First of all we hear that Play.com, The Hut and HMV are offering the character Dampierre, the French dandy from Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny as a special pre-order bonus playable character, if you so choose to purchase the game from any of them. However if GAME is more likely the place where you will be shopping then you will not be disappointed to hear that they are offering an impressive deal on the Collector’s edition of the game.

The Collector’s edition will also include the bonus character Dampierre, along with a bunch of other cool goodies such as an exclusive White Knight and Dark Knight costumes DLC for the character creation mode, exclusive signed artwork from the development team, a ‘Making Of’ DVD and an exclusive book box case. All this can be obtained for just £69.99, which I’m sure you’ll agree, is great value.

More details about retailers’ offers, the pre-order bonuses and where to get them can be found at the official Soul Calibur V website. The game is due out February 3rd so there isn’t that long to wait now, so get those pre-orders in now if you want to experience exclusive content. Remember everyone who gets the game will also get to play as the character Ezio Auditore from the Assassin’s Creed series as standard, a master with the sword and one of the best guest characters to feature in the Soul Calibur series yet.

Where will you be going to get your pre-order goodies for Soul Calibur V?

A recent article posted over at PSVitaHub.com has revealed a couple of leaked photos which appear to show Tekken Tag Tournament 2 running on the PlayStation Vita. Up until now we were expecting this game to hit the PlayStation 3 in 2012, but had never heard of any PS Vita release.

You can see the two screenshots below, on the left you can see some sort of PlayStation Vita banner running across the top of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 cover art, the image on the right seems to show the player selection screen with the option of enabling PlayStation NEAR. For those of you who don’t know NEAR is said to be the Vita’s equivalent of SportPass for 3DS and it is a location-based gift system – you can find out more about NEAR here.

It is no shock to see evidence which seems to suggest Tekken is coming to PS Vita, but we are a little shocked to see that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 seems to be the game which is coming, there is a chance that the leaked images are in fact a hoax, if not we are seriously hoping for some cross-platform play between PS3 and Vita – how about you?

The first review was from Game Master, and they have given Assault Horizon and 87 percent, so how come CVG calls this a very pleasing score? Maybe we have come to expect game reviews to always hit over 90 percent these days? Some readers feel that the review does not offer that much, as it is only 3 paragraphs long.

Can we really take a review seriously if they have not put much effort into a more in-depth look at the game? Game Master themselves has said that the game is not that great, which is why they gave it a lower score – again CVG said it was pleasing. `So where does the game fail, well there are suggestions that the franchise has now lost its way by giving it a sort of Call of Duty makeover.

I love these types of games, but always have an issue with the speed of such a game. Trying to complete missions is a very tough task, as the plane moves along at speeds that require fast reflexes. Personally the old WWII flight combat games have more to offer, as you can get a feel for the plane more – well that and the aircrafts have more character.

No matter how good a game there is also a weak point, and Digital Trends believes that it is the story with Dark Souls. The developer has spent so much time in the gameplay itself that they seem to have forgotten about the story. It’s not all bad, as it starts off well, it just losing momentum throughout the game. This is just a minor issue, and those that embrace Dark Souls will be rewarded with a superb gameplay experience. Overall score is 8.5 out of 10.

PSX Extreme explains in their review how Dark Souls will test you, as it places you in a ridiculous situation and then your task is to survive as long as you can. You have to have a fast mind to react, because you need to be cautious, while trying not to remain still for too long. The audio will immerse you, and the bosses are impressive. However, because of the difficulty level of the game, this will result in boredom setting in quickly. The reviewer gave this an 8.6 out of 10.

PSU has much more praise for the game, as they say that it is a worthy successor to Demon Souls. Again, they say that the game is addictive and challenging, and the online environment is truly amazing. However, there are areas where the game is not as polished as it could be. The final score for this review is 9.5.

These are reviews from critics, now we would like a user review, so please share with us what you think of the game.

You may wonder why we would mention multiplayer, when Skyrim does not even have that feature, and there lies the problem, which to us could be its Achilles heel. IGN does find this a little strange, as fans of the franchise have been asking for said feature for some time now – now that’s one way to upset those who will make your game successful or not.

Bethesda has not let all fans requests go unnoticed though, as they have now given us dragons, which we did mention above – not sure if that is enough to keep the wolf from the door. Both games do have their strengths, and Multiplayer is Dark Souls. Fans hope that Skyrim will be able to redeem itself when it comes to downloadable content; we suggest that you do not hold your breath.

The reason why is due to the fact that Skyrim fans will have to wait a few months for the final parts of the game, in way of DLC. However, Dark Souls will already have the completion of the game on release, which means that you will not have to part with any more money in order to reach the games conclusion.

Do not think that the dragons will help redeem Skyrim, as Dark Souls has them as well. We do not want to appear one-sided, but it seems that Namco Bandai Games has Bethesda covered in almost every aspect of the RPG shootout.

However, we have some good news now for those of you that are thinking about attending the 2011 Eurogamer Expo, as a few more details have recently started to surface online. According to eurogamer.net’s Robert Purchese, this year’s event is expected to be bigger than ever. Tickets are priced up at £10 for a full day (from 11am until 7pm), and £7.50 for the afternoon (from 2pm to 7pm).

If you are a Mass Effect fan, you’ll be really pleased to know that BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 game will be amongst the playable games at this year’s event. The action role-playing game is not due to be released until 2012, which means that attendees will in fact be going hands-on a few months before its launch. Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed: The Run racing game is another playable title confirmed for this year.

Need for Speed: The Run – which will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS – is scheduled to launch late November, so those who attend the event will be able to play it weeks before it actually arrives in stores. Another of this year’s playable games according to Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips will be id Software and Bethesda Softwork’s Rage.

Not only will the Expo include developer sessions and hands-on gaming, but it also consists of The Retro Arcade, The Challenge Mode, fan meets, The GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair and The Indie Arcade, which according to Tom Phillips is being presented by publishing giant Sega this year. Other playable games include Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, the much anticipated Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, Inversion, Silent Hill: Downpour and Dark Souls.

You can read more about the event via the eurogamer.net website. Will you be attending the 2011 Eurogamer Expo? If so, which game are you looking forward to testing out the most?

That is all about to change however as according to a recent gamerant.com article by J.C. Reeves, a brand new game trailer and new details were unveiled at the E3 2011 event this week. The third-person shooter is developed around the concept of manipulating gravity and dealing with its lasting effects.

Players are put in the shoes of a young father named Davis Russel, whose wife was killed and whose daughter has disappeared. In order to rescue his daughter and figure out a way to defeat the Lutadore, Russel teams up with Leo Delgado. The two are then forced to defy and command gravity.

The game’s campaign storyline can be played through either in solo, competitive or co-op modes, and the multiplayer matches will be able to accommodate up to 16 players at once. Inversion offers a wide variety of game types including traditional deathmatch modes and gravity-based modes.

You can view the new game trailer via the gamerant.com website. Are you looking forward to playing the Inversion game?

However, rather than selling the Collector’s Edition at a higher price than the Standard Edition, Namco Bandai has decided to offer it as a pre-order incentive instead and offer it at the exact same price as the Standard Edition. This means that the Collector’s Edition will set you back $59.99.

According to Richard Mitchell over on the joystiq.com website, the Dark Souls Collector’s Edition will come packaged in a metal case, and will include a download of the game soundtrack, a limited edition art book, a mini strategy guide and behind-the-scenes development videos.

Both the Standard and Collector’s Editions of Dark Souls will be available to purchase in North America as from October this year. The Dark Souls action RPG game – which is developed by From Software and published by Namco Bandai – is a spiritual successor to the critically acclaimed Demon’s Souls.

The Dark Souls game will provide gamers with extreme battles, weaponry and magic, rewarding challenges, and the ability to customize each character to suit their choice of play style. The game’s online element will include both co-op and competitive multiplayer.

Are you looking forward to playing Dark Souls? Will you be buying the Standard or Collector’s Edition?

According to James Orry over at videogamer.com, the ExerBeat game – which is due to arrive in stores on May 17th – promises to provide an interactive fitness experience for the whole family. The game features a total of 155 exercises, spanning over 8 different categories.

These include Latin Dance, Hip Hop, Stretching, Yoga/Pilates, Karate, Aerobics and Karate Forms. The game also features Party Fitness exercises for the children. Gamers will be able to enjoy each exercise they take part in, by following the easy-to-understand instructions.

Players will even be able to create their own personal workout program by specifying the ‘Problem areas’ they want to work on, as well as setting their workout goals and the length of their workouts. The dedicated instructors will provide players with useful insight and exercise tips.

Both friends and members of the family will even be able to compete for the highest score for each exercise, whether they are playing side-by-side simultaneously or comparing their scores on the ranking boards. Do you like the sound of the ExerBeat fitness game?

According to a recent article by Adam Rosenberg over at multiplayerblog.mtv.com (via Andriasang), the recently revealed details are courtesy of the Japanese gaming publication Famitsu. The biggest reveal of them all is in relation to the campfires found throughout the game.

These campfires not only serve as your character’s home base in the game’s various environments, but they also serve as a healing location and a respawn point in multiplayer mode. In other words, when you die, you will respawn and continue your game from the campfire.

As well as being used for basic health recovery (done by just simply touching the fire and using a special Monk spell), gamers will also be able to use the campfires to fill up their stock of Est – a health potion that is stored in an Est jar. If you are playing online, you will be able to see images of other players around the campfire.

Other features explained include the ladders, which players can either climb or kick over to prevent anyone from pursuing them, a transformation spell and NPC summons (including a Black Iron Knight). Do you like the sound of the Dark Souls game from the information you’ve heard?