Killzone

Killzone 2, the long awaited triple A title from Guerilla Games, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has finally been given a release date for the UK. The game is set to be released in the UK and North America on the 27th of February, while Europe will receive delivery a couple of days earlier, on the 25th. Reports suggest that the Australian release will be no later than the 26th.

Since there has been an embargo on unofficial reviews, a scandinavian website was asked to remove their pre-release review in the first week of this year. However, reviews from Official Playstation Magazine in the US have given the PS3 exclusive a perfect score of 5/5 – in the same edition that Street Fighter IV was also awarded top marks. Leaked editions of the British version of the magazine reveal that Killzone 2 has been given an almost perfect 9/10. You can read the leaked versions here.

Last night, a UK based eBayer sold a pre-release press kit of the game for around £400. You can see the eBay item here.

Have a look at some gameplay from the Beta test of the game that concluded at the end of 2008.

Most websites are taking pre-orders for the game, which is highly recommended since Killzone 2 is being hyped as the Game of the Year for 2009. As of writing, Play.com lists Killzone 2 as the number one pre-order for the Playstation 3 and third most pre-ordered game overall, behind the PC release of Sims 3 and Nintendo Wii’s My Fitness Coach. StreetFighter IV also features, coming in at number four overall, ahead of Resident Evil 5 which manages to scrape into the top ten. Both are the PS3 versions of the game.

I’ve got Resident Evil 5 currently pre-ordered at Amazon, who are offering the long awaited update for a credit crunched price of £33.99 while Killzone 2 comes in at £39.99, no surprise for a PS3 exclusive.

Sand Hotel

The world’s first ever sand hotel has been made in Dorset and is accepting its first guests for £10 a night.

It took 1,000 tonnes of sand and a team of four sculptors working 14 hours a day for seven days to build the structure on Weymouth beach.

Guests can book to stay in the hotel, which includes beds made out of sand, until the rain washes it away.

The structure was created by a hotel company to celebrate a resurgence of holidaymakers flocking to the seaside.

Research by Laterooms.com predicts 37 million people will enjoy British beaches this year.

The sand hotel offers a twin and double bedroom, while the roofless structure gives guests the chance to “star-gaze” at night, the firm said.

 

But there are no toilet facilities and people were warned the sand “gets everywhere”.

Mark Anderson, creator of the sand hotel, said: “It is the biggest sandcastle-like structure ever in the UK.

“Four of us worked hard and with the help of a JCB we got it built.

“The beds are made of sand so it can get everywhere, especially between the toes.

“But the best thing is in the morning the tide laps through the door, what a great way to wake up.”

Kathy Gwinnett, of Laterooms.com, said: “It’s great that British beach holidays are enjoying a renaissance and that some of the less obvious resorts, such as Weymouth and Torquay, are getting rediscovered by a younger generation.”

The Sand Hotel has been likened in many ways to the famous Ice Hotel, in Sweden.

The ice hotel near the village of Jukkasjärvi, Kiruna, Sweden was the world’s first ice hotel.

In 1989, Japanese ice artists visited the area and created an exhibition of ice art. In Spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in a cylinder-shaped igloo in the area. One night there were no rooms available in the town, so some of the visitors asked for permission to spend the night in the exhibition hall.

They slept in sleeping bags on top of reindeer skin – the first guests of the “hotel.”

The entire hotel is made completely out of ice blocks taken from the Torne River – even the glasses in the bar are made of ice.

The hotel has more than 80 rooms and suites, a bar, reception area and church. The hotel only exists between December and April.

Each room is unique and the architecture of the hotel is changed each year, as it is rebuilt from scratch.