Sony’s holiday sale offers 30 to 50 percent discounts on over 40 games

LittleBigPlanet 2, NHL 13 and Rayman Origins are just three of the games seeing massive discounts as Sony celebrates the holidays by slashing prices on 40-plus games.

It’s December 17, barely a week before Christmas, and you’ve finished all your shopping, wrapping and baking duties. You plop down on your couch, exhausted, and think that it’s high time you did something nice for yourself. Maybe pick up a new game. Fortunately, if you own either a PlayStation 3 or a Vita Sony just made indulging yourself a whole lot easier.

In an effort to highlight the best the PlayStation Network Store has to offer (and, presumably, to drive up end of the year sales figures), Sony has revealed plans for an ongoing sale lasting from now until the end of the year. Discounts start at 30 percent off, though PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to pick up any of the games available at half price. While the sale itself technically doesn’t end until December 31st, Sony plans to change the list of titles on offer each week, so if you don’t see something you like one week, the company urges you to come back seven days later to see if it’s marked down something you would be interested in.

Have a look at the games Sony’s offering from now until December 24, courtesy the official PlayStation.blog:

Catherine (Sale: $27.99, PS Plus: $19.60, Regular: $39.99)Counter Strike Global Offensive (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)Dyad (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)Escape Plan (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)I Am Alive (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)LittleBigPlanet 2 (Sale: $13.99, PS Plus: Free, Regular: $19.99)LittleBigPlanet PS Vita (Sale: $24.99, PS Plus: $17.49, Regular: $35.99)Magic: The Gathering – Dules of the Planeswalkers 2013 (Sale: $6.99, PS Plus: $4.90, Regular: $9.99)NHL 13 (Sale: $41.99, PS Plus: $29.40, Regular: $59.99)Rayman Origins (Sale: $13.99, PS Plus: $9.80, Regular: $19.99)Rayman Origins PS Vita (Sale: $20.99, PS Plus: $14.70, Regular: $29.99)Resident Evil 4 (Sale: $13.99, PS Plus: $9.80, Regular: $19.99)Retro/Grade (Sale: $6.99, PS Plus: $4.90, Regular: $9.99)Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition (Sale: $10.49, PS Plus: $7.35, Regular: $14.99)The most obvious caveat here is that come December 24, these particular deals will vanish. If you want to pick up Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition for $7.35, you’ll need a PlayStation Plus subscription and you’ll need to purchase the game before next Monday. Further, the company is being quite coy in regards to what deals will be made available next week. We know that in total the company plans to discount over 40 different games, though beyond that above list we have no idea which games will be included. Thus, unfortunately, you’ll have to keep checking the PlayStation Store or Sony’s blog to see when/if your next purchase receives a price cut.That said, these are some excellent bargains. We gave LittleBigPlanet PS Vita a sterling 9/10 review score and for only $17.49 the game is an utter steal. Likewise, Rayman Origins is one of the best platformer games in recent memory and being able to pick up the game’s gorgeous PlayStation 3 iteration for less than $10 should be enticing to anyone who hasn’t completely exhausted their inherent supply of whimsy and joy.

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Elite: Dangerous developer lays off 6 percent of its staff

Frontier, the developer behind the long-awaited reboot of the Elite series, laid off 14 people last Friday, claiming their roles at the company were "redundant."

When UK-based games developer Frontier announced plans to revisit the long-dormant, fan favorite Elite series, people lined up to donate to the firm’s Kickstarter. As of this moment, the fundraiser for Elite: Dangerous has raised £784,850 (a little over $1.27 million USD), and has 18 days left to pull in the remainder of its £1,250,000 goal. You’d think that at a time like this the company would be gearing up to put all that money toward the development of the game; investing in better technology, hiring new staff, that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, you’d be completely wrong. Instead, Frontier is laying people off.

As of 6PM on Friday, December 14, roughly 6 percent of Frontier’s staff received notice that they were no longer employed with the company. This morning, Frontier managing director David Walsh confirmed the layoffs to Eurogamer, saying that the roles occupied by these 14 people were redundant, and that the company plans to hire other people to better balance its developmental skill set.

“Frontier regretfully has given a total of 14 people (from a staff of 233) notice that their roles are redundant, across art (9), animation (3) and audio (2) disciplines,” Walsh stated. “This is due to the changing mix of skills requirements for our current and future projects — it is not a reflection on the company’s prospects, which remain healthy.”

Okay, that’s understandable, but isn’t it still a bit Dickensian to lay anyone off 11 days before Christmas? Walsh claims the dismissals were an effort to ensure that these employees would be able to find new employment as quickly as possible.

“Once we took the decision to make the roles redundant, we felt it was better that the affected people knew ASAP so they can plan any further expenditure over the Christmas period accordingly and focus on their search for new roles as soon as possible,” Walsh said.

Whether you believe Walsh or are currently hoping that he’s visited by a trio of spirits on Christmas Eve is a matter of personal opinion, but it does seem inarguably odd that the company would only realize and act on these redundancies once it neared its Kickstarter goal. Whether they will have any impact on the eventual quality of Elite: Dangerous is anyone’s guess at this point, but that’s really beside the point. 14 people are now out of a job in what is supposed to be the most jolly time of the year. We wish them luck.

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