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When Fiddy Cent told us we’d find him in the club, we’re not sure this is what he meant. Indeed, if the bullet-riddled rapper was found here sipping Bacardi like it’s his birthday, his torso would have more holes than Swiss cheese.  The Club is a dangerous place, where shooting is a sport - think Resident Evil 4’s Mercenaries mode with bells on and you’re halfway there. (more…)

Imagine owning a car where all you had to do was hold down the accelerator and it would drive itself. It’s one of those ideas that sounds great in real life, but doesn’t translate very well to the world of video games – aside from beating the clock, the racing genre is marked by the challenge of navigating courses and mastering corners. A game in which your car turns for you doesn’t sound too appealing and whilst it’s over-exaggerating matters to suggest Sega Rally is that game, it’s far too close for its own good. (more…)

Here we go then. The five games we feel to be the very best that 2007 had to offer. Agree? Disagree? Feel fairly indifferent about the whole thing? We’d love to hear from you - so please feel free to use the comments box below, and let us know what we shamefully missed from our top twenty-one. (more…)

Seven more categories, seven more winners. Well, sort of - you’ll see. This marks the rest of the fifteen (again, sort of) that didn’t quite make our Top Five Of 2007 list. Soon, you’ll see which titles we loved the mostest over the last twelve months, and then you’ll finally get to express disgust at the lack of Uncharted, or The Darkness, or Link’s Crossbow Training. Maybe. (more…)

Game Of The Year lists. Let’s be honest, despite our carping about the impossibility or unfairness inherent in ranking games in a given order, we can’t get enough of them. Rather than just present a basic Top 20, we’ve decided to do things a little differently. Only a little, mind you. After an argument or three, one threat of fisticuffs, and a ludicrously lengthy discussion of whether we should include God Hand, given that the two of us who love it played it last year (answer: no, but we’ll be running a retrospective piece sometime soon) we came up with twenty games which we feel are worthy of recognition in some way. We’ve finally decided upon a top five which, in our eyes, represent the creme de la creme of this quite amazing year of videogaming - that will be announced at some point between now and the end of the year. And we’ve picked out fifteen awards for the rest, some of which will be revealed tonight, and some tomorrow. For now, read on for our thoughts on eight of the year’s very best - and please let us know in the comments section what you think of our choices. (more…)

A word of warning: if you play Rock Band, you’ll never want to go back to Guitar Hero. Up until now, Activision’s game has ruled the peripheral-dependent rhythm action roost. But no more; original GH devs Harmonix have upped the stakes so significantly that their old series is very definitely playing catch-up. (more…)

I like Alex Ward, I really do. The Burnout series has been an ever-present in my software collection, the unmatched driftathon of Burnout 2 segueing into the exciting carnage of Burnout 3 and the polished chaos of Burnout Revenge. Each new game brings something different to the table, and although the EA effect of Criterion’s buyout led to such hilarity as the “tips” screens (“Have you tried… boost?”), the extremely ill-advised DJ Dickwad (was that his name? It should have been) and the adolescent frat-boy licensed soundtrack of the third game, the series continued to maintain its freshness through multiple incarnations.

You know there’s a “but”, right? I’d hate to disappoint you guys, so here it is. Actually, I’ll let Alex Ward tell you himself. Here’s his Christmas Message to all those people who played the Burnout Paradise demo and had worries about it:

http://www.criteriongames.com/burnout/paradise/demo/merrychristmas/

The Criterion Ambassador’s receptions are known for their host’s exquisite rantings. Oh Monsieur Ward, wiz zese insults you are really spoiling uz!

All respect to Ward for passionately believing in his game - we know more than a few producers who don’t, and often for good reason - but his arguments are chock full of flaws. Set the analysis machine to stun… (more…)

Today was going to see a brief ‘initial impressions’ piece about Rock Band on the PS3, but unfortunately I’ve spent most of the evening playing the damn thing instead of writing about it. I’m about forty songs into the Career Mode on guitar, and I’ve played a few odd songs on the drums. Basically: it’s amazing. The peripherals are of surprisingly sturdy quality, given the price (the equivalent of around eighty British pounds), with the drumkit being the biggest gaming peripheral I’ve ever had the pleasure of plonking down in the middle of my front room. And with a brilliant selection of songs, far better note placement than Guitar Hero III, and better atmosphere all round - crowd singing equals instant goosebumps - the guitar section alone is better than Activision’s effort.

Expect more detailed info tomorrow night. I’ll just finish by saying that this is easily the best PS3 game of the year. 

It being the season of goodwill to all men - and women too; we’re terribly PC like that, you know - we’ve decided to give all our (twelve) readers a treat, and keep the site more regular than an incontinent geriatric on a prune juice drip.

You’ll be wanting to keep your web browser pointed in our direction over the next few days, as we’ll have a veritable smorgasbord of content for your delectation and delight, to help you through the festive period of too-many-games-and-not-enough-time-to-play-em. Keep reading to find out what’s in store for you lucky lot… (more…)

Ever heard the old saying, “Power corrupts”?  Of course you have, and unfortunately the latest example is gaming giant Activision, which is still resisting calls from consumers asking them to allow Guitar Hero 3 controllers to be made compatible with the PS3 version of EA’s Rock Band game.

Harmonix - the developers of Rock Band - has developed a patch to allow this compatibility, but Activision quickly spat out their dummy and point-blank refused to allow it to be uploaded. (more…)