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.
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SR said 2:20PM on 6-08-2009
When I was in college in 1990, Nintendo had Super Mario World, so my housemates kept the game on 24/7 until we could get to the end. This took many days, if not weeks. When one of us got out of classes or whatever, we could feel free to go to the room with the game on & play it. Because if you lost, you had to start over. I think we eventually learned the shortcuts & other tricks to extend lives etc...
Reply
ShadowGod said 3:17PM on 6-08-2009
Asheron's Call, the best ever MMORPG on the PC. I played from 9pm in the evening till 11am the next morning.
Reply
Bennyboy said 3:32PM on 6-08-2009
I remember playing The Legend of Zelda for almost 36 hours straight in 1988. It was completely addictive and at the time there was no other game like it. Even more amazing, I had toiled all weekend going in and out of various toy and electronic stores looking at their selection trying to decide on which game to buy. I could only afford one game and I was going to make damn sure I got good value for my hard earned cash. I had never even heard of Zelda when I decided to buy the game (save for those freaky commercials with the guy in the black uni-tard prancing around shouting 'Zelda!"). I only gave in because I had seen a gazillion copies of the game at every store I visited. I thought "This game HAS to be good". Of course if you purchased a game with that logic today you would be guaranteed a real lemon. When I finally got home @ 8:00 P.M. on Sunday with my game, I didn't stop playing until 7:00 A.M. Tuesday. And I only stopped because I had to get to class.
FYI, the other game I came close to purchasing at the time was Metal Gear (yes, the original 8-bit game).
Reply
thenevermorecrow said 3:53PM on 6-08-2009
I played... WOW for 72 hours straight when I got the trial. The next day I uninstalled it.
Tales of Symphonia 41:36 that's how long it took me to beat it. I got stuck at one puzzle. =[ I stayed up the entire time to beat it since it was a rental I didn't want to waste time.
Reply
rupaniii said 3:56PM on 6-08-2009
Super Mario Bros 3 - 22 hrs straight.
Reply
Mike said 4:27PM on 6-08-2009
The longest for me was about 2pm till bout 12am the day MGS 4 came out i think i beat most of the game on the first day.
Reply
snipingdude said 4:31PM on 6-08-2009
15 hours CounterStrike Condition Zero...I must have had 18-20 scrims plus pubbing
Reply
snipingdude said 4:32PM on 6-08-2009
15 hours of CounterStrike Condition Zero...18-20 scrims plus pubbing
Reply
Xellos said 5:35PM on 6-08-2009
13 hours of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Sat through from the start of the game until the end, though missed a lot of the side quests and such.
Reply
Curlyiain said 6:37PM on 6-08-2009
Oh god, don't get me started... I've held three gaming marathons in my 16-year life so far:
1. My most impressive feat: I attempted to play through the entire Metal Gear series CHRONOLOGICALLY (aka MG, MG2, MGS3, MGS, MGS2, MGS4) atfer having completed Guns of the Patriots for the second time. I got to the beginning of Act III in MGS4 after about 39 hours and my brain felt like it was melting... But it was worth it!
2. I played a few random games - all three Timesplitters, Resi 4, God of War 1 and 2 and finally finished off with some Burnout. After 32 hours, I was completely spent...
3. I invited a friend over pretty recently actually, to play through as many Co-op games as we could manage. Completed CoD: WaW on Veteran in just over 9 hours, Timesplitters: FP together in around 4 hours (we're incredible, enough said) the second island in its entirety of PixelJunk Monsters, finishing off with two world cups on PES, tallying us up to about 30 hours of non-stop madness.
I've also attempted to drive Le Mans 24 (on GT4) with 5 other mates in shifts of 30 minutes, but we gave up after everyone had done two shifts... Depressing, to say the least.
Hope some people enjoy reading this as much as I did playing them!
Reply
mongooseproxc said 12:16PM on 6-09-2009
Battlefield 2 for me was the only game I have ever played that makes hours seem like minutes. But, I think the longest game I have played in one sitting was The Legend of Zelda for NES. The battery was broken in the cartridge, so I couldn't save my game. I made it a point to play from the begining to end.
Reply
strider_mt2k said 12:30AM on 6-10-2009
I don't know...there were a few lost weekends back in the Quake 2 WOD online days where my bro and I were teaming up on folks while talking over a VIOP link.
I don't think we've gone over 16 hours, but probably came close more times than I can remember.
Reply
BlackWarlock said 2:26AM on 6-10-2009
The only game I can really sit there and play... and play... and play would have to be Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge.
Can't give you exact figures but it'd be something in the region of 14 hours straight. And that's without leaving the desk once.
And I did that probably 10 times..... I love that game................. Re-Install!!!
Reply