The Week in Review: FIFA 13 is everywhere

The big news of the week was that the original art assets for Guerrilla's Killzone were found in a shoebox tucked away in the cellar of one of the studio's IT Support staff. True story. It had been hoped the box would never be found again, and the staffer now regrets not throwing the assets onto a raging fire. Not a true story.

Of course, that's not actually the big news of the week. That honour goes to the launch of FIFA 13. EA's latest and greatest hit US stores earlier this week to record sales figures, and looks set to repeat that success here in Europe. If you're thinking of picking up a copy this weekend then check out our in-store deals roundup so you know which retailer deserves your money.

All that excitement out of the way we can return to the world before FIFA 13, a time when Borderlands 2 was the game everyone was talking about. 2K's shooty sequel stormed to the top of the chart and became the biggest-selling game of the year so far. Expect FIFA 13 to smash that record when the charts are published on Monday morning, but selling 4,000 more units than Mass Effect 3 is no mean feat. Well done to 2K and Gearbox, who will no doubt be celebrating after securing a 9/10 from Martin.

FIFA 13 isn't the only football game hitting the headlines this week, with SEGA and Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2013 being confirmed for release on November 2. The game's not as shouty and in your face as FIFA, but PC gamers up and down the nation will be champing at the bit to get their grubby mice all over the latest managerial sim. Thankfully, pre-ordering means you'll get access to the game at some point in mid October, which is only a few weeks away now.

From one November release to another, with confirmation that development on Halo 4 is complete. 343 were in town earlier this week to show off their first efforts with the Halo franchise and the consensus is they've done a bang tidy job. Martin played two levels earlier this week and is coming around to the idea that 343 might not have ruined the franchise. However, with Sony's Killzone HD arriving on October 23 it will be interesting to see how Microsoft's holiday tentpole release fares with a Halo-killer on the loose.

Killzone HD is one game which Sony fans may well end up playing on their retro-styled super slim PS3, which launched in its 500GB flavour today. Retailers seemed a little cautious with pricing a few weeks back, but better value deals have begun to show up, including HMV's which includes FIFA 13, Uncharted 3 and GT5 and ShopTo's deal which bundles in either FIFA 13 or Borderlands 2 for only £229.99.
Sticking with the PS3 it was confirmed this week that Mass Effect – the sci-fi action RPG which released on Xbox 360 back in November 2007 – will finally be available on PS3 this holiday season. And if that's not enough to whet your augmented whistle perhaps confirmation of Joe Danger 2's PSN release in a matter of weeks will.

This week's reviews include FTL – the first published game to come from Kickstarter funding – the titillating Dead or Alive 5 and Diablo clone Torchlight 2.

As always, remember to check out the latest episode of The VideoGamer.com Podcast, which features chatter about many of this week's biggest stories... plus Dave's balls.

And last, but by no means least comes the first episode our new regular video show, Disc Lickers. Matt and Neon have been busy working on the show over the last few weeks and it's time to let the baby out of the walker, to remove the stabilisers from the bike and take the rabid dog off the leash. I hope you enjoy - look out for a stunning cameo from yours truly.

Until next week x