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.

As usual our motto is simply “Make sure you never pay £39.99 for a game ever again” so I have been scouring the interweb for gaming bargains so you don’t have to, and once again there are more than a few tempting offers out there for all console owners and thrifty gamers.

Enough of my ramblings, it’s time for my weekly roundup of the best gaming bargains, so let’s get started.

Xbox Live users who are in need of Microsoft points for Ultimate Team or want to buy some ready for the next Call of Duty maps will be pleased to hear that 7 day shop currently have 2100 points for only £14.99.

I noticed the other day that Zavvi now have a presence on auction site Ebay, some of the games on there are more expensive than the store itself but more interestingly some are a little cheaper such as Call of Juarez : Bound in Blood which is only £13.99 on the PS3. If your kids have a PS3 and wanting to keep them quiet this Easter, it may be worth picking up Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty for only £7.99. It may also be mentioning that Eyepet (game only) is £10.95. Another must buy for PS3 gamers is MAG Collectors Edition which is reduced to £29.85

If all the talk of Heavy Rain is making you want to purchase a PS3 Console, you can pick up the 80gb version from Sainsbury’s online for £199, 120gb is £217 instore at Asda and the 250gb is £230 at Asda also. You can then pick up the new game God of War 3 for £34.99 or Call of Duty: World at War (PS3) Pre-owned for £12.99 at Game.

Wii lovers can pick up Super Smash Bros. Brawl for only £9.00 at Tesco, MadWorld for only £4.95 or even a Wii console itself for £134.95.

Xbox 360 gamers that are looking at at purchasing Bioshock 2 now payday has finally arrived can snap up the game for a more affordable £27.99 whilst Halo 3: ODST including the Halo Reach beta key is now only 16.85.

If, after a hard day at work, you like to rock like a bastard and already have a Guitar Hero guitar at your disposal, I strongly urge you pick up Guitar Hero Metallica (Game Only) for a rocktastic £14.85. However if pop karaoke is your thing and you already have Lips microphones, Lips: Number Ones (game only) is only £12.93.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is available on both Xbox 360 and PS3 £14.99 over at Shopto. GTA fans will be pleases to hear that Episodes From Liberty CIty is now at a must-have £13.99.

Metro 2033 (with Free Xbox Live Avatar Item) on the Xbox 360 can be pre-ordered for £29.99 from Zavvi, Bayonetta is still £17.95 or if your budget is tight they have Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. on both PS3 and 360 for only £9.99 or WET on the PS3 for £13.97 or £11.99 on the 360.

Retro gamers should snap up the Competition Pro USB Joystick and 99 Commodore 64 Games, which is a must for C64, Atari ST & Amiga fans and only £9.99 from Play.

Bargain of the week
I run the risk of being flamed here because Wolfenstein is not the greatest game in the world by anyone’s standard but whatever your opinion, £9.99 on both Xbox 360 and PS3 for a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon is enough for me to make it my bargain of the week, especially considering it is still £36.99 at GAME.  **EDIT DEAL NOW EXPIRED**

£36.99 at Game or £9.99 at Gamestation. You do the maths!

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.

That being said, I decided to take a second dive into the World of Rapture to make a fair assessment, one way or another.

Returning to Rapture
From the days of the game receiving the subtitle Sea of Dreams to just being plain Bioshock 2, this game has been a long time coming. Set in 1968, eight years after the events in Bioshock 1, Rapture is now controlled by a female psychologist named Sofia Lamb, an antagonist to the concepts originally devised by Andrew Ryan, and an advocate for rebirth and the symbolism of the butterfly. Also, just because she’s female, she still has a ruthless streak and can certainly match Ryan for wit and will.

The protagonist in this game is Subject Delta; the forth prototype of the entity known as the Big Daddy, but the first Big Daddy to be successfully pair-bonded to a Little Sister. Your objective, should you choose to accept it, is reach your Little Sister named Eleanor. However, as with all tragic tales, you have been separated from her by Lamb, who is, ironically enough, her mother. In order to save Eleanor and stop Lamb, as Delta you must travel across the ruins of Rapture to Fontaine Futuristics where Eleanor is held. However, your path is bound to her alone and should you deviate from it, then a killswitch programmed into your very essence will activate, killing you instantly.

Despite the fact that the game was considered unnecessary, Bioshock 2 has made itself an integral and important part of the lore of Rapture. Having played Bioshock 2, it’s now hard for me to imagine the series without having uncovered the revelations made about the creation of the Big Daddy or even how a Little Sister came to be and what created their insatiable lust for ADAM. This game has had a resounding impact on the over-arching story that cannot be ignored and could potentially change your perspective about what you thought you knew about Rapture.

Careful, she's got a raging case of PMT.

There is a truly powerful narrative in both the undertones and exterior of Bioshock 2. This is a story about the emotional and physical entanglement between a small girl and her protector. A girl who believes you will let no harm can come to her, a girl who trusts you despite the horrific, violent, disturbing things happening around her and the altogether wretched form you’ve undertaken. This is a powerful tale that will touch you, grip you, and move you. Bioshock 2 widens the narrative scope in comparison to the original and does give you options and choices to consider at every turn. This is interactive entertainment, but one that works well within the context of its original vision. While certain choices you make within some games can leave you feeling quite flat and unenthused, realising that the story wasn’t catered to this direction, Bioshock 2 always makes you feel like you made the right decision for you and that the story works according to how you chose to walk the path.

In addition, Bioshock 2 has not one, not two, but six different endings determined by your actions throughout the course of the game. Few games can make you pause for a few moments to contemplate the ramifications of your decisions, that test your own moral outlook on life, yet Bioshock 2 can consider itself in that category and how you treat the remaining denizens of Rapture will reflect the broken down and beaten world in more ways than you care to realise. The way Little Sisters look at you, the way you are spoken to through the speaker system, whether you are offered help and assistance in times of need. The perception you as a player had of the Big Daddy in the first game can be echoed in its sequel or reversed as you please, in a sense making the world of Rapture one resounding with your perceptions and outlook on life.

2K have indulged us with another intelligent and intrepid story that discusses life after the fall of Rapture, that illustrates the high plateau that Andrew Ryan set his nirvana upon and how it came tumbling down all around him, that discusses the political imbalances that plague the underwater realm and how a city that is a bunch of rubble and seaweed still has those who strive to claim it for their own. How a simple relationship between girl and beast weaves such an emotional tapestry, a relationship that we as players, were terrified by in the original title, now structures something we want to fight for so feverishly in the second.

It’s the same… but different…
As before, the game plays much the same. You walk around Rapture, collecting Audio Logs and still receiving audio transmissions, all of which give detail to the characters you pursue and backstory while explaining more about the experiments in Rapture. As before, you’ll also collect a camera which will allow you to film any type of villain in action, although this plays slightly different to the first game. When the film is rolling you will get extra bonuses for the amount of damage you inflict on the victim, but only by using as much variety as possible. This enables a more accurate assessment of what works best on each enemy. The more you film them and the more you become accustomed to their abilities, the quicker you’ll be able to fully research them and inflict maximum punishment.

There are also some really cool new features, such as the ability to melee attack with every weapon in the game, and the ability to dual wield both Plasmid and weapon at the same time, causing extra damage and variety in combat. There is also the hacking tool which enables you to hack vending machines, bots, cameras and turrets from a distance, saving you from getting up close and getting your skin ripped to shreds. Also, for the first time in the series, you will explore the ocean outside of Rapture, which is possible due to the Big Daddy armour being a modified diving suit. This creates some unique storyline and game play opportunities and further reiterates that the character you’re playing in Bioshock 2 is a completely different breed and personality to the protagonist in the original game.

Of course, there are the familiar foundations you have come to expect from the series still very prominent in Bioshock 2. The Big Daddy battles are still as difficult as you remember them, despite the fact that you yourself a big hulking metallic menace. I don’t mean to dispell any illusions here, but if you’re coming to the fight unprepared you are still going to get your ass kicked. In addition to the Bouncers and Rosies you met in the first game, there is also the Alpha series that will literally pound grenades against your skull if you give them enough distance. However, if they discover that strategy is ineffective, they will drop their launcher, sprint toward you at the pace of a 100m Olympic runner and charge right into you without any remorse. Also, if you thought the Big Daddies ruled the roost in Rapture, think again, because when you save the last of the Little Sisters in any hub, your vision will become impaired and all you will hear is a piercing shriek, symbolising the imminent arrival of the Big Sister. If you thought tackling Mr Bubbles was difficult, then just wait until you see this hybrid of a Houdini Splicer and Big Daddy cart wheeling away from your bullets and melting your face with plasmids. To make matters worse, the Big Sister can heal herself when in combat, by absorbing ADAM from other Splicers. This bitch means business and she wants your ADAM!

The Splicers remain mostly the same; you still have the Lead-heads, the Spider and Houdini Splicers from the original, each with the same set of tricks. However, there is also a new entrant to the party, the lumbering Brute Splicer, who reminds me a bit of the Charger from Left 4 Dead 2. The Brute Splicer, on sight, will search for a piece of debris to throw at you if he has the range. However, if you close in on the Splicer or he runs out of chunks of rock, the Brute Splicer will charge, destabilising you and sending you into a crumpled heap on the floor. From there, the behemoth will pound dents into your suit and turn you into scrap metal. To down these abominations, you’ll need tactics and smarts as well as raw strength and dexterity; a key aspect of the Bioshock series once again well implemented in the sequel.

Cuddly Bubbles

However, there are some aspects that aren’t so well realised. In an unusual turn of events, 2K have changed the gameplay of hacking a machine, and decided to use an altogether different mini-game. Instead of the fast and furious pipe creation game, 2K have decided to simplify the experience and reduced it to a simple button press. Whereas in the original Bioshock, there was an element of tension when making sure the pipe was fully connected to the exit while the water was creeping along, now it’s a simple case of ensuring the ticker is on a green or blue section and pressing a button. While the original mini-game taxed your brain, there is no such revelation to be found in this mini-game, and frankly it leaves you feeling a bit empty. Perhaps removing the pipe feature from Bioshock 2 was a way of ensuring the games were kept separate in someway as they are both otherwise very similar in play and feel, but it also seems more of a detraction from the original and makes hacking seem like something any monkey with a wrench can do.

However, 2K also prove that they know how to get your adrenaline working and understand their subject matter well enough to implement a new feature which will have your heart racing faster than ever before. After you defeat a Big Daddy and choose to adopt a little sister instead of harvesting them outright, you can search for bodies around the map which are filled with ADAM. The Little Sister will show you the way to go by the means of a white trail leading directly to the body. Once you reach the corpse, the Little Sister will climb off your back and start to gather the ADAM for you. However, the moment the Little Sister begins harvesting, the Splicers sniff you out and come to try and get the ADAM for themselves. Your job is to protect your Little Sister as she gathers ADAM from a host of villainy that descends upon you. Depending what gene tonics you have equipped, this can be over quickly, or it can be a couple of gruelling minutes as you fight your way to victory, especially on the later difficulty settings. Luckily you can prepare yourself for the battle beforehand, whether you want to approach it tactically by planting grenades and turrets to help fight for you, or even just stock up on ammunition and eve kits and obliterate the opposition the old fashioned way. It’s entirely up to you. However, if you’re successful, the rewards are rich, and will ultimately help you upgrade your plasmids, and health and EVE bars faster than normal as you progress through the game.

DS2 Development kit in hands of Pokemon developers
Credit: CVG
It seems Nintendo are making plans for a new DS console, and if the prototype kits are anything to be believed, Nintendo’s next handheld will have, you guessed it, motion control! One of the Pokemon developers has gone on to say that this is the best piece of tech he has ever worked with, and compared the new DS2 to the iPhone’s tilt functionality. However, he also said that there was a lot more to the system than merely ’tilting’ but remained tight-lipped about any further details. It’s unclear when Nintendo are going to lift the lid on this new tech, but one thing is for sure, it looks as if they are already preparing for the declining (yet still very prosperous) sales of the current leader of the handheld market.

Darksiders Demo incoming
Credit: Xbox 360 Achievements, CVG
If you’ve been waiting to try this game out for yourself before committing the cash, now is your chance. At the end of the month, a 90 minute demo of Darksiders will be coming to XBLA and PSN. Surely an hour and a half will give you a good idea as of how the game will play and make your mind up as to whether or not you want to take the plunge.

For more Darksiders info, check out the review by our own Andy C, right here…

Xbox Live Arcade this week
Credit: Xbox 360 Achievements, Major Nelson
Come on, please Microsoft, give us a game that nobody really cares about as your deal of the week. Please. Our wallets are throbbing as it is. The poor things were abused all over Christmas and now they’re just being punished and pulled through the rose bushes in this Q1 period. Can’t you just reduce Rocky and Bullwinkle for a week?! See, Duke Nukem 3D has been reduced to the ridiculously cheap and unmissable 400 point mark, knocking a full 50% off its normal price point. Honestly, if you don’t own it, have never played it or just didn’t know if you wanted to play it, just buy it! Honestly, it’s one of the best first person shooters ever made despite its age. It has humour, violence, four massive single player campaigns and expansive, fun multiplayer and its 400 frickin points! This is as good a bargain as you will ever find, and I implore you to get yourself a copy before time runs out!

In addition to that, we have three Arcade games to choose from this week on Xbox Live Arcade. First out this week is Greed Corps for 800 points. Here’s an overview from the developers.

“The first in a series of games based in the rich Mistbound universe, Greed Corps is set in a world of feudal warfare and environmental destruction through industrial consumption. As one of four warring factions your aim is territorial domination, but at what cost? Can you find the delicate balance between harvesting the land for resources and preserving it to stay alive? Will you defend your territory or sacrifice it to keep it out of enemy hands?”

“Featuring an innovative land collapsing mechanic which constantly alters the strategic landscape, you must destroy your enemies or the very land they stand on before they do it to you. Build Harvesters to reap your land for credits and spend them on armouries and cannons. Manufacture walkers to conquer enemy territory and order carriers to transport your troops across the map. Ultimately, defeat your enemies by eliminating their troops and destroying or capturing their structures.”

Greed Corps will also be appearing on PSN this week.

Also out this week is Lazy Raiders, being charged at 800 points. The game tasks players with plundering ancient ruins and offers something of a literal twist, however, as players don’t actually control the main character, but instead turn the entire game world as he falls through the environment. Doing so, you help the explorer gather items and avoid various traps and hazards. The game will include Avatar support and will have 80 levels of gameplay.

Last but no means least is Fret Nice. PS3 owners have had this game for a few weeks already but now Fret Nice will be available to Xbox 360 owners for 1200 points. Fret Nice uses both the buttons and the tilt function of guitar controllers to move members of the Vibrant Chordblasters, as they fight against Hair Bängers by jumping into the air and playing riffs corresponding to the number of eyes on the enemies.

First Bioshock 2 DLC details revealed
Credit: Joystiq
2K Games have gone official and said expansions for Bioshock 2 are slated to arrive over the coming months. 2K have also said that the DLC will expand both the single and multiplayer facets of the game. While we still don’t know any details about the singleplayer DLC, 2K have lifted the lid on the first batch of Multiplayer DLC they have entitled the ‘Sinclair Solutions Test Pack’.

Available “soon” for 400  ($5) on Xbox Live and $4.99 on PSN, the pack will include:

• Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
• New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
• 20 new trials (some only available after a player achieves a rank of 41 or higher)
• A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
• Five additional masks (some only available after a player achieves a rank of 41 or higher)

Cuddly Bubbles

Lord of the Rings: Conquest Servers closing in a month
Credit: EA, Xbox 360 Achievements
This is dumb. The game is just over a year old and EA are already shutting down the servers. I understand that it costs money to keep them up and running and the game is probably not getting many players anymore, but if this is a trend EA is going to keep and especially on such a big license as Lord of the Rings, what does that say for the future of EA titles that begin to underperform? Regardless, Conquest servers will be shutting down on March 16 2010. So, if you’re lobbying for the online achievements/trophies on the game, then you’ve got a month to get them. Get cracking!

Capcom confirm three more characters for Super Street Fighter IV.
Credit: Kotaku
Capcom have confirmed they will be adding even more characters to the Super Street Fighter IV roster, and they are a series of favourites from Streetfighter III. Ibuki, Makoto and Dudley will be joining the growing list and are arguably the most popular of the announced fighters thus far. For those that don’t know, Ibuki is a ninja, Makoto is a karate expert and Dudley is a gentleman boxer.

TIMJ TV: Episode One has gone Live
Credit: TIMJ, Joe Staley, Trent Pyro
In case you missed the big news, whether you were living in a rock or hiding in a bush, This Is My Joystick has unveiled one of its secret projects. This Is My Joystick TV, hosted by Joe Staley and Trent Pyro. This is as big of a project as any independent gaming website has ever produced, with many meticulous hours spent editing and developing. In case you haven’t checked it out yet, make sure you watch the full thing right here…

Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands given release date on Wii
Credit: CVG
To coincide with the Jake Gyllenhaal picture, Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands has been given a May 14th release date for Wii. For those that don’t know, PoP:FS is being considered as a sequel to the Sands of Time and a precursor to Warrior Within. If the early screenshots are anything to go by, this game is sounding and looking like the Prince of Persia game we’ve been waiting for since 2002. There has been no confirmation on date for the other versions of the game.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V coming to PC this Autumn
Credit: Joystiq
One of the most popular gaming franchises of all time is about to get a new instalment this year on PC. Set to debut on PC this Fall, Civilization V brings “an astonishing new engine” to the polite, turn-based proceedings and promises to excel the franchise with “the introduction of hexagon tiles allowing for deeper strategy, more realistic gameplay and stunning organic landscapes for players to explore as they expand their empire.”

“Each new version of Civilization presents exciting challenges for our team” said Sid Meier. ‘”Thankfully, ideas on how to bring new and fun experiences to Civ players never seem to stop flowing. From fully animated leaders and realistic landscapes, new combat tactics, expanded diplomacy and shared mods, we’re excited for players to see the new vision our team at Firaxis has brought to the series.”

Also, this time around you will be able to share your vision with others, as 2K notes that Civilization V will feature an “extensive suite” of community, modding and multiplayer components. More details to come.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Closed Beta has begun!
Credit: Official Press Release
Finally, after years of waiting, it seems like we’re getting one step closer to the release of Starcraft 2 which is supposedly due out during the first half of this year. Here is the official press release from Blizzard:

IRVINE, Calif., Feb 17, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the closed beta test for its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, has begun.

Thousands of gamers around the world have started to receive invitations from the company to participate in the first phase of the beta test. In addition to providing feedback on the multiplayer balance of StarCraft II, testers are also getting a first look at Blizzard Entertainment’s revamped Battle.net service, which will be the online platform for StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, and future Blizzard Entertainment games.

“Gathering concentrated feedback from our players is an important step for us as we head into the final stretch of development for StarCraft II and the new Battle.net service,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to having our players’ help in polishing the overall experience and preparing for launch.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again centre on the clash between the Protoss, Terrans, and Zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is currently slated to ship in the first half of 2010.

In addition, Blizzard Entertainment will again offer unparalleled online play through Battle.net, the company’s world-renowned gaming service. A new version of Battle.net will be launched alongside StarCraft II with several enhancements and new features to establish it as the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers.

Assassin’s Creed 2 on PC will require a constant connection to the Internet
Credit: PC Gamer
Seems like there is an abundance of PC news this week, although this one isn’t necessarily a positive addition. PC Gamer have reported that the upcoming PC port of Assassin’s Creed 2 will require a constant connection to the Internet while you’re playing the game. The bad news is, should your connection drop while you’re playing, you’ll be kicked out of the game and forced to restart!

PC Gamer go on to report “When we heard of Ubisoft’s plan to require an internet connection for all their future PC games, we hoped they’d abort it or scale it back in the face of the outrage and astonishment it caused. They haven’t, and it’s here.”

“We’ve just received Assassin’s Creed 2 and Settlers VII for review, and verified with Ubisoft that the DRM is the same as the boxed product. If you get disconnected while playing, you’re booted out of the game. All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you’re reconnected.”

Seems the PC can’t even get a straight port of a game without a problem these days. This is certainly not a popular move by Ubisoft and there is already a massive public outcry over this situation.

Our only warning is to snap up the bargains quickly as the prices on many of these offers seem to go up and down quite quickly, so if you see something you want make sure you grab it whilst you can. To get the most from Neil’s Deals remember to follow us on Twitter as many of the best deals don’t actually make it to this column.

Enough of my ramblings, let’s have a look at what gaming bargains we can find this week.

The cheapest price for the popular game Mass Effect 2 at the moment is £31.89, whilst Darksiders is £22.71 at Asda on both Xbox 360 and PS3 if you enter the special discount code of “spend20″ at the checkout. If your Xbox Live account is in need of a Microsoft Points boost, Asda are also currently the cheapest at £14.91 for 2100 points.

Those desperate for Alien vs Predator can pick it up for £32.95 but I am sure it will be around £20 within six weeks. Dante’s Inferno is £28.85 over at Shopto on both Xbox 360 and PS3 whilst the game MAG Collectors Edition is £29.85 on the PS3. Brutal Legend is a more than tempting £12 instore only at Tesco or  £14.99 on both 360 and PS3.

For those of you that have been waiting patiently for DJ Hero to drop in price, you will be glad to hear that it has dropped to £49 at Tesco Direct. Forza 3 is another great game that has finally dropped below the twenty pounds mark and can be yours for a cool £19.99 thanks to Amazon. On the 360 the cheapest price for Bioshock 2 is currently £29.95 at the game collection.

Highly rated game Army of Two: The 40th Day is only £23.99 on both PS3 and the 360 but if you are on a budget and enjoy picking up popular games on the cheap, Halo Wars is £13.99 whilst Halo 3 can be picked up for £7.93 from Amazon or the original Bioshock for £9.93 over at the Hut. Dark Void is also a very tempting £12.99 on both PS3 and 360.

Borderlands is now down to a respectable £17.49, Karaoke fans can pre-order Lips: Party Classics for £17.99 and PS3 owners are strongly advised to pick up Dead Space for a fantastic £8.85.

Bargain of the week
Many much wiser than me may suggest that Bayonetta is nothing but a childish sex-fest for young male gamers to lust over whilst locked in their bedroom, but for only £17.99 on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 I think it’s a cracking price for a top game, making it my Deal of the Week. **EDIT** now £23.95.

Neil's Deal of the Week, Bayonetta £17.99

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.

Fallout New Vegas is coming in 2010!
Credit: CVG, IGN, YouTube
Fallout New Vegas is coming and it’s coming in 2010! Obsidian, the development team behind Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2  released a teaser trailer this week and gave us a release window of Fall 2010. If you needed any further convincing that Game of the Year 2010 was going to be a hotly contested affair, then perhaps this might give you some perspective.

Got to love Frank Sinatra music being used to promote a computer game. Awesome!!

Project Needlemouse becomes Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the first true 2D platformer sequel in 17 years!
Credit: Joystiq, IGN, CVG
SEGA have finally lifted the lid on Project Needlemouse and given us some specifics. More specifically, the game is going to be Sonic the Hedgehog 4; a direct sequel to Sonic and Knuckles released back in 1993! No more bird collecting and stories about flying carpets, this is Sonic as we know and love it, with 2D graphics borne out with 3D visuals. It’s also been announced that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions will sport 1080p support.

What’s more, while we’ve met many of Sonic’s friends over the years, the only playable character in Sonic 4 will be the spiky blue hedgehog himself, complete with his old school move set, joined by the homing attack of the more recent games. Sonic the Hedgehog 4′s music will also be familiar to people who’ve played the games in the past, reworking old themes and styles.

SEGA have said that the first episode will release in the Summer for all formats, and will have both Wii Remote and Six-axis support. The game will also enable you to compare speed runs via online leaderboards.

While I’m a little sceptical about the episodic nature of this and don’t quite understand how it will work, this is probably the best news to come out of SEGA in a long, long time. Am I allowed to be excited by news by SEGA? Is that still permitted in 2010?!

Still news in 2010!

Splinter Cell: Conviction dated for April 13th 2010
Credit: Joystiq
We finally get another ‘solid’ date for Splinter Cell Conviction. So solid in fact, that Ubisoft actually carved it into stone! April 13th 2010 will see the NA release of Splinter Cell: Conviction as cast into stone, and April 15th will see its release in the UK. It seems the first month of Q2 is just going to get as flooded as Q1 as a whole. Let’s hope that this one doesn’t disappear back into the shadows again.

Red Faction 4 to be unveiled at E3
Credit: IGN, CVG
THQ gave us a wealth of announcements this week, not least of which Red Faction 4, which they are preparing to showcase at E3 later this year. No real details were unveiled other than a tentative title. Whether it will be a game in the same vein as the original Red Faction games on PS2 or the newer spin on the franchise revealed in Guerilla last year remains to be seen. Either way, THQ seem to have a hit on their hands and they’re not shy in expanding that franchise even further.

Darksiders 2, DeBlob 2 and Saints Row 3 Announced
Credit: IGN
THQ also announced that Darksiders 2, DeBlob 2 and Saints Row 3 are headed into production. It seems THQ is investing its future in sequels and rightly so. Darksiders has been fending well for itself despite its stiff competition in Q1, DeBlob was a sleeper hit on Wii in 2008, many hailing it as the best game Nintendo never made, and Saints Row 2 holding its own against main rival to GTA IV. Great news for fans of all three of these franchises.

Dante’s Inferno DLC announced
Credit: Joystiq
As is the case with most every game these days, EA have decided to extend the Dante’s Inferno experience with some additional downloadable content. However, some of the ideas going into the content actually sound quite innovative and interesting. In March, a Dark Forest Prequel level will explore the story of the character Dante’s return from the crusades to Italy. Then in April come Trials of St Lucia, a co-operative multiplayer expansion with a new playable character and in-game combat editor! The editor allows players to create combat trails and share them online!

No pricing or specific release dates have been announced as yet.

GTA Episodes from Liberty City coming to PC / PS3 on March 30th
Credit: Joystiq
It seems the exclusivity agreement Microsoft have with Rockstar is about to expire, as The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are finally coming to Playstation and PC in just over a month. These are two excellent pieces of entertainment that have been hugely successful on Xbox and really added to the experience of an already tremendous title.

Great news for GTA owners and well worth the price of a full retail product for all the content contained therein.

Continuing the legacy!

Next Borderlands DLC  ‘The Secret Armoury of General Knoxx’ details released . Borderlands DLC disc to be released in Feb
Credit: Joystiq
One thing you can say for Gearbox, they certainly know how to support a game post launch. The third piece of Borderlands DLC has been announced with some screenshots. The Secret Armoury of General Knoxx will feature more achievements, more environments to explore and an increased level cap!

Also, later this month, for those who don’t get online or prefer shrink wrapping can purchase the first two pieces of DLC for Borderlands on disc, available for all formats.

Halo Reach not a Natal title
Credit: Joystiq
As we near closer to the Spring and the supposed launch of the Halo: Reach Beta, details are slowly starting to trickle in about the enigmatic new project from Bungie. A series of screenshots found its way onto the web last week, and we know the project is a prequel to the original Halo: Combat Evolved.

This week, we also learned that Halo Reach will be controlled via your regular Xbox pad and will not utilise motion control. But that was to be expected right? I mean, we don’t even have a release date for Natal yet, so how else would we have been able to participate in the beta in the Spring? Still, Bungie’s comments pertaining to this were not an outright dismissal of using the technology. Could there be some features within Halo Reach that use Natal? It would certainly add further stature and validity to a project Microsoft are investing so much time and resource into, and with Fable 3 already announced to be using the tech, surely the announcement of the new Halo game using Natal will boost its sales even more.

Let the speculation continue.

This week on Playstation Network
Credit: CVG
This week on PSN is pretty darn cool. Final Fantasy VIII, the most underrated edition in the series, makes its debut on the marketplace for both PS3 and PSP for the bargain price of £7.99. You can also pick up a demo for the highly anticipated Heavy Rain, an Eye Pet Lucky Dip Pack and an Infamous Giggawat Blade pack, all free of charge.

This week on Xbox Live Arcade
Credit: CVG, Major Nelson, Xbox 360 Achievements
It’s cheap times this week! The deal of the Week is yet another gem. For 400 points, you can pick one of last Summers crown jewels, Splosion Man! It’s already cheap at 800 MS Points, and so it’s ridiculously underpriced at 400 MS Points. Seriously, you can buy a lightsaber for your Avatar for the same price, but don’t buy the bloody Lightsaber, buy Splosion Man!

As for the XBLA release, we have Chime, also for 400 points. Single player game seeks significant gamer for musical puzzle fun. Me: unique, compelling, creative and demanding. You: quick-witted and open-minded with sharp reactions and a deep love of music. Let’s get together and play something beautiful. Featuring music by Moby, Paul Hartnoll (Orbital), Philip Glass, Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly) and Markus Schulz. To make things even more interesting, for the first time ever that I know of, every sale of this game, 60% of the profits go to charity!

How generous.

KA-BOOOOOOM!!!

The third Behemoth game revealed
Credit: Xbox 360 Achievements
Behemoth, the genius behind the brilliant Castle Crashers and Alien Hominoid, have unveiled their next project, Battleblock Theatre… I know, right? Complete with a new trailer, here is a synopsis of the plot for their latest creation…

“Having shipwrecked on a mysterious island you find yourself both betrayed by your best friend Hatty and captured by the locals. All of this is happening while being forced into deadly performances. This however, is just the start of your problems.”

No word on a release date or price plan as yet.

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker has been delayed… In Japan
Credit: CVG
While this may not be a reflection on the release date for other territories, the Peace Walker release date has been pushed back in Japan to make a final ‘few adjustments’. Kojima went on record in December to say that the NA release date will be May 28th. However, that release window is certainly looking less likely. Regarding this recent news, Kojima has also gone on record to say the delay is ‘a crime’.

Bioshock 2 Reviews are in
Credit: Metacritic, IGN
The verdict is out on Bioshock 2, and if early indications are anything to go by, it seems Q1 won’t just be remembered for its quantity, but also its quality. PC Gamer gave it 90%, PSM3 gave it 93% saying it tops the original in terms of storytelling and combat and IGN score it with 91%. If you ever had any doubts that this game would not live up to its heritage, early indications seem ready to prove you wrong. Check out Metacritic for regular updates.

Apple give iTampons to the masses!
Credit: Joystiq
So how do Apple follow on from the incredible iPhone? What do they do next? They create the iPad, that’s what! iPad was revealed to the World on Thursday and described as having a larger screen than an iPhone but a smaller screen than a laptop, placing it somewhere in the middle of both. What we have is something that looks like a cross between an enlarged photo frame and tablet from Star Trek (see pic below). Apple are calling the iPad revolutionary but the masses are crying out for iTampons! This would be far superior; you can even go skydiving, horseback riding and swimming!

To make things even more interesting, Apple also announced a deal with Electronic Arts to ship games from the world renowned publisher on its new iPad! I don’t know about you but I’m eagerly anticipating Medal of Honor: Menopause Warfare as a launch title (sorry!) Analysts are predicting that Apple’s first attempt at trying to muscle its way into the handheld gaming market that Nintendo seemed to have locked down could be a greater success that people are giving credit, however. iPhone gaming sales are certainly doing extraordinarily well and Apple did announce backwards compatibility of all of their games onto the iPad. Time will tell.

However, the system doesn’t come without limitations; aside from its use of bluetooth and ability to surf the web, the iPad is devoid of a USB point, SD slot, web-cam, and features no multi-tasking or flash memory support. In fact, from early indications, it sounds as if the system will be almost completely reliant on iTunes and it’s applications without word on if Snow Leopard will be compatible, either. What we do know, is that the iPad is being considered a firm contender to Amazon’s Kindle as it has been revealed the iPad can be used as an ebook reader. The product has already adopted a series of names both affectionate and derogatory. Period jokes aplenty have flooded the web, and familiar pictures used to promote the iPod have been defaced to represent a woman going through her monthly. We’re such a mature crowd us net geeks!

We gonna need a bigger boat pocket!

Whether you love it or you hate it, the base form of the Apple iPad ships in sixty days, where a more enhanced version with 3G connectivity ships in ninety days.

Capcom announce Worldwide release dates for both Super Street Fighter IV  and Lost Planet 2  complete with an Xbox exclusive!
Credit: Joystiq
After pulling both games from the rather-stacked Q1 lineup, Capcom have announced that both Super Street Fighter IV and Lost Planet 2 fans won’t have as long to wait as originally feared! The remake of last year’s reboot of Street Fighter will be out on April 27th in North America and April 30th in Europe. Super Street Fighter IV comes complete with new characters, new combos and the return of the fan favorite ‘Beat up a Car’ Special Stage for the original Streetfighter 2! No official word on pricing as yet.

As for the co-op based, third person shooter, Lost Planet 2, gamers will finally be able to get their hands on the much anticipated sequel on May 18th Worldwide! Not only that but Capcom have announced a deal with Epic to allow both Dom Santiago and Marcus Fenix to appear in Lost Planet 2 as playable characters as an Xbox 360 exclusive! While there is no official confirmation of any unique weapons the Gears of War protagonists may bring to the party, or even if they caught a plane from Jacinto or took the bus, we have been told that they will not appear as part of the story and most likely will remain as multiplayer characters.

It seems Q2 is getting as stacked as Q1 as we move deeper into 2010. The question on everyone’s lips is, will the moths ever find a home in our wallets again?!

Confirmed: Final Fantasy XIII to have Downloadable Content!
Credit: Xbox360Achievements
After asking ‘will they/won’t they’ over and again, Producer Yoshinori Kitase has gone on record to say that additional content will be coming to Final Fantasy XIII. Here’s the official story below…

“At first we had plans to release the game simultaneously worldwide,” Kitase revealed to Official PlayStation Magazine. “So we had the intention to deliver identical versions between the regions. When we noticed that we wouldn’t make it, we decided to release the game as fast as possible in the west after its release in Japan. We initially had doubts to add extra content to the western version but then it would have taken the international version more months of delay. We did prepare DLC but it will arrive a little later in the west.”

Arrive a little later in the West? Surely not! Either way, this is fantastic news and will be interesting to see whether the content will be as little as some costume changes or as much as a seperate area to explore.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Multiplayer Demo now on Xbox Live for Limited Time.
Credit: Xbox360Achievements
Until February 25th, an online only demo of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has been released, exclusively for Xbox Live Gold Members. This demo gives you a chance to experience the Port Valdez map and try out Squad Rush multiplayer mode which has you either defending or destroying crates! You have less than a month to grab it, don’t delay a second longer.

Mass Effect 2 is currently 3rd highest rated Xbox 360 game and 7th highest rated PC game of all time.
Credit: Metacritic
it’s still early days, but Mass Effect 2 has already exceeded expectation. At the time of writing this article, the game stands at ninety six out of a hundred on the objective game score aggregator, Metacritic.

This means it is now the third highest rated game on the Xbox 360 to date, just two points below #1 ranked Grand Theft Auto IV, which has ninety eight and a notch below Bioshock, which also has ninety six, though Bioshock’s score is averaged over a greater portion of reviews (eighty eight to be precise).  Of course, this can change very quickly as is always the case with Metacritic: a few low reviews can bring that mean score tumbling down, and a few perfect scores can send it shooting up, but right now, that’s some pretty astonishing work if you ask me. Hats off to Bioware!

More impressive still, Mass Effect 2 is currently scoring ninety five on PC based on twenty eight reviews, making it currently the seventh highest rated PC game EVER made, and knocking World of Warcraft out of the top twenty. Just… WOW! Game of the Year 2010 in January? Game of the Decade in the very first month?! Why the hell not…

Mass Effect 2 DLC released early / pulled.
Credit: IGN
In further Mass Effect 2 news, it seems DLC that was reserved for customers who pre-ordered the Space Opera were put up to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace on Monday night. This included DLC for new armor and weaponry within the game. As this was obviously a mistake, the DLC was taken down shortly after, but not before a few hawk-eyed and finger furious gamers managed to grab the goods in preparation for Bioware’s latest, whether they pre-ordered the game or not. It is safe to assume the DLC will be back up on Friday on the game’s official launch date but it’s still nice to be ahead of the crowd and get those extra bragging rights. Also, you get all the benefits of pre-ordering the game without the pre-order. You smug gits, you…

Below is a list of all the items released on the Marketplace before they were pulled…

• Collectors Weapon and Armor
• Terminus Weapon
• Armour Inferno
• Armour Sentry
• Interface Umbra Visor
• M-29 Incisor Sniper Rifle
• Blood Dragon Armour
• Recon Hood

On the Xbox Arcade This Week
Credit: Major Nelson
We’re spoiled by Microsoft, we really are. Xbox Live offers us a Deal of the Week and a new Arcade game each and every week. Sometimes you can quite happily pass them by without batting an eyelid, ignoring their very existence and then some weeks, you can’t buy points quick enough. This week is a combination of both.

The Deal of the Week is the absolutely amazing Portal: Still Alive by Valve. The game has been dropped from 1200 points to eight hundred points, a full thirty three percent slash off the price! If you’ve never played the Orange Box and you’ve never tried Portal, then you’re missing out on one of the best games in the last decade. I cannot emphasize enough how much you need to play this game! It’s a bargain at its normal price of twelve hundred points, so it’s criminal not to own it at eight hundred, it’s fantastic!

While the deal of the week is astonishing, the arcade game is somewhat of an unproven commodity. Major Nelson reported that XBLA gamers will be treated to KrissX. I’ll let him tell you in his own words what it’s all about…

“In KrissX players can play through an endless number of puzzles and unscramble over 3,500 jumbled words that will test your trivia knowledge and expand your own daily vocabulary.”

While it’s not the remake of Perfect Dark everyone is so eagerly anticipating, Plants v Zombies or the Avatar fuelled Joyride, this game does sound interesting if you like to give your brain a good taxing! KrissX will be available on Wednesday January 27th for eight hundred points!

Microsoft X Festival happening on February 12th – Fable 3 to make an appearance!
Credit: Joystiq
Good news for X Festival fans. Microsoft feels that this year it has enough to showcase at it’s own-funded and sponsored event. Over the last couple of years, Microsoft has been making the big news at E3 in June, stealing the show for the last two years, but we may not have as long to wait for announcements from the labor of Bill Gates love as the X Festival will be happening February 12th in San Francisco! Already confirmed to be at the event are Crackdown 2, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell Conviction, Halo Reach, the Xbox Game Room and first footage from Fable 3, as confirmed by Lionhead on their Twitter!

Of course, one would expect Microsoft to show off Project Natal at the event to give more and more people the chance for some hands-on impressions. One would also expect maybe a big announcement or two. Of course, we could be asking for too much, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, all the same, right?

Assassins Creed 2: Battle of Forli DLC available Jan 28th but no Trophies or Achievements
Credit: Xbox360Achievements
The first eagerly anticipated piece of Downloadable Content for Assassin’s Creed 2, entitled ‘Battle of Forli’ will sneak onto Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Network this Thursday, 28th January for three hundred and twenty points / $3.99 respectively. The mouth-watering price seems altogether difficult to resist, although that may not be the case for achievement and trophy whores as it has been confirmed that this DLC will come with neither, by UK Community Manager Korina Abbott. While this may stop some people from purchasing the DLC straight off, for the rest who just want to play, here is a brief synopsis of what to expect for your money.

More Assassin Creed? Ezio as pie.

The “Battle of Forli” has players defending the Forli base against the attacking Orsi brothers. Ezio enlists the aid of Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza in this task across the segment of six new playable memories.

Sounds pretty good to me! The second piece of DLC, ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ will be released sometime in February for four hundred Points/ $4.99 respectively.

Trophies for Heavy Rain now available to view
Credit: PS3Trophies
For those that are eager for any news on Heavy Rain they can get and can’t wait for the downpour at launch on February 24th, then head over to the link above and check out what you’re going to be trying to add to your collection. While there’s not a lot to go on (most of the trophies are secret), and no plot elements unveiled (although be wary of the comments below), it looks as if you get yourself a bronze just for supporting interactive drama. Whether that means you unlock it when you first boot up the game or there’s a code affixed to every retail copy of the game, allowing one trophy per customer, remains to be seen.

The game has fifty seven trophies; fifty two Secret, two bronze, one silver, one gold and one platinum.

UK Playstation 3 sales have topped 3 million
Credit: Joystiq
It’s not been a comfortable journey for the third iteration of the Playstation console, but Sony are finally starting to see some success in the UK with their Blu-Ray empowered machine.. After the price cuts, the emotion engine was cut, and PS2 backwards compatibility was removed, multiple changes in hard drive size and a slimmed down body were produced, the PS3 has managed to sell three million in the UK. While it still leaves the console in third place of sales in the console race behind both Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, this is a great change in fortunes for the company who are due for an incredible year with both Heavy Rain and God of War 3 to look forward to in the next few months.

While PS3 will probably never break the records of its predecessor, this is some of most positive news to come out of Sony’s camp in a long while. Thumbs up team!

Bioshock 2 soundtrack to be released digitally
Credit: Joystiq
It seems a big 12″ vinyl in the special edition of Bioshock 2 is not the only way you’ll be able to listen to the soundtrack of Rapture outside of playing the game. Composed by Garry Schyman, it’s now been confirmed that the music will be released through both the iTunes music store and Amazon Digital Download! No other details released yet, but this is great news if you’ve wanted to stomp around your own home in a Big Daddy costume and make the experience as authentic as possible.

Now, would you kindly give us a price tag? Perhaps a release date? We did ask nicely!

Are you listening Travellers Tales?

Namco proclaims 23 million downloads on iPod / iPhone
Credit: Joystiq
Namco, known to many as the Pacman people, boast that their products have been downloaded twenty three million times for iPhone and iPod touch services. The company goes on to say that their products shift 36,450 downloads a day of its twenty four products already on the iTunes service. Namco have also announced that twenty more titles are scheduled to appear on the iTunes service this year. Pretty impressive statistics that really show how far the platform has come and how popular it has become for gaming. If Apple have their way, the iPad will take this trend even further in the months/years to come.

Monster Hunter Frontier announced for Xbox 360
Credit: Joystiq
Capcom continue their streak of news, unveiling Monster Hunter Frontier for Xbox 360. The game is a port of a PC MMO of the same name and is well recognised outside of the West. Capcom released a promotional trailer for the game and also detailed the proposed subscription plan for the title. Japanese players will be required to purchase Hunter Life Course Coupons for 1,400 yen ($15), which will give them access to the game for thirty days and a one month Xbox Live Gold subscription.

The game’s official site has also gone live and is due to be updated again next Monday (1st February). Check it out here. Unfortunately, there is no word on if this game will be coming to North America or Europe. More news as we get it…

Narrative is one of the things which thrust video games in the direction of being called an interactive experience. The idea is that if a game has a compelling enough plot and halfway decent controls, then it is more comparable to an experience than a game based on the fact that you aren’t really trying to win anything as much as you’re trying to complete a story. This would all be fine and good if there were actually any games with a good narrative. Now I’m sure anyone reading this could probably list off more than a handful of games that they thought had a great story, but that would just prove my point. We gamers can’t just search for games with a respectable narrative; we have to raise the bar for what’s expected of a respectable narrative as well.

In most cases, any plot-centric game could never survive in the format of a novel. Take Konami’s Metal Gear Solid, written by Hideo Kojima, for example. Though most fans of this critically acclaimed series stick with it because of its deep, convoluted story, imagine trying to read something that ridiculously complicated. Many renowned novels such as The Great Gatsby are markedly complicated and can take a bit of time to understand, but there isn’t one bit of nonsense to be found. The long and short of any good plot is that it must go beyond entertaining. Entertaining is the benchmark of any acceptable plot, sure, but should it be the standard by which we judge a good plot?

Ayn Rand, is that you?!

At this point we’re nowhere near ready to have games with amazing gameplay and an awe-inspiring story, but we are at a point where integration of literature should be ousting that of cinema. It’s a sad, sorry joke now to even mention how terrible the majority of movie tie-in games are, but we’ve yet to have a failure when it comes to book tie-ins. A recent and more successful game to try this method is the hugely popular sci-fi shooter, Bioshock.

Bioshock, if you didn’t know, is by and large a big dedication to Ayn Rand, a philosophical Objectivist and novelist. To Ayn Rand, paradise would be somewhere secluded from the rest of the world, where science could thrive, and religion would be squelched eternally. The fine arts and forms of expression would define this place, birthing a haven where the creative could exist in bliss for life. Sound familiar?

Rapture is an underground city which was designed by Andrew Ryan (similar to Ayn Rand). One of the protagonists of the game is named Atlas (ever heard of Atlas Shrugged?), and one of the main antagonists is named Fontaine (The Fountainhead). In Bioshock, Rapture represents Rand’s dream world if it had gone horribly, horribly wrong. There is probably no more harrowing an experience than that of your first fight with a Big Daddy to get your hands on one of those precious Little Sisters and the Adam therein.

This is by no means a piece meant simply to praise Bioshock for what it has done by claiming it is a flawless masterpiece. However it is to say that at some point in the near future we should be able to look back on this game as a shallow experience which barely meets the standard requirements of a game. One can dream, right?

In years to come, Bioshock's narrative should be able to be called 'shallow'.

Luckily, we’re already moving forward with titles like Dante’s Inferno, which looks to turn Dante’s depiction of Hell on its head, spin it a few thousand degrees and then drench it in blood. In terms of blending story with gameplay to provide for an intricate adventure, look for Heavy Rain, a PS3 exclusive title set to release in early 2010. If neither of those grab you, Splinter Cell: Conviction, also slated for a 2010 release, has all the makings of an experience which cannot be replicated.

Until the time comes when we can truly claim that games are on the same level as novels and top-tier films in terms of narrative and theme, we will never have the right to lobby for the idea of games as a comparable experience. By the time we’ve reached such a point in the evolution of gaming, the definition of a gamer will doubtlessly have changed as well. Hopefully we won’t lose what makes us love the games we play now in the process of growing older with the industry. One can dream.

First of all, like any good gaming squirrel, we need to prepare for the cold, dark winter nights ahead by gathering up some games to get us through the winter. There is much debate on the price of pre-ordered games at the moment, in particular Modern Warfare 2, but I am pleased to offer you some cracking pre-order prices over on supermarket giant Tesco’s website Tesco Direct.

On the Xbox 360 they have Forza 3 for only £31.97 and Modern Warfare 2  for £35.97 which is only 97 pence over my target price of beating the RRP by £20 this Christmas.

On the PS3 they have Uncharted 2 for £31.97 and Bioshock 2 for only£31.97.

The argument of which is the best football title will resume as usual will probably be the next big heated debate this Autumn. Even the die-hard PES fans (which includes myself) will be wondering if this will be the first year they don’t buy the game on release day after three consistently bad efforts. Then again, Tesco Direct have Pro Evo 2010 and FIFA 10 for £31.97 on both 360/PS3. Although I have just found FIFA for only £29.73 over at the Hut.

I checked Tesco’s terms and conditions and they state: “Authority for payment must be given at the time of order. You will not be charged for items until they are dispatched.” So with those kind of prices it might be worth pre-ordering now.

Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood has now been reduced to £24.98 on both 360 and PS3 and if you are still waiting for Fight Night 4 you will be pleased to hear it’s now down to £22.99.

When are you out?!

There seems to be a little confusion on the official release date for the zombie-bashing sequel Dead Rising 2, some sites suggest that the release date has been brought forward from March next year to this September but whatever date is decided The Hut have the game on Both Xbox 360 and PS3 for only £27.73.

For grapple fans, WWE Legends of Wrestlemania  has dropped to £14.98, and Bionic Commando can be yours for the same price on both the 360 and PS3

If you are looking for something a little more affordable, you can pick up Need for Speed: Pro Street on the PS3 for only £9.99.  On the 360 Assassins Creed is not to be missed at £8.99. , Too Human is an bargantastic £4.98, and Prey is only £3.50. Yes it is pre-owned but not to be missed at this price point and will keep you entertained for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. One to put away for Christmas is ‘Scene It? Box Office Smash’ (solus) for Xbox 360 for  £4.98.

I am not a big fan of the Xbox 360 Wireless networking adaptors but if your online depends on getting one, the cheapest place at the moment is The Hut who have them for £32.73. They also have the Xbox 360 Elite Wireless Controller for £17.73 if you wanted to treat yourself.

Fuel for me is one of those games that you see around and think I really want to play it, but not seen many reviews and not going to pay full price for it, however at the moment it is only £12.79 on both the XBox 360 and the PS3.

A popular title on both consoles at a decent price, is enough for me to make Fuel my Bargain of the week

BUY ME!

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