Here's a little something for the UK gamers out there. HMV has announced that they'll be sweetening their Far Cry 2 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) pre-orders with four exclusive unlockable missions. These missions will give gamers a glimpse at the events leading up to the game.

While we've known for a while about the demise of HD DVD, the important follow-up news has everything to do with the adoption of Blu-ray as a standard. That being said, HMV has announced that it'll be ramping up its commitment to Blu-ray as a standard for DVDs everywhere. More on this after the jump.

Ubisoft has announced that the highly-anticipated Assassin's Creed (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC) has finally gone gold. This means that the game is already in its final form and all that remains is the actual manufacturing phase.

"We've been working very hard for nearly four years to make Assassin's Creed a reality and now there is a confirmed date when players will get to experience the results of our efforts," said Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond. Raymond will also be at HMV in Oxford this weekend to present new Assassin's Creed levels to the public.

Assassin's Creed for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 home video game consoles will be released on November 13. The game's PC version will be coming in early 2008. Those who pre-order the game will also get a free Assassin's Creed art book.

Buy: [Assassin's Creed (PS3)]
Buy: [Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)]

In light of the upcoming London Games Festival, Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond is scheduled for a special appearance in the HMV branch at Oxford Street. [cue shrieks of joy from the male populace] Ahem. Now let us get our bearings please. Raymond is to showcase never-before-seen levels from the latest build of the upcoming PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC title of Ubisoft.

Notch these details down your calendars: the event down at HMV is to be held on Saturday, October 27. The presentation will kick off at 3 p.m., and will be repeated at 4:30 p.m. of the same day.

But see, what's a special appearance without some audience interaction? Jade Raymond is also going to welcome open questions from the public and answer them on the spot (keep those questions clean, boys). You can also have her sign some Assassin's Creed merchandise, so better try to scuffle for that Altair figurine quick.

Buy: [Assassin's Creed (PS3)]
Buy: [Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)]

The wait is finally over for those still waiting for news on the new PlayStation 3 bundle. MCV reports that Heavenly Sword is indeed included in the pack - with two other popular titles, Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm.

The new bundle includes the 60GB PS3, a couple of SIXAXIS controllers, and three titles mentioned above. According to the reports, this three bestselling-title bundle is available exclusively from HMV and retails at 424.99 GBP (or roughly US$ 855). Browsing through HMV's official site, we found that there are more PS3 bundles - with an assortment of add-ons. Buyers can choose between getting Blu-ray movies Casino Royale and Black Hawk Down and an extra choice of getting Formula 1 Championship Edition.

Plenty of choices, eh? Well, check out HMV's PS3 bundles if you're setting yourself up for an early holiday present.

This should put all rumors about Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots appearing on the Xbox 360 to rest. High street retailer HMV UK has just admitted that the pre-order listing for the said title that appeared recently on its website is nothing more than a mistake from its online admin team.

Online site GamesIndustry tried to contact the retailer for further confirmation about the matter. One representative explained,

In his enthusiasm, one of our online games team indicated that hmv.co.uk would start taking pre-orders for MGS4 on Xbox 360, when, in fact, he simply meant to ask customers if they wished to receive an alert in the event of this title one day coming out on this platform.

As of now, Konami and Kojima Studios has maintained that the last chapter of Snake's saga will only be available to PlayStation 3 owners. However, it should be remembered as well that Konami Digital President Fumiaki Tanaka was quoted as saying that the franchise might go multiplatform in the future because of its popularity.

 

Is this real, or a misunderstanding? Either way, we were quite surprised to find out that retailer HMV UK is now accepting pre-orders for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on the PS3 AND the Xbox 360. Both games also have release dates set.

We all know that Konami haven't announced anything official, but HMV claims to know the exact dates for next year's releases. MGS4 on the PS3 is tagged for April 4, while the Xbox 360 version is supposed to follow five months after, come September 26.

HMV is most prominent in the music industry for being the largest high street music retailer in the UK. Founded in 1921, the small shop from London have since then enhanced its inventory with plenty of books, movies, and video games.

Even with such credentials, we'll have to place these pre-orders under rumors for now. Konami just recently stated that MGS4 going multi-platform is still in consideration, so it's not likely to see a release date for Xbox 360 (or any system for that matter) so soon.

The PS3 may be suffering in US and Japan territories, but it continues to fight in Germany and even the UK. HMV's head of games for entertainment specialist, Tim Ellis, reports that the PS3 exceeded expected sales, while other consoles are doing well too.

Sony is still in denial about price cuts, but Ellis believes that the PS3's sales performance will get better if the much-awaited price drop comes.

Ellis also gave much cheers to Nintendo, saying the Wii is still one of the hottest items in HMV. He also thanked Ninty saying "Supply is stabilizing and Nintendo is doing a very good job of keeping us updated on key developments."

He jumped ahead and commented on the Xbox 360, having no problems with its sales after 18 months since release and expects Microsoft to know what they're doing. "The console continues to hold its own and I'm sure Microsoft will know when to consider stimulating sales further via pricing," Ellis stated.

All in all, the console race in the UK is pretty tough. Why can't they just get along? That's what seems to be in Ellis' mind. "From a retail and customer perspective it's great to have three games heavyweights relatively matched and vying for market domination. This creative tension is leading to fantastic innovative technology and brilliant games."

UK retailers have begun to report that Sony's PlayStation 3 launch is the "biggest-ever". They are expecting to sell more over the Easter season.The retailers are now being warned that reducing the price of the console to sell more of their stock may harm the market in the long run. Most retailers have already fulfilled their pre-order obligations and are looking to offload their existing stocks.

Don McCabe, the managing director of Chips, said that retailers should not panic if they still have some stocks left. He mentioned that "Sony put an awful lot of product in the channel when we're used to previous launches where we have to manage customers expectations". He added that"Day one sales were very good, but since then it's not been so good. There seems to be a lot of discounts going around on the machine and on games."

McCabe also noted that "The market needs to stabilise because there's some retailers that have got a few too many units. They're trying to bring down their stock levelstoo quickly."

Some retailers have been following this philosophy, an example would be HMV. HMV's head of games, Tim Ellis, said that they still have consoles in stock.They are expecting to sell them over the next few weeks as new games are released.

According to a new report on Games Industry, music and games retailer HMV has questioned Sony's last-minute giveaway of 165 Bravia televisions to some very lucky people in line at the Virgin Megastore.

Despite brisk demand for the PS3 during launch day, a spokesperson for HMV mentioned he would have preferred if they used the money they invested in the giveaway to make a more spectacular launch.

The HMV spokesperson was quoted as saying the following:

The stunt of giving away over £ 200,000 worth HDTVs, though great for the fans that managed to get one, struck me as being slightly unnecessary in the greater scheme of things - especially as it may have encouraged some of the more cynical media to think of it as a last-minute attempt to bolster queues and PR coverage.

However, the unnamed spokesperson was quick to change gears, saying that they are, in fact, "happy with the overall launch so far." The store is also expecting to be able to sell the remaining launch stocks of the PS3 "quite quickly, if this level of interest continues."

Personally, we're quite pleased at the result of getting free televisions. While we can question the motives all we like, it's that sort of promotion that definitely makes up for waiting for a PS3 under rather cold weather. It's right along there with free coffee on a bad day and hugs from loved ones. Well... the 2000-dollar kind of hugs, at least.