Considering the retail price for this game is higher than every other non-special edition game of this gen (£55), this is a real bargain. It is thought a last minute (the game is out tomorrow) price war has been sparked by supermarkets, with ASDA offering Modern Warfare 2 also for £32 and Sainsbury going as low as £26!

These are all astounding prices, especially for such a popular game, which is already guaranteed to sell well, nevemind the huge price discounts.

This massively reduced price is available to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, but it’s bad news for PC users again, as the game is still showing as £35 on Amazon.

These deals are all available on Amazon UK. The Xbox 360 price isn’t updating in the widget below, but on the Amazon website it is set at £32.

I’ll admit now, I lied a bit. The loophole doesn’t get you Modern Warfare 2 for £4.99, unless you happen to already own certain games, in which case it isn’t a loophole at all.

The legitimate deal is that you can get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for only £4.99 if you trade-in two selected games from a list. The thing is though, the list includes Overlord 2, which can currently be picked up from Amazon UK for £9.35 (Xbox 360) or £9.95 (PS3).

So a little bit of simple mathematics tells you that 2 x £10 (Overlord 2) + £4.99 (Modern Warfare 2) = £24.99. OK, so I did some rounding, the price is actually a little bit lower than £25, but you get the point. For a game that has an RRP of £54.99, getting it for less than half price before it’s release date is definitely a bargain.

The big question is, how long before Gamestation wise-up and remove this deal?

Oh, and another question, do you still want Modern Warfare 2?

The latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ‘outrage’ leak relates directly to the Xbox 360 version of the game, simply because one of the best online features of LIVE (something distinctly missing from the PS3), is being blocked in competitive matches of Modern Warfare 2.

That’s right, a leaked version of the Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 shows a system pop-up that asks if the gamer wants to quit Party Chat or remain in Party Chat and quit the game. It is worth noting that this is an Xbox Dashboard, not an ingame message, so is likely going to appear in future games too.

The demo itself is in actual fact two demos. One to demonstrate playing as ratchet and one to give players a chance to try their hand as the little, mechanoid Clank. The Ratchet demo, Krell Canyon, lets you try out the new hoverboots gadget, while the second demo, The Great Clock, involves some time manipulation and a boss battle. Expect these demos to have some hefty download sizes, if the first game was anything to go by.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time is due for release on Friday, 6th of November in the UK and on the 4th or 5th for the other PAL countries.

Amazon.co.uk (£34.99)
Let’s kick things off with Amazon UK. Although no longer viewable on the product description, the Amazon pre-order bonus for Uncharted 2 was instant access to the ‘Revenge’ Booster in the multiplayer mode, think ‘Martyrdom’ Perk from Call of Duty 4.

HMV (£39.99)
If you pre-order Uncharted 2 with HMV, you will be emailed a code that gives you a temporary currency multiplier for the multiplayer, which lets you get new weapons and abilities even faster for a limited time.

GAME (£39.99 / £44.99 for the SE)
Game are not offering any pre-order bonuses, instead they are exclusively giving players the chance to purchase the Special Edition, which comes in a steel case along with access to a gold Beretta and and AK-47 ingame, multiplayer character skins, a PlayStation 3 Theme and 2 Postcards.

Play.com
Play get an honourable mention because they did have a pre-order deal going, but it has now expired as it was early access to the Uncharted 2 Beta, ah well.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is due out on the 16th October in the UK, exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

At the time of writing this there are currently 15 titles on offer, with some of the best being inFamous, FIFA 10 and, what Just Video Games think is a must-have, the completely stylish game, WET. If none of those are tickling your gamers taste buds, then there’s a whole plethora of Platinum titles up there too, including Killzone 2 and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. The latter being a perfect PS3 start-up game, especially as it prepares you for the impending release of the already-critically-acclaimed, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Update: This deal now only comes with two games, still a good deal if you can catch it.

By online game retailers, I don’t mean they only sell games, but I mean they significantly sell games, i.e. it isn’t just a selection of 5 or 6 games.

5. Zavvi/The Hut

The Hut seem to own quite a few websites (or someone owns websites that own The Hut), yet despite having the same, simple template system, they never seem to have the same prices. This is why I specified Zavvi separately, because in my experience, Zavvi has always been just that little bit cheaper than the rest of the The Hut empire. It’s just a shame their service is comparable to that found in most KFCs.

4. eBay

Ah, eBay. I just had to feature the biggest auctioning website on here. know it isn’t technically an e-tailer, but anywhere where you can pick up a brand new game for two-thirds of the retail price has got to be in the top 5. Granted getting what yo want is always a potential rather than a guarantee and service can be a mixed bag, hence the fourth place.

3. Amazon.co.uk

Need I say more?

2. Play.com

It was a tough decision choosing whether to rank Play.com above Amazon.co.uk, in the end I went with Play because it feels more patriotic (Amazon.com is probably the first or second best in the US right?). Plus on the whole i believe Play.com tend to slightly edge out Amazon in their pricing.

1. ShopTo.net

I just love ShopTo.net, they always seem to be amongst the lowest, if not the lowest, when it comes to game prices. Add to this their other features like  pre-order credit and the ability to get them to send you a free text to your mobile when you oder is dispatched.

So, there you have it, my own, personal, top 5 e-tailers in the UK. Obviously, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so what’s yours?

When you think of games published by the likes of Bethesda Softworks, we’ve grown to expect games that are heavily weighted (sometimes too much) and relatively slow-moving. WET, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of The Elder Scrolls. It’s fast paced, tight and linear, and it’s better because of it.

The main protagonist is Rubi Malone, a gritty, no-holds-barred, contract killer, who isn’t afraid of getting her hands wet for the right amount of cash. Hence the games name, which itself defines the slang term ‘wet’ as meaning getting your hands bloody.

Rubi gets thrown into a non-stop, slaughterfest that is portrayed in a way that would make Tarantino proud. The game lends itself to several films and other video games, ranging from Kill Bill (this one’s so obviously influenced this game I’m surprised Rubi isn’t donning a yellow tracksuit) all the way over to the Wii’s slash-and-shoot-em-up, Red Steel. Following on from the latter point, WET does what Red Steel tried to do and more. It gives you a sword and a gun and lets you use them in a variety of ways that will make gore-lovers drool; the odd severed limb can be seen after Rubi has finished with a room full of henchmen.

There are no in-game loading screens per say, instead you get old fashioned adverts that advise you on some good nosh, whether it is the classic hot dog or the not-so-appealing gherkin (pickle) in a bag. You will also get the occasional lift loading screen that features black and white CCTV footage of Rubi looking bored or playing away on her harmonica. Don’t worry though; these loading screens are never more than around 10 seconds.

The missions in the game and the story itself are quite basic. You are basically running or jumping your way from A to B, dishing out bullets or sword cuts non-stop to anyone in your way. This is refreshingly spliced with unique gaming moments like a car chase and free falling from an exploding plane as the debris rains down around you and in front of you, while you take advantage of Rubi’s ability to make everything go slow motion so you can squeeze between tiny gaps.

Every now and again, a mission will start with Rubi automatically shooting an enemy and the resultant blood splatter on her face causes her to go psycho. The next section of the mission will all be in vivid red, black and white colours and Rubi will go hyper, allowing you to slice up and shoot enemies at a ridiculous pace.

The game features Quick Time Events quite prominently, especially in the bespoke scenes, such as the car chase, where tapping the relevant buttons will allow you to jump, dodge or stab enemies.

In terms of variety the game offers 5 different weapons, which unlock throughout the game. Rubi starts off with her sword and the standard dual pistols, which have unlimited ammo, and later gains access to shotguns, sub-machine guns and a crossbow. WET also features an upgrade system where you can spend points that are obtained for getting kill combos and finding point pick-ups. You can upgrade the weapons (fire rate, power and capacity) and you can also buy new Rubi abilities, which can be anything from new acrobatic moves to being able to shoot while on a zip line.

Overall WET is gritty, dirty and graphically inferior to many of the games coming out at the moment. But all of this just seems to add to the style of the game, especially the film grain effect, which gives the game the Tarantino-esque it is obviously striving for. The story is about 8 hours long and probably won’t offer much of a reason to return to it and without a multiplayer the game has very low replay value, however, even playing through the missions just a couple of times is worth every penny for the amount of class this game just oozes.

Many have wondered if Microsoft were going suit, especially when they brought forth their Miis Avatars, which were capable of being introduced into games relatively easy. A current rumour by Gamestooge (via TSA) seems to add weight to the theories of a Home-esque space coming to the Xbox 360. They report on a survey asking people about a an Avatar meeting space, where you can play virtually socialise and play on arcade machines. Images associated with the survey feature the Atari logo repeatedly, so speculation is rife that old school Atari games may be playable.

Is this a bad sign for the little UMD-less PlayStation Portable? Not according to Sony who say sales are meeting their expectations and are pleased with the results so far.

Is this new price enticing enough for you? Is it justified when you can get the PSP-3000 for £80  in some stores now? Or maybe you’d rather spend the same and get an Xbox 360 elite with two games, or even get the new PS3 Slim with 2 games for just a little bit more.

Halo: ODST droppedstraight from 1st to 3rd, getting pipped by the resilient Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box. Down in tenth spot is Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is touted by many as the years best game. i just wonder if the general public thinks so.

1. FIFA 10 (EA)
2. PROFESSOR LAYTON AND PANDORA’S BOX (Nintendo)
3. HALO 3: ODST (Microsoft)
4. NEED FOR SPEED: SHIFT (EA)
5. WII SPORTS RESORT (Nintendo)
6. GUITAR HERO 5 (Activision Blizzard)
7. MYSIMS AGENTS (EA)
8. COLIN MCRAE: DIRT 2 (Codemasters)
9. MARIO KART WII (Nintendo)
10. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM (Eidos)

The game itself is a seamless blend of beautiful graphics and environments, along with a fun and exciting gameplay style, which is so varied it can’t decide whether it is an arcade racer or a car sim (not quite as much so as Forza 3 and GT5 though).

Freakbits are reporting that upon trying out the Xbox 360 of the game they came across a bug when moving through the games menus while connected to Xbox Live. One menu screen popped up with some missing text or template error messages along the lines of “Multi-line dialog text”. But the worst part of this particular slip up is that in the top left portion of the screen the PlayStation Store name and logo was clearly displayed.

Check out the image below to see it for yourself:

Source

Well, the game certainly has its good and bad points. The simple premise of the game is often complicated by the cut-scenes, but don’t let this put you off. As with previous Wolfenstein titles your spy character is ready to do battle with the Nazi regime once again in an alternate history storyline. The Axis is hell-bent (literally) on using the occult to give them the edge in World War II. The Nazi obsession with the paranormal and archaeology is the basis for the story as they attempt to use the secrets of the supernatural against the Allies.

Your job, in case you hadn’t guessed already, is to stop them and protect the inhabitants of the city of Isenstadt, along with the resistance groups. What follows is plenty of interesting missions which run parallel to the central storyline. You can make use of various weaponry and upgrades which can be bought in the marketplace. This part of the game is pretty cool as you can find hidden gold and other items hidden in every nook and cranny of the environment to be stored and used later in the shop. Upgrading your guns is certainly one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game and I particularly enjoyed the feel of shooting the MP40 SMG.

As you delve deeper into the game and uncover the secrets of the force known as the Black Sun, you get to play around with some even more powerful supernatural firearms such as the Tesla gun which can fire in multiple directions all at once and a weapon that can vaporise some of the Nazi foot soldiers.

The environment of the game quickly switches from the tight confines of the train station to the sprawling city, airfield, countryside farms as well as missions to key locations such as the Hospital, Castle, Dig Site and the Church. There are ten missions in all, plus the five side missions you can choose to undertake as you search for the secrets and the Tomes of Power.

With the quality of games of this genre out there it certainly looks nothing special, but it is certainly fun to play. At times it seems rather old-fashioned and grainy; it is no classic but for the good points alone it is worth sticking with. If you enjoy the age old first person shooter formula, like the sound of shooting some Nazis and playing with all manner of guns and supernatural weaponry, the game does have something to offer. The level of challenge may not be enough for some, but the online play element at least extends the interest level for a while longer.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

N WiFi, or 802.11n, brings with it higher potential speeds, with a standard comparison of it being around 6 times faster than wireless b and g types. This is probably more than just a rumour as there are even screenshots of this adaptor, featuring not just one antennae but two. Soon you’ll be able to really download those Xbox 360 games with speeds comparable to wried connections*.

*not quite.