Australian gaming bargains at K-Mart, Big W
July 4th, 2008
The junk mail has arrived, with two big toy sales at rival retailers K-Mart and Big W offering a host of tasty bargains.

The junk mail has arrived, with two big toy sales at rival retailers K-Mart and Big W offering a host of tasty bargains.

Adding weight to the rumors of a planned Xbox 360 price drop to coincide with E3, Microsoft have cut the price of all Xbox 360 models in Australia. The not-quite-entry-level, hard-drive-less Xbox 360 Arcade is now priced at AU$349, and the Elite at AU$649 - but most impressive is the massive drop on the Xbox 360 Pro - now $499.

If you haven’t been blessed with a mailbox full of advertising this week, you might’ve missed the fact that Kmart is selling Xbox 360 Pro for the best price Australia has ever seen: $449. There are rumours of the Xbox 360 Elite dropping to $499 after E3, so it’s up to you whether you want to jump on this one or hold out for a bigger hard disk.

Ahh, the end of the financial year. Retailers discount heavily, and we try not to spend our tax returns in advance on shit we probably don’t need. JB Hi-Fi are consistantly one of the cheapest game retailers in Australia, but there’s some particularly good deals available for the coming weeks - with most new releases available for under $80, and the brilliant Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune for just $40. And I was impressed when Amazon took 33% off earlier in the week…
Click through for more bargains.

Nintendo of Australia will be launching their Connection Tour 08 on June 28, running through till 15 July. They’ll be setting up in Westfield shopping centres across Australia, and giving you the opportunity to play the ridiculously-late highly-anticipated Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the widely-mocked Guitar Hero On Tour (among other games) - with the odd Mario Kart Wii competition thrown in to boot. Click through for the tour dates.

In the UK, France and Germany, Rock Band is available now - but only for the Xbox 360. Other versions will arrive later “this Summer”. There is still no news for the rest of Europe, nor Australia.
Seems crazy, with copycat Guitar Hero World Tour preparing for a pre-Christmas launch. Of course, I still think PS3 owners should import Rock Band if they’re sick of waiting. I paid a lot less than £180 / EUR 240 - and that was with super-expensive 7-day International shipping from the US to Australia.

Sony has confirmed the release date of SingStar Volume 2 for the PlayStation 3 - provided you’re in a PAL territory. Australians get their on June 19, with Europe waiting an extra day to make fools of themselves on June 20. Click through for the tracklist.

Nintendo of Australia just sent word that they’ve finally set a release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl in Australia. Thankfully, it’s not too much longer than we’ve already waited - June 26, 2008.

Ubisoft today announced the release date for Free Radical’s PlayStation 3 shooter, Haze - May 22, 2008. In the mean time, why not check out the demo currently available on the PlayStation Store, which supports four-player co-operative, or our gallery of Haze screenshots.

SCE Europe and SCE Australia have confirmed the release of a Grand Theft Auto IV PlayStation 3 bundle in Europe and Australia. The bundle includes a 40GB PlayStation 3, a Sixaxis, and a copy of the game. Pricing for the UK is GBP 320, versus AU$750 down-under, and €439 for Europe - no news for those of you in North America. Another pic after the jump.