As any good boy (or girl) should know, video games are an important part of any Christmas (or Chanukah, or Kwanzaa, or whatever) list, and they should be given the top spots on the list whenever possible. Because I’m sure you’ve all been too busy playing around with your Beyblades to have been paying attention, I’ll go ahead and give you a nice little list to go off of. Don’t worry – no need to thank me. I do this because I care.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

To start with is Bethesda Game Studios’ latest masterpiece, Skyrim. The fifth installment of the popular RPG series, The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim takes place 200 years after the events in the previous game.  It follows the journey of an unknown prisoner in the town of Helgen who was saved from execution by a dragon attack which destroyed the town and freed the prisoner. The rest of the game is then spent making decisions on what to do, who to side with, and how to behave; all of which affect the flow of the game and the interactions with the characters. It’s really cool. Oh, and did I mention the sheer number of quests? I didn’t? That’s because there are so many, you simply can’t count them.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Wii

The eighteenth game in Nintendo’s flagship series, Skyward Sword takes advantage of the Wii MotionPlus to bring an all-new control scheme that makes the sword and shield gameplay as real as it gets. The new Zelda title has done away with the traditional overworld/underworld gameplay that has been a staple of the franchise since the beginning and has made the transition between the two almost seamless. Along with enhanced graphics and a wonderful musical score, Skyward Sword has topped the review charts – with good reason.

Portal 2: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac

If you haven’t already played the first installment, you’ve done yourself a great disservice. Go ahead and buy that one and play it before continuing this article. No problem – I’ll wait. … All done? Good. Where were we? Ah yes, Portal 2 is a fantastic action/puzzle game made by the fine folks at Valve Corporation and is the sequel to the hit game of the same name. The premise is simple, you use a portal gun to move through various rooms and sticky situations until you complete the game. Sounds simple, right? It isn’t. Portal 2 picks up “a long time” after first game left off, with the character Chell again battling her way through test chamber after test chamber while being mocked by the artificial intelligence, GLaDOS. There’s more to the story than that, but it’s too good to divulge. Let’s just hope you like potatoes.

These are my top suggestions. What are yours?

So, what kind of deals should we be looking for? The Sunday ads for Black Friday have come out. Some places are offering deals on consoles, like Best Buy and their Playstation 3 160GB Console Bundle w/ Ratchet & Clank All 4 One & LittleBigPlanet 2 for $199.99 deal. As you have probably already noticed, most of the deals can be found online. In fact, it may even be better to order things online, so that instead of fussing in the store, you can fight your way onto a server instead.

I miss the days of standing in line at 3am. I think that it is all part of the spirit of Black Friday! We’ve seem to have lost that excitement in exchange for cheap stuff. Now that I’m older, I’ve started to see what really is worth my time to fight for.

I digress. There are a good amount of great deals for 2011. Below is a list of big name stores that are participating in Black Friday (both online and in store). The list is mostly geared towards multiplatform games; for an even more in depth game list, check out this site.

Amazon:
They’re deals are always changing, check out this page for the most recent version.

Best Buy:
These are the deals for multi-platform games. There are even more console specific games, but that list is too long to post here.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – $34.99
Batman Arkham City – $29.99
Battlefield 3 – $29.99
Call of Duty Black Ops – $29.99
Call of Duty World at War – $7.99
Dirt 3 – $14.99
Disney Universe – $29.99
FIFA Soccer – $34.99
Final Fantasy XIII – $14.99
Homefront – $14.99
Madden NFL 12 – $29.99
Need for Speed The Run – $29.99
NBA 2K12 – $34.99
Rage – $29.99
Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions – $14.99
Toy Story 3 – $7.99
The Sims 3 Pets – $24.99
X-Men Destiny – $29.99

Game Stop:
Lots and lots, including
Buy 2, get 1 free on all pre-owned products (Friday the 25th through Sunday the 27th)
4GB PSP Memory Stick Pro Duo – $14.99 (Valid Friday the 25th Only).

KMart:
Multiplatform games.
Battlefield 3 – $34.99 (until 11:00 am)
Call of Duty Black Ops – $29.99
Driver San Francisco – $19.99 (until 11:00 am)
FIFA Soccer 12 – $39.99 (until 11:00 am)
Madden NFL 12 – $39.99 (until 11:00 am)
Medal Gear Solid HD Collection – $34.99 (until 11:00 am)
NCAA Football 12 – $39.99 (until 11:00 am)
Need for Speed The Run – $39.99 (until 11:00 am)
Rage – $29.99

Target:
Multiplatform games
Battlefield 3 – $37
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – $59.99, but comes with a $10 Gift Card (also applied to PC version, and this for some reason is the store’s only advertised PC game deal so far)
Madden NFL 12 – $27
Need for Speed: The Run – $27
Rayman Origins – $59.99, but comes with a $10 Gift Card

1- Put Google To Good Use: Do you have a specific video game in mind? Type up the exact name of the product you’re looking for into the Google Product Search (under Shopping), then scan down to find that product and click on the button that says “Compare Prices” not only to get a list of all the online retail shops that sell this product but also to find out the prices and shipping costs at each store. Even better, shop Amazon. Again, you’ll want to type in the exact product into search and voila! You’ll find a list of products, the sellers who sell them, and the prices of each!

2- Trade In Your Old Games For New Games: Many places, such as GameStop will let you simply trade in your old games that you no longer enjoy for credits that can be used like cash for newer games or consoles. Remember to trade in games that are still in good condition for full credit. You can find out more on GameStop.com. You also can trade in your games at Best Buy or Toys R Us.

3- Search For Free Online Game: Many of the games you can buy are the same games you can play online for free! Unfortunately, many of these are trial games that you can download to play for a week, but after that week or so is up, you’ll have to pay full price to access them again. Luckily there are many sites that will allow you to join for free and play to your heart’s content, like MiniClip.com or even AddictingGames.com.

However, they are having some legal issues. It turns out that they have been selling used copies of games as new copies. They do this via their “check-out” policy that they have among their employees. Their check-out policy  states that an employee can check out an item from the store for up to four days. The merchandise can be used or new, but there are some restrictions as to what can be checked out. For instance, hardware, accessories, sealed CDs or software programs that must be altered to install may not be checked out. Popular titles cannot be checked out either, and if there is only one copy of the title left on hand, then it cannot be checked out. If the employee returns the merchandise in bad condition or if he or she loses the item, she must pay for the item. However, if it’s in good shape, then the company takes it back.

What happens then is kind of a mystery. Most of these games get put back into their cases and are sold as “new.”

How does the company manage to sell the games as new if they’re in cases? Well, once a shipment arrives, managers usually “gut” a few copies of the game. What this means is that the game is taken out of the case so that the case can be put on display without having to worry about it getting stolen. Employees then are able to play these games and return them to the company, which in turn sells the games as “new.” If a customer asks why the case is open even though the game is “new,” GameStop typically tells them that they are display copies but not that they have been played before.

I wonder what will happen to them…