But there's some good news, UK gamers. And this is it.

"The good news is that we plan to have everyone in the UK playing Left 4 Dead 2 by Friday morning," the L4D team writes on the official blog. "Those who pre-ordered in the UK before the worldwide launch have been given access to the game."

Everyone in the UK playing Left 4 Dead 2 by Friday morning? That's over 60 million people! Take that, Modern Warfare 2.

According to a report from Eurogamer, at least four retailers in the region are asking less than the £224 suggested retail price. Amazon UK, HMV, Game and Play are playing with the PSPgo's built-in wiggle room pricing, asking £199 for the portable. Is that a reaction to slow sales?

Maybe yes, maybe no. Some of those retailers listed above were selling the PSPgo at £199 before the unit officially went on sale, so it doesn't appear that four days worth of slow movement initiated some sort of panic. Officially, the PSPgo is selling "in line with [Sony's] expectations," according to a report from GamesIndustry.biz.

That marked down price may be a reaction, however, to slower pre-orders of the unit. Before the PSPgo launched in Europe and other PAL territories, some retailers appeared hesitant to carry the platform at all.

At £199, the device reaches a psychologically more appealing price point, especially with Gran Turismo PSP thrown in for "free." We'll have a better indication to the reaction to the PSPgo in the States when NPD time rolls around next month or Sony Computer Entertainment feels good enough to brag about its adoption.

PSPgo now available for under 200 quid News [Eurogamer.net]

So says the UK's Serious Organized Crime Agency, which pegs generation non-specific "PlayStations" as the newest tool used by crime committing types to do their dirty deeds. How? By way of video game chat rooms. I was hoping for corpse teabagging in Morse code, but it doesn't appear to be quite that clever.

"People are using PlayStations to charge their mobile phones and are playing games interactively with others so are able to communicate with them," says Bill Hughes, director general of SOCA. "The Prison Service is concerned that prisoners are using interactive games to talk to people outside the prison."

That "concern" might be dispelled by the Prison Service itself. Reps tell the Times Online that this sort of communication isn't possible, at least under their rules.

"Prisoners have never been allowed access to wireless enabled technology such as that used in some games consoles," Prison Service reps say. "Nor would they ever be allowed access to such technology."

That means an outright ban on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nitnendo DS, three platforms named specifically by the prison system. Prison reps also note that no PlayStation 2 consoles with modems are available to inmates, limiting chances that drug smuggling operations are being run via Final Fantasy XI.

SOCA says it's a problem. Prison officials say it's not. Who to believe? The crime fighters or the criminals?!

Crime lords 'running empires from jail using PlayStations' [Times Online]

The person who collects the most valuable parts and announces their bloody loot to the world from the Westminster Bridge will win a trip to Africa... or maybe be tackled and beaten by British police. One of those.

Arms and legs are worth two points each, torsos are worth three and the head is worth five. More details over on the Capcom site.

Man, this is not going to end well.

Find Body Pieces, Win Trip to Africa [Capcom]

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare picked up an award for gameplay, while Boom Blox landed one for casual and Race Driver: Grid won the sports category. The full list of nominees was announced in February.

Follow along on the official Twitter, or check back later for the full list of winners.

BAFTA Online [Twitter]

The two-pack of games will keep their original packaging but will sell in a special slip case for £19.99. The first two double packs will be Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops and Silent Hill Origins, and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops and Coded Arms.

No word on when or if these double packs will be hitting other regions or if they will be expanding the idea. What double packs would you like to see from Konami or other publishers?

The program on cable and satellite channel Bravo includes new interviews with the development team, previously unseen levels and game features and walks viewers through the history of the video game franchise and movie spin-offs.

"For some, Resident Evil 5 is the biggest game of 2009 and having been granted access to just about every aspect of it, I don't think they'll be disappointed.," said Jason Kilshaw, the producer of the upcoming episode of Playr.

The show is set to air at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

To win the more than two-meter tall statue you just have to visit a participating store, photograph yourself with the marine and upload it to the fan photos section of their Facebook page.

On Feb. 26, the staff from the Gamestation store that hosted the statue receiving the most tags will form a judging panel, and choose the winner. Sorry folks, this one is for UK residents only.

The five participating Gamestation stores and the rest of the rules are listed on the Facebook page.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II Facebook Page [Facebook]

The UK's Fun4All label is, for all intents and purposes, North America's "Wee 1ST" label, a branding scheme that will result in carefully considered shovelware.

The first six games to hit Europe under the Fun4All umbrella will be Pirates: Hunt for Blackbeard's Booty, Monkey Mischief, Block Party, Pitfall: The Big Adventure, World Championships Sports and Little League World Series Baseball. That last one may be Little League World Series 2008, part of the Wee 1ST line. All are Wii exclusives. All ship this week.

Man, is that World Championships Sports box art suspect.

Activision's PR folks say that "Parents can feel reassured that buying a game from the FUN4ALL range will be safe, enjoyable and provide entertainment for children of any age." As long as that age is six or younger.

We Americans are going to have to choose between a Nariko and Kratos, given the respective Best Buy and GameStop pre-order scheme. Here's to hoping Sony provides an alternate method that requires effort on par with downloading some PlayStation 3 wallpapers or making a post on Kotaku.

Get Kratos Sackboy with OPM [CVG]

The Telegraph piece cites a poll of 1,000 get fit types in the UK. It later states that damages caused by vigorous workouts, not necessarily related to Wii Fit, have amounted to an average of about $13 in damage over the past year, nationally working out to forty mil. Yes, that's over the past year, not the last two months that Wii Fit has been on in that market. In other words, UK Wii Fit players aren't doing Hulk-like destruction to their homes.

We can only assume that Telegraph journos were looking for some excuse to watch the Lauren "Wii Fit Girl" Bernat clip on YouTube for a better part of the day and less concerned with whipping up some facts.

Wii Fit women leave £20 million toll of destruction to living rooms [Telegraph]

Play.com is currently listing Rock Band and its dedicated controllers for far less than original asking price, taking about $100 off the total investment. That's venturing into almost reasonable territory, something that will be sure to help Rock Band's chances across the pond. Good going, UK retailers!

Play.com slashes £40 off Rock Band [MCV]

The Play.com exclusive MGS4 bundle rings in at £329.99 and is listed as scheduled to ship on June 12. Let's just hope the Play.com doesn't buckle under the traffic like some other online outlets did.

Sony Playstation 3 PS3 Gun Metal Grey Console + 40GB HDD + MGS4 (Play.com Exclusive) [Play]

According to further details from GamesIndustry.biz, 514,000 of those copies were of the Xbox 360 variety, 413,000 copies for the PlayStation 3, with hardware sales up for both consoles at about the same ratio. We should have Canadian and U.S. GTA IV sales data soon, courtesy of the NPD group, for maximum press release boasting material. We can't wait!

GTA IV Rewrites Record Books [Chart Track]

It's good news for Rockstar and Take-Two's respective bankrolls, but it might be even better for Sony, as retailers tell MCV that GTA IV is "a real hardware driver already" for the PlayStation 3. Glad to see someone's making some money. Champagne and call girls for everyone!

UK retail running out of GTA IV [MCV]

That certainly doesn't mean that the 30 kids sporting Mario outfits from Argyle Primary School, Kings Cross aren't adorable. We're just expecting the record to be smashed by the weekend. There's surely a con happening somewhere.

UK cosplayers set Guinness World Record [GameSpot]

He's Only Gone And Done It - World's First PS3 Tattoo [ThreeSpeech]

It's less than exciting news for Sony, however, as UK retailers point to both the PlayStation 3 launch and the performance of the PSP as two of the bigger disappointments of '07. The biggest? Lack of Wii stock. Is that all you guys care about? Money?

MCV Retail Survey 2007 [MCV]

It should go without saying that this is 100% not safe for work. Observe scientifically only when off the clock, as some folks just aren't ready for something this progressive.

Need For Speed ProStreet (NSFW) [Page 3 via Polygamia]

More impressive? That some 25% of DS owners in the UK have purchased the original Brain Age, known as Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? over there. Another half-million have snapped up the sequel, all but confirming that Dr. Josef Rich's Dental Training will be a massive success when it's released next year.

UK DS sales hit 4 million [Gamespot]