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.

View the original article here

DT’s ‘Better Than Socks’ Holiday Giveaway: JLab Crasher Bluetooth Speaker

We're giving away a JLab Crasher Bluetooth speaker. Just tell us about your favorite old-school jam and which crazy color combo you want. Contest ends 12/24/2012.

Back in 1985 – when Aquanet fogged up school locker rooms and kids could be found break-dancing on a broken-down cardboard box in the hallways between classes – the must-have holiday gift was a massive boombox. We’re talking about 5-band graphic equalizers, dual cassette decks with high-speed dubbing capability, and faux-chrome accents. If you were lucky, the thing only weighed 50 pounds once you loadied it with 10 D cell batteries which lasted maybe a couple of hours before fading out. But, damnit, you would lug that thing around on your shoulders bumpin’ Run-D.M.C like it was no big thing. 

Thankfully, those days are over. Today, wireless, portable speakers come in packages so compact, you can fit ‘em in a fanny pack – not that you would ever do such a thing. What is this, 1993?

Check out the J-Lab Crasher. It’s a colorful Bluetooth wireless speaker with a built-in, USB rechargeable battery that will pump up the jam for nearly 18 hours straight. And the best part of all: We’re giving one away. 

Just leave a comment below telling us what old-school jam you want to blast with your new JLab Crasher and which color combo you want – Miami purple/mint, sport gray/yellow, air aluminum/white, or midnight black/gunmetal. In one week (that’s December 24th, folks), we’ll select a winner, close the contest and announce the winner. 

Be creative, make us smile, and good luck!

View the original article here

Holiday gift guide for rugged hikers, campers, and the outdoors-obsessed

Those who love the outdoors know how to battle against nature's elements, but you can help make their lives a bit easier this holiday season with these awesome gear.

If you have a friend with passion for the outdoors, they probably think they have all the gear they need, which is where you come in. We’ve dug up gifts they probably would overlook if not for you, and we bet you’ll be the first person they call when they get back from their next trip. Who knew their outdoor life would be made so much easier by gadgets like this? You did.  

Instead of sending your friend off to the mountains with some dried beef jerky and gatorade, the BioLite Camp Stove will allow for a fresh cooked meal – all while using fan power to charge any mobile device. The tiny stove is portable and great for small groups who want more than just marshmallows around a campfire by the end of the hike; it can boil a cup of water in just two minutes, and fires up a skillet in no time. For more info, here’s our review of the BioLite Camp Stove.

So your friend wants to go on that camping trip to disconnected to our very wired world. That’s perfectly okay, but he or she should also be prepared in case of emergencies. The SpareOne Emergency Cellphone is an ultra-basic phone with no data or text messaging plan, so your friend doesn’t need to worry about being bothered by email, Facebook, or Twitter. It’s used for one thing and one thing only: getting help when help is needed.

Any camper knows it can be tough to peel yourself out of a toasty sleeping bag on a cold morning in the woods, so Poler solved the problem with its Napsack: don’t leave the sleeping bag. 

The Poler Napsack is a wearable sleeping bag that somehow manages to be cooler than a Snuggie. The water-resistant fabric helps the Napsack act as an overcoat, complete with a hood, arm holes, and pockets to fit mobile gadgets dearest to the wearer’s heart. Comes in four fun colors.

The era of the Swiss Army Knife may be over, but not everyone wants to carry a big, bulky Leatherman with them when they go for a hike. The Quirky Switch pocketknife is designed to be modular so your friend can change and adjust the tools as needed, from screwdrivers to can opener to magnifying lens and magnet. It’s essentially a one-stop-shop for all things tools-related.

 Being outdoors means spending a lot of time on foot. Help your friend brace for winter with the ThermaCell Heated Insoles, designed to keep shoes toasty warm for five consecutive hours. They come complete a remote that controls the intensity, and make winter hikes a breeze. 

There’s no telling what sort of camera-smashing scenario you’ll friend is likely to find him or herself needing to take a picture in, so may we suggest a camera that can take it –whatever “it” is? We reviewed the Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS and can attest to this little gadget’s ability to last through an underwater photography session or a drop in the snowy mountains. The Olympus Tough cam also takes photos that rival the qualities of many DSLRs – all for a non-DSLR pricing.

If you’re looking for the outdoors equivalent of those commercials where someone gets a car as a gift, look no further than the two-meter The North Face dome tent. This eight-person sleeper features a living space of 125 square feet, dual doors, interior canopy loops, two exterior windows, and a chimney vent to keep fresh air circulating. Also, have you seen how this thing looks? It will make your friend the coolest camper in the forest. Whether or not bears will come knocking is obviously none of your concern.

View the original article here

DT’s ‘Better Than Socks’ Holiday Giveaway: Lazerwood MacBook Pro Keys

If you own a MacBook Pro and want to add a classy touch to your keyboard, enter to win these stylish Lazerwood Keys.

To celebrate the holidays, we’re giving our readers the chance to win some awesomely techie gifts. For the second day of Digital Trends’ “Better than Socks” Giveaway, we’re giving away a set of Lazerwood’s cherry-wood laser-cut keys for the MacBook Pro (compatible with all models after 2008). As the name might suggest, Lazerwood creates laser-cut accessories for iPhones, and Apple keyboards.

Cut precisely to fit upon your keys without inhibiting their function, the wood pieces are lined with a thin adhesive back that firmly holds to the keys. The whole process of applying the caps takes about 30 to 40 minutes, but once you’re done, these cheery, cherry-wood keys will definitely make your MacBook Pro stand out in your local coffee shop. If you’re worried that your keys will forever have this stylish wooden veneer, you’ll be happy to know that the caps can be carefully removed.

Also, you’ll be happy to know that the company uses FSC-certified wood, which means the wood comes from trees farmed according to the Forest Stewardship Council’s standards. So, you can rest assured that the wood isn’t coming from any clear-cutting or endangered forests.

Interested in winning a set of Lazerwood MacBook Pro Keys? Just hit us up in the comments below with the your most frequent and common typo. The deadline to enter is Monday, December 17, and we’ll contact the winner the following day. Good luck!

If you don’t own a MacBook Pro, or the Lazerwood Keys aren’t quite your cup of tea, check back often as we’ll be running DT’s ‘Better Than Socks’ Holiday Giveaways all month long.

View the original article here

Holiday gift guide for the world traveler

This holiday season might mean a lot of traveling for many, so here are our picks for gadgets most helpful for flying around the world with ease.

The jetsetting lifestyle may seem glamorous, but in reality, it’s a lot of work. Did you hear how hard it wasfor the 200 journalists that boarded the #RihannaPlane? Seven days of chartered travel internationally nearly killed some of them! If they had a few of these gadgets and gizmos with them, they might have handled it better. 

Check out our Best Travel Apps list for iTunes gift ideas, if you’re on a limited budget.

Every world traveler knows they need the best backpack to last for days when you’re constantly traveling. Powerbag offers a full line of bags with battery-charging system embedded inside so you can keep gadgets charged on the go. Our pick is the Business Class Powerbag, which boasts the generator that can charge your smartphone up to four times. Its flat pack, x-ray friendly design also allows you to keep your laptop in the bag when going through security. The all-black design matches with any possible travel outfit, letting you go from business meetings to sweatpants without worrying if the Powerbag looks out of place.

For business travelers, being connected to the Web at all time is extremely important. Why bother with spotty airport WiFi connections when you can extend your own network with the Belkin Wireless Travel Router? The cordless, pint-sized device comes complete in a carrying case and can provide an Internet speed of up to 150Mbps. Set up a private password and other travelers will wish they, too, had a personal hotspot. Who needs ethernet cords?

A veteran traveler has a nails system for packing and unpacking in minutes; for the rest of us, there’s the Grid-It Organizer. It creates just the right place to put just about anything small, which not only keeps small things like phones, cameras, and toiletries organized, but also ensures that they take up as little space as possible to maximize room for the important stuff. Like shoes. 

The airport is one noisy place, so cancel all that out with the ultra-luxe Denon Globe Cruiser headphones. The wireless headphones connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth, and the wearer can adjust sound, skip, pause, play music right from the ear piece. You can even pick up calls straight from the ear piece with just a tap of a button, or use the microphone to say voice command and the headphones will transmit sound right to the iPhone’s Siri or Android’s Voice Actions. When the flight attendent asks that you put away your gadgets before takeoff, the Globe Cruiser headphone also folds neatly into a carrying case.

Yes, the Powerbag can help keep your gadgets as charged as can be, but it’s always a good idea to travel with an external battery bank in case of emergencies. The Innergie PocketCell does just that. The device can boost extra battery power to a myriad of gadgets, from smartphones, laptops, talbets, to MP3 players and portable game consoles. Just in case you didn’t have room to charge them all in your systemized backpack. The PocketCell is also compatible with popular devices, but you can check here to be sure.

There’s no quicker way to get sick in a foreign country than by drinking water that isn’t as clean as your stomach is used to. Gift your traveling friend a the SteriPen, and rather than scavenge every town they visit for bottled water, they can purify the tap water. The travel-sized SteriPen is good for up to 3,000 uses before needing a replacement, giving you plenty of time to drink pure water without worrying about catching something nasty.

Everyone’s a phoneographer (phone + photographer) now that many cell phones come equipped with cameras as powerful as a decent point-and-shoot, and Photojojo’s phone lens set turns the phone camera into something approaching a DSLR. These miniature lens will fit most major phones, from the iPhone to popular Androids, so you can play with Macro, Fisheye, Wide Angle, and Telephoto lens wherever you go.

Traveling is expensive as it is, so why let your friends spend the extra cash on checked baggage fees? With the Scottevest Fleece, travelers can bypass the carry-on limit by stuffing all their necessities in any combination of the jacket’s 23 pockets. The Scottevest fleece also has a special Quick Draw pocket that allows you to use your smartphone’s touchscreen without ever removing the phone from the pocket and, iff the plane temperature gets too warm, the sleeves are detachable.

If you have friends who live to bring wines back from wherever they’ve traveled, get them the WineSkin bottle bags to help ensure they’re not arriving with luggage full of stained clothes. The bags are reusable so two bags might be enough for one traveler, and who knows? Maybe they’re bringing the wine back for you? 

View the original article here