Hot video games - 2011/01/23

Want to know what video games are hot with the various online retailers? Here is a collection of the hottest games around:

Kalahari.Net
1. Little Big Planet 2 Collectors Edition
2. Little Big Planet 2
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Gran Turismo 5
5. Sports Champions (Move)
6. The Sims 3: Late Night
7. Heavy Rain
8. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011
9. Tekken 6 (Platinum)
10. Sports (Kinect)

Take2
1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (PS3)
2. Warhammer: Dawn of War 2 - Gold Edition (PC)
3. Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow (PS3)
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3)
5. Little Big Planet 2 Limited Edition Collector's Box (PS3)
6. Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition (Xbox 360)
7. Supreme Commander 2 (PC DVD-ROM)
8. Super Mario All-Stars - 25th Anniversary Edition (Wii)
9. ORB PS3 Controller Triggers X 2
10. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)

Amazon.com
1. Just Dance 2 - Nintendo Wii
2. Little Big Planet 2 - PS3
3. Little Big Planet 2: Collector's Edition - PS3
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Xbox360
5. Dance Central - Xbox 360
6. Zumba Fitness - Nintendo Wii
7. Call of Duty: Black Ops - PS3
8. Dead Space 2 - Xbox360
9. Mass Effect 2 - PS3
10. Gran Turismo 5 - PS3

Popular books - 2011/01/23

It has been a while since we have done one of our wrap ups of the best-selling books at the various online retail stores. So here we go:

Kalahari.Net
1. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson
2. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson
3. Jamie's 30-minute Meals -Jamie Oliver
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -Stieg Larsson
5. Awakened - P. C. Cast; Kristin Cast
6. Happy Ever After - Nora Roberts
7. To the point - Steve Smith; Herschelle Gibbs
8. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything - Elizabeth Gilbert
9. Spoor - Deon Meyer
10. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer

Take2
1. Ruthless Game - Christine Feehan
2. Shadowfever - Karen Marie Moning
3. Last Sacrifice - Richelle Mead
4. Hungry for You - Sands, Lynsay
5. Real Love - Greg, M.D. Baer,
6. The Other Side - Robb, J. D. / Blayney, Mary / Gaffney, Patricia
7. Happy Ever After - Nora Roberts
8. Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson
9. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
10. Start-up Nation - Saul/ Senor, Dan Singer

Exclusives
1. The Power - Rhonda Byrne
2. Conversations with myself - Nelson Mandela
3. Fool's Gold The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall Street Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a

Financial Catastrophe - Gillian Tett
4. Skulduggerty Pleasant - Mortal Coil - Derek Landy
5. South Africa's Greatest Entrepreneurs - Moky Makura
6. A rogue of my own - Johanna Lindsey
7. Sean Brand - En Ek Kan Nie Ophou Kyk Nie - 2010
8. The Carrie Diaries - Candace Bushnell
9. Gogos Crazy Bones Bag Series 1
10. English Handbook and Study Guide Beryl Lutrin

Amazon.com
1. You Can Count on Monsters - Richard Evan Schwartz
2. The Investment Answer - Daniel C. Goldie
3. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand
4. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua
5. The Carb Lovers Diet: Eat What You Love, Get Slim For Life - Ellen Kunes
6. Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat after Forty - Suzanne Somers
7. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
8. The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman - Timothy Ferriss
9. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
10. Mr. Sunday's Soups - Lorraine Wallace

Robert Ludlum - The Janson Directive

The "Janson directive" is probably the best spy thriller I have read in the last year.

Forget Jason Bourne, Paul Janson is perhaps the best "spy" hero that I have come across in my fiction reads. Both Bourne and Janson are Robert Ludlum characters but whereas Bourne is a bit disjointed and perhaps too "unstoppable" - particularly in the earlier books - Janson comes across as more normal and human.

The story kicks off with the reader being introduced to security specialist Paul Janson who gets roped into organising a rush rescue mission for a high-profile billionaire who has been taken hostage. If Janson can't save the day, the world is going to witness said billionaire have his head lopped off on national TV.

Janson pulls together a team and successfully saves the day but by a quirk of fate isn't able to get onto the plane which is to transport the rescued party home... which turns out to be quite fortunate because a few minutes later the plan takes off and explodes.

That leaves Janson looking rather guilty, especially when an unexplained $16m turns up in his bank account and as we all know, renegades aren't really tolerated in the spy game. They send a crack team of snipers after him and he spends half his life ducking bullets in some rather tense situations.

Janson ends up managing to convince one of the snipers - Jessie Kincaid - that he is not such a bad guy and might not need to be on the receiving end of a bullet.

There is an excellent twist at the end of the book which leads to a tense finale.

If you like spy thrillers you can't miss this one.

You can buy it online from Kalahari by clicking HERE or on the book cover.

We rated it a 5 out of 5 and couldn't find anything to fault in it.