What Are The Best Game Deals This Black Friday? 2014 Edition

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There's far more games I want to play than just the titles I end up reviewing. That said, a game journalist's salary isn't huge, so I'm always on the hunt for deals. I hadn't paid full price for a new game in years - The Evil Within broke my streak - thanks to retailers jumping at the chance to undercut each other and make us loyal consumers.

The deals tend to reach their heights on Black Friday, the dark 'holiday' that retailers in the United States have created to whip Christmas shoppers into a buying frenzy. Black Friday is the time to get your game on folks. There's a ton of deals out there, but I'm here to show you the best of the best.

Retailers are starting their deals earlier and earlier this year, so I'm going to throw out some current deals before I get to the meat. As always, as the deals roll in, I'll be updating this article.

Pre-Black Friday Deals

GameStop has early deals on some Sony gear, with a PlayStation 3 500GB The Last of Us bundle or PlayStation 3 500GB Lego Batman 3 and Sly Cooper bundle for only $249.99. There's also a PlayStation 3 12GB Disney Infinity 2.0 bundle for $199.99.

Amazon is using the entire month to count down to Black Friday, with a host of great video game deals. You can check this page at any time to see their current deals. Today's deal is nets you Just Dance 2015 for any platform for only $24.99

Walmart has a Pre-Black Friday sale going on right now, with Watch Dogs, NBA 2K15, Madden NFL 15, and FIFA 15 for $29.99. There's also a PlayStation 4 for $399 with a $50 gift card, but you can wait for better Black Friday deals.

Target is offering 50% off on select titles, including FIFA 15, NHL 15, and Disney Fantasia.

Black Friday Deals

PlayStation 4

Dell, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target are offering the PlayStation 4 with The Last of Us: Remastered and Grand Theft Auto V for only $399. This is an online-only doorbuster sale for Dell, going live at 6pm on November 27, 2014. According to Sony, you can expect this bundle at a variety of retailers, alongside a similarly-priced PS4 bundle with LEGO Batman 3 and Little Big Planet.

This is deal isn't as hot, but Sam's Club is offering the white PlayStation 4 with Destiny for $399. It's available online and in-store, but in-store quantities limited to 3-6 units per location, so good luck.

Xbox One

I expect a few outlets will be offering the Xbox One Assassin's Creed bundle (with Assassin's Creed Unity and AC IV: Black Flag) for only $329 this Black Friday, down from the already-discounted price of $349. Best Buy and Toys R Us are the first with the basic deal. Dell has their online doorbuster sale going live at 6pm on November 27, 2014 and Target has a similar deal in stores that comes with an additional $50 Target gift card.

Walmart is offering the same bundle, but it's also switching things up with an Xbox One Halo: The Master Chief Collection bundle for $329, but you're only getting one game here, not two. Many of these retailers are also offering the Xbox One Assassin's Creed bundle with Kinect for $429.99.

The Microsoft Store is offering a number of Xbox One bundles for Black Friday, all of which are the best-in-class deals on the system. The Assassin's Creed Kinectless bundle is $329 with a free game, which is absolutely crazypants. The Assassin's Creed Kinect bundle is $429 with a free game. The discounts will show up on 12am ET on November 27, 2014.

PlayStation 3

Nothing huge yet!

Xbox 360

The system deal this year looks to be the Xbox 360 4GB unit for $129.99. You can find this deal at Kmart and Kohl's doorbuster sales. Like the Xbox One deals above, the Microsoft Store is offering the same unit with a free game. Jump up to $199.99 and you can pick up the Xbox 360 500GB Blue or Black-colored systems with Call of Duty Ghosts and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

3DS/2DS

There was a hot 2DS deal at Walmart, with the system going for $79, but that's out of stock now. You can however pick up the 2DS Mario Kart 7 bundle for $129.96 right now. Target is also selling the 2DS with Yoshi's New Island for $99.

Best Buy and Toys R Us are offering a Blue 3DS XL with Mario Party: Island Tour for $179.99. Over at Walmart, there's a New Super Mario Bros 2 3DS XL bundle for $149.99.

Wii U

Best Buy is offering up a 32 GB Wii U with NintendoLand, Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Super Smash Bros for Wii U for only $359.97.

PlayStation Vita

Nothing yet.

The Games

Just scooped up an Xbox One? Kmart has Ryse, Dead Rising 3, and Forza Motorsport 5 for $29.99 on Black Friday.

The Microsoft Store is also offering Sunset Overdrive, Diablo III Ultimate, and Shadow of Mordor for $40; Forza Horizon 2, Dead Rising 3, and Ryse for $30; Metro Redux, The Evil Within, Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Wolfenstein: The New Order for $25; and Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, LEGO Marvel, and Thief for $20. You'll want to revisit that link on 12am ET on November 27, 2014.

At Target, The Evil Within, Watch Dogs (XB1) and Shadow of Mordor will be $25. FIFA 15, Assassin's Creed Rogue, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Diablo III Ultimate, Madden NFL 15, The Sims 4, and Watch Dogs (PS4) will be $35. Disney Infinity 2.0 and Skylanders Trap Team Starter Packs will be $39.99, down from $59.99.

At Best Buy, you can get a few games for $19.99, including Walking Dead: Season, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and Infamous: Second Son. At $24.99, The Evil Within, Shadow of Mordor, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Just Dance 2015, and Metro Redux are available. On the $29.99 tier, there's Diablo III: Ultimate Edition, FIFA 15, NBA 2K15, Watch Dogs, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Alien Isolation, Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition, The Sims 4, and WWE 2K15. Finally, you can grab Killer Instinct, Dark Souls II, and Elder Scrolls Anthology for $14.99. Disney Infinity 2.0 Starter Packs at just $39.99 if you're thinking of the younger demographic.

Moving over to Walmart, You can pick up FIFA 15, Madden NFL 15, Destiny, Mario Kart 8, NBA 2K15, Diablo III Ultimate, The Evil Within, Watch Dogs, and The Sims 4 for $35. For $25, you can grab recent Xbox 360 and PS3 games like Watch Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, and Assassin's Creed Rogue. Disney Infinity 2.0 and Skylanders Trap Team Starter Packs? $37. Figures for both games are only $9 each.

On Thanksgiving Thursday from 5-9pm, Toys R Us has Skylanders Trap Team Starter Packs for $37.50. On Black Friday, it'll go up to $49.99. Otherwise, the retailer is offering Buy 1, Get 1 40% Off on all video games.

You can pick up a 3-month subscription of Xbox Live Gold at the Microsoft Store, Kmart, and Best Buy for only $14.99. The Microsoft Store also has the 12-month subscription for $49.99, but we go deep here. You're better off grabbing the 12-month card for $39.99 at NewEgg or $34.99 at Ebay.

PC Download Sales

The Steam Autumn sale is live! You can find all the updated deals on our Sale page.

Paradox Interactive is having a tremedous sale on some of its best games. Most of the games or 75 or 80 precent off! Here's some of the highlights:

• Magicka ($2.50)
• Hearts of Iron III ($2.50)
• Europa Universalis IV: Extreme Edition ($11.25)
• Warlock 2: The Exiled ($10.00)

Perfect World Entertainment has Torchlight for free and Torchlight II for $5.00 on the Arc Games publishing platform.