually want that sort of thing to happen to them. but child molesters and rapists and serial killers i wouldnt mind mind that happening to them. actually i want them to be tortured before they die and if it were up to me i would make it that that should happen to them. i mean they really do deserve it hurting and torturing CHILDREN of ALL ages! i mean really why would a grown man rape a BABY!?!?! i truly think they deserve to be tortured but not an innocent person or bystander. i also draw stick figures dieng very painful and violent deaths with A LOT of blood all over the paper (not real blood) and i sometimes even name them after some1 i dont like or am mad at them but i would never actually do that to them or even want that to happen to them! i make up gory viloent stories and stuff with ides from some of the games that i play but im not crazy and i dont wish things like the stuff in these games now days would happen to anyone. my friends love when i make up violent stories and pictures because they know im not really a psycho and i wouldnt do this stuff except in video games and computer games and stuff. i feel sorry when i hear that a family is brutally murdered on the news and i get mad when a child is raped and especaily when all these child molesters and rapists and murderes are trialed NOT GUILTY when they go to court because the detectives did not have a warrant when they searched the house and found evidence that proves 100% that he/she did it and thay get off the hook for that kind of bs!!! it really pisses me off!!! it is not the game company's fault that thousands of people are being murdered every day and every murder is not because of a video game! just like when eminem is sued because a kid listens to his music and cusses their mom out and goes and shoots sum random guy because they feel like it. its not eminem's fault that the kid did that. eminem is a great rap artist and his music is off the chain, all he does in his songs is tell about the bad childhood he had and what he feels and thinks and he gets sued cuz sum stupid kid takes his dad's gun and shoots him cuz he walked out on his mom and dad. no! its not eminem's fault and people who blame him need to realize that! and if the gov't is going to sue him every 5 minutes then they need to just end his career. the govt is allowing him to continue putting that stuff into his songs and they dont care because it sells and gets them more money. it is mostly the govt's fault for continuously letting all those psychos that go around eating other people, raping babies, bashing someones skull in with a baseball bat or or ripping someones's spine out with a crowbar!!! to be honest i think if someone has an unstable mind then they shouldnt be allowed to play this kind of game. you can even use these types of games to take out anger without actually chopping some1's head off and going to jail. but if you are okay in the head and your parents allow you to play this game and they are aware of the stuff in it and you know that its fake and of the consequenses if you do decide do actually perform any of the acts and if you have good parents that care about what you choose to do in life and they teach you right from wrong and the difference from fiction and reality then it is definitely ok. and its not like violent video games are the only causes of people going out and murdering another person. it is a cause but not really. its their parent's fault for not helping them understand. i think violent video games like this are a good way to let children and adults know that things like this really happen and if you dont teach your kids right from wrong then they will grow up and be like that psycho in the game or movie. and if you are an older brother or sister and you have a younger sibling that is exposed to violent things that your parents are allowing them to see and are not telling them that it is not something that they should do in real life then you should take the responsibilty to do it yourself if you dont them growing up and becoming like that crazy person in the movie or game. i think violent games are ok and if you wanna call me sick for playing a game this then go ahead but you need to be calling the people who are doing this in real life without the help of video games. what about all the people who were killing like this before video games came out!? you are not calling them sick!!! so you cant be calling the people who do it for fake sick!!! and if you want to blame the game company then why dont you blame the govt for allowing them to be made? but just because i said that do not go to the govt and demand them ban these games because 1-they wont because it gets them a lot of money selling stuff like this and 2-because everyone who likes these games wil hate you and will cave your skull in because they saw it happen in the game....if thats what you say. now im about to go play the game after i finish typing this and if it is the game's fault like some of you people are saying, then when im done playing im going to go and murder everyone in sight with a fork and then get sent to the crazy house and then escape from the crazy house the same way he did and kill a hundred more people because of the game....right? but thats okay because when i get trialed they will let me off the hook because i told the judge it was because of the game company and they will get sued 5 million dollars because the game made me do it....if thats what you say.
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Ramone said 3:31PM on 11-01-2007
Terrence O'Brien is a queer.
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Jantsen said 4:12PM on 11-01-2007
I'm glad Terrence O'Brien has the right to tell someone that if they want to act out violence in a video game that they are a sick person.
It's not like Terrence has never seen an act of violence on the news or television, or god forbid, ever imagined physically harming someone in the back of his oh-so-perfect mind.
It's the ability to differentiate fantasy from reality that makes us who we are. And if playing a violent video game causes you to perform real acts of violence, there was already something wrong with you in the first place.
So no, Terrence, these people that like to play these violent video games aren't sick, you are for judging us as such.
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Brian said 4:29PM on 11-01-2007
Oh so the first one wasnt just as bad where you could use a garrotte and cut someones head off then use the head as a weapon. They must not have reviewed that one first. Its the parents job to raise a child and teach them from right and wrong. these games to not teach them to make wrong choices. The lack of parental supervision does.
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Philip M. said 6:29PM on 11-01-2007
Another media group passing judgement on people for something they know nothing about. Anybody with half a brain knows that people who are killers murder because they are psychotic, not because they play a video game.
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Jason said 11:09PM on 11-01-2007
Oh Terrence O'Brien, You are so stupid its not the game's fault that these kids act out what they see in the game, its their parents fault because they buy them the game and dont control their life. Rockstar is the greatest video game compnay ever they have created the legendary grand theft auto franchise and manhunt is going down in history as the most violent game ever. So I say who cares what you think and you should only talk about what you know.
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kudos said 12:01AM on 11-02-2007
"these people that like to play these violent video games aren't sick, you are for judging us as such"
These criticisms are inane. At what point do any of you actually draw a line as to what you would expose yourself (or your children)? What if a friend, or a son of yours, liked to play games that involved raping children? Would enjoying a simulation of that level of violence be okay as well? Since none of you are quite willing to draw ANY line as to what should/should not be considered a perverse level of enjoyment, I think Mr. O'Brien's comments ought to be considered a little more closely.
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wow said 12:29AM on 11-02-2007
wow!!!!maybe you've never heard of desensitization-to make somebody less responsive to an overwhelming act by repeated exposure to the situation or object, either in natural or artificial circumstances
It doesn't take too much to see that America has been constantly desensitized for the past 60 plus years....that's a fact not an opinion
While there might be a mental disorder for some, that doesn't mean that you can not be influenced by a game like this. Wake up!
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j said 12:28AM on 11-02-2007
My parents are no t bad people, yet they let me watch movies that showed people getting killed, and let me play 007 Goldeneye, one of the first games i played, which had aton of killing in it, at around the age of 7, then i played all the GTA's, played Manhunt, and a bunch of other games full of violence, but i never got in a car, then ran someone over. and neither has the millions of other kids that played these games. this guy probually dident like the game, then abused his power as a reporter, to say the game is bad, and to call people crazy for playing a VIDEO GAME, its not even real, restart the system, and the person who you killed is alive, i dont know very many gamers who played HALO joined the marines, then went onto the battlefield and walked into the bullets thinking there health would recharge, or if they should die theyll respawn at a waypoint.
the point im trying to make is only a very tiny amount of people actually go out and try this stuff, like probually 1 in a 1000000000
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paul said 12:39AM on 11-02-2007
I am going to buy a Wii this weekend so I can play this game as soon as I can. Does anyone know how to get the uncensored version?
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cathy said 12:45AM on 11-02-2007
I have no problem with this. In order to be good at anything one must practice, practice, practice. I do think they should just come out and call this what it really is - an instructional tool to help interested people become professional at what they really want to do. Why just be an amateur - with this as a guide one could really get killing people down pat. Just what we need - more professional killers.
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Krizia said 12:47AM on 11-02-2007
That is ridiculous. The game is violent but nothing compared to Hostel or Saw or any of those gory horror flicks out right now... plus those are real people getting hacked up and tortured and this is basically a cartoon.
This is the dumbest controversy ever. The game is fun. Don't buy it if you can't handle it and stop trying to influence others not to buy it... GET A LIFE!
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Curry said 1:04AM on 11-02-2007
You've got some nerve calling the people interested in this game sick. Video games are about getting the chance to see and do things you wouldn't do in real life. With that said, if you don't want some sick twisted (insert four letter word) bashing your head to a pulp in real life then shut up and let him get his jollies off in the video game world. Everyone has odd thoughts and odd things they'd do if society, religion or most importantly our deep moral coding would allow us, but for the most part we don't even come close. The few cases that we do they're merely pranks of sorts and when something major does happen those of you with your uppity personalities choose to make the answer simple. You blame video games and the people who play them.
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Val Fitzgerald said 1:04AM on 11-02-2007
No, it's not that it's ultra-violent: it's that little kids will be 'baby-sat' by this game. Sure--if the parent's around, the parent has the say. But if not--then the kid plays by themselves, and I'm sorry, but little kids can't always distinguish a fantasy game from real life. To many of them, it IS real, even though they need the controller to play. And as they grow up, why wouldn't they think to carry out their problems with others, the way that they do in the game?
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diana said 1:04AM on 11-02-2007
You all addicted to these games so you defend them as if it were your family.
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Charles said 1:08AM on 11-02-2007
Video games are a form of art. Some art is sickening but others find it intriguing. You can't say video games lead to violent children, violent parenting create violent children.... stupid stupid people.
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skatone17 said 1:13AM on 11-02-2007
The Bible has inspired more violence and hatred than all forms of entertainment combined. Let's ban the Bible, for the CHILDREN!!! Boo boo bee boo...
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Kurt Pilker said 1:10AM on 11-02-2007
I worked at a video game store for four months. I have been a life-long video game player. What I learned is this:
1. Adults who buy games like this for there 6 yr old child is a sicko.
2. I dont believe video games creates violence in kids but listen to them after they play. They are not interested in the game only the fact that they can kill.
3. After I quit, I changed my degree from programming to networking because I dont believe in blood and gore in video games and thats all people want.
It makes me sick watching parents pick out violent killing games for there kids. Everyday I worked I pushed the non-violent games or the games that had no blood or mutilation in them.
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Ryan said 1:21AM on 11-02-2007
I haven't had the honor to play part two yet, but I think that its going to be a great game considering all the wrap that its getting. Manhunt is the best game thats out there and now that part 2 is out I'm going to get it as soon as I can. I've been stoked for this game to come out since I found out about in GameInformer Magazine about 3-4 months ago. I'm sure that its going to be more realistic but isn't that what we want in video games....better graphics and for it to not be so fake?? Whats the difference between this game and Mario Brothers??? Your still killing things at least in this one your not eating magical mushrooms!!!
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Alberto said 1:31AM on 11-02-2007
It's a damn video game. Get over it. I'm tired of people coercing their stupid beliefs and morals on everyone.
Point is...I'm an adult. I should be able to play a video game that is SPECIFICALLY made for adults in all it's uncensored glory.
If kids are getting their hands on these games, blame the fucking parents.
I mean, are parents really that fucking stupid? The names of these games are a dead give away. "Manhunt" , "Grand Theft Auto" "Killzone" etc.
Parents should stop being parented by their kids and put their foot down before all forms of media are censored because of their carelessness.
You know what...actually games for mature audiences should be in a different area where ADULTS can access them and buy them.
If those actions need to be taken to prevent the original visions of the games creators from being compromised...then I am all for it.
To hell with censorship!
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