Weekend NewsBytes: BT goes down the tube with wi-fi; Mass Effect 2 scoops game of the year; Survey says 35% would buy tablet over laptop

BT has announced that it will begin a trial of its wi-fi service at Charing Cross underground station. The trial will run for six months starting tomorrow, and will allow BT broadband customers with unlimited BT Fon wi-fi minutes and BT Openzone customers to partake of the new service. Those with other network operators can also hook up with Openzone as part of their contract. The scheme is also set to offer free Transport for London service updates which everyone with a wi-fi enabled device can benefit from.

Mass Effect 2 has been voted the ultimate game of the year at the Golden Joystick awards this week, beating Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The Activision game, which has sold the most copies ever in the UK, did manage to win the best shooter category, however. Other surprises included League of Legends, which took the best online game award. Plants vs Zombies collected two accolades, the best downloadable game and the best strategy game.

A survey conducted by price comparison website Kelkoo has shown that 35% of UK consumers are planning to buy a tablet instead of a laptop. That’s a far more sizeable figure than a previous NPD study over in the US returned earlier this month, with only 13% of American iPad owners questioned saying that they purchased their slate instead of a notebook. Kelkoo also revealed that 54% of UK consumers would consider getting themselves a slate at some point, and a third of that number are planning to do so within the next six months.