Ganske nylig ble vi kastet ut av nettet vårt (som tilhører skolen) pga nedlasting, og da måtte vi skrive under på at vi aldri skulle laste ned igjen. Siden da har vi vært superflinke og heller prioritert å kjøpt dvder, tv-serier og blu-ray filmer. Kjæresten min har blant annet kjøpt og bestilt flere tv-serier, 17 bluray filmer + noen dvder. Jeg har ikke vært like hard, men jeg har kjøpt en god del selv også. Dette på bare 2 uker (hihi). Filmene på bildet over kjøpte/bestilte jeg i dag. Changeling kjøpte jeg på butikken, resten er bestilt fra play.com (GENIAL NETTSIDE!). De 5 dvdene kostet under 200 kr tilsammen, og Gilmore Girls sesongen kostet bare 110 kr. Skambillig! Tror nok det blir en del filmglaning fremmover. I tillegg så kommer det jo noe godt ut av dette året vi må overleve uten nedlasting – vi får virkelig fylt opp dvd-hylla vår!

Det er nesten morsommere å se filmer og tv-serier nå som vi har kjøpt dem selv, synes jeg. I det siste har vi sett Da Vinci Koden, Watchmen og Invasion på bluray. Filmopplevelsen blir noe helt annet – nesten bedre enn å være på kino. Trivsel

Ser du mye film? Siste film du så og kjøpte? Kanskje jeg får noen tips.

Håper dere alle har en herlig lørdag!

Man kan vel kanskje si at jeg i løpet av mindre enn en uke har tatt “litt” av når det kommer til nettshopping. Det positive er jo at jeg nå får masse pakker i posten fremover og at jeg får mye nytt, det negative er så klart at alt dette koster penger Det jeg har kjøpt er:

Play.com: De første bøkene i True Blood serien (12 EUR), Vampire Diaries Vol. 1 som inneholder de 2 første bøkene i serien (6EUR), Dexter t-skjorte (6,50 EUR), The Notebook Blueray (10,50 EUR) og Titanic DVD (4 EUR).

Tikei: 6 foundation prøver pluss Kabukikost (258 SEK inkl. frakt)

Gojane: Boots (ca 300 NOK inkl frakt)

Lookfantastic.com: Urban Decay eyeshadow primer (14,75 £ inkl. frakt)

Feelunique.com: MD Formulations facial cleanser for sensitive skin (20,50 £)

Playx.no: Heroes sesong 1 & 2 på blueray (150 kr stk.)

Så langt har jeg bare fått pakken fra tikei, og børsten virket kjempegod. Skal teste ut den og prøvene i kveld tenker jeg.

Har dere noe av dette, erfaringer? Hva er det siste dere kjøpte dere på nett?

If you haven’t already copped the CD, where have you been? With the launch party this evening, what better time than to show your support & cop the hottest mixtape of 2009?

Featuring appearences from: Bashy, Wretch 32, Sincere, Skinnyman, Faith SFX, Flirta D & many more, this is one CD you dont want to miss!

We’re even gonna make it easier for you and provide you with the names of some stockists:

UkRecordShop.Com:

http://www.ukrecordshop.com/item/nemesis-arrogance-da-real-sho.html

Uptown Records:

http://www.uptownrecords.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4349

Play.com:

http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Album/-/932/1172/-/9774734/Da-Real-Sho-/Product.html?searchtype=genre

Hmv.Com

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=978156

Ruthless Records (East Ham)

Rebel Music (Palmers Green)

Dark N Cold (Soho)

Rythym Division (Bow)

Sister Ray (Soho)

iTunes & Many More!!!

Support UK music – cop Da Real Sho TODAY!

Check out this new freestlye (and by freestyle, we mean freestyle in the pure Hip Hop form, not the 2009 *westwood* meaning of freestyle, where by you spit pre-writtens to the camera off a sheet of paper) by North Weezy’s very own track bully – Mr Drastick, taken from his YouTube channel – Mr Drastick TV:

You can catch Mr Drastick on our new mixtape – Da Real Sho, on the Nemesis produced track – Let Go… Cop it now, its available from:

HMV, iTunes, Play.com, Uptown Records, Dark n Cold, Ruthless Records & many more!

Our new mixtape – Da Real Sho – is now available for Pre-Order from Play.Com… It will be released on 1^st June 2009 & it’s a bargain @ the price of £5.65…

 You can pre order it by clicking this link:

www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Album/-/932/1172/-/9774734/Da-Real-Sho-/Product.html?searchtype=genre

Here’s the cover artwork:

And here’s the track listing:

 1.  Introduction

2.  5 R Live (Feat. Flirta D, Skata & Lary B)

3.  Spit Something (Feat. Supar Novar, Big Ben & Rapper Ragz)

4.  End Of The Summer

5.  Gunshots In Haringey (Feat. Loon Again)

6.  Don’t Shoot Me (Feat. Wretch 32)

7.  Where’s My Boys?

8.  Listen To Your Heart (Feat. Mr Ti2bs)

9.  Once Upon A Time In London Pt. 1 (Feat. Sincere & Mark Henry)

10. Once Upon A Time In London Pt. 2

11. Rise & Fall (Feat. Bashy & Lazy Habits)

12. Let Go (Feat. Mr Drastick)

13. Freestyle (Feat. Faith SFX)

14. Music (Feat. Jelluzz & Twink Blu Tac)

15. Beautiful (Feat. Miz Undastood)

16. Hip Hop Blues (Feat. Suga DZL)

17. North London Pt. 2 (Feat. Skinnyman)

18. Live From The Capital (Feat. Jelluzz & Starry Dayz)

19. Something To Lean On (Feat. Innercircuit & Nutty P)

20. Radio Tribute (Feat. TJ Chill)

21. Elaine

From/De: BHPR

STARS OF UK GAMES INDUSTRY SHINE AT BIGGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR

Nintendo scoops four MCV Awards, Little Big Planet honoured, Fallout 3 bags Sales Triumph, Activision Blizzard awarded Best Publisher

Friday 24th April/…The UK video games industry turned out in force last night, as MCV hosted its seventh annual Industry Excellence Awards at The Brewery, London.

Nintendo won four times in front of over 600 top executives, namely: PR Team, Games Campaign (for Wii Fit), Marketing Team and the MCV Retail Advisory Board Special Recognition.

A revitalised Xbox Live Experience bagged the award for Marketing Innovation, whilst Bethesda’s Fallout 3 was recognised for Sales Triumph.

In a hotly contested category, Little Big Planet scooped New Games Brand – beating GRID and Professor Layton. Rockstar North was honoured as Development Team.

In other categories, GAME won Specialist Retailer, with Play.com taking the honours as top Online Retailer. The UK’s Star Store was revealed as Gamestation’s Birmingham New Street branch, whilst the best managers were Mike Barnes and Pearl Robinson from GAME’s Oxford Street store.

This year’s Grand Prix went to EA Sports, not just for another incredible 12 months, but for decades of success, which have seen the firm consistently demonstrate how development, marketing, sales and distribution should come together.

“These were, by far, the most hotly contested Industry Excellence Awards in the event’s seven year history,” says Stuart Dinsey, managing director of Intent Media, publisher of MCV.
“It’s only right that the industry acknowledges and celebrates successes from the previous 12 months. And whilst the next year looks far from easy, this year’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards winners can offer some guidance as to how things should be done. Congratulations to all our finalists and well done to the industry as a whole for another hugely successful 12 months.”

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2009 were sponsored by Nintendo, Atari, Deep Silver Ride to Hell, Partnertrans, Codemasters and Gem.

The 2009 MCV Industry Excellence Award Winners in full:

RETAIL
Star Store: Gamestation – Birmingham New Street
Retail Innovation: HMV Gamerbase
Store Manager: Mike Barnes & Pearl Robinson (GAME Oxford Street)
Online Retailer: Play.com
High Street Retailer: GAME

PR & MARKETING
PR Team: Nintendo
Games Campaign: Wii Fit
New Games Brand: Little Big Planet
Marketing Team: Nintendo
Marketing Innovation: New Xbox Live Experience

PEOPLE & INDUSTRY
UK Development Team: Rockstar North
Distribution Team: Centresoft
Sales Triumph: Fallout 3 – Bethesda
Sales Team: Sega
Games Publisher: Activision Blizzard

SPECIAL AWARDS
MCV Retail Advisory Board – Special Recognition: Andy Yates (Nintendo)
Grand Prix: EA Sports

Vi har nynorsk heldags i morgen, som bare skal vare i 3.5 timer. Hva er greia med det? Er redd jeg kommer til å få piss dårlig tid, selv om vi får skrive på data. Føler i alle fall at jeg har forberedt meg noenlunde greit nok, så da får det bare gå som det går.

Dagen i dag har vært meget produktiv, føler jeg. Etter skolen (som var ferdig rundt kl 12 for min del i dag) gikk jeg på banken og satte inn penger. Damn, så godt det føltes å sette inn 5200 kroner Så jeg bestilte meg likesågreit 5 filmer fra play.com. Kan blandt annet nevne at Marie Antoinette var en av de, flaut å innrømme, men jeg har faktisk aldri sett den.

Etter dette gikk jeg hjem, bakte kake for mamma siden hun skulle ha symøte i kveld, og jogget meg en tur. En stor applaus til Nike+, som gjør det litt morsommere for meg å trene. Sålangt har jeg hatt 4 økter, og løpt tilsammen 8,85 km, det er i alle fall det nikeplus.com sier. iPoden derimot sier at jeg har hatt 10 økter med en distanse på tilsammen 13 km. Dette er vel pga kalibrering osv kan jeg tenke meg.

Etterpå skal jeg til kjæresten en tur tenkte jeg, så jeg må ta en siste finpuss på nynorsken før jeg går dit.

Play.com used to be great for buying DVDs and CDs – huge range, decent prices, and free delivery to most of Europe. But recently (well, some time within the last year or so) they’ve introduced a new delivery policy and won’t deliver to Europe if you pay in GBP, or to the UK if you pay in Euros.

This wouldn’t have been a problem while I was still living in Germany, but now I’ve moved to Japan it means I can’t buy stuff on my German card and have it delivered to friends/family back home without paying in GBP and having to pay a transaction fee. And I can’t pay on my Japanese card because they don’t allow Japan as a billing address.

If they hadn’t introduced these ridiculous rules, I’d've just bought the stuff there rather than going to Amazon and finding everything that I wanted at significantly cheaper prices…

In a previous post, I made a little video unpacking the PAL version of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. The Limited Edition t-shirt I was promised was missing though and at long last, it has finally been posted to me.  Stupidly, although I asked for a small or medium (i’m pretty short for my age) i got given a large.  Still, free merchandise never goes amiss and i’m sure I will find some use for it.

All wrapped up in cellophane

View from the front...

Now from the back...

It's only a tad large on me...

The transfer on the back is a little faded at the bottom, but that might be a legitimate design choice. If anyone else has this t-shirt, I would love to see pictures of other people wearing them! I plan on playing Persona 4 this summer and will be sure to write up some thoughts on it then.

My first proper full-time job was working in the big bad world of scientific publishing for a family run company based in Oxford called Blackwell Science Limited, or blacksci.co.uk which is now part of wiley.com. Consequently, I’ve a few friends and former colleagues who still work in various parts of the publishing industry. Last week I got an email from one of these friends who works for a small independent book publishing company: I’ve reproduced an interesting email message about Amazon from them below (with permission):

This is very unlike me but I am sending a general email out because I am so outraged by something I feel I must share with you. In case you didn’t already know, I work for a small publisher. Times are hard – we all know that. Amazon.co.uk form a large part of our business. Recently they have changed their terms with all of their publishers. For us, and many other small and independent publishers, these new terms are completely unacceptable. We have no say about it and the way they went about it was frankly nasty (they basically sent an email out giving us a week to decide whether to give them more discount or more credit). For bigger publishers it may have a negligible effect but for smaller publishers, where cashflow can mean everything, the effect will be severe! And they have us over a barrel.

Amazon.co.uk so dominate the online market in books that they are almost a monopoly. The discounts we’ve been supplying Amazon for the last few years are outrageous – but what they have done recently is the last straw, and many small publishers could go out of business (luckily I think we’ll survive!). I am so outraged at how they are treating their suppliers that I am now boycotting Amazon for my own personal books and CDs. I have been using them for years and years. The only way to put a bit of healthy competition back into the system is by having more online book retailers become as successful as Amazon. Today we used The Book Depository bookdepository.co.uk for the first time. The books we wanted were all there, in stock and cheaper than Amazon and it was very easy to use. So we’re trying to help spread the word!

Another online retailer is waterstones.com, which separated from Amazon a few years ago due to their unworkable terms. I haven’t used them myself but I hear they are pretty good, and play.com can fulfil your DVD and CD requirements (and all delivery is free I think).

They may not always be as cheap as Amazon but now you know how Amazon get their low prices you may not be as happy to use them – if small, interesting, independent publishers go out of business it’ll just be the biggies left (which will mean much less choice).

So, is the behaviour of Amazon.co.uk just the all too familiar face of capitalism? Or should we boycott Amazon for being a big bully only interested in monopolising the marketplace and getting rid of some healthy competition?

References

1. Catherine Neilan (2009) Amazon refused to budge on new terms, Bookseller.com 2009-03-30
2. Liz Thomson (2009) Advantage Amazon? Publishers react to proposed new terms Bookbrunch.co.uk 2009-03-26
3. Richard Stalman (2001) (Formerly) Boycott Amazon! – GNU Project – Free Software Foundation (FSF) gnu.org

I love this show. I don’t know anyone else who does though. Am I the only person who think’s it’s hilarious? Jonah is my favourite character. Anyway. I ordered ’Summer Heights High’ off Play and it arrived this morning, along with ‘High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman’, another programme that cracks me up. I had ’High Spirits’ on DVD a few years ago and it got lost i.e. gave it a loan of to someone and didn’t get it back (that really annoys me).

I’m off all this week, and I plan on watching these two pretty much constantly. Oh and I have ‘The Filth And The Fury’ to watch too – just to keep the Sid and Nancy momentum going! I’m also getting stuck into Eric Clapton’s book, and Lynn, I have to say, I’m liking him now…. Next book – Freddy Mercury! Wahey!

Last year I wrote a post about my ideas for the future of TV news. It’s been one of the most read articles on my blog and solicited a lot of nice comments.

One comment, by blogger Thoroughly Good, made a (thoroughly good) point:

“Grab a camera or a microphone and go make the stuff *you* want to make. Stick it on the web.  If no-one consumes it then satisfy yourself with the thought you’ve satisfied yourself making something which satisfies you not the audience .. That’s the most important thing of all,” he said.

“So, when exactly can we see something?”

Good question. The prize is out there for those who go for it. Another media blogger, Dave Lee reckons 2009 will be the year Video Journalism ‘arrives’.

And I hope to be in the welcome party when it does; but the problem is cost. As great as it is to “grab a camera and a microphone”, it’s not cheap.

Sure, there’s lots of talk about how cameras are a fraction of the cost they used to be ‘and no-longer prohibitively expensive’. But if you want a decent filmmaker hallmark – say the Sony Z1 – you’re talking £2,000 ($3-4,000).

Here’s a good example: in Andy Glynne’s (excellent) book “Documentaries…and how to make them” he details the different set up costs for filmmakers. His “basic kit” is this:

• Camera: Sony HDR-Z1E –> £3,000 + VAT
• Batteries x 2: £99 each
• Microphone: Sennheiser ME66 + shotgun –> £400
• Headphones: Sennheiser HD201 –> £15
• Mic grip: –> £77
• Camera bag: Portabrace –> £180
• Tripod: Manfretto MN755 –> £148
• XLR cables, raincover etc: –> £80

TOTAL: ~£4,000

And that’s before you get to editing. The upper range kit he suggests, reaches £7,000 and beyond.

For me – and many other young independents – that IS prohibitively expensive.

But I haven’t let that deter me. Over the last five months I have been compiling my own VJ kit, for a fraction of the cost. In fact, I believe I have managed it for just over £500.

I’ve decided to publish how I did it- maybe it’ll inspire some other budget filmmakers to give it a go.

The ultimate budget film making kit

I’ve learned there are two secrets to getting a kit together on the cheap:

1. What you don’t spend in money, you must spend in time – that’s time looking around, not rushing into deals, properly exploring the options.
2. Know exactly what you need each piece of kit to do: a £600 HD cam is no good, if it doesn’t have anywhere to plug in an external microphone, for example.

The camera

For a professional/semi-professional film maker a camera MUST have the following elements: manual focus, manual white balance, external mic option, hot shoe for attaching a mic, manual sound control. And ideally: 3CCD (for broadcast), manuel iris/shutter control and 16:9 widescreen, although these are by no means compulsory.

That immediately wipes out a lot of the consumer models, regardless of how light, cheap or flashy they are.

The budget filmmaker must be content with 2nd hand models as well. Often on ebay these are auctioned at cheaper rates. Ebay also has a healthy selection of 2nd hand Canon XM1s, XM2s and even XL2s – but these will eventually sell for at least £700.

Some of the manuel settings on the NVDX100

In my searches I discovered two reliable options that remained cheap: the Canon MVX250i and the Panasonic NVDX100. I was outbid in the former at the last second, but I snapped up the latter for a David Dickensian £189. It retailed at £2,000 when it first went on the market so a good buy by my reckoning.

It runs on MiniDV and being old is a tadge cumbersum, but it has 3CCD and more manual options than you care to mention. It came with three batteries, and a camera bag.

The microphone

A brief search round the internet brought me to Pro Audio Systems, a UK company specialising in professional audio. There I picked up a mic, with hot shoe attachment for £42. It has it’s own battery and a wind cover.

The tripod

Some VJ’s argue a tripod is an option rather than a rule, especially if you want to really push the envelope with creative filming. I would still argue it’s necessary for close ups, and long interviews. But you don’t really need it to perform amazing pans or tilts, so don’t overspend on a flashy Manfretto/Vinten. I picked one up for £15.99 on Ebay. It has a quick-release head to get the camera off quick which is good, and it’s very light.

The edit machine

Here I have had to make one of the biggest compromises. A VJ doesn’t look like a VJ unless they’ve got a laptop for portable editing. And ideally a Macbook. But that’s way out of my league, and instead I’ve opted for the best power v cost ratio.

And that means a desktop. Old school, I know. But editing won’t work without the following key elements: 160GB harddrive (minimum), 2GB of ram, 3ghz processer, and firewire port. We’re talking near the £1,000 mark for that in Apple form, but with a desktop that is within reach of £200 on Ebay.

After literally months of patient stalking in the Ebay jungle, I snapped up a surplus order from Ireland, for a meagre £150. With 250GB of diskspace, a 2.8ghz processor and 2GB of RAM it’s a bargain – and worth the wait.

The other crucial thing for editing is a good monitor. I picked up a 24” flatscreen from Play.com for £120 with free delivery.

The editing software

And of course without a Macbook, you are without Final Cut Pro, the staple of video editors everywhere. But even if I had been given a Macbook, FCP is prohibitively expensive. But there are other options: AVID are still a professional catchall, and Adobe’s Creative Suite are breaking new ground in the pro-sumer market.

In the end it was Adobe which caught my attention. Their software Adobe Premiere (currently on edition CS4) is well received. But best of all for the budget filmmaker, they produce a budget version – Adobe Premiere Elements (currently on version 7) , which retails close to £70.

There are some good bargains on ebay, but surprisingly it was Amazon who won this round – flogging it for £52 including free delivery. Cha-ching!

But what do you lose with the Elements version? Well, this is where knowing what requirements you need comes in. I’m a trained bi-media journalist, and after hours on Final Cut Pro, and in the classroom learning the craft of writing to pictures, I think a VJ really only needs a few basic requirements from their editor: the ability to separate audio from video, and a large number of audio/video tracks on which to multitrack. Without those, no matter how great the special effects or “upload straight to Youtube” functions, you can’t perform basic edits.

I spent a long time researching Adobe Premiere Elements, and eventually got a confirmation it is capable of those key functions. And having messed around with it on my own too, I can confirm it’s very similar to Apple’s Final Cut Pro in terms of usability. Click here to check out what it can do for yourself.

Straight to checkout…

• Camera: Panasonic NVDX100 :: Ebay :: £189.00
• Microphone: Audio Technica ATR25 :: Pro Audio Systems :: £42.00
• Tripod: Camlink TP-2100 :: Ebay :: 15.99
• Edit hardware:  Dell Optiplex 745 :: Ebay :: 150.00
• Edit monitor: Acer 24” flatscreen :: Play.com :: £120.00
• Edit software: Adobe Premiere Elements 7 :: Amazon :: £52.10

TOTAL:£569.09

So that’s the full kit – for just a smidgen over £500. I hope any other young journalists/filmmakers who feel it’s all out of their range will read this and see it is possible.

And if you’ve got great ideas and some creativity, you can make great content with the most basic of items.

“So, when exactly can we see something?”

Hopefully, very soon.

O boneco de madeira que sempre que diz mentiras, vê o seu nariz a crescer, está a chegar, e nós sabemos que precisas de conhecer todos os pormenores.

Pinóquio é a segunda longa-metragem da Disney lançada em 1940 e prepara-se para chegar pela primeira vez a colecção Platinum, numa edição dupla em Blu-Ray e DVD. Em Portugal, este lançamento ocorre em DVD em Março, ainda não há confirmação do dia mas o blog Disney Portugal conseguiu apurar que o lançamento vai acontecer ou dia 11 ou 18. Quanto ao Blu-Ray é que ainda não existe nenhuma informação, mas esperemos que não chegue com 2 meses de atraso como aconteceu A Bela Adormecida.

Até ao momento ainda não foi revelado se este lançamento terá direito a um livro sobre o processo de criação do filme. Mas, como normalmente neste altura tal informação já estaria revelada, acreditasse que Pinóquio não terá direito a esse tratamento. Entretanto, a Disney da Alemanha revelou que vai oferecer uma caixa de madeira do Pinóquio a quem comprar o DVD ou Blu-Ray, a realidade é que para além de este brinde fazer muito sentido, têm ainda mais bom aspecto do que a capa original:

Já nos Estados Unidos, a cadeia de lojas WalMart vai ter disponível o filme com a oferta de um boneco do Grilo Falante:

E voltando a Europa, encontramos de Inglaterra um exclusivo da loja Play, que oferece um baralho de cartas do Pinóquio:

 
Play.com have these little beaut’s for £9.99 ($14) so really you too can be a universe conquering Jedi Knight. It has four powerful LED’s to give you good torch light (or Jedi Duels), it makes all the authentic lightsaber sounds and is powered by3AAA batteries. Have fun you will (in a Yoda style voice)

Mye å gjøre i dag, eh? Kom på skolen klokka 10, hadde morsom naturfag, så skulle vi ha matte, og ooops, der ble det visst pussa opp. (ellernoe) så brått satt 36 matteelever i kantina mens vi venta på at K-man skulle finne et ledig klasserom. Det ble til auditoriet hvor vi så på The Notebook. Ble ikke ferdig med den, så de første mattetimene i morgen går til å se på film. Wee <3 Elise liker ikke The Notebook, og det skjønner jeg ikke. Går det virkelig an å ikke en gang prøve å like the notebook? Skuespillerne, filminga, musikken, ideén, argh, alt, selv om den er klisjé, er den ikke det på den ekle måten. Bare en pur kjærlighetsfortelling som planter seg dypt inn. I naturfag timen hadde vi om fett, kult nok det, men det morsomste var da vi skulle smake på laktose, glukose, potetmel, hvetemel, galaktose, fruktose, maltose og sukrose, og Vicc sniffa det. Morsomt å se på. Haha

Nå tenker jeg for harde livet (egentlig ikke) på hva jeg skal ha foredrag om. Det er i norsk, og vi kan ha om absolutt hva vi vil. Jeg har tenkt litt på å ha om en eller annen fotograf (Chrs idea) eller Black metal. Noen andre som har noen bedre ideér? GIMME PLEASE

Får jeg ingen ideér innen et par timer, hopper jeg ned i stua å ser på Iron Man, Hellboy eller en sesong med the O.C, som jeg fikk i posten i dag.

DJ Grind (UK radio, club & mixtape DJ) is back again with another mixtape – The Showdown (Eminem vs Lil Wayne) – Which will be available to purchase soon…

Back cover will be posted soon with full tracklist and contact details. The front is pretty much self explanatory really… And I think it’s one of my best… usually I use more gritty and cold colors but I like the difference (nice thinking Grind with the dusk sky).

It’s managed to hit the rumor pages of ALLHIPHOP.com

You can pre-order this as a digital download (£2.99) or as CD (£5.99), go to DJ Grind’s myspace for more information.

His last mixtape was Busta Rhymes ‘Gifted and Blessed’, and you can purchase it off play.com (search DJ Grind).

Killzone 2, the long awaited triple A title from Guerilla Games, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has finally been given a release date for the UK. The game is set to be released in the UK and North America on the 27th of February, while Europe will receive delivery a couple of days earlier, on the 25th. Reports suggest that the Australian release will be no later than the 26th.

Since there has been an embargo on unofficial reviews, a scandinavian website was asked to remove their pre-release review in the first week of this year. However, reviews from Official Playstation Magazine in the US have given the PS3 exclusive a perfect score of 5/5 – in the same edition that Street Fighter IV was also awarded top marks. Leaked editions of the British version of the magazine reveal that Killzone 2 has been given an almost perfect 9/10. You can read the leaked versions here.

Last night, a UK based eBayer sold a pre-release press kit of the game for around £400. You can see the eBay item here.

Have a look at some gameplay from the Beta test of the game that concluded at the end of 2008.

Most websites are taking pre-orders for the game, which is highly recommended since Killzone 2 is being hyped as the Game of the Year for 2009. As of writing, Play.com lists Killzone 2 as the number one pre-order for the Playstation 3 and third most pre-ordered game overall, behind the PC release of Sims 3 and Nintendo Wii’s My Fitness Coach. StreetFighter IV also features, coming in at number four overall, ahead of Resident Evil 5 which manages to scrape into the top ten. Both are the PS3 versions of the game.

I’ve got Resident Evil 5 currently pre-ordered at Amazon, who are offering the long awaited update for a credit crunched price of £33.99 while Killzone 2 comes in at £39.99, no surprise for a PS3 exclusive.