We Love Golf, Wii - £6.95 delivered
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £28.73
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £28.73 delivered
Xbox 360 120GB HDD - £25/£32
If you're looking to upgrade your Xbox 360 hard drive, it's worth remembering that you can buy preowned and that your old hard drive after the upgrade is blank and resellable. However, due to the good folks at CEX, you can squeeze an extra couple of quid out of the swap.
Currently, the 120GB hard drive is being sold for £48. The trade-in value of the 20GB is £16 and the 60GB is £23, £4 and £6 more than their cash value respectively. However, if you trade in your hard drive, you lose all the stuff on it.
This is where your mileage may vary. A month or so ago, at the Sheffield store, the folks at CEX were very accommodating. They transferred all my data from my old 20GB HDD to the preowned 120GB HDD in-store. It took about an hour and a half. However, they're under no obligation to do this - staff at the Nottigham store have reportedly been less than helpful. You need to make it clear you want to ahead of time, because you don't want the trade-in to go through and lose all your stuff because they didn't understand what you wanted to do. You may also need to provide your own transfer cable, as there's no guarantee that the one they have is up to date or that they even have one. You can get a free cable from Microsoft by using the form on this page. Write 'On Order' in the Elite serial number area, and you'll be sent the cable within about a week. Make sure you check the page on CEX's website to see if stock is available at your local store.
This depends on the co-operation of CEX staff, but I've found them to be almost universally friendly and reasonable people.
Lightweight Ninja, PC - 62p
Lightweight Ninja, PC - 62p
Looks neat, has a ninja in it, and costs next to nothing! Demo here.
Unreal Tournament 3, PC - £6.99
Unreal Tournament 3, PC - £6.99 on Steam
Free weekend is on right now too.
Also worth thinking about the Unreal Deal Pack:
Unreal Gold
Unreal 2: The Awakening
Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition
Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition
Unreal Tournament 3
All for £11.49
Guitar Hero 3: Legends Of Rock + Wireless Controller, PS2 - £17.99
Guitar Hero 3: Legends Of Rock + Wireless Controller, PS2 - £17.99 delivered
Are these guitars compatible with the PS3?
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, DS - £14.99
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, DS - £14.99 delivered
The Hut 24 hour Nintendo Sale
Some excellent offers on Nintendo games in The Hut's 24 Hour sale.
Highlights:
DS
New International Track and Field - £5.93
Pokémon Pearl - £16.93
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix - £12.93
Dragon Quest - Chapters Of The Chosen - £8.93
Disgaea - £17.93
Wii
House Of The Dead: Overkill - £14.73
MadWorld - £14.93
Blast Works - £17.93
The BBC really love Halo
The BBC decided that as part of their "Big Gaming Weekend", they would conduct a pointless poll to compile a ranked list of the best games ever, to help us decide whether Football Manager 2009 is objectively better than Tetris (it is).
However, they seem to have slipped up a bit, so let's all take the opportunity to point and laugh.
Halo is not only the 25th best game ever, it is also the 39th best game ever. Mario Kart 64 must be pretty confused, being halfway inbetween Halo and Halo.
The list can be seen here. Let's see how long it takes to percolate through the Twitterverse back to the BBC hivebrain.
Cheers to Ram Raider for the tip off.
Wii Homebrew - beginners guide.
The Wii homebrew scene is a rapid moving entity. New developments are always being made, and new fun bits of ones and zeros are always getting released.
I decided to write a beginners guide to homebrew, detailing what kind of things it can let you do, as well as collect together some useful links.
What is homebrew?
Homebrew, in regard to consoles, is code that has been made by 'bedroom developers'. These are often very talented individuals and groups, and everything they do is without support from the platform holder (in the case of the Wii, Nintendo). These are hackers in the purest sense of the word, they push hardware and software to do things that the original creators never intended.
It is not illegal, you own your Wii, and it is entirely up to you what code you run on the hardware you own. Running unlicensed code on your Wii technically voids your warranty, however, it is possible to remove any trace of having done so in the event of hardware problems.
What can I do with homebrew on the Wii?
Some of the functions that having a homebrew enabled Wii can let you do are:
Customization of the Wii System menu
Region free gaming (for both Wii and Gamecube games)
USB Loading (more on that later)
Homebrew games
Media Centre Capabilities
Homebrew games
ScummVM Wii
And a bunch of other neat little tricks
I'll give a rough guide to how all these work later in the guide.
How do I get homebrew up and running on my Wii?
Running homebrew on your Wii is a fairly simple procedure, but it is not without risks. If you do something wrong, you could brick your system. As long as you follow this guide to the letter, you should not encounter any trouble.
First, you need the following:
A Wii
Permission from whoever owns the Wii
An SD card, and a way of putting data on it (SD Card reader)
An internet connection (which I assume you have)
The first step is to install 'The Homebrew Channel' on your Wii. This is a channel that displays on your Wii System menu which will allow you to run executables off an SD card. Essentially where you can boot homebrew from. You only have to install this once, then it will be saved in the console until you decide to remove it.
Nintendo won't just let you install anything on your Wii, so you need a hack, a way to bypass Nintendo's security on the console. Luckily, such a thing exists. Originally, you needed to use the Twilight Hack, which used a vulnerability in The Twilight Princess. Now, however, a hack exists that requires only an SD card, called "bannerbomb". Head to the bannerbomb website, and download the most recent version. This will let you run the installer for the Homebrew Channel, which you can grab here from bootmii.
Once you have downloaded the hackmii installer, you need to put both it and bannerbomb on your SD card. You need to put the folder "private" on your SD card, then the file "installer_beta1.elf" on your SD card, and rename it "boot.elf". Should look something like this:
Where "J" is whatever drive letter your SD card is.
Once you have this set up, you are ready to install the homebrew channel. Stick the SD card in the console, then got to the "Wii" menu, then "Data Management", then "Channels", then "SD".
It will then ask you if you want to "Load boot.dol/elf?", which you do.
Then the Hackmii installer will boot. Follow the on screen instructions for "install The Homebrew Channel". This is really simple, but if you have any problems, let me know.
You can delete everything off the SD card if you like now, you have everything on the console you need to run homebrew off the SD card.
The hardest part is now done. You should see The Homebrew Channel on your Wii's system menu, meaning you have a homebrew enabled Wii, congratulations!
How do I run homebrew applications?
Now that you have got the Homebrew Channel installed, you can run any homebrew you want from your SD card. To get applications to run, you need to create a folder called "Apps" on the SD card, then create a new folder for each application (named whatever you want the application to show up as in the Homebrew channel), then put the .dol or .elf file in that folder, and rename it to "boot.dol" or "boot.elf". Applications often come with a "meta.xml" and "icon.png", these contain the application description, and icon. They aren't essential, but make it prettier and can give you useful information.
Then stick the SD card in the Wii, and run The Homebrew Channel, and the application should show up.
What can I do from here?
Well, there are a bunch of fun things you can do, but first, I suggest you do a few things to customize your Wii.
Preloader is a homebrew application which lets you make some changes to the system menu. Nothing major, but it is definitely a good idea to do. If you plan to play imported games on your Wii it is definately recomended, because one of the ways you can damage your Wii is to update the system menu to a newer version from an imported disc. Trying to install a USA system menu on a PAL Wii will damage it, but Preloader can prevent this.
Grab it from here.
Once you have put "preloaderv0.29-cred.dol" on your SD card (in the folder "SD:\Apps\Preloader"), then renamed it to "boot.dol", you can put the SD card in the Wii, and launch preloader from the Homebrew Channel.
Follow the on screen instructions, and go to "Systemmenu Hacks"
I recomend selecting the following Hacks:
Replace Healthwarning with Back Menu (this removes the stupid Health warning screen from the boot process)
Region Free Wii games
Skip Disc Update Check (means that games will no longer be able to update the system menu without your permission)
Region Free Gamecube Games with video mode patched
Remove NoCopy protection (lets you copy saves to SD Card that you are not normally allowed too)
Move Disc Channel (lets you move the disc channel with A + B, like other channels).
Then "Save Settings".
You can now play imported Wii and Gamecube games from the disc channel, and have a few other neat tricks enabled too.
If you want, you can also go to "settings", and turn "ignore standby setting" to "on". This will make the Wii go to the "Red" Off mode by default, instead of the "Orange" standby mode. Uses less power.
Then Save settings and reboot the Wii.
Now for fun toys
You have done all of the hard work now, so I think it is time to grab some fun homebrew toys. I've put together links to some of the most useful and fun homebrew about, but if you think of anything good that is missing, let me know.
USB Loaders
If you have a spare USB hard drive, it is definitely worth thinking about using one as a USB Loader for your Wii.
A USB Loader lets you instead of booting games from the disc, boot them from a USB hard drive/pen drive. This has several advantages, not having to swap discs/carry all your games with you (particularly useful for me moving between university and my parents fairly regularly), quicker load times, and you don't have to keep your games in the same place as your console (mine are stored under my bed, out of the way now).
You have to rip all your games onto the drive on your console, which takes a while, but is well worth it in my opinion. It only supports partitions up to 500gb, you can use a bigger drive if you want, but will only be able to use 500gb of it for Wii games. Games vary in size quite a bit, but average around 2/2.5gb.
I have tried a few different USB Loaders, but by far my favorite is USB Loader GX. For more information on it, head to their website here.
Media Players
There are a range of homebrew media players for the Wii, that let you play videos either from the SD card or a USB Hard drive. I prefer GeexBox.
There are ways of playing DVD Videos on the Wii, but I honestly recommend against it. I have not heard conclusively one way or the other whether it does damage to the disc drive or not, and I am sure you all have other things to play DVDs on.
Q1Rev
A pretty decent port of Quake 1 to the Wii, you can either use the Shareware version for free, or the full version from your original discs.
Commander K. Wii
A port of the first three Commander Keen games. A tonne of fun.
ScummVM Wii
There is a fantastic range of classic adventure games that can be played on the Wii via ScummVM Wii. The excellent Beneath a Steel Sky is freeware, and you can also play the likes of Sam & Max Hit the Road, Full Throttle, Monkey Island 1+2, Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and more.
So that's it. If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments. I will try to keep this guide updated and relevant.
Recommended sites:
Wiibrew - A wiki full of homebrew software
Boring essential legal stuff:
SavyGamer and LewieP accept no responsibility for any damage caused to your Wii, SD card, other hardware, or limbs when following this guide.
Bionic Commando Rearmed, Xbox 360 - 400 MS Points
Bionic Commando Rearmed, Xbox 360 - 400 MS Points
Was half price on PS3 before, now is on the 360 too.
Cheers to GovernmentYard for the tip off.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, PC - £2.99
The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, PC - £2.99 delivered
Rock Band: Song Pack 2, Xbox 360 - £15.99
Rock Band: Song Pack 2, Xbox 360 - £15.99 delivered
See this post of me bitching about this kind of thing, only imagine it being more so now.
Grand Theft Auto 4, PC - £14.69
Grand Theft Auto 4, PC - £14.69 delivered
Update: Apparently, Morrisons still have this for £9.99. Cheers to Optimaximal for the heads up.
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller [Black] - £18.96
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller [Black] - £18.96 delivered
inFAMOUS, PS3 - £32.95
inFAMOUS, PS3 - £32.95 deLIVERED
or you can get the spECIAL edITION for £38.89
Prince of Persia: The Fallen King, DS - £11.48
Prince of Persia: The Fallen King, DS - £11.48 delivered
Little King's Story, Wii - £22.99
Little King's Story, Wii - £22.99 delivered
Thanks to IronMaiden for the tip off.
Nintendo Wii Console - £145
Nintendo Wii Console - £145 delivered
Also available in store at Asda. They are also doing the console + Wii Play for £155 in store (but not online).
2 for £20
The Hut have got a fairly decent 2 for £20 offer on at the minute.
Highlighs:
360
Civilization Revolution
Fight Night Round 3
Armored Core: For Answer
Star Trek - Legacy
Top Spin 3
Sega Rally
Infinite Undiscovery
Saints Row
Virtua Fighter 5
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Lost: The Video Game
PS3
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [Game of the Year Edition]
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
BAJA: Edge of Control
MX Vs ATV Untamed
Assassin's Creed
Haze
Half-Life 2 [The Orange Box]
Lost: The Video Game
Armored Core: For Answer
Wii
Sonic And The Secret Rings
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
Soul Calibur Legends
Zack And Wiki: Quest For Barbaro's Treasure
Nights: Journey Of Dreams
Boom Blox
Red Steel
Nunchuck
House of the Dead Overkill Hand Cannon
DS
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
New Internetional Track And Field
Endwar
Scrabble 2007
Guitar Hero III Wireless Guitar, Wii - £9.99
Guitar Hero III Wireless Guitar, Wii - £9.99 delivered
Works with:
Guitar Hero III - Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: World Tour
and Rock Band 2
It does not work with Rock Band.
Infinity Ward and Lionhead collaboration confirmed
According to Gameplay, a mashup of the Call of Duty and Fable series, entitled "Call of Fable 2" is now available.
Either that, or they forgot to proof read. Cheers to Extralife for the tip off.
Rock Band: Song Pack 2, Xbox 360 - £16.19
Rock Band: Song Pack 2, Xbox 360 - £16.19 delivered
See this post of me bitching about this kind of thing, only imagine it being more so now.
$5 off $50 at Play-Asia
$5 off $50 at Play-Asia
Use one of these coupons:
XW-OQG-LGL
BT-WRS-RCB
These are one use codes, so it is first come first served. Thanks to lavatein for the codes.
Additions Direct code bargains
As you might have seen, I posted a bunch of great deals recently that use the code "ZG310" at Additions Direct.
This voucher is £30 off a £60 or more spend. It can be either one item that is £60 or more, or several cheaper items. Their prices are pretty bad, but with the £30 off code, there are some good deals to be had. Here is a list of smaller items that are worth considering getting:
Xbox 360
Rockband 2 - £49
Red Faction: Guerilla - £47
X-Men origins: Wolverine - £42
Damnation - £41
Batman: Arkham Asylum - £40
UFC 2009: Undisputed - £39
Virtua Tennis 2009 - £39
The Godfather II - £39
Bionic commando - £39
Resident Evil 5 - £35
Wheelman - £33
Wanted: Weapons of Fate - £30
WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania - £30
Battle Fantasia - £29
Wireless Controller - £29
Midnight Club: Los Angeles - £29
Street Fighter IV - £28
Civilization Revolution - £19
2,100 MS Points - £19
Project Gotham Racing 4 - £19
Play and Charge kit [Black/White] - £14
PS3
The Godfather 2 - £42
UFC 2009: Undisputed - £42
Terminator Salvation - £40
Red Faction: Guerilla - £40
Ghostbusters: The Game - £39
Batman: Arkum Asylum - £39
X-Men origins: Wolverine - £39
Wanted: Weapons of Fate - £35
Bionic Commando - £35
Dual Shock 3 - £34
Shaun White: Snowboarding - £29
Killzone 2 - £29
Street Fighter IV - £28
Metal Gear Solid - £24
Burnout Paradise - £21
Blu-Ray remote - £19
Wii
Animal Crossing with Wii Speak - £52
Super Smash Bros Brawl - £39
Super Mario Galaxy - £35
Mario Kart - £35
Wii Play and remote - £34
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 - £30
Pikmin 2 - £30
Virtua Tennis 2009 - £29
House of the dead: Overkill - £29
Mario Power Tennis - £29
Wii remote - £29
Pikmin - £25
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games - £25
Wii Speak - £24
Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure - £19
Resident Evil - The Umbrella Chronicles - £19
Resident Evil 4 - £19
Links Crossbow Training + Zapper - £19
Nunchuck - £14
DS
Animal Crossing - £32
Nintendogs: Dalmations and friends - £29
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - £29
Professor Layton and the curious village - £29
Pokémon Platinum - £25
Rhythm Paradise - £25
New Super Mario Bros - £25
Mario Kart DS - £23
Sonic Chronicles - £21
Cooking Mama - £19
42 All time classics- £19
Big Brain Academy- £19
100 Classic book collection - £19
Sight Training - £19
More Brain Training - £19
Brain Training - £17
PSP
God of War: Chains of Olympus - £14
Killzone Liberation - £11
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters - £11
Daxter - £11
Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins - £11
Tekken: Dark Resurrection - £9
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice - £9
Powerstone Collection - £9
Everybody's Golf - £9
Crush - £9
Street Fighter: Alpha 3 Max - £9
LocoRoco - £9
Capcom Classic Collection: Reloaded - £9
So put together any basket of items that adds up to £60 or more, and apply code "ZG310" for £30 off. Let me know if you see any good deals I have missed.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Guitar Hero: World Tour - Guitar Bundle, PS3 - £46.37
Guitar Hero: World Tour - Guitar Bundle, PS3 - £46.37 delivered
Apply code "ZG310" to get £30 off.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Nintendo DSi [Black/White] - £119.77
Nintendo DSi [Black/White] - £119.77 delivered
Apply code "ZG310" to get £30 off.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Nintendo DS Lite [Turquoise/Green] - £70.84
Nintendo DS Lite [Turquoise/Green] - £70.84 delivered
Apply code "ZG310" to get £30 off.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Play TV, PS3 - £46.37
Play TV, PS3 - £46.37 delivered
Apply code "ZG310" to get £30 off.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adaptor - £34.63
Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adaptor - £34.63 delivered
Apply code "ZG310" to get £30 off.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Project Gotham Racing 4 + Microsoft Wireless Wheel, Xbox 360 - £56.16
Project Gotham Racing 4 + Microsoft Wireless Wheel, Xbox 360 - £56.16 delivered
Apply code "ZG310" to get £30 off.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Wii Fit, Wii - £41.48
Wii Fit, Wii - £41.48 delivered
Apply code "ZG310" to get £30 off.
Now, a word of warning. Additions Direct are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Xbox 360 - £19.54
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Xbox 360 - £19.54 in store at Sainbury's
Thanks to plaido for the tip off.
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PS3 - £19.54
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PS3 - £19.54 in store at Sainbury's
Thanks to plaido for the tip off.
Rock Band: Song Pack 2, Xbox 360 - £17.99
Rock Band: Song Pack 2, Xbox 360 - £17.99 delivered
This pack contains 20 songs on the disc, and also comes with download codes to let you put the songs on your hard drive.
Songs on Rock Band cost 160 MS Points, so based on the cheapest MS Points currently available, that is roughly 96p per track. Based on the RRP for MS Points, it is £1.36.
This track pack comes with 20 songs, at £17.99. So that is roughly 90p per track.
The downside is that obviously you don't get to pick and choose which songs you get. But you can also sell on/trade in the disc once you have downloaded the songs.
It's kind of ridiculous that it costs significantly more to get Harmonix to send you some ones and zeros than it does to get them to package up a disc, ship it to a retailer, give the retailer a profit margin, and then post it to you. I guess it is a symptom of the immaturity of the market for DLC.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Xbox 360 - £11.98
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Xbox 360 - £11.98 delivered
BioShock [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £29.99
BioShock [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £29.99 delivered
I've not seen these in stock anywhere for a long time, and this isn't a bad price for it.
Civilization IV: The Complete Edition - £19.21
Civilization IV: The Complete Edition - £19.21 delivered
Civilization IV has had 3 different expansion packs, Warlords, Beyond the Sword and Colonization. Now, just to be confusing, it has been rereleased as "Civilization IV: The Complete Edition" twice. Once with CivIV, Warlords and Beyond the Sword, and then again, more recently, also with Colonization.
At the moment, the game and all 3 expansions is £22.49 on Steam, but it is cheaper to buy retail versions of the game.
Civilization IV: The Complete Edition (minus Colonization), PC - £9.23 delivered
Civilization IV: Colonization, PC - £9.98 delivered
2,100 MS Points - £12.54
I've not been able to test this one myself, Littlewoods website is being unstable for me at the minute, but I have it on good authority that this should work.
Grab these, then apply code "ZG007", and it should come to £12.54.
Now, a word of warning. Littlewoods are pretty sly, and won't think twice of just charging you more than the checkout process says (which is actually illegal), and making you fight to get the price you were quoted. It will probably work out ok, but I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I would say document the entire transactions with screendumps, just to be on the safe side.
Thanks to Mark for the tip off.
Telltale games discount
I already posted the Steam special offers, but Telltale have also got a special offer when buying direct from them.
The Steam special offers are better, but you can get physical copies, and various bundles, discounted from Telltale games if you want. Wallace and Gromit is also not included in the Steam sale.
Link
Coupon "247-6LE-8JW-H9Y"
Ragdoll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic, PS3 - Free
Ragdoll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic, PS3 - Free
You have to set up a USA PSN account, which isn't too hard. Offer available until Thursday the 21st of May.
Thanks to Sarge for the tip off.
Telltale games - Half Price
Sam & Max: Season One - £8.49
Sam & Max: Season Two - £9.49
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Season One - £9.49
Half price until Monday the 18th of May.
Bionic Commando Rearmed, PSN - £3.99
Bionic Commando Rearmed, PSN - £3.99
Half price until Thursday the 21st of May.
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £29.99
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £29.99 delivered
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], PS3 - £29.99
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], PS3 - £29.99 delivered
House Of The Dead: Overkill [Collectors Edition], Wii - £25.91
House Of The Dead: Overkill [Collectors Edition], Wii - £25.91 delivered
Speedball 2: Tournament giveaway
It appears that CD-Action are giving away free downloads of Speedball 2: Tournament. They are giving out serial numbers which you then put into Steam.
Head here, and enter your email address. Or if you prefer to not get any spam, use a disposable email address.
Once you have entered your email, they will send you a serial number for the game, which you enter into Steam in the "My games" tab, under "Activate a product on Steam".
I can confirm that this works, my copy is downloading right now. The game normally costs £13.99/€19.99/$19.99.
Update: Party is over now, looks like they have taken it down. I have a few spares, which I will release in different creative ways throughout the day.
Burnout Paradise & Trivial Pursuit, Xbox 360 - £14.99
Burnout Paradise & Trivial Pursuit, Xbox 360 - £14.99 delivered
LocoRoco, PSP - £6.90
LocoRoco, PSP - £6.90 delivered
If you have a PSP, you should really get this game. It is happy and joyful, fun to play, and is drenched in charm.
Gears of War 2, Xbox 360 - £13.49
Gears of War 2, Xbox 360 - £13.49
It's £14.99 in store at GAME, and £29.99 at PC World, get it for £13.49 via their pricematch.
Update: The price in GAME may be pre-owned, I will try to check tomorrow.
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion [GOTY Edition], PS3 - £9.95
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion [GOTY Edition], PS3 - £9.95 delivered
World in Conflict: Complete, PC - £12.95
World in Conflict: Complete, PC - £11.99 delivered
Includes the original game, and the Soviet Assault expansion.
Update: Cheers to Anonymous for the tip off.
Endwar + Official bluetooth headset, PS3 - £17.95
Endwar + Official bluetooth headset, PS3 - £17.95 delivered
Battlefield 2 - The Complete Collection, PC - £4.95
Battlefield 2 - The Complete Collection, PC - £4.95
Includes the original game, Special Forces Expansion Pack, and two booster packs.
Street Fighter IV - Collectors Edition, Xbox 360 - £34.99
Street Fighter IV - Collectors Edition, Xbox 360 - £34.99 delivered
Review here.
Street Fighter IV - Collectors Edition, PS3 - £32.99
Street Fighter IV - Collectors Edition, PS3 - £32.99 delivered
Review here.
Company Of Heroes: Anthology, PC - £17.99
Company Of Heroes: Anthology, PC - £17.99
Contains the original game, Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, DS - £17.99
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, DS - £17.99 delivered
Street Fighter IV - Review
Street Fighter IV, Xbox 360 - £19.99 in store at HMV (10% Student discount available)
Street Fighter IV, PS3 - £19.99 in store at HMV (10% Student discount available)
Review by Fig-D
Figuring out whether or not you'll enjoy Street Fighter IV is a fairly simple process:
Did you play Street Fighter II?
Did you like it?
Now, just about every game enthusiast born before 1990 will answer "yes" to the first question, but the real question is whether or not you enjoyed it. Did you throw a large portion of your pocket money into a dingy machine peppered with chewed gum and cigarette burns? Did you rent the game for your SNES or Mega Drive and lose an entire weekend beating up your childhood friends? If "yes" then you'll probably get a kick out of Street Fighter IV.
Street Fighter IV definitely appeals primarily to the old Street Fighter II fans. The kind of guys that aren't necessarily a part of the competitive scene, but know their hadokens from their shoryukens. Everything familiar to fans of Street Fighter II is here. The characters, the moves, the music, everything. Old school Street Fighter fans will be happy to hear that the entire cast of Super Street Fighter II is here, as well as a few Turbo and Alpha veterans and new additions Abel, C. Viper, Rufus, El Fuerte, Seth and the in-game debut of Ryu and Ken's master, Gouken. All the characters perform just like you remember from SFII, with the addition of Super Moves and EX Moves from Street Fighter Alpha and III respectively, and the new characters are solid additions to the cast. If you and your buddies haven't played a fighting game since SFII then you can hop right in and play it like it's 1992. In this respect I'd say that the game is "casual friendly," but there is a lot of depth hidden underneath the Street Fighter 2.5 exterior.
New to Street Fighter IV are the Ultra Moves. As opposed to your Super Meter, which fills up as you perform attacks, the Revenge Meter fills as you are struck by your opponent. Once the Revenge Meter is half full your character can perform a dazzling Ultra Move in which the camera zooms around to get the best view of the action as you deliver a series of punishing blows to your unlucky foe. Most Ultra Moves are basically flashier versions of a character's Super Move, but they're all a ton of fun to watch and can really turn the tide of an otherwise one-sided fight.
One of the biggest additions to the game is the Focus Attack system. By holding down the medium punch and medium kicks buttons your character will start an animation in which they gain a black, brushstroke-like outline. This move can be charged by holding the buttons down longer until it results in an unblockable attack that crumples your opponent. While charging this move your character can absorb one hit from his or her opponent, but will be completely vulnerable to throws and special Focus Attack breaking moves. The attack that's absorbed will still do damage, but this damage will be recovered after a couple seconds unless the damage would normally KO you or if you are hit by another attack that you fail you block or absorb. You can cancel the Focus Attack at any time during its charge by dashing forward or backward (quickly tapping forward or back twice). The Focus Attack opens up a variety of options to keep your opponent guessing and gives you some good defensive tools. However, the Focus Attack is not just a defensive mechanism. By using half of your character's super meter you can use the Focus Attack to "Focus Cancel" another move. This is tricky at first, and not all attacks can be focus canceled, but this technique can lead to some very damaging combos.
On the subject of combos, we encounter an aspect of the game that is definitely NOT "casual friendly." I am referring to what the game calls "links." The idea of canceling one attack into another is second nature in Street Fighter. Crouching medium kick into hadoken, for example. You press down followed by the medium kick button and then as the animation for the kick is coming out you do the command for the hadoken (fireball). The hadoken will cancel the end of the kick's animation and the two attacks will combo into each other. Timing is important, but not all that strict. Links on the other hand involve attacking at the exact moment the animation for the previous attack ends. A moment too early and the linked attack won't come out. A moment too late and the linked attack won't combo. Many of these links have an input window as small as one frame. Street Fighter IV runs at 60 frames per second folks, so that's 1/60 of a second. Its not impossible. In fact, if you take the time and effort then you can train yourself to perform these links on command, but most won't bother.
The single player offering in Street Fighter IV isn't bad, but this sort of game wasn't made for the single player experience. The presentation is good and the gameplay is as solid as it is in any other mode but the story is absolutely atrocious, the voices are cringe worthy, the anime intro and outro sequences are subpar and the AI ranges from dumb-as-rocks to Skynet levels of synthetic evil. Extras are about what you would expect from a high profile title such as this one: training mode, gallery, movie viewer, time trials (which unlock titles, colors, and taunts), survival mode (which also unlock titles, colors, and taunts) and "Challenge Mode" in which you are presented with a series of combos that increase in difficulty as you go along (which unlock character specific titles). Alternate costumes are also available as extras, but must be purchased from Xbox LIVE or the PSN Store.
The game's stand out feature is its online play and its where you're going to be spending most of your time. The game is very well balanced. In Street Fighter III the competitive aspect of the game eventually boiled down to using 2 or 3 characters. Capcom took note and made sure that no matter who your favorite character is, you've got a fighting chance. There are some stand outs, such as Sagat and Ryu, but overall it is a much more balanced title than their previous effort. The net code used by SFIV is good, but not up to the standard set by Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Don't even think about taking those link combos I discussed earlier online. A five bar connection is almost perfect, with a spot of input lag here and there. Four bar connections will definitely be afflicted by some amount of input lag, but most fans won't notice and the game remains smooth. Three bar connections can get choppy, while two and one bar connections are basically unplayable. Unfortunately, multiplayer lobbies, a core feature in HD Remix, are not included in SFIV. The recently released "Power Up Pack" has added Championship Mode to the online component of the game, offering tournament-style game play with double blind character selection and the ability to view your opponent's disconnect percentage (a problem that plagued the game's standard ranked online matches), but for some reason lobbies remain absent. This free DLC is definitely a step in the right direction and will hopefully be a sign of things to come.
Gripes and nit-picks aside, Street Fighter IV is a marvelous return to form for the 2D fighting genre. The gameplay is rock solid, the character balance is well done, the graphics are easy on the eyes, the character animation is smooth, the presentation is top notch and most of all, it's fun.
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