I’m sending my original PlayStation 3 60GB with its PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility chips to the metaphorical bench and hired a brand new PlayStation 3 Slim to take its place.
The reasons behind this move are as follows:
The last game I pre-ordered was Metal Gear Solid 4 which came with a whole slew of bonuses that I eventually didn’t care about. Since then, I haven’t pre-ordered a single game unless there was some sort of deal.
Even though I’ll probably grow tired of Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer and scoff at the campaign, I went ahead and pre-ordered it for $49.99 at FutureShop. The thing about Call of Duty games is that you’ll most likely get your money’s worth in return via trade in promotions like those found at GameStop. Most of the time, it’s a one for one trade towards a game. The trade in value is that high.
My next tale is one of regret. I assumed the Xbox 360 version of L.A Noire would be the one to get, but it turns out it isn’t. When GiantBomb goes out of their way to mention platform differences, it’s enough for me to switch platforms. Unfortunately for me, changing platforms wasn’t so easy.
I ordered my copy from BestBuy.ca for $50.99 before taxes. A decent discount considering it’s a new release. (I also got 800 Reward Zone points ($10), but that doesn’t really count.) So I noticed that my order status was still “In progress” so I rang BestBuy customer support and asked if I could simply change versions. I was disappointed to hear that wasn’t possible; not without voiding the discount.
Refusing to pay full price, I thought back to last Friday and Dell.ca’s L.A Noire promotion. It was a mere $5 off, but Dell.ca allowed me to use my $20 MasterCard that I received from a mail in rebate offer in conjunction with my regular BestBuy VISA. In the end I paid $62.14 for the PlayStation 3 version of L.A Noire which shipped out today.
That was quite a bit of fuss to get the “superior” version of a game, next time I’ll take my brother’s advice and buy both versions and cancel/return the one I don’t want.
Duh.
The only time I actually pick up games in a retail store is after a GameStop PowerTrade promotion. Otherwise, I’m waiting patiently at home for my game to arrive via mail or download. Downloading from Steam is dependent on Valve’s servers and my ISP which means I can usually get an game within an hour or so.
By mail, I was waiting anywhere between a couple of days to a whole week before my game would get here. But thanks to FutureShop and BestBuy’s earlier shipping practices, I’ve been receiving games on day one. I received Portal 2 today and I also received Killzone 3 on its launch day.
This has been great.
These two electronic giants are doing right by their consumers with this.
Amazon.ca has been pretty consistent, but instead of getting my game on day one, I get a nice shipping notice saying that it was on its way. Today is Tuesday which means I should be expecting a package by Friday at the latest.
Dell.ca seems to be the most inconsistent. If it’s in stock, I get it the day after release. If it’s not in stock, it can be up to a week. And worse of all, they use Purolator which means I need to find an inconvenient Purolator station.
On a whole, games have been arriving in a timely fashion. I wish every retailer was shipping their merchandise out early, but I can’t complain if I’m not paying for shipping. I’d love to have Amazon Prime option here in Canada, but that’s probably not going to happen any time soon. We don’t even have all the different types of merchandise available in Amazon.com.
Baby steps, I guess.
BestBuy.ca held an online only sale Saturday and Sunday night. Games and game accessories were 15% off.
I took advantage of the sale and pre-ordered the following titles:
All seven titles total up to $403.34 or $57.62 each. Plus, some of them even offer an additional 800 Reward Zone points (that’s a $10 value). I’ll be able to collect more RZ points as soon as my BestBuy VISA card gets here.
I could have pre-ordered more, but these are the titles I believe won’t be receiving timely price drops or promotions, so I chose them. Since these were all individual orders, if I run into cheaper offers, I’ll be able to cancel my order without much fuss.
That’s a big haul.
We’re in a bit of a post-holiday 2010 lull at the moment, so I thought it’d be a good time to reflect. It’s time to look back at 2010 and pick out some “deals of the year”.
If you’re curious about last year’s result, just head over here.
Digital Distribution Deal of the Year
Winner: Fallout: New Vegas Digital Collector’s Edition for $29.71 ($20 off) @ Direct2Drive
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A non-Steam sale for “Digital Distribution Deal of the Year”? Blasphemous? Not quite. Allow me to explain.
Just a little over a month after release and this game gets a hefty $20 off on Direct2Drive. It was a timely sale, there was plenty of time take advantage of it (weekend sale) and it was a deal for a game people wanted. We wouldn’t see a similar deal like this for another 30+ days on Steam. Plus, since this title was a Steamworks game,we were activating it on Valve’s service anyway.
Runners up: Super Meat Boy (PC) for $3.75 on Steam, Amnesia: The Dark Descent for $9.99 on Steam, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit for $19.95 on Direct2Drive
Black Friday 2010 begins November 26, 2010! And Canadian retailers are getting into the thick of it. Here you will find game deals as I stumble into them. I will try to update this page as soon as possible, but if you want faster updates, follow GameDealsCanada on Twitter or Facebook!
Without further delay, here are the deals sorted by platform!
Please post a comment or send a message via Twitter or Facebook if there are any errors or new deals!
Bolded deals are my personal highlights.
It’s time to look back at the year that was — gaming deal wise, that is.
I started tracking deals via GameDealsCanada back on May 1st and while that may not be the beginning of 2009, I’m confident with the choices I’ve made for this year’s awards. So without further delay, let’s get right down to it.