With Black Friday just around the corner, retail shops are slowly jumping on the discount bandwagon. On top of the heap is Sears Corp., who will be offering the PS3 and Xbox 360 Dragon Age: Origins (also on PC) under US$ 40.

This week on the European PlayStation Store - some good DLCs coming your way. Street Fighter IV gets alternate costumes, and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift gets the Lunar Tec Signature Livery Pack. Bejeweled 2 and Zen Pinball are also now available for download, among others. Plus if you wanna see some behind the scenes for Resistance: Retribution and the making of Killzone 2, they've got vids for that as well. Complete list after the jump.

Lots of DLC on this week's update for the PlayStation Store, including the Encore to PixelJunk Eden and additional content for Valkyria Chronicles. Hit the link for the complete list.

This week on the European PlayStation Store - PixelJunk Eden Encore is now up, that goes the same for the FEAR 2: Project Origin Multiplayer Map Pack. More songs pack in for Guitar Hero and Rock Band, as always, and if you've been waiting for SackBoy's new Monkey King look, you can get it now. Complete list in the full article.

It may not be doing as well as the other two current gen consoles, but the PS3 isn't throwing in the towel. SCEA VP for sales Ian Jackson shares that PS3 hardware sales grew by almost 40% for the year, and up to 130% for the holidays starting Black Friday. Despite reports from the NPD that the PS3 actually fell from the previous year, Sony maintains that their console is not out of the game. Details inside.

It's been another week, so let's take a look at how our platforms are doing on the Japanese markets, once again care of Media Create. The hardware chart shows strong performance this time around, with the PS3 getting a sales boost. Note that this sales strength cannot be attributed to Black Friday - they don't have that in Japan.

How many articles about bad economy and suffering publishers have you read on QJ in the past two months? I lost count. That's because it's undeniable - the gaming industry in in the toilet, praying not to be flushed. Take-Two's Chief exec, Strauss Zelnick, describes the current situation to be so bad, that "being slightly down is the new up."

No recession is gonna keep this box from booming - Xbox 360 enjoys the biggest Black Friday in its history, even sweetening its success by outselling the competing PS3 three-to-one. Microsoft's console puts up a strong performance during one of the biggest shopping weekends in the US amidst the financial crisis. Read more in the full article.

An unfortunate event on Black Friday has occurred at a Wal-Mart branch in Long Island, New York. One worker was killed while at least four other people were injured. Sales are great , but there's no need to go rushing mad. Read up the story at the full article.

Did you think Amazon was going to leave you (and your wallet) to slog through the press of holiday shoppers at your local retail stores? Hardly. The full article contains the list of goodies available for Amazon's Black Friday Sale.