If you have taken the time to glance over what games are coming out over the next few months you might be slightly concerned over how empty your wallet may soon become. However, there are still a number of excellent bargains at various retailers across South Africa, allowing you to splurge a little without the crunch.

El33tonline have put together a list of the current specials running that piqued our interest - let the retail therapy begin…

To kick things off…

First up is the great news that the God of War III Ultimate Edition will be available in South Africa on the 19th of March. The Ultimate Edition includes Pandora’s Box, premium in-game DLC, soundtrack, heavy metal album as well as God of War I, II and III. You can pre-order it over at Kalahari.net at the special price of R1264 or at BT Games for R1285.

Staying with Kalahari.net for a short while longer, the online retailer is offering 40% off six pages of games. Although most of these are older titles, there a few more recent gems tucked away as well, and now’s the perfect time to pick them up if you missed out on them last year. You can browse the full list over here but our pick of the bunch would include the Assassin’s Creed II: White Collector’s Edition (PS3 and Xbox 360 versions priced at R768), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition, with Night Vision Goggles, (Xbox 360 version going for R1055) and James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game – Collector’s Edition (PS3 version marked down to R768).

It’s also the perfect opportunity to play a few titles that have sequels coming out this year including Lost Planet, BioShock, Splinter Cell 4: Double Agent and a few Tony Hawk titles. You can also check out Sid Meier’s Civilization: Revolution if you enjoy turn-based strategy games, but be warned because my friend had to give his copy away recently due to its addictive nature.

Join the discount party

Take2 has also come to the party and if you pre-order upcoming releases with them they will offer a lower price until the first two weeks after the game’s release. So if you have already decided what games you are going to be buying over the next few months it’s a great way to save a little cash…to buy more games of course! Take2 is also offering great prices on clearance stock. Our picks include Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360 for R489), WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 (PS3 for R549), Colin McRae Dirt 2 (Xbox 360 for R449), Need for Speed Shift (Xbox 360 for R469), Brutal Legend (PS3 for R489) and Assassin’s Creed II: White Collector’s Edition (Xbox 360 and PS3 for R799). You can browse the rest of the games specials over here.

Brick and mortar shops are not going to be left out of the action though, with CNA offering up to 75% off selected games for this week only. You can pick up a copy of Halo Wars for the Xbox 360 for R249.95, Need for Speed: Undercover for the PS3 for R299.95 and My Sims PC for just R149.95. You can also get your hands on Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for the PC for just R199.99 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 for the Wii for R299.99. They also have quite a large bargain bin that you can hunt through if you have a couple of minutes to spare, but you’re not guaranteed to find anything of interest in there.

Promos are your friends

Turning now to Look and Listen, there has been a very cool special running for a while now. You can pick up a PS3 DualShock Wireless Controller and Bluray Remote bundled for the very reasonable price of R899.99. Great value and if you don’t yet have rumble it’s an opportunity not to be missed!

BT Games is also running a great game promotion sale that’s well worth checking out. Red Faction Guerrilla for the PS3 for R199.99, inFAMOUS for the PS3 for R379.95, and a great bargain with Buzz TV Quiz for the PS3 including all four buzzers for just R349.95. That’s practically giving it away!

Musica is busy running a Monster sale at the moment with 50 Cent (PS3 for R199.95) and Gears of War (Xbox 360 for R199.95) on offer. You can also get Need for Speed: Underground and Burnout 3: Takedown for just R89.95 each for the PS2, if yours isn’t buried under a cloud of dust that is. There’s also WWE Legends of Wrestlemania for the Xbox 360 for R199.95 up for grabs, if tights are your kind of thing, or you can enjoy the action of Army of Two for the PS3 for just R249.95

Meanwhile Incredible Connection has a pretty interesting deal currently running. If you bring in any old console you will save R500 on a trade-in on a new Xbox 360 Elite console. This offer is valid for this month only though so hurry!

Well, that’s all the bargaining we have time for this week. We hope you manage to pick up a few great specials and please don’t be shy to send in any hot bargain tips to enquire@el33tonline.com. See you next time!