An analyst told Barron's that "He's got a lot bigger stake in Barnes & Noble. Clearly he thinks selling GameStop is better than selling Barnes & Noble." One could definitely say that. [Barron's via GamaSutra via Kotaku]

Links to the individual game consoles can be found here, and the code is "ZCFLR1BTX5Q1D$". But that's not all, because Dell's also offering up to 20% off of GPS units, MP3 players, and a charitable $700 off the Sony Bravia 52" 1080p LCD. The console deals all expire on December 17th or when the allotted number of units is sold, and the other electronics expire a day later.

Gamestop has a deal on used games— buy 2, get a third free— with the coupon "B2G1FREE", which'll help you put together a library for that new hardware you just bought from Dell. [DealNews]

More Advice for the Black Friday Fray:
• The aforementioned Ultimate Survival Guide.
• 5 Gadgets You Can't Skimp On (And How to Save Money Buying Them)
• Best of Black Friday Deals Complete Roundup">All the best deals in one place
• Plus these late breaking ones from Cupertino: Apple Black Friday Deals Include Some Decent Third-Party Discounts
• Warnings: 7 Crappy Black Friday "Deals" That Aren't Really
• How To Choose an HDTV on Black Friday (or Any Day)
• How to set up that new HDTV you just got.

Photochop Contest:
• Brutally Honest Black Friday Ads Showcase Retailers on the Brink

Why You Might Want to Avoid Shopping on Black Friday, altogether:
• 10 Reasons We're Doomed: Black Friday Edition
• WalMart Worker Trampled to Death by Deal-Crazed Black Friday Shoppers

[Complete Black Friday Gadget Coverage at Giz]

On the cool side, the controller artwork was created by Todd McFarlane, and they each come with Halo figure from McFarlane Toys. The headset, however, is just an uglified version of the standard Microsoft one, with a Halo 3 logo slapped on it.

For $60 a pop, the controllers aren't a horrible value proposition, but to pay that much for a baby-shit-colored headset should test the devotion of even the hardiest fanboy. – Matt Buchanan

Product Page [GameStop via Ars Technica]

If pre-ordering this is anything like pre-ordering anything else at EB, you'll hand them five bucks and they'll try and get you to pre-order the Halo 3 Zune Strategy Guide as well. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Gamestop - Thanks Marco!]

They'll give you $50 for an old-school Xbox, $200 for a Core Xbox (sans hard drive), and $250 for a Premium Xbox (with hard drive). Not a bad deal at all. – Louis Ramirez

UPDATE: We spoke too soon. Turns out that if you eBay your used Xbox 360 you might fetch a few extra bucks. GameStop has the better deal on the other systems, but you can sell your Premium 360 for $300-$400 on eBay (if you throw in some games). It's not as easy as bringing it to the store, but you'll get an extra Benjamin for going the extra mile.

GameStop Offering 360 Elite Trade-Ups [Kotaku]

Was the retailer demands the only reason for the price drop? Perhaps, but there have been a lot of PSP2 speculation lately. If you don't have a PSP, now may be the time to jump, especially with this system getting down to a more reasonable range, the possibilities with the device as a media player and especially because of some good game titles like Puzzle Quest, Ratchet & Clank and, of course, Lumines.

PSP Core Drops to $169 Tomorrow [Kotaku]

Sony raises PS3 price in Canada? [GameSpot via digg]

Police say they discovered that the "robbery report was bogus", and that there may have been more people involved. The four PS3s still haven't been recovered, but you can bet these two kids are busy stashing the consoles where the cops can't find them. That, and hoping they don't have to go to PMITA prison. – Jason Chen

Holdup was fake, cops say [SacBee via Joystiq]

Our first story takes place in a Best Buy in Toronto, Canada. Reader Charles writes:

...Due to the fact that I used to be employed by Future Shop (a Best Buy owned corporation) during the summer, I knew for a fact that it is not possible to reserve one; I thought I'd ask anyway.

Then someone gets ballsy.

I approached an employee standing near the front of the store and I asked if the store was allowing for reservations for the Wii. He leaned in a little closer to me (which I found to be more than a bit awkward) and whispered, "I can reserve one for you...for a price". I was quite surprised at his response, and even though I had no intention of paying him any extra money, I asked him how much he was charging. He replied, "How much are you willing to pay? Don't lowball 'cause I have other offers." I told him to forget it and walked away.

The dickery doesn't stop there. Reader Kristopher adds to the insanity:

I went to my family's house in Palm Desert, CA, for Thanksgiving and found the local Gamestop to check out for Black Friday. I went there at around 2PM when things settled down just to actually test out a Wii. There wasn't many people in there by that time; probably around four people all in line. I patiently waited so others wouldn't think I was cutting in line to buy something. I politely asked the employee if I could use a controller for the Wii demo station, in which I was responded by an abrupt, "NO." I then paused and asked if there was a reason why not, in which I was stopped mid-sentence by another abrupt, "NO!," and this time the exclamation point is critical because I was literally yelled at in-store. Since I'm a sales manager at my current job I understand Black Friday could have been a stressful day for them, so I proceeded to tell him calmly that, "It may have been a stressful day, but any manager will teach you that in customer service, people don't liked to be yelled at in the store and most managers would fire you for something like that." He then looked straight at me and then the next person in line and said, "Next." I was pretty frustrated at that point, so I asked him to see a manager, in which he told me he was the manager and said, "Please get out of the store."

Well, I obviously left at that point to avoid any more confrontation. I definitely think my Gamestop experience was pretty ruthless.

Have your own stories? Send them in to us. Our emails are on the left. – Jason Chen