With the New Year about to start, we’re setting up one last week of great discounts on your Holiday Essentials – the games that you may not have played yet but wanted to try out. We’ve had two weeks of amazing games at awesome prices and this week is no different. With the last week of our Holiday Essentials sale, we’re bringing you the best of the best for your PS3 and PS Vita to ring in the New Year.

With this week’s lineup, you can feast your ears on Sound Shapes, which features Cross-Buy, meaning that when you purchase either the PS Vita or PS3 version, you get the other version for free. You’ll also be able venture around superhero game Batman: Arkham City, and test your survival skills in action-packed Tokyo Jungle.

Now’s your chance to save 30% — or up to 50% for PlayStation Plus members—on the final week of great games. But like the year 2012, these deals won’t last much longer, so head into the PlayStation Store and pick them up today! These discounts will only be good through 1/7/2013. You can find the full lineup below:

Once you stock up, you’ll be set to start off the New Year right. See you in 2013 for more deals and discounts on some of your favorite games!

Bundles

Motorstorm Complete Edition ($11.99)

Take your MotorStorm RC experience to the extreme with this “Complete” Edition, including the full game and all its DLC!
ESRB: E – Everyone // File Size: 1.2 GB

PS Vita

Motorstorm Complete Edition ($11.99)

Take your MotorStorm RC experience to the extreme with this “Complete” Edition, including the full game and all its DLC!
ESRB: E – Everyone // File Size: 1.2 GB

PlayStation Store Highlights

Happy holidays! It’s a light publish this week due to the holiday season, but you can still pick up some great new deals via our Holiday Essentials Sale. If you’re a PS Plus member, you can enjoy deeper discounts on those deals, plus Retro City Rampage for free.

It’s also worth noting that a couple things have been updated in the PS Store navigation. We’ve incorporated some of your feedback and you can now filter Add-ons by game title and the Weekly Deals section has been placed more prominently. We hope these changes will help you find what you’re looking for.

As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments below. You can also chat about this update in the PlayStation Community Forums.

PlayStation Plus

Click here to learn more and purchase online or go to the PlayStation Store to activate instantly.

Holiday Essentials Sale

• Duke Nukem Forever – PS3 Game (now: $13.99 original price: $19.99 Plus price: $9.80)
• Journey – PS3 Game (now: $10.49 original price: $14.99 Plus price: $7.35)
• Killzone 3 Multiplayer – PS3 Game (now: $10.49 original price: $14.99 Plus price: $7.35)
• Mafia II – PS3 Game (now: $13.99 original price: $19.99 Plus price: $9.80)
• Mortal Kombat – PS3 Game (now: $20.99 original price: $29.99 Plus price: $14.79)

Other Sales

• Galaga Legions – PS3 Game (now: $6.99 original price: $9.99 Plus price: $4.90)
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection – PS Vita Bundle (now: $24.99 original price: $34.99 Plus price: $17.14)
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD – PS3 Game (now: $10.49 original price: $14.99 Plus price: $7.34)
• Papo & Yo – PS3 Game (now: $10.49 original price: $14.99 Plus price: $7.35)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty – PS3 Game (now: $10.49 original price: $14.99 Plus price: $7.35)
• Starhawk – PS3 Game (now: $27.99 original price: $39.99 Plus price: $19.60)
• The Simpsons Arcade Game – PS3 Game (now: $6.99 original price: $9.99 Plus price: $4.90)
• Unit 13 – PS Vita Game (now: $24.99 original price: $26.99 Plus price: $12.94)
• Retro City Rampage – PS3 Game (now: $9.99 original price: $14.99)
• Retro City Rampage – PS Vita Game (now: $9.99 original price: $14.99)
• Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational – PS Vita Game (now: $12.49 original price: $17.99)
• NBA 2K13 10000 VC PACK – PS3 Game (now: $1.49 original price: $2.99)
• NBA 2K13 2000 VC PACK – PS3 Game (now: $0.49 original price: $0.99)
• NBA 2K13: 5000 VC PACK – PS3 Game (now: $0.99 original price: $1.99)

Price Change

• RESIDENT EVIL 6 – PS3 Game (now: $39.99 original price: $59.99)

PS Vita Add-ons

Motorstorm RC

• Elite Vehicle Value Pack ($0.99) – Become one of the premier stars of the MotorStorm RC Festival with this money saving Value Pack – featuring all eight super-cool vehicles in the Elite collection.
• Mischief Vehicle Value Pack ($0.99) – Spread madness and mayhem through the MotorStorm RC Festival circuit with this Vehicle Value Pack, containing all eight of the vehicles from the Mischief collection.
• Veteran Vehicle Value Pack ($1.99) – Get back behind the wheel of some all-time classic MotorStorm vehicles and relive past glories with eight rescaled racers in this Veteran Vehicle Value Pack.
• Special Vehicle Value Pack ($2.79) – Make your mark on the MotorStorm RC Festival with 20 of the most outrageous and unique vehicles ever to take to the track.
• Double Expansion Value Pack ($3.99) – Take your MotorStorm RC experience to the next level with the Pro-Am and Carnival Expansion Packs, containing a total of 10 tracks, 40 events and 16 additional vehicles to turbo boost your RC Festival experience.

PS3 Add-ons

Motorstorm RC

• Elite Vehicle Value Pack ($0.99) – Become one of the premier stars of the MotorStorm RC Festival with this money saving Value Pack – featuring all eight super-cool vehicles in the Elite collection.
• Mischief Vehicle Value Pack ($0.99) – Spread madness and mayhem through the MotorStorm RC Festival circuit with this Vehicle Value Pack, containing all eight of the vehicles from the Mischief collection.
• Veteran Vehicle Value Pack ($1.99) – Get back behind the wheel of some all-time classic MotorStorm vehicles and relive past glories with eight rescaled racers in this Veteran Vehicle Value Pack.
• Special Vehicle Value Pack ($2.79) – Make your mark on the MotorStorm RC Festival with 20 of the most outrageous and unique vehicles ever to take to the track.
• Double Expansion Value Pack ($3.99) – Take your MotorStorm RC experience to the next level with the Pro-Am and Carnival Expansion Packs, containing a total of 10 tracks, 40 events and 16 additional vehicles to turbo boost your RC Festival experience.

F1 Race Stars

• Canada Track ($4.99) – Download the F1 RACE STARS Canada Track! Dodge the grumpy groundhogs and race across a frozen river in this brand new F1 RACE STARS circuit!
• China Track ($4.99) – Download the F1 RACE STARS China Track! Whip through water gardens and speed along a dragon’s back in this brand new circuit!
• India Track ($4.99) – Download the F1 RACE STARS India Track! Make your move through a mountain railway pass, overtake in the overgrown ruins and power through palace gardens in this great new circuit!

PS3 Themes

• NBA Dynasty 76ers Dynamic Theme — $2.99
• NBA Dynasty Celtics Dynamic Theme — $2.99
• NBA Dynasty Lakers Dynamic Theme — $2.99
• NBA Dynasty Heat Dynamic Theme — $2.99
• NBA Dynasty Pistons Dynamic Theme — $2.99
• NBA Dynasty Bulls Dynamic Theme — $2.99
• NBA Dynasty Spurs Dynamic Theme — $2.99

I hope you enjoyed your first week of deals on PS3 and PS Vita games for our Holiday Essentials Sale. As I mentioned in our previous post, we’re bringing you some of the best PlayStation games at great prices to help you stock up for the holidays.

This week we’re providing you with 16 awesome action/adventure games along with other essential PlayStation titles. For great prices you can take part in Starhawk‘s frenetic space combat and multiplayer battles, relive two of Kojima’s most acclaimed titles in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, or bend your mind with the award-winning Journey. In addition, PlayStation Plus delivers an extra special deal this week – we’re offering members Retro City Rampage for absolutely nothing. Moreover, Retro City Rampage features Cross-Buy, which means that when you purchase either the PS Vita or PS3 version, you get the other version at no additional cost!

As a reminder, you can save 30%—or up to 50% for PlayStation Plus members—on the action-packed lineup this week. On top of the titles below, we’ll have a whole new set next week to close out the sale and ring in the New Year. Don’t wait, though, because these games will only be on sale for one week—now through 12/30.

This week’s lineup:

The holidays may be coming to an end but that won’t stop you from keeping the spirit alive with your new Holiday Essentials games. So go ahead and stock up on these great games!

Don’t have PlayStation Plus? Go to the PlayStation Store on your PS3 or PS Vita or click here to get access.

December 18th PlayStation Plus Update

Anomaly Warzone Earth (PS3)

Free for Plus members

Anomaly Warzone Earth is an extraordinary mixture of action and strategy in a reversed tower defense formula. Call it tower offense, if that’s a bit easier. The game tasks you with saving a near-future Earth from an alien onslaught. The invaders have captured world’s major cities, building huge turrets that destroy everything in their path. It’s up to you to lead an armor squad through the streets of cities like Baghdad and Tokyo, planning the route and strategically choosing which units to deploy in order to crush the opposition. Download it today and experience this fantastic twist on strategy gaming.

Holiday Essentials Sale

Various discounts for Plus members

You may have seen the announcement already, but this week marks the first week of the PSN Holiday Sale! You can check out the full announcement here, but here’s the breakdown of all the games that you’ll be able to get an amazing sale price on for this week:

SEGA Holiday Sale

Various discounts for Plus members

Our friends at SEGA are also bringing more great games to all of PSN at some truly great prices to celebrate the holidays as well. Just like the PSN Holiday Sale, all PSN gamers get to enjoy some price breaks here, but Plus members get the best deals on the following content:

That’s it for this week’s update, and remember that the above updates will be in effect once the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow. See you next week for more on PlayStation Plus!

While we definitely want you to let us know your thoughts in the comments below, make sure you’re digging in to the PlayStation Community Forums in the Plus space where you’ll find great new information and perspectives from your fellow gamer. Enjoy the update, and see you in the comments.

Here at PlayStation, we’re gearing up for the holiday season. In the spirit of giving, we’re giving you some great discounts on more than 40 titles over the next three weeks. Each week will highlight some of the best PS3, PS Vita and PSN games available in the PlayStation Store. Featuring trippy music/racing hybrid Dyad, PS Vita side-scrolling puzzler Escape Plan, sure-to-become-classics like LittleBigPlanet 2 and Rayman Origins, plus plenty more, we’ve got you covered. Starting today, you can save 30% — or up to 50% for PlayStation Plus members — on a variety of hot games, listed below. If the lineup below isn’t enough, we’ll be refreshing this list with a whole new batch next week (12/24) and the following week (12/31), so stay tuned.

Here’s this week’s lineup:

All of these titles will be on sale for one week only — December 18th to December 24th — so head into the PlayStation Store before these discounts melt away. And don’t forget to check back on PSN next week (12/24) and the following week (12/31) for more great discounts on other Holiday Essentials games.

Happy Holidays!