XBLA, PSN carve out Thanksgiving sales

In the US, the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, the starting gun for the holiday-shopping season that often sees retailers offering high-ticket items at absurdly low prices. But gamers won't need to camp out overnight for a deal; Microsoft and Sony are both discounting some high-profile releases on their respective downloadable-game services.

Until next Thursday, PlayStation 3 gamers can pick up The Last Guy, PixelJunk Eden, Echochrome, Novastrike, and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 for the reduced price of $4.99 each. All five of those games sold for $9.99 upon their original releases on the PlayStation Network.

Microsoft has a wider array of content on sale, but its Xbox Live Marketplace Black Friday promotion also has a few more strings attached. From Friday morning through Sunday evening, Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to get deals on a variety of Live Arcade games and premium downloadable content.

On the XBLA side, a slate of games going for 800 Microsoft points ($10) will be available for 500 Microsoft points ($6.25). Those include Rez HD, Catan, Arkadian Warriors, Brain Challenge, Boogie Bunnies, and Golf: Tee it Up! On top of that, Assault Heroes will be discounted from its 400 Microsoft point ($5) price to 250 Microsoft points ($3.12).

Some of the more notable downloadable content on sale includes the full Metallica Death Magnetic album for Guitar Hero III/World Tour. Ordinarily selling for 1,440 Microsoft points ($18), the record will instead fetch 1,000 Microsoft points ($12.50). The Crackdown Getting Busy bonus pack is also getting cheaper, given that the 800 Microsoft point ($10) add-on is temporarily being cut to 500 Microsoft points ($6.25).

Forza, Rock Band, and Lips will have one discounted download each, whereas themes for Sonic Unleashed, Castle Crashers, and Gears of War 2 will be cut from 250 Microsoft points ($3.12) to 180 ($2.25).