This week on the videogames podcast we talk about:-

• Age of Conan sales figures
• Oddworld Xbox 360 version
• Lifesized Lara Croft doll owner arrested
• Haze review
• Win three tickets to TNA Impact Live
• STALKER review
• The Bourne Ultimatum - DJ Paul Oakenfold interview

We have three tickets to TNA Impact Live to give away by 16 June 2008, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page. Thanks for the emails, keep them coming in to gamesweasel@btpodshow.com. Be sure to visit the Gamesweasel blog for articles on the Pokemon Mystery Dungeons release date, a Ninja Reflex review, the Wii Family Ski release date and the Nintendo Channel.

This weeks episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you in association with GoDaddy and offers you discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following Gamesweasel June 2008 GoDaddy coupon codes to save you money - weasel1 gets you 10% off domain name purchases and weasel2 gets you 20% off orders over £25. Some restrictions may apply, please see the GoDaddy web site for more details.

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This week on the Gamesweasel videogames podcast we talk about:-

• Age of Conan sales figures
• Oddworld Xbox 360 version
• Lifesized Lara Croft doll owner arrested
• Haze
• Win three tickets to TNA Impact Live
• STALKER

We have three tickets to TNA Impact Live to give away by 16 June 2008, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page. Thanks for the emails, keep them coming in to gamesweasel@btpodshow.com. Be sure to visit the Gamesweasel blog for articles on when the Pokemon Mystery Dungeons release date is, there is a new Ninja Reflex review, news on the Wii Family Ski release date and more on the Nintendo Channel that seems to have sprung up overnight.

This weeks episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you in association with GoDaddy and offers you discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following Gamesweasel valid GoDaddy coupon codes for June 2008 to save you money - weasel1 gets you 10% off domain name purchases and weasel2 gets you 20% off orders over £25. Some restrictions may apply, please see the GoDaddy web site for more details.

[DOWNLOAD MP3] | [AUDIO PODCAST RSS FEED] | [SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES]

This week on the PSP RSS Channel we talk about:-

• Age of Conan sales figures
• Oddworld Xbox 360 version
• Lifesized Lara Croft doll owner arrested
• Review of Haze
• TNA Impact Live
• Review of STALKER

We have three tickets to TNA Impact Live to give away by 16 June 2008, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page. Thanks for the emails, keep them coming in to gamesweasel@btpodshow.com. Be sure to visit the Gamesweasel blog for articles on the Pokemon Mystery Dungeons release date, a rather excellent Ninja Reflex review, what the Wii Family Ski release date is and that lovely new Nintendo Channel released today in the UK.

This show is made especially to be added to your psp rss channels videos - see our PSP videos page for full instructions on how to get the mp4 automatically to your PSP.

This weeks episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you in association with GoDaddy and offers you discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following Gamesweasel 0GoDaddy coupon codes valid June 2008 to save you money - weasel1 gets you 10% off domain name purchases and weasel2 gets you 20% off orders over £25. Some restrictions may apply, please see the GoDaddy web site for more details.

[DOWNLOAD MP4] | [PSP RSS FEED]

I first saw S.T.A.L.K.E.R. at an event THQ put on at E3 about 5 years ago. Subsequently, due to the ambitious nature of the game, it was delayed a couple of years. Finally I managed to get hold of it but it needed such a whopping PC to play it on it made mine stutter more than Gareth Gates during an interview. Well, now I’ve got a computer to rival Skynet and so for the first time I’ve been able to play it so let me tell you what I thought.

If you don’t know Stalker tells the story of a bunch of geezers exploring the area around Chernobyl after it went boom in the 80s. Because there’s lots of radiation floating about, the land has anomalies scattered about which do you damage and lots of mutant dogs, pigs and other thingies which all look like they’ve been in the microwave. What made the game ambitious was its open sandbox gameplay. You can choose who to talk to, which missions to do and how to do them. Or you can just go and sit on a hill and have a picnic - although don’t expect it to be very romantic.

Playing STALKER now, it’s smooth thanks to my PC but graphically rather poor when it comes to buildings, people and animals. However, the countryside looks good and can be rather calming if you live in the city and long for some fresh air. The game is also incredibly atmospheric. Running across the hills as thunder rolls in, seeing animals hunt in packs and gearing gunfire in the distance from other NPCs is a unique experience and unllike anything else you’d encounter in an FPS. It’s almost like playing an RPG as you find items and new gear to make you a leaner, meaner bounty hunter, although you’re not going to get much story and conversation from the Russian NPCs floating about.

As well as outdoor locations there are also more traditional indoor locations where STALKER plays like a more traditional FPS and vehicles you can jump in to get you round The Zone a bit quicker. The game culminates in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station itself where all the weirdness is coming from in the first place.

If your PC’s powerful enough and you haven’t tried it yourself yet then I recommend hunting it down and trying it out if you fancy something a bit different. Although it’s buggy in places and not perfect by any means, it’s certainly a step in the right direction and if there’s ever a sequel, I can see it being a whole lot better. There is an expansion pack on its way and we should also see some improvements there too.

STALKER gets a good 8 out of 10.

Get the game now
New: Buy Stalker from Buy.com
Rental: Rent Stalker - free rental trial from Gamefly.com

Tags: STALKER, STALKER review, review of STALKER

I’ve been looking forward to Haze mainly because it’s made by Free Radical Design - most of the team made Goldeneye on the N64, Perfect Dark and the TimeSplitters games. Also, David Doke from the team’s a very nice guy and we’ve met and had nice chats on a few occasions. Unfortunately, this is not the FPS I was expecting and it fails to excite me on every level.

You begin the game as a Mantel super soldier fighting rebels in South America as you go after their leader Skin Coat - guess what, he wears skins for a coat - can you believe it? Unfortunately, these soldiers are a bit too thuggish for your liking and like to dose themselves up on Nectar, a drug that pumps you up, makes you see everything in thermal vision and makes you faster and stronger. A bit like Lucozade Sport then.

In a plot twist similar to the film Equilibirium, you wake up and realise what you’re doing is wrong and end up fighting the soldiers you were once all buddy buddy with.

Unfortunately the combat’s easy at the start of the game and even when you lose your powers it’s still easy thanks to the dreadful AI and the straightforward nature of the shooting and puzzles. They consist of just flicking a couple of switches, it makes the Crystal Maze look like rocket science!

Then there’s the technical issues. The resolution’s low, the textures are bad and there’s clipping everywhere. Enemies walk through walls more frequently than David Copperfield walks through the Great Wall of China.

Multiplayer’s a small distraction but won’t pull anyone away from Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 in a hurry that’s for sure.

Haze is everything an FPS of today shouldn’t be. It’s corny, cheesy, technically flawed and doesn’t do anything new or interesting which is what we’ve come to expect from developers Free Radical.

Haze gets a very disappointing 4 out of 10.

Get the game now
New: Buy Haze from Buy.com
Preowned: Haze - Pre-Played from Gamefly.com
Rental: Rent Haze - free rental trial from Gamefly.com

Tags: Haze, Haze review, review of Haze, Haze

There’s a new Oddworld game on its way. Originally a launch title for the Xbox the games followed the adventures off a little green alien with a sewed-up mouth and another odd alien in a wheelchair. No news on what this one will be about but an Oddworld Xbox 360 version is sure to look good.

Tags: Oddworld, Oddworld sequel, Oddworld Xbox 360

The Age of Conan RPG is officially one of the fastest selling PC games ever. Age of Conan sales figures indicate more than 400,000 copies in a week, it even beats the pre-order sales for World of Warcraft’s first launch week. And the game’s not too shabby either, getting over 90% in the early reviews.

Tags: Age of Conan, sales figures

Police in Manchester have mistaken a life-size Lara Croft mannequin for a gunman. Shop owner David Williams took the dummy home to sell on eBay* and ended up having his house surrounded by armed officers. And instead of saying sorry to Mr Williams they chucked him in a cell for 13 hours and charged him with an unexpected firearms offence.

* Snog

Tags: Lara Croft, mannequin, pervert, doll, police, arrested, pest