True Or False Friday. Do we really have to explain it again? Or mention that the bargains all hail from HotUKDeals? No? Good.

THE DEAL:  Flower for the PS3 through the Playstation Network. They say it’s great. We say it’s only £2.39.

TRUE OR FALSE? It’s crap. A flower grows on your TV screen then dies. Like everything in this world, it dies. Life sucks you know.

THE DEAL:  Box of six Cadburys Crème Eggs for £1.00. Only a couple of sightings but we’re in an optimistic mood and we’re plugging it.

TRUE OR FALSE?  If you incubate a Cadburys Crème Egg you’ve got a 2% chance of a chocolate chicken hatching out of it. Although that will die in under a day. Everything dies.

THE DEAL:  More sugary shite. A baker’s dozen of doughnuts for only £1.00.

TRUE OR FALSE?  The doughnut was invented by Sir Alfred De Doughnut in 1762. He wanted to create a snack that represented the circle of life. But life isn’t a circle. It’s a straight line and at the end everyone falls off.

(deals found by HUKD members DelBoySmiffy, atifebrahim and steviedeal)

TRUE OR FALSE: All statements were FALSE. Apart from the stuff about death.

Coming on like a seventh sense today is a games console, a bit of romantic nosh and a flashy new camera (geddit? No? Oh.)

All deals courtesy of HotUKDeals where bargains grow on bushes.

Here’s another way to mark Valentine’s Day without spending too much dosh, although if you ask us, the best thing to do is to just ignore it all, as a protest against the naked commercialism of it all. Yes, we said ‘naked’ – get over it.

Treat your loved one to some foodular romantification by taking advantage of an eat-in-your-own-house Valentines meal for two for only £8.00, a saving of as much as £9.95. It’s better than going out because you can dash into the bedroom afterwards or watch Match Of The Day 2 together. Or on your own.

Here’s the best games console you’re likely to see this week and it’s only Tuesday (don’t quote us on that if a better one shows up though.) And it would make an ideal Valentines Day gift for someone you love… yourself!

It’s a Sony PS3 with a 250GB hard drive, plus Uncharted 2, Bioshock 2 and an HDMI cable (which, as we all know, can’t be had for less than £70.) All of that could be yours, delivered for only £265.50. Probably dearer than a dirty weekend away with yourself but ultimately, much more rewarding.

Finally, we’ve got a nice affordable camera for you in case you’ve recently dropped your current on in the bath or are just sick of it and love buying new stuff just because it’s a bargain (cos that sort of thing doesn’t go on at HotUKDeals)

It’s the Samsung ES15 10.2MP point and shoot digital camera. It was £79.00 but is currently half price at only £39.50. ‘Snap’ one up while you can! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

(deals found by HUKD members adsldave, ianshona and ruggyfish7)

What could possibly be better than a PS3? Nothing you say? Clearly you haven’t been shopping at Empirestores.co.uk then, because you’re missing out on a PS3 Elite! Um, hello? McFly?

[ramiuk at Hot UK Deals]

Back when we were young pop fans, the singles chart was sacrosanct. It was also top secret, revealed to us one song at a time every Sunday evening. Or if you’re of a certain age, every Tuesday lunchtime on the Paul Burnett show, followed by its full publication in the Daily Mirror on a Wednesday morning, which allowed us to study its nuances more closely. So anyway, the sense of drama was palpable.

As we were saying before we got all misty-eyed and nostalgiac, the charts used to mean something. We all knew that these were the records that were the most popular across the nation at that given time according to sales figures (subject to the odd piece of chart-rigging by eager and naughty record companies.)

Do charts still mean anything in 2009? If you’re Asda, it seems not. Now this correspondent served enough time behind the counter in Our Price in the 1990s to know that instore charts don’t always reflect instore sales and that the chart positions have a tendency to be ‘massaged’ a little to allow for titles that are currently being promoted, normally at the expense of their producers and distributors.

But THIS chart is a disgrace.

It’s Asda’s PS3 top twenty from last weekend. Let’s have a look for Assassin’s Creed II and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – the two games that you’d expect to see nestling at the top of the official sales chart. They’re all the way down at… numbers 11 and 12. Oh.

So what could possibly be outselling these must-have games in Asda right now? It’s a bunch of older, slightly mustier games that Asda are currently selling at a reduced ‘Roll Back’ price. Do we really believe that each and every one of these games is outgunning Assassin’s Creed II and Modern Warfare 2 in the sales stakes? No, dear readers, we do not.

Asda, you have brought the charts into disrepute. If someone had asked Paul Burnett to broadcast a chart rundown like that back in the late 1970s, he probably would have placed a pistol into his mouth and blown the top of his own head off. Apart from that Jubilee week when the Sex Pistols should have been number one with God Save The Queen. That was a big old fix and everyone knows it.

Incidentally, if you grew up with a near-anal obsession with the singles chart, back when they were still genuinely exciting, you’ll probably enjoy wasting a few days at Chart Stats. No need to thank us because we know how you feel.

EDIT: From Asda’s own website, here is a link to their PS3 chart, as well as a link to their best-selling games. Hang on – what is a chart supposed to be if it isn’t a list of the best-selling games? FFS.

Fortunately, you can arrange the ‘chart’ in best-selling order. That way you get to look at what the ‘chart’ should really look like. Thanks Asda! Thasda!

(Thanks to HUKD member hncb0809 for the tip-off)

Frustrated Bitterwallet reader Nik has just got back from Morrisons and tells us: “It doesn’t work in my PS3…”

Whenever we try and imagine the typical Bitterwallet reader, we like to think of a hardcore gamer with a fondness for war films and greasy breakfasts.

Oh that’s you over there then is it? Fine. Here’s some cheap stuff that we dug out just for you. Mwah. xxx…

Starting earlier today, a major supermarket are offering 20 per cent off games consoles covering the PS3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DSi and the Sega Master System (subject to availability). That makes a 120gb PS3 slim just £200.00, a 250gb PS3 £226 and a Wii only £135.99.

According to the testimonies of the HotUKDeals massive, these things have been flying off the shelves all day and some stores are already sold out, so you may have to do some detective work in order to track one day. But the good news is that the original poster claims that the offer is scheduled to last for eight days – play a long game and you might get lucky.

On to one of our favourite subjects – stuffing our fat faces with grub. In this case, the good old British breakfast. However, here, it comes in kit form and self assembly is required.

You can get enough bacon, eggs, beans, juice, mushrooms, muffins and tomatoes to feed four people, and it’s yours for only £4.00. If you’re a millionaire, sausages can also be had for an extra 97p. Over to you big spender…

Finally, the classic World War Two drama series that makes for a great Christmas gift – Band Of Brothers. Normally it’s a red-hot cheap DVD version that gets posted on here, but today it’s the modern Blu-ray version that’s on offer.

Your choice of retailer will depend on whether or not you’re a Quidco member. You can get the box set for £17.99 with possible Quidco or £17.98 without. Or you can tape it off the telly on to a VHS if you’re into that sort of thing.

(deals found by HUKD members allsaint23, huggychair, macseffect and millarcat)

Gamers of a certain bent are licking their lips off today in anticipation of the release of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360 and PS3, which is released tomorrow.

If you don’t already have a copy on order that’s stuck in the post somewhere, you’ll need to be up and at it to get one from a retail establishment tomorrow.

HotUKDeals legend Vibeone has compiled a list of various retailers’ prices for the game, which will be updated on a regular basis before the game’s launch.

Just don’t take any weaponry with you when you head out to buy it…

PS3 ads are well known for pushing the boundaries of taste and decency. Thankfully Sony didn’t ask the readers of Gizmodo to answer the marketing brief, otherwise their audience would have spent more time sicking up their own organs than blasting chins off alien marauders, or whatever you do on your kiddie games all day long:

There more where that came from, plenty of it NSFW – you’ve been warned. Still, we can’t help but yearn for the days of our favourite PS2 commerical, Wolfman. There’s no attempt to scare the eyes out your face, just pure batshit craziness:

[Gizmodo]

Ah, you have to take your hat off to lovely old Sony, who don’t seem to give a rusty fuck who they offend in their PS3 adverts.

Only last week, we covered the PS3 ad which suggested that some people in Nigeria try to scam the bewildered on the Internet. Of course it’s as true as the fact that Coldplay are wettest group on the planet but the Nigerians were outraged. Wrongly of course.

Now here’s this week’s piece of iffy PS3 promotion – and yet again we’re wafting the oxygen of free publicity all over it. The ads hail from Chile and include what we assume is a gamer giving a blood transfusion to a Nazi (below).

But, as there’s every chance that Chile is teeming with the direct descendants of escaped Nazi high-rankers, it could alternatively be seen as a heart-warming piece of family-orientated schmaltz. Couldn’t it?

No. No it couldn’t.

UPDATE: The whole chuffing nonsense happened without any approval from Sony whatsoever. The Chilean agency behind the ad has said:

“This creative design did not involve and was never approved by Sony Computer Entertainment or Sony. This “mock campaign” was developed by BBDO Chile staff and was submitted to various creative competitions/festivals without prior notification or approval from SCE/Sony, and it is not representative of the views or advertising policies of SCE/Sony. BBDO Chile apologizes for using this creative concept without authorization or prior approval, and for its misrepresentation of the PlayStation brand and its values.

Cristián Lehuedé B.
Presidente Ejecutivo
BBDO Chile

What’s the golden rule of advertising everyone? Of course it’s ‘Don’t try and ape the opening scene from Trainspotting.’ The film is thirteen fucking years old everyone – do you think you’re speaking to a bunch of people who haven’t seen the thing?

The second golden rule of advertising is one we’ve just made up and are only applying to Sony and their new PS3 campaign. The rule is ‘Don’t get someone in to do the voiceover who sounds exactly like Iain Lee, the talentless comedy gonk who was partly responsible for the BBC1 Watchdog hatchet job on the PS3 only last week. It makes you look like cocks.’

Unless it IS Iain Lee, trying to disguise his voice in order to rake in a few more pence before it all goes well and truly tits up…

There you go Sony – we’ll be invoicing you shortly.

Our sister site Dealspwn have let us know about a top deal on an old-school PS3 that was spotted on Hot UK Deals. The chances are the shelves have been picked clean by now (the deal was posted yesterday) but if you’re in the market for a PS3, then it’s worth investigating. Here’s Dealspwn’s earlier post:

Posting this up as a possibility – there’s a slim chance you can get a 80GB PS3 for only £160.96 at your local Costco! TeamA’sinB on HUKD spotted this deal at his local store, Milton Keynes.

Some of the HUKD members reported a few in stock at various local stores – I recommend you give your local a call to check it out.

A few other members have managed to snag this deal too. Some people also report that upon telephoning the store, they are saying they do have stock available, but when they arrived to make the purchase, there were none left. So as they say on the internets, “your mileage may vary.”

The deal only applies to Costco members of course, but as TeamA’sinB said, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know! If any friends or family members have a Costco card, hopefully you can wrangle them into coming down to the store with you.

Note, this is the older “phat” 80GB model.

Good luck in the PS3 hunt!

The plot thickens in the row over BBC1’s Watchdog and their cack-handed coverage of the PS3 and its Yellow Light Of Death since we brought you an update yesterday.

One of the YLoD sufferers who appeared on the show has broken rank and given an anonymous interview with The Sixth Axis gaming website. In it, he is asked if Watchdog told him to embellish his story of how his PS3 YLoD’d, to which he replies: “Categorically yes.”

He also adds that Watchdog wouldn’t let him or anyone else speak to the engineers that the programme had recruited to independently fix the knackered PS3s, or to let them watch the actual repairs taking place.

The anonymous consumer went on to say: “They only aired the brief story of what had happened to one of the people on the show, when the three of us had different circumstances as to what happened in each instance.”

Perhaps instead of under-researching and over-sensationalising their stories, the Watchdog crew should train a camera on Anne Robinson while she’s getting one of her frighteningly expensive hair and make-up sessions. That way the licence payers can judge if they’re really getting value for money or not.

Two weeks into its much-heralded return and things are going rapidly tits up for BBC1’s blockbusting Watchdog show. The show’s production team have been attacked by Sony and hordes of PS3 users after what they claim was an unfair and inaccurate section of last week’s show.

It was a lengthy report on the (supposed) scourge of all PS3 owners – the Yellow Light Of Death. The YLOD is a system fail which although not unheard of, has never become the epidemic that Watchdog sought to portray it as. So Watchdog covered it as though it was the gaming equivalent of The Swine Flu.

In fact, the Xbox 360’s Red Ring Of Death is believed to be about five times more common than the Yellow Light Of Death on the PS3 – something which Microsoft eventually acknowledged when they extended the Xbox warranty length to three years. The PS3 warranty is still only for one year.

In their response to the programme, Sony said that: “Fewer than one half of one percent of [UK] units have been reported as failing in circumstances where the yellow indicator is illuminated.” Not an epidemic then.

In the show, Watchdog reported that Sony charge £128 to repair out-of-warranty PS3 consoles and then proceeded to park a van outside the Sony HQ where engineers would repair YLOD-suffering consoles for free. Well, free to the public – the engineers probably invoiced the Beeb afterwards. Sadly, a high proportion of those consoles later malfunctioned again.

To add to the pile of evidence against this hatchet job, the presenter of the piece was unfunny comedian Iain Lee – former host of the 11 O’Clock Show, singer of crap songs about cocks and er, occasional Microsoft Network (MSN) games writer. That’s not really helping Watchdog’s plight is it?

How the hell does this woman get work?

So, after just two high-profile shows with its new look and new host, Anne Robinson, Watchdog has had a boot up the arse and is sulking in the kennel in the corner of the back yard.

Oh, and as a postscript, reports are reaching us that Anne Robinson demanded a £550 haircut and makeover before she would make a seven-minute appearance on BBC Breakfast promoting Watchdog.

Call us old-fashioned but we’re feeling some contradiction between presenting a show based around exposing consumer rip-offs and then trying to squeeze £500 out of the licence-payer for a fucking haircut and a coating of slap.

The debate continues over at the HotUKDeals forums…

If you’ve got a spare couple of hundred quid flip-flapping about in your pocket and you’re looking to invest in a games console this bank holiday weekend, there’s a red-hot deal for each of the big three available right now.

First up comes the Xbox 360 Elite bundle for £199.99. As well as the console, you’ll also get Resident Evil 5, Fight Night Round 4 and an extra wireless controller. There’s free delivery and the possibility of another £10 off if you’re eligible to use the 5% off code that you’ll find at HotUKDeals.

You can also pick up an official Xbox 360 play and charge kit for the unfeasibly cheap price of £4.99 right now. So you should.

If you’re of a Wii-type of an animal, you can get the stand-alone Wii console, which comes with Wii Sports, a Wii remote and nunchuck for only £139.97 delivered at the moment. Something here for voucher fans too – an extra tenner off if you use the code that’s waiting for you at HUKD.

Finally, there’s the PS3. Prices are dropping ahead of the launch of the PS3 Slim, but there’s nowt wrong with the good old 80GB PS3. If you fancy one, you can nab one right now for just £199. No vouchers and no bundled games with this one, but if it’s game offers you’re after, get over to Dealspwn and see what they can do for you.

If you prefer to spend the bank holiday in a more traditional way, you can come round to BWHQ and mow the lawn for us. It’s about seven feet high and in serious need of a scalping. Vince went out to tackle it a couple of weeks ago and we haven’t seen him since…

* Bag of chips used in comparison weighs eight tons.

Owners of a PlayStation3, rejoice! Those of you eyeing up the new PS3 Slim and PSPgo, your luck’s in. Sony has announced the launch of its own video store this November in countries across Europe, including the UK.

Most of the major movie companies  are in on the deal, meaning you’ll be able buy or rent recent blockbusters such as Transformers 2, Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And there’s Terminator Salvation too. There’ll also be local content available too, so in time you’ll be able to watch recent television shows through your PlayStation.

The video delivery service will be fully integrated within the PlayStation Network, using the same log-in, wallet system and user-interface. Users can also access certain games or other content on their PS3 while the downloads are taking place. So that’s good.