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Despite Kane and Lynch 2 achieving a massive 33% increase in sales in the second week, Mafia 2 claims top spot in the UK all format chart. The Xbox 360 version holds a majority 52% over PlayStation 3 (41%) and PC (7%), and leaves its predecessor in its wake as its entire sales matched only 29% of the first week sales. 

Red Dead Redemption matched last weeks sales to remain fourth, whilst Toy Story 3 dropped one place as a result of Mafia 2. A drop in Wii price launched Wii Sports Resort from sixteenth to fifth with a 91% increase in bundle sales. Lego Harry Potter drops to eighth with a -12% fall in numbers, while Just Dance and Super Mario Galaxy fill the gap with +4% and +8% respectively. 

Sniper: Ghost Warrior marks its highest chart position with a climb from thirteenth to ninth, managing to jump Prince of Persia's +4% in sales.

[Via GFK Chart-Track]

Joe Danger, the cartoon stunt racer from Hello Games, received a massive free patch recently. The new patch updates the game with a whole host of new features. Known as 'The People's Patch' it attempts to address every piece of feedback that the developers have received since it's release in June this year. Included are:

- Level sharing and more levels

- Replays and YouTube support

- Custom soundtracks

- More multiplayer levels

- New level editing props

- Costumes

- Downloadable tours

The list, which was posted on the EU PlayStation blog, also hinted that 'hidden stuff' and 'lots more' of mystery updated are included, however it's expected that more than likely the update includeds a number of stability fixes for the game. Either way all this free content is nice to see, showing the generosity of Hello Games and the fact that they are listening to the community. Good job guys!

The PlayStation Store now also hosts a trial version of the game for those who aren't quite convinced to make the purchase. According to Sean Murray from Hello Games, "Lots of people asked for a trial, so we put a huge one together with hours of gameplay, for those people who still can’t decide if Joe Danger is awesome or not."

As if all that news wasn't enough, Hello Games have also launched a competition over on their website to celebrate the best user generated levels — so if you think you are the champion of creating exciting and original levels then get on over there now and show them what you've got. 

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days enters the UK sales chart as top dog after demoting Toy Story 3. The result is quite surprising due to the limited chart positions of the original title, which peaked at fourteenth in it's second week of release.

Toy Story 3 managed to stay on its tail at position two, as it and third position Red Dead Redemption held -15% sales each. Lego Harry Potter and Just Dance make up the rest of the top five with -10% and -8% sales respectively.

This week has also been record breaking as Modern Warfare 2 has become the latest game to be the best selling UK title ever. The multi-platform Modern Warfare 2 has overtaken Dr Kawashima on Nintendo DS in just ten months, where it had previously taken thirty six months for the Doctor to overtake Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The possibility of Dr Kawashima to even do so is startling, being released on a single portable system in an all format chart.

[Via GFK Chart-Track]

Portal 2's release date was revealed at the recent Games Development Conference in Germany. Valve has dated the release date for their sequel to the multi-award winning Portal as the 9th of February, 2011.  

In a somewhat unexpected casting by Valve, it has also been announced that Stephen Merchant will take the voice role for Wheatley - a voice which will guide players through the game. Valve told CVG that the English accent heard in the E3 gameplay video was just "just some guy from our office". However, it turns out that the final role will be played by Merchant, known for his work on hit TV show The Office - and not Valve's office. After Merchant's recent work co-directing the film Cemetary Junction, he will now add video game voice acting to his list of talents.

The appointment should be very good news for fans, as I for one found the voice work in the original E3 video to be not quite right. Sorry some guy from Valve's office - you monster.

David Cage, the creative mind behind the PlayStation 3 exclusive Heavy Rain, spoke out recently to Joystiq about the cancelled plans for the games future downloadable content (DLC).

"I understand why the decision was made. From a creative point of view it was not my choice. I would have really preferred a thousand times developing the Chronicles. I thought we had a lot to say about these characters, about their background. Things that were just mentioned in the game that had a true explanation in the background, and it's a little bit unfortunate that we won't be able to tell you the full story."

However at the same time he expressed his excitement in looking to the future and his next project: "I didn't want to do everything, I wanted to move on," he said. "I didn't want to spend another two years on Heavy Rain developing Move and Chronicles and stuff. ... So a decision had to be made and it's a decision I respect. Honestly, it's not like I'm upset about it, I would have preferred to do it differently but, you know what, it makes sense."

Cage can rest safely in the knowledge that the game has sold very well and has shattered sales expectations already. According to MCV the title has already shifted 1.5 million units worldwide since it's release in February this year, as well as maintaining its recommended retail price (RRP) for the duration. This far surpasses Cage's own predictions back in April, as he pegged the game at shifting 1.5 million units in total. This is no surprise to most people given the great reviews it's been receiving.

Despite all of this evidence that the game has even more story to offer, the decision was still made by Sony to spend time making it PlayStation Move compatible. While this a great use of the motion controller, it makes you wonder whether it's worth sacrificing the additional sublime narrative that would have been released. 

Project Icarus, the name given to the latest project from Irrational Games (formally 2K Boston) has been revealed to be Bioshock Infinite. The original developers, including Creative Director Ken Levine, return to develop a prequel to the 2007 award-winning Bioshock.

Bioshock Infinite is set in 1912 within an airborne city named Columbia. The player takes control of Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent, who is tasked with rescuing a woman, Elizabeth, from Columbia, with its whereabouts unknown since an incident 10 years earlier. It turns out that finding Columbia isn't the problem (it is a giant floating city), but getting Elizabeth out when things go pear shaped.

Among this, we know that like the original there will be first person weapons and plasmid-like powers. The background of the setting is also detailed, as unlike Rapture, Columbia was paraded across the globe to showcase the democracy and way of life in the USA.

Although this is alot of information at once, Ken Levine left details for a later date in an interview with Joystiq. However, he did go into the production of the game, which they have been working on since Bioshock, and the reasons for leaving Rapture behind. 

He said: "The notion of putting this -- almost ridiculous concept, perhaps no more ridiculous than a city at the bottom of the ocean, maybe even less ridiculous -- city in the clouds struck us as a great visual metaphor for certain ideasne. That was fairly early. But everything else has been evolving ever since."

Bioshock Infinite has a release window of 2012 and will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

[Via Destructoid]

Now we're all used to the occasional famous actor or actress providing their voice for videogames. Vin Diesel is The Chronicles' Od Riddick and Jack Black features in Brutal Legend for instance. 

However, it seems Bethesda Softworks are looking to out-do the rest with the latest in the Fallout series.

Fans of Liam Neeson's performance as the lead characters' father in the first installment will be pleased to see a star studded cast that tops the Irish actor's special guest appearance. Ron Pearlman of Hellboy Fame returns as the narrator, and he'll be joined most notably by former Friends star Matthew Perry who appears as Benny, a smooth-talking, two faced gangster, and upcoming Machete star Danny Trejo, who plays Raul the Ghoul.

Elsewhere in the cast is Chuck's Zach Levi, Star Trek: The Next Generation's Michael Dorn, star of Shawshank Redemption William Sadler and star of the Blade Trilogy Kris Krisofferson.

“The Fallout franchise has taken narratives in interactive entertainment to the next level, and we could not be more excited about the all-new celebrity lineup for Fallout: New Vegas,” said Pete Hines, Vice President of PR and Marketing for Bethesda Softworks. “The voice acting provided by these actors helps drive the compelling and immersive story of Fallout and further adds to the overall gameplay experience.”

Fallout: New Vegas is set for release on 22nd October 2010 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Toy Story 3 has reclaimed the top of the UK sales chart this week after Starcraft II was knocked down three places to fourth. After a huge launch last week, PC title Starcraft II has managed only 28% of it's previous weeks sales, resulting in Toy Story 3 managing to climb up one place, despite making a loss in sales.

A surge in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales on the PlayStation 3 has seen it rise to second in the all format chart, leaving publisher Activision Blizzard with two titles in the top five. The Wii title Dance on Broadway moves up one place to third; the small decrease in sales has caused no trouble for the family hits. Red Dead Redemption charts its lowest position in 12 weeks, slotting in at a more than respectable fifth place.

The only new additions to the chart this week are Art Academy on the Nintendo DS, making position 28, and the Wii and DS title Hidden Mysteries: Titanic which has taken slot 32. The full top ten can be found after the jump.

[Via GFK Chart-Track]

Split Second: Velocity arrived back in May this year and offering gamers intense speed, impressive graphics and a unique destructive 'powerplay' gameplay mechanic. Since then it's all been pretty quiet from the games developers, Black Rock. However they recently broke their silence with the announcement of a mass of future downloadable content (DLC).

Over on their Facebook page they posted a new photo with details of not one, not two, but three DLC packs that will arrive later this month. The first will include liveries to make the blisteringly fast Elite vehicles that little bit more unique. The second pack, known as the "High Octance" Supercar Pack, comes complete with a number of new cars including the one pictured above. The third offering will be a Special Edition of the original classic Ryback Cylcone already available in the game and best of all, this will be free as a way of saying thanks to the game's community. 

Despite all of these it won't be the last content available for the game, as come September a major DLC update containing an entirely new environment will arrive. More news is due to be released on the new environment - so watch this space for all the updates.

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Metal Gear Solid: Rising is unlikely to feature many returning characters from the long-running Metal Gear Solid (MGS) world - according to Shigenobu Matsuyama, the games creative producer.

"To answer you question about returning characters, we're probably not going to show too many characters in Rising because, since it's a new part of a series, we don't really want to refer to and dwell upon the Metal Gear saga so much." said Matsuyama, in the latest issue of games™ magazine.

"We want newcomers to the game to come in and play freely without needing to know and understand the background of the whole Metal Gear Solid universe." he continued. "We don't want to have it all tied up with the story from MGS2 or MGS4 and make it too complicated."

So it seems that the gaming icon Solid Snake has been put to rest in Metal Gear Solid 4, leaving Raiden to take centre stage for Rising. As of yet there have been no clues as to which characters may return, and in what capacity.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising is due to arrive at some point during 2011, but as soon as we know a definite date or have any more news to share, then we'll be sure to let you know.

[Via Connected Consoles]