Hopefully we can provide a one-stop price check to ensure you get the game you want at the best possible price. Unlike other websites, we do not use affiliate links so can be completely unbiased in the information we give you as we continue to build our own gaming community by gamers for gamers. If you notice any of the prices have changed from what is stated, please let me know so I can amend them.

With the science bit out of the way let’s have a look at what offers are available.

Tesco seem to be moving in on the games market quite aggressively and maybe this is an indication of things to come as currently their “FTSL15-1″ discount code continues to dominate our gaming bargain lists and doesn’t expire until 31st July!

Top 5 Games – All Platforms

1. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Wii £26.89, PS3 £27.77 &  360 £29.49 use  “FTSL15-1″
2. Red Dead Redemption PS3 & Xbox 360 £33.74 use code “FTSL15-1″
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 Wii £29.74 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
4. Tiger Woods PGATour 11 Xbox £32.85, PS3 £32.49 and Wii £24.39 use  code “FTSL15-1″
5. 2010 FIFA World Cup Xbox 360 £24.49, Wii £25.93 & PS3 £24.89

Top Ten Games – Xbox 360

1. Red Dead Redemption £33.74 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
2. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4  £29.49 use code “FTSL15-1″
3. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa £24.49
4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 £32.85
5. Sniper: Ghost Warrior £27.95
6. Naughty Bear £25.24 use code “FTSL15-1″
7. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 £24.85
8. Transformers 3: War for Cybertron £33.95
9. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction £17.85
10. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 £21.25 use code “FTSL15-1″

*New Release* Crackdown 2 is £33.74 at Tesco using the ubiquitous code “FTSL15-1″. If you missed the original, you can pick it up for only £4.99.

Two of my favourite games this year are now available for a very small price, the super scary Bioshock 2 is an incredible £7.99 and Alan Wake is now a very affordable £17.99 which is also just in time for the first DLC episode. Fable II Game of the Year Edition is a bargain at only £7.99 and Bayonetta falls below a tenner.

If you somehow missed Batman Arkham Asylum last year, you simply cannot afford to miss it at £7.99 at Gameplay, whilst no gaming collection should be missing Gears of War 2 Game of the Year Edition especially when it’s only £9.95 at Zavvi. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will never win any big awards but is more than worth £3.99 and Army of Two: 40th Day is only £11.87 ex-rental.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is tempting for £11.48 at Swap Game and if you are running out of space on your console, a 250GB Xbox 360 Hard Drive is now only £42.85 from Shopto and finally Dead Space is a mouth watering £6.99.

Top Ten PS3 Games

1. Red Dead Redemption £33.74 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
2. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 £27.77
3. Tiger Woods PGATour 11 £32.49
4. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa £24.89
5. Demon’s Souls: Black Phantom Edition – Out of Stock
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 £24.99
7. Naughty Bear £25.24
8. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands £17.99
9. UFC 2010 Undisputed £25.24 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
10. Blur £22.10 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″

Rogue Warrior is £6.99 over at the Game Collection, inFamous Platinum Edition is £6.50, Tekken 6: Platinum Edition is £14.99 and if you want to treat yourself DJ Hero is now £34.85. Dark Void can be yours for £6.99, EyePet (Game & Magic Card) is a bargaintastic £6.99 and Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood is a rootin tootin £4.99.

Bargain of the week
One of the best games of the year for a simply unmissable price of £7.99 makes this a must buy for anyone that somehow missed this fantastic sequel and my Neil’s Deals Bargain of the Week. For those of you that are sat on the fence even at this price I urge you to read Ray’s Review.

Be afraid... be very afraid

That’s it for this week. If you have any requests please let me know and I will do my best to find you a good price and if you find anything to share, please let us know.

Remember to follow us on Twitter for and Facebook the very latest deals and latest news, and feel free to contact me any time if you have any requests.

The hardcore gamers amongst us are beginning to get a little tetchy as the world of gaming begins to change with rising costs of DLC and an increasing amount of product placements in games are starting to become the norm. The sad truth is that TV Shows, Magazines, Newspapers etc are created for one purpose and one purpose only and this is to fill advertising space and if a show does not perform it’s axed to make way for something else to keep the advertisers happy. A fail safe system but guess what? People are no longer watching TV, and even if they do, they skip the ads anyway.

The movie industry has been feeling the influence of the advertisers for a while now. It’s laughable that pretty much every movie you see shows the main character using an Apple Mac Laptop or the latest mobile phone but it’s still a rare occurrence in games, and is more noticeable as a result. Alan Wake received a fair amount of criticism for containing blatant product placement in the form of Energizer-branded lithium batteries and even going a step to far by introducing an achievement for watching a Verizon advert.

Sometimes adverts in games look a little out of place if not done right too, for example the film Ghostbusters was set in the 1980′s and yet when the game hit our consoles, the retro memories of the film are wiped out by a much newer Doritos logo.

Did Doritos look like this in 1984?

However many will say that with rising developing costs, if it helps make a better a game it is not a problem and even in some ways makes the gaming world feel more realistic. Although product placement in games will no doubt get more attention over the next few months, the reality is that it’s nothing new to the gaming industry. In fact it can be traced way back to 1978 in the computer game Adventure Land by Scott Adams who had the canny idea of inserting an advertisement for his then forthcoming game Pirate Adventure.

Zool on the Amiga was Gremlin Graphics answer to rival Sonic but it was their partnership with “Chupa Chups” which featured their logo and product throughout the game that people were talking about rather than the game itself. In the late 80’s Marlboro Banners were common place amongst Sega racing games and even the legend that is Mr Miyamoto gets a mention to for the Gamecubes Pikmin which heavily featured Duracell batteries and 7-Up bottle caps to name but a few.

If only Alan Wake had used Duracell...

This shows that this particular medium of advertising has been around for much longer than most of us can remember but has maybe become a little more sophisticated, or perhaps I should say ‘in your face’. To everyone here in the UK we have Lynx Deodorant, but for some reason most of the world call it AXE. This didn’t prevent the ‘little’ difference bother Ubisoft when featuring in Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. In an interview with Team Xbox David Rubin, senior brand manager for Axe said “Axe works with developers to create in-game advertising because it is an extremely effective way to reach the 18-34 year-old male audience, it’s just that simple.”

It's Lynx around here mate

No advertising article would be complete without a suggestion of hypocrisy and it doesn’t get much bigger than the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama, who although despite hinting at video games being to blame for some of societies issues, he had no problems in becoming the first US presidential candidate to have bought in-game advertising in October 2008 when he to appeared on advertising billboard ads in the EA game Burnout Paradise.

Gaming changing the face of democracy

Possibly the creepiest product placement would come in the form of the rather sinister looking “The King” who was an unlockable character in Fight Night 3, presumably to scare the crap out of your opponent when he sees him in your corner but I wouldn’t fancy having him around when lying on the floor helpless.

The man guilty of embracing this form of advertising more than anyone though must be Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid fame; Doritos, AXE (yes them again), Pepsi, Mountain Dew and even allowed Snake to sit and listen to his iPod, which seemed to have little relevance on the game, making it seem a cynical cash in.

Snake quenches his thirst with Mountain Dew

So product placement or in-game advertising in certainly not a new phenomenon and something that we are all likely to see much more of over the next few years, but what are your thoughts? Is it really such a bad compromise if it helps developers create a better and more realistic gaming experience?

Personally I agree with late comedian Bill Hicks; “Do a commercial, you’re off the artistic roll call. Every word you say is suspect, and you’re a corporate whore and eh, end of story.”

As I am more guilty than most people of committing the most heinous crimes against gaming I thought I would be first to enter confessional after I make my examination of conscience.

I am more than a little nervous about this, so as I approach the booth I beg for your mercy and forgiveness.  My name is Neil Hughes, my gamer tag is Grateful Ghoul on Xbox Live and many people know me from the man behind Neil’s Deals here at This Is My Joystick.

“Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been five years since my last confession. These are my sins. I have been playing games for achievement points only, I know what I have done is wrong but seem unable to control my urges.”

Please go into more detail my child.

I guess it all began by playing games like King Kong for a quick fix, but this quickly developed into searching for American sporting titles and have been known to simulate entire seasons of old Madden games for easy points.

Rental sites like Love Film seemed to feed my addiction, as I quickly filled up my rental list of quick and easy games to complete over a weekend. I once rented Avatar Burning earth and played for only three minutes following a YouTube guide to get all the 1000 achievements before putting back into the post box.

In pure desperation to finally break the 30,000 achievement score barrier I spent the recent Bank Holiday playing children’s game Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs in hope of a quick one thousand points.

Am I correct in assuming you did not rent this game like the others you mention?

This is probably my worst sin, as I actually obtained the game in question from my nine year old son in order to feed my addiction and obsession and even planned to borrow more children’s titles to reach my goal quickly.

This is truly immoral behaviour, is there anything else?

I downloaded the Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack on release day for 1200 Microsoft points, despite knowing the lack of value for only three new maps and how it could be used as a precedent for future DLC prices, meaning gamers across the world would suffer because of my choices.

I am sorry for these sins and all the sins I can’t remember.

My child, this is inexcusable behaviour for a gaming enthusiast. Taking the easy road in order to satisfy  your urges is never the way forward. Games are designed to present a challenge and this achievement whoring will only make you feel unaccomplished. You cannot be forgiven for these offences, especially purchasing the stimulus pack for Modern Warfare 2 unless you cleanse your spirit.

In order to expunge these offences from your soul, the gaming gods request that you repent your sins by playing a game with extremely hard achievements. I personally recommend playing Blue Dragon and both Left 4 Dead games and getting a full 1000 gamerscore. Only then can your soul be cleansed.

Don’t forget your prayers.

Hopefully we can provide a one stop price check to ensure you get the game you want at the best possible price, unlike other websites we do not use affiliate links so can be completely unbiased in the information we give you as we continue to build our own gaming community by gamers for gamers. If you notice any of the prices have changed from what is stated, please let me know so I can amend them.

Enough of my ramblings, let’s have a look at what offers are available.

Tesco seem to be moving in on the games market quite aggressively and maybe this is an indication of things to come as currently their “FTSL15-1″ discount code dominates our gaming bargain lists and doesn’t expire until July!

Fifa World Cup is dominating the charts at the moments but with the much anticipated Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption on the way, all that is likely to change but here is how things are looking at the moment.

Top 5 Games – All Platforms

1. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa £33.74 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
2. Super Super Street Fighter IV £19.29 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
3. Just Dance Wii £13.97 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
4. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction £26.85
5. GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City PS3 £23.54 use code “FTSL15-1″

Top 5 Pre Order/New Releases

1. Red Dead Redemption £29.75 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
2. Halo Reach Legendary Edition £89.95
3. Alan Wake £32.04
4. Demons Souls Black Phantom Edition £37.85
5. Lost Planet 2 PS3 £28.45 or Xbox 360 £26.45

Battlefield Bad Company 2 now £20.99 on PS3 and 360

Top Ten Xbox 360 Games

1. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa £33.74 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
2. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction £26.85
3. Super Super Street Fighter IV £19.29 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 £19.98
5. Battlefield Bad Company 2 £20.99
6. Just Cause 2 £24.99
7. Forza Motorsport 3 £16.85
8. Halo 3: ODST £14.99
9. Final Fantasy XII £17.99
10. Metro 2033 £25.77

Also for the Xbox 360 you can pick up GRID/DiRT Double Pack for only £17.99, WWE Legends of Wrestlemania £6.85, Infinite Undiscovery £5.50, Wet £8.47, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 £12.93, LIPS: I Love The 80′s (WITH MICROPHONE) for £14.98, Band Hero (Game Only) £12.98, Nier £14.98, Bayonetta £12.75 with code “FTSL15-1″, Ghostbusters: The Video Game £12.49, The Orange Box £11.95,Wolfenstein £9.98,  1200 Microsoft points for £8.49 and the Official Xbox 360 Messenger Kit (Chatpad & Headset) is now £17.99.

PS3 Top Ten Games

1. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa £33.74 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
2. Super Super Street Fighter IV £19.29 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
3. GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City PS3 £23.54 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
4. God of War III  £33.55 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″
5. Battlefield Bad Company 2 £20.99
6. Just Cause 2 £24.99
7. Final Fantasy XII £17.98
8. Yakuza 3 £14.98
9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 £34.77
10. Heavy Rain £33.74 use voucher code “FTSL15-1″

Rock Band Solus is £8.94 , Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is £4.98, Call of Duty: World at War £9.98,  Bayonetta £12.75 with code “FTSL15-1″, or the A4T Officially Licensed Vertical Stand & Game Storage for only £7.91

Bargain of the week
I challenge any gamer out there to show me a game less than three months old for under £18 that can offer more hours of breathtaking gameplay than Final Fantasy XIII. On both the XBox 360 and the PS3 this much loved stunning game has dropped to a fantastic price of only £17.98 already making it our bargain of the week.

More hours of gameplay for your money!

That’s it for this week, if you have any requests please let me know and I will do my best to find you a good price and if you find anything to share, please let us know.

Remember to follow us on Twitter for and Facebook the very latest deals and latest news, and feel free to contact me any time if you have any requests.

He is a close friend of Alex Turner, lead singer of Arctic Monkeys, who McClure met on a bus in their native Sheffield but what many don’t know is Jon is a huge fan of football games and even runs his own 32 team tournaments. Luckily I managed to snatch a few moments with the outspoken frontman to talk about his love of gaming for This Is My Joystick.

Q. You were the first person to play Football Manager 2010 outside of Sega Sports Interactive as a games tester, how did you get involved?

“I just went down to Sports Interactive to see what they do and really enjoyed it, I picked up loads of useful tips, I’m the fucking Daddy at it now, but after twenty-odd seasons it has started to get a little boring.”

Q. What is your earliest memory of being in control of your first football side?

“Managing Newcastle when they were a good side, the Kevin Keegan years with Les Ferdinand and co.”

Q. Do you begin a season playing at your beloved Sheff Wed, or do you head straight into a top six premiership side?

“Fuck that shit, they have enough problems at the moment without me getting involved, if you’re playing Football Manager, you want to be playing Champions league not pissing about in the lower leagues, it’s just too hard.”

Q.Tell us about the time on tour playing Football Manager on your laptop when an attractive female approached you and asked you what you were doing.

“I was in Europe on my way to do some press, when a very attractive female asked what I was doing, I felt like a bit of a geek so had to come up with something fast, so I told her I was a scout for a football club and was scouting for players and I use this new system and she said “Wow that is so cool”.

Q. Did you pull it off?

“I don’t think so, no. [Laughs]“

Serge calls me the Pepper Grinder!

Q. What is your gaming console of choice?

“I’m a PS3 man, but if I can blag an Xbox 360 I will play that too.”

Q. PES or FIFA?

PES all the way for me, it’s just so fucking slick, I have dabbled with FIFA but nothing comes close to PES.

Q. You recently Played PES with Kasabian on tour and even organised your own tournaments, but who would win a super tournament of Kasabian, Artic Monkeys, Mongrel and Reverend and the Makers members.

“Me of course! Serge from Kasabian calls me the “Pepper Grinder” because I always grind out a result in every match. We have proper 32 team tournaments, my brother is the boy at this game and my cousin is the fucking daddy and would beat any of the above. One thing you need to put in capital letters though is that ANDY NICHOLSON IS SHIT, and I even beat him 7-1 once. Promise me you will put this in capital letters.”

Q. Does it ever annoy you how some people rush to select Man Utd, Chelsea etc online in PES?

“No, No, No I don’t play online brother, it’s a bit fucking kinky that. It’s like swinging, it just feels kind of dirty and wrong playing with strangers. Rob Nicholson has been known to create a slimmer version of himself in the game and have skills like Ronaldo and I’m like “what are you doing?”

Q. What other games do you enjoy?

“I do enjoy Tiger Woods golf, which is a great game.”

Q. Please tell me you don’t play golf in real life as it would scar my rock n roll image of you, and replace it with the Reverend in chequered trousers.

“No way brother, the only golf I have ever played is “Scally golf” where you take a few mates to the park and pick out something like a bandstand in the distance to hit. I recently broke my shoulder skiing which made me realise that some sports the working classes are just not cut out for; skiing and golf are those kind of sports.”

Q. Is Gaming becoming too corporate?

“It’s the way of the world, you just have to look at the music industry to see that. If the quality of the games improve then it’s no bad thing, but again like music it originates from creativity so it’s important that side of it remains.”

Q. You had a lot of fantastic writers on board for your idea of a truly independent music magazine called “The Ark” is this still a possibility?

“Absolutely, and you should read more about it in the next few weeks. I’m not massively involved, as the idea encourages people to create their own user-content-based-magazine.”

Q. Are printed magazines that are slaves to deadlines and advertisers in danger of being threatened by independent websites that have the luxury of telling it like it is and publishing it instantly?

“Absolutely, digital media has become massive; nobody buys newspapers anymore do they? Why would I when I can get the latest news on my phone. Even the independent newspaper is available on my phone.”

Q. Gaming now outsells CD’s and DVD’s does this surprise you?

“Not really man, if you go into HMV you find they are selling more games than music which shows just much things have changed.”

Q. What do you think about the whole Gaming is corrupting the nations youth vibe?

“Never listen to the Daily Mail. You just have to put the telly on to see much more violence than you will ever see in a game, but looking back as kids before violent games existed, we used to play with Toy Soldiers and pretend to blow heads off etc so to blame video games for societies problems is just a lazy answer and doesn’t deal with the real causes and issues. The only thing I will say is that kids need to go outside and play more.”

Q. What is your favourite game soundtrack of all time?

“I don’t know about my favourite but I can tell you I hate the soundtracks to the Pro Evo games, [starts to sing] ~Well there was Kennedy, and there was King, There was John, There was Jim, They did come, to teach and sing, To save our souls, forgive our sins.~ I hate that song but it sticks in your head. I’m sure Konami have enough money to buy a few decent songs, I will gladly give them a few of mine on the cheap. COME ON KONAMI SORT YOUR TUNES OUT!”

Konami Sort Your Tunes Out!

Q. I hear you are playing Glastonbury this year?

“We are playing at Leftfield but I urge anyone going to check out our Reverend Sound System show on the Sunday in the dance village if you are there, that’s going to be something else, I promise you.”

Q. Speaking of which one of my most Bizarre Glasto memories is seeing you in a jumpsuit with a guitar saying “I’m on stage in 35 mins”, and some security guard replying “No pass, No Entry”…

“You saw that shit? Don’t get me started, he was a typical posh kid who managed to blag a job at the festival and the power went to his head, what a wanker. What is it about a Hi-Viz jacket that turns people into a neo-Nazi?”

Q. Do you have a favourite Rock N Roll/Gaming Quote, you can leave us with?

“James Skelly from the Coral was once asked about what preparation he had done for their third album and he replied “Smoking weed and playing Pro Evo”… [Laughs] genius.”

I thank the Reverend for a little introduction to the state of things, and wonder if Andy Nicholson will want to defend his gaming pride, or if the next PES game will have a Reverend and the Makers soundtrack… Watch this space.

I have been busy browsing bargain sites and forums so you don’t have to, and it’s time once again for the latest round-up of Neil’s Deals.

First of all Zavvi have a few voucher codes that can make a good priced game a cracking bargain. For £2 off a £20 spend simply add the voucher code “APRIL2″, for £3 off a £30 spend add code “MVC3″ and for £4 off a £40 spend add the code “APRIL4″. Here are a few examples of games you can pick up using one of the vouchers: Resonance of Fate £21.95 on Xbox 360 and PS3, Lost Planet 2 for £24.45 which includes a free Lost Planet 2 Figurine with the pre-order. Other pre-orders available are Red Dead Redemption £31.95, Dead To Rights: Retribution £30.45, Green Day: Rockband £22.45, Super Street Fighter IV which includes a free Blanka T-Shirt £20.45, Left 4 Dead 2 £21.95, Iron Man 2 £26.95 Final Fantasy XIII for£26.95 or Blazblue Calamity Trigger Limited Edition £27.95. One final trick with the codes is to get a whopping 4200 Microsoft Points for £28.90 by ordering two 2100 cards, and use the MVC3 code.

Elsewhere, Simply Games have Bioshock 2 for £19.85, Just Cause 2 £27.85 and Metro 2033 for £24.85. Amazon have the much anticipated Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction for £29.71 whilst Gameplay have Fallout Vegas for £29.99 on both the PS3 and 360.

Gamestation are currently selling Call of Duty World at War for £9.99 Pre-Owned and the original Modern Warfare for £9.98. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for the Xbox 360 is £22.77 at Ebuyer. PC Gamers are sure to rush out for World of Warcraft Battlechest at a very cheap £8.98.

Bargain hunters on a budget can choose from one of these without breaking the bank, Katamari Forever £12.85, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 £11.95, Lips Party Classics for £12.98, You’re in the Movies including Xbox Camera £4.99, Grand Theft Auto IV – Episodes from Liberty City £15.95, G-Force (includes 3D Glasses) £9.85, Need For Speed Shift £14.85, Darksiders is still a very tempting £14.98, F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin £7.95. Wet drops below a tenner at £9.98 and Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is £13.98 on the PS3.

Fallout 3 Game of the year edition which contains five lots of DLC is £19.98 on the PS3 and they also have Dantes Inferno for £21.98

Bargain of the week
Dragon Age: Origins may be a few months old now but for £14.98 on both Xbox 360 and PS3, it is unbeatable value for money, and enough to make it my Neil’s Deal of the week.

Bargain of the Week £14.98 on PS3 and 360

That’s it for this week, if you have any requests please let me know and I will do my best to find you a good price and if you find anything to share, please let us know.

Remember to follow us on Twitter for and Facebook the very latest deals and latest news, and feel free to contact me anytime if you have any requests.

The DEB is an extensive and controversial piece of legislation, was rushed in by a vote of 189 to 47. The legislation encompasses online copyright infringement, internet piracy, regulation of TV and radio, the classification of video games, regulations over ISPs, and a whole host of other digital topics.

The most common mistake people make when looking at this law is “It’s just about the net and illegal downloading”. This is not the case and a quick look at clause 41 tells us that gamers are in for a rocky ride.

#41: Extends game regulation under Video Recordings Act 1984 to games that include violence to humans or animals, encouragement of criminality, drug use, encouragement of alcohol or tobacco use, sexual messages, swearing, and offence.

When watching the recent witch hunt on gamers on the Alan Titchmarsh show, and this latest move by politician’s, it’s not hard to see why a large number of the British population do not feel like they are living in a democracy but our future seems somewhat Orwellian, where laws can be abused to block websites much like the anti-terrorism laws have.

Something as vast as this requires huge debate and thought and neither seem to have taken place, especially considering the potential headaches it could cause for things like public Wi-Fi, and the huge increase on the horizon of home networks being hacked.

Democracy in action, a few people decide the future for many.

Only around twenty MP’s actually debated the bill, the rest just filled in to vote, told by their ‘whips’ which way to go for the greater good. This begs the question; how do laws get passed in a democracy when 64% of those supposed to represent the people don’t show up?

The lack of understanding was made clear when Stephen Timms, the Labour government’s Finance Minister said, that people could simply password protect their Wi-Fi. It is surprisingly quite easy to hack even secure wireless networks and change your Mac address, so how long until a silver surfing granny is on the headlines of the Daily Mail because she has been accused by the government of downloading Scooters Greatest hits?

Clause #10: The govt. can tell Ofcom whether it should order ISPs to sanction speed blocks, bandwidth shaping, site blocking, account suspension or other limits against an ISP customer. First, Ofcom must do consultation and consider whether these measures would work.

Regarding the downloading of music, it widely known that people who download music are the people that actually go on to buy more music. As Billy Bragg suggested recently, “the record industry is in trouble,” he said, “but the music industry is thriving”. The BPI may have shot themselves in the foot as more people turn to music on demand services like Spotify, so they no longer require a hard drive full of songs.

Clause 8 of the bill also seems to suggest that we could see websites such as Wiki Answers, which contain copyrighted material, blocked. Even a site like ours could in theory be blocked by displaying a copyrighted game trailer or picture, which in effect brings legalised censorship to these shores.

The old days of being spoon-fed information by the mainstream media are slowly changing. Newspaper sales continue to decline as people turn to the internet for the latest information, and the establishment need to realise that the eighties have gone and the old business models no longer work.

Despite this law being rushed in with no newspaper headlines informing the public on Thursday morning, the number one trend on Twitter is the Digital Economy Bill, which is refreshing to see that no matter how hard they try to stop stories from circulating; the word is spread far and wide by the people.

If you need any further inspiration on how we can all make a difference, then I recommend a quick listen to Stake A Claim by Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip on You Tube, do it quickly though because simple pleasures like this could soon be a thing of the past.

Every man has a weakness and a guilty gaming pleasure, and mine happens to be playing Call of Duty at the end of a bad day with a few bottles of Stella. I’m man enough to take responsibility for my actions and gaming sins, so I plead guilty as charged to you all.

As the majority of you will now know, this particularly expensive DLC package includes only three brand new multiplayer maps which are Bailout, Storm and Salvage, as well as re-workings of two classic Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare maps, Crash and Overgrown. Sadly there are no extra Special Pps modes and no extra achievements, essentially the new price point for only three new maps and two old ones is what has got so many people’s backs up.

This is fair, especially when you consider the vast selection of full and original games on Xbox Live and Indie Games that are available for a cheaper price and represent much better value for money. For example Perfect Dark is 400 Microsoft points cheaper than this now infamous MW2 map package. I purchased the full Modern Warfare 2 game on release for £25.99 from a well known supermarket so this means that the latest update is nearly half the price I spent on the actual game itself.

The cost was nearly overshadowed by the shenanigans that occurred upon the Stimulus Pack’s release. Because of a “process failure” during its deployment and a rather embarrassed Eric Neustadter wrote on the Xbox Live Operations Blog “Through a process failure on our part, the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package was released this morning before the Title Update (TU) for MW2 was available.”

Care Package Glitch not invited...

Twitter and Gaming Forums were full of comments regarding the overpriced maps not even working, making it the most talked about DLC release but for all the wrong reasons.

A quick look in any dictionary for the word stimulus will raise a smile to anyone who appreciates a sense of irony and makes me wonder Infinity Ward is having yet another laugh at our expense.

Stimulus: Something causing or regarded as causing a response.

There is a rapid uprising forming against DLC as more and more gamers are simply getting pissed off with the growing culture by developers to fleece gamers at every opportunity, and the mainstream media which seem to be supporting and promoting the whole concept by falling over themselves to publish glowing reviews. However the arrival of both the very poor “Game Room” and the highly-priced and problematic MW2 DLC within a few weeks of each other seems to have tipped many people over the edge and opinions on DLC are changing, make no mistake.

Welcome to the digital era where people pay vast amounts of money for things that don’t actually exist; a friend of mine paid nearly £10 for a full Star Wars outfit including helmet for his Avatar, but in the words of rockers Twisted Sister: We’re not gonna take it!

This is the beauty of the internet, independent websites and social networking websites such as twitter are enabling people to reject what they are being spoon-fed by the mainstream media, which is “buy these maps now, forget the price they are great and worth it.”

The gaming industry has moved quickly to embrace the benefits that come with DLC but if the trend to become lazy and produce overpriced content with lower quality continues, the ripples of this backlash will turn into a much bigger wave.

Infinity Ward’s community manager Robert Bowling has recently fired back at Modern Warfare 2 detractors in an interview with CVG, saying the “backlash hasn’t hurt the game because they’re still playing the game.”

It was when I read this that the penny finally dropped; I’m a walking talking hypocrite, but then the recent This Is My Joystick interview with Rufus Hound hit the nail on the head when he said “will people still buy them? Of course. Basic economics 101: If people will pay a tenner, don’t sell it for a fiver.”

Maybe, just maybe, gamers need a new bogey man, it seemed for years EA were the big corporate monster that gamers loved to hate for churning out the same games several times a year but now in 2010, we prefer Fifa to PES and some Battlefield to COD. No doubt I will continue to try and get my moneys-worth from my expensive purchase, but looking at this article the question I must ask myself is ‘Why did I not put this £10.20 towards Battlefield Bad Company 2?’

Please forgive me gamers for I have sinned. What are your thoughts on the Stimulus Pack and the general direction that DLC is heading?

I have been searching across the increasing amount of bargain forums and websites looking for the good, the bad and yes even the ugly; one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Enough of the waffle lets get down to business and see what we have for you this week.

The cheapest price for Dante’s Inferno on both Xbox 360 and PS3 is £21.98 over at Gameplay whilst Argos are the cheapest  retailer for Final Fantasy XIII at £31.85 and Heavy Rain £31.99. GAME  have Dragon Age: Origins for £14.98. Someone out there may be tempted that Ghostbusters is now £12.95 on the 360 but I doubt that many will rush to get it, but if it’s a quality game you want then Mass Effect £21.98 should be right up your street.

2100 MS Points can be yours for just £4 From Very.co.uk using a few voucher codes, but it will only work if you are a new customer. The 2100 MS Points are £19.00 at very.co.uk once at checkout use Code “ZZ449” for £15 off, then Use Code “xv002”  for free delivery. I have ordered mine so fingers crossed it will be honoured.

God of War: Collection PS3 can be yours for £16.12 at Asda online if you enter the voucher code “ENTS10″ and DJ Hero is £44 on all formats if you enter the code “TDX-GD55″ at checkout at Tesco. Yakuza 3: Special Edition on the PS3 which includes four DLC is £27.95. Hellboy: Science Of Evil £7.95 and NBA 2K10 is £16.85.

MX vs. ATV Reflex is £14.98 on both the 360 and the PS3, Darksiders is now only £17.95 Zavvi and Wet is £9.98 at Gameplay. If you like picking up cheap games Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty on the Xbox 360 is only £4.73 over at the Hut, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars £4.85, Dark Messiah: Elements £5.93, Overlord 2 is £6.85 and Fable 2 Game of the Year Edition is now under a tenner at GAME. You’re in the Movies which includes the Xbox Camera is only £4.99 at Argos. Racing fans have no excuse now not to own Forza 3 as it has slipped to £14.98 and the thinking man’s Call of Duty that is Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising is now only £11.73.

Very often the best deals can be found on our Twitter feed but don’t make onto here because they get snapped up in a few hours, a good example of this was Rock Band in a Box which was reduced from £109.99 to £24.95 at GAME last week, for those of you that missed out on this deal, you can pick up the Rock Band Drum set for £19.99 at Amazon.

Not many deals for Wii fans but I can point you in the right direction to pick up Madworld for £3.99.

Bargain of the week
Aliens vs Predator is just over one month old and already down to only £22.98 on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 which is enough to make it my bargain of the week, and more proof that games do not hold their retail price for long.

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

That’s it for this week, if you have any requests please let me know and I will do my best to find you a good price and if you find anything to share, please let us know.

Remember to follow us on Twitter for the very latest deals and latest news, and feel free to contact me anytime if you have any requests.

A few of you may recall seeing him on the Glastonbury Festival coverage, Top of the Pops or Celebrity Juice but he is probably best known for being the Blue Team Captain on the TV series “Argumental” or for dressing up as Cheryl Cole and dancing to Fight For This Love for 2010′s “Let’s Dance” for Sport Relief.

Rufus is also a keen gamer and comic fan, so we hunted him down for an interview and luckily for us he obliged.

Q. What performance are you most proud of? Your interpretation of ‘Fight For This Love’ via the medium of dance for Sport Relief or your Gears of War 2 rap for Playr a few years ago?

“HA! I’m just glad someone saw it. I loved doing Playr, and the GoW rap was definitely the highlight of my time on that show, but I’d have to go for the Cole dance. I spent so long rehearsing it and got a chance to really get it right, whereas Playr had a budget of about a pound so I had about nine minutes to record the rap from a standing start. With a bit more rehearsal, I reckon I’d be hanging out with Snoop Dogg by now. Fo’shizz.”

Q. As a viewer I always got the impression that everyone on Playr including yourself were passionate about gaming, was that the case?

“Absolutely. Thing was, the budget was so tight there wasn’t an army of researchers, there were about three dudes who did everything, which meant they’d be gaming for about forty hours a week on top of their day job producing the show. Then I’d swan in and lay down the voiceover in about an hour. Then I’d go to Game and buy half of the titles I’d just been talking about because I wanted to see whether I agreed with the reviews. Most of the time I reckon the show got it right.”

Q. Any funny stories from your time on the show?

“Remember, I just sat in a booth reading the script so there wasn’t too much to go ‘hilariously awry’. That said, the recordings were always a good laugh, but more in a blokey banter-y way, than a “I’ll-never-forget-the-time-James-beheaded-himself-with-the-nunchuck-wire” way.”

Q. Where did your love affair with gaming begin?

“Mario. I know I’m not alone in that, but one Christmas, my Dad bought me and my brother a NES with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Super Mario Bros 2 on it, and that was it. I was in. I only weep that a new generation of gamers will never know the pleasure of cartridge based gaming. Unless they own a DS. Which most of them do. Okay… scratch that last bit.”

I love Super Mario this much

Q. What’s your console of choice?

“Before I had a kid it was 360 all the way, but since he turned up I don’t get those long stretches of time to sit an become immersed in a game, so it tends to be Wii: short bursts, complete a couple of levels of something and then off, before my missus kills herself out of boredom. That said, I still own all three consoles, and my camper van’s getting a PS3 Slim mounted in it so I can sit playing Guitar Hero in the car park at Glastonbury.”

Q. What kind of games do you enjoy most?

“I like a platformer, with Super Mario Galaxy as probably the greatest game I’ve ever played. It had everything, puzzles, secrets, replay value and a physics engine that was intuitive but mind-bending. Man, I love that fucking plumber.”

Q. What is your favourite game soundtrack?

“If I say Mario again, will you hate me? Come on, it’s one of the very few game soundtracks that even non-gamers could sing/whistle, maybe Tetris too. Though I do I remember the fist time I played Tomb Raider, and that sweeping orchestral score elevated the whole experience. Even with the blocky graphics of the PSOne, it felt epic.”

Q. What is your favourite gaming memory?

“For me, the notion social gaming is about having people engaged in a game in the same room, at the same time. I remember standing next to the Puzzle Bobble machine at college waiting for my chance to beat the college champ (I never did), being taught all Blanka’s combos by my best mate Steve (he plays Zangief better than anyone I know), and plenty of drunken nights with various winner stays on challenges on everything from Mario Kart to Boom Blox. The clincher had to be New Years Eve 2004 when five of us couldn’t be arsed to go out, so we set up a massive Dance Dance Revolution tournament in our flat. It was the most sober we’d ever been on New Years Eve; we were all sweating so much the alcohol couldn’t get a foothold on us.

Then there are the personal achievements. Anyone whose defeated an end boss on any game knows that, as the credits start to roll, you want to run out into the street, grab people by the lapels and scream your victory at them. You also know that that isn’t a good plan, if you want to stay out of prison and stuff, so you just sit there, bursting with pride at your own brilliance. When I completed Piccross, I actually considered throwing a party for myself.”

Q. What is your favourite game from last year?

“You know I want to say Super Mario Bros Wii, right? Apart from that I loved Beatles Rock band (I must have watched the intro video alone about 200 times and forced anyone whose come to my house in the last year to do likewise), World of Goo was excellent and Harbour Master for the iPhone is wicked.”

Q. Is there anything that you are excited about in the coming months?

“Okay. Fine. You’re going to make me sound like a know-nothing idiot, aren’t you? Fine... fine… Super Mario Galaxy 2.”

Q. What’s your opinion on the Infinity Ward/Activision split?

“The same as any other corporation that shears into its component parts; I don’t care. The way I figure it, creative types will always find a way of bring us their next great idea and the notion than any business cares about the end product over the bottom line is bullshit. So what does it mean really? That we’ll have to hand over cash to Firm B instead of Firm A. Whoop-de-doo.  The more exciting thing for me is the prospect of a real return to homebrew gaming. Marketplace, Wiiware; all that stuff means that the people who really understand games can mainline them directly to your console is wicked. Get the marketing people out of the way and let the artists make a few quid. For anyone who disagrees, I give you one word. Braid.”

Q. Activision recently announced that extra maps for Modern Warfare 2 will be 1200ms Points (£10.20) is this too much?

“Obviously, but will people still buy them? Of course. Basic economics 101: If people will pay a tenner, don’t sell it for a fiver.”

Q. Where did you find inspiration for your of tattoo of robots fighting monkeys?

“This is a long one, but in a nutshell, I have a theory that there’s a uniquely modern malaise caused by the fact that we are smart apes forced by business and government to organise our lives in a way that benefits computers, and by extension, themselves. That we are monkeys (evolved apes, really) fighting robots.”

Q. I recently saw this pic of Batman, with a lightsabre fighting a shark, maybe it could inspire you to have another tattoo?

TIMJ Tattoo advisors to the stars.

“Hahaha! Aces! Actually, I was thinking my next tattoo might be a lion fighting a shark with a smoking hot lady holding the lion’s tale. It was an attempt to conjure up the most manly image I could think of ”

Q. I hear you dabble with comics too, what’s the most you have ever paid for a comic?

“I paid £30 for an issue 1 of Preacher about ten years ago. If there’s any of your readers that haven’t read Ennis’ masterpiece, you can get the trade paperbacks out at the library now. It’s awesome, and for me, cuts to the quick of religion.”

Q. Who would win in a fight between Superman and the Hulk?

“Obviously Superman. Superman is the answer to any of these questions. He’s fucking Superman. That’s his whole point. He could toss The Hulk to the furthest reaches of space. That’s a win in my book.”

Q. It has been said that you should never meet your heroes, have you ever met someone you admired only to be disappointed or not actually like them?

“When I was a kid, my Dad recorded the Muppet show every week, and I watched it on a loop. My favourite episode stars Chris Langham, who was forced to step in at short notice after Richard Prior set himself on fire with his crack pipe. It ends with Langham locked in a wardrobe, sawing a hole in it, singing ‘I love you Hawaiian Cowboy’ as about of ton of peanuts fill the wardrobe. It’s absolutely insane, still one of my favourite pieces of television ever, and very possibly the reason that I grew up wanting to make people laugh. Cut to twenty-odd years later, and at a BBC party, I meet Chris Langham. I got to thank him for a moment that defined my childhood and he was very nice about it.

Literally 10 days later, he was being charged for child sex offences. Whilst he didn’t disappoint in the flesh (although neither did he dazzle, maybe he had other things on his mind), the thrill of having met him, crushed so soon afterward by his exposure for such deep unpleasantness, was really saddening. In that regard, I can genuinely say it’d have been better to have never met him.”

Q. Fellow celebrity gamer Dom Joly’s ‘people’ said he was too busy for an interview, can you lean on him for us?

“Maybe if there weren’t so many bloody questions, he’d be more into it. I’ve been doing this for ages.”

Q. Do you ever secretly find yourself wishing you could shoot at gas tanks?

“No, but I do wish I had a laser in my finger that could effortlessly slice through things.”

Q. If you are going to Glastonbury this year there will be a pint of Brothers Pear cider Festival Strength waiting for you by the Jazz World Stage from me with your name on it, see you there?

“I’ll be the one with the moustache. See you there ”

We have taken far too much of the Hound’s time, so give him a huge thank you for the interview and hope I don’t get a restraining order thrown my way when I am next seen stalking him at Glastonbury. I am sure more than a few of you out there are more than tempted to flick to the DAVE channel now so until the next time it’s goodnight from me.