We know there is a crisis and we need to cost cut but it seems like not everyone is for buying pre-owned games. David Braben of Frontier thinks that this threatens the game industry. Read up on his opinions on the matter after the jump.

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.

Find yourself strapped for cash in light of the recent launching of Harmonix's Rock Band to Europe? We've received word that some retailers in the UK have begun selling their copies of the game and its accompanying instrument pack at lower prices. Details on some of these stores' offerings are available in the full article.

It's a fact: if you fail to pre-order games that you've been meaning to buy all along, you'd be missing out on some nifty bonuses. Case in point: free 1000 Microsoft Points being offered by UK retailer HMV for every pre-order of Lost Odyssey. Hey, it's about enough to grab a game from Xbox Live Arcade. Read the full article for more details.

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)]

According to Microsoft UK Head of Gaming and Entertainment Stephen McGill, they were originally planning to conduct a midnight launch event for Halo 3 but the Westminster council advised that they should not go with it due to security reasons. We guess we don't have to remind you how big of a fan gamers in UK are.

Anyway, to compensate for this McGill said that around 1,000 retail stores will be opened by midnight so eager fans can get their retail copies as early as possible. To make things easier to understand - Halo 3 will be available on the eve of September 26 but no street events will be taking place.

"We are pleased to confirm that over 1,000 retailers around London and the rest of the UK will be opening up at midnight to ensure fans can get their copy of Halo 3 it as soon as humanly possible - including many Game, Gamestation, HMV and Virgin Megastores stores", said the official.

Aside from that, gamers will also have the chance to party with Halo 3 fanatics at UK's biggest cinema screen BFI IMAX (in Waterloo) on Tuesday, September 25, as many celebrities will be going head-to-head against lucky fans on the big screen.

Tickets and other giveaways are also available in The Daily Telegraph this Saturday and on Kiss FM next Tuesday. Those stores which won't be able to serve customers on the eve of launch will open very early the next day.

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.

It's funny how retailers come up with information about video games, pricing, accessories and the like even with big companies oftentimes denying or refusing to comment about them. As you are all aware, the information coming from retail chains are fairly accurate and is a good gauge of what to expect in the future.

Speaking of which, several retail chains in UK have started taking pre-orders for Microsoft's Xbox 360 Elite. This high-end version of the console consists of a 120GB hard disk and HDMI output aside from the other features present in the other SKUs. Play, GAME, and HMV have all listed the Elite for 329.99 GBP or around US$ 677.91.

Microsoft representatives have so far refused to comment on the matter. An official announcement is expected to come soon given the Elite's availability in the said market next month. Currently, the Premium Pack and the Core are listed for 279.99 GBP (US$ 575.21) and 199.99 GBP (US$ 410.86) respectively. The Xbox 360 Elite was recently dated in Japan and should be out there by October 11.