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• That's right folks - two weeks until Black Friday '08. There have been some interesting developments in the leaked Black Friday ads - most notably the leak of Best Buy's ad, which I just finished looking at (for all those that look at it - skip the page that has everything listed and go straight to the scan of the ad, since the typed list is lacking a lot of items). Some noteworthy items: Saint's Row for $9.99, a $14.99 DDR game w/ the mat included, Bioshock (PC) and Assassin's Creed (PC) for $9.99 each, and a bunch of TV shows seasons for $14.99 a piece (can't tell what all of them are since there was heavy use of flash when the pictures were taken). Until I can take a look at every store's ad, I'm not going to make a decision about going to Best Buy just yet, but at any rate, check out the ad for yourself and begin making your list of must buys for Black Friday 2008.
• Have been busy over the past few days writing a ton of reviews for the next GrrlGamer update. Have written six so far, with at least one more that I know I will get done before the update. And while seven reviews (in total) may be a lot, that'll still leave me with three games in my queue and at least seven in the mail (to be received at various times over the next few weeks).
• In addition to playing games, I've been talking to a few people (with varying levels of connections within the industry) about whether or not I should take the plunge into the next-gen of gaming, and / or whether I could receive any help in doing so (cryptic, I know, but that's all I can say for now). Mainly, again for reasons that I can't get into, I'm looking specifically at the PS3 and Wii sides of the spectrum.
• One thing that I can say is that if I do end up getting a PS3 sooner rather than later, I will definitely be looking into Mirror's Edge. I read the GB review, among a few others, and even though the game is mainly considered to be mediocre, there is just something about it that has drawn me in (ever since E3). Everything from the game's theme song, Lisa Miskovsky's "Still Alive" (which has been blaring through my computer speakers repeatedly all day), to the various online trailers, TV commercials, screenshots and so on - I have absolutely no idea how it has done it or even why I am so intrigued by it, but I have not wanted to play a game THIS bad in a very very long time.
• At any rate, I'll be posting some of my old Black Friday tips within the coming days, in order to help you all prepare for war on the 28th, so until then!

• Had a nice Halloween - hope you all did too. My niece was a High School Musical cheerleader and my nephew was Raphael (the turtle, not the artist).

  

• Went hiking with my sister yesterday – see pictures for all the fall color goodness.
• Received the High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance Game Bundle for the PS2 (what a mouthful) on Saturday. My first dance pad game...interesting experience to say the least, and I can only imagine how stupid I look "dancing" to songs that I've never heard before (I'm not a fan of the movies).
• Codemasters sent me Bella Sara for the DS. Came with an exclusive trading card, which was a nice touch. The game’s graphics are a bit lacking, but the music is really nice. In fact, some of the songs I recognize from the Bella Sara website, and I’ve always been a fan of the site’s ethnic, mostly instrumental musical theme they’ve got going on. Other than that, the gameplay’s pretty repetitive, but then again, so is playing on the website, so the experience does translate well for young girls.
• EA sent me their newest trio of “for dummies” games: Brain Training for Dummies (PC), Poker for Dummies (PC) and Travel Games for Dummies (DS). I don’t really need the drawn out instructions for any of the games, but offering them for new gamers is a nice idea.
• For all you Pokémon fans that may not get the paper, thought I’d share that next weekend – November 8 and 9, Toys R Us will be giving away Dragonite in Diamond/Pearl, so you might want to check that out if you don’t already have said Pokémon. I know I’ll definitely be heading down there.
• That is all.

For the majority of you that know me from GS, you'll recall that for years now I have been sharing my wisdom with you over bargain shopping on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving in the States - otherwise known as the biggest shopping day of the year). With one of my biggest tips being to "come prepared," and with it being just about a month away from this year's event, I thought I would take a quick second to post some early Black Friday ads that I have come across via my favorite Black Friday site - www.blackfriday.info.

Now, I want to take a second to warn you all to take what you see with a grain of salt. While both of these ads DO have ad scans to go along with them, you never know what's going to change between now and then. That being said, I give you the first two Black Friday ads for 2008:

• Ace Hardware
• Sears

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I've new GrrlGamer updates for you all - I was quite busy over the past two weeks, with four new items for your reading pleasure (note: I actually wrote five, but one had to be delayed due to a NDA issue, and my lack of desire for being sued by breaking said NDA):

• Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams (DS) Preview
• Unsolved Crimes (DS) Preview
• Red Bull BC One (DS) Review (the most sarcastic review I've written in a while)
• Iron Man 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Review (part of GrrlGamer's line of "DVD's for Geeks and Gamers" reviews)

I'll be receiving both Hello Kitty and Unsolved Crimes in the coming weeks (with the first package next week sometime consisting of Unsolved Crimes, Pipe Mania and apparently Animal Paradise, if everything goes according to plan), so you can expect reviews of those in the future.

In other news, this week has been filled with last minute wedding plans, as one of my best friends is getting married on Friday, and I'm her Maid of Honor. As it is customary for the Bride to buy her Bridesmaids' dresses, we accomplished that on Monday with me getting a cocktail dress for ...wait for it... $1.07 - no, I'm not kidding - it was a Red Dot special of things the store couldn't stand to have around anymore, and needless to say, we jumped on it. Just goes to show that my bargain hunting abilities are not limited solely to electronics.

Ah well, until next time all!

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