If there’s one thing that this console generation has brought - aside from increased technical-wizardry and possible motion gimmickry - it’s more-sophisticated graphical user interfaces. The PlayStation3’s XrossMediaBar, Xbox 360’s Dashboard and the Wii’s… Menu all offer a considerable amount of options and features, aside from just plain old gaming.
From video downloads, to watching movies, [...]

Writing about the joy of exploring Rapture in Bioshock brought back fond memories of my time exploring another distinctive and rich world - Hillys, in the seminal Beyond Good & Evil. For old time’s sake here’s a look at a review I wrote way back when (slightly tarted-up). If you haven’t yet experienced this wonderful [...]

Following the previous nostalgia-tinged post, I thought I’d now take a look at Destroy All Humans, as it too features a prominent and memorable setting - a humorous portrayal of 1950’s USA. Again, this is a past review of mine, at the time of the game’s release. A sequel has since been out and two [...]

The recent 3.70 firmware update for the PSP has brought along the option of official custom themes for the device.
Available to download from the UK PlayStation site, the majority are related to a certain game and are quite cumbersome to use - except the excellent Cookies theme (I’ll ignore the pink one) - but hopefully [...]

Although perhaps not the best example of gaming’s social acceptance, it is quite telling that neither MySpace nor Facebook - the two largest social networking sites on the web - currently feature a designated area for you to input your “Favourite Games”.
You can tell the whole world about your favourite music, movies, books [...]

Crikey, perhaps I shouldn’t have written about Steve Irwin below, eh? As echoplayer would’ve nearly went the same way as the Aussie, were it not for this random revival.
A lot has changed since that dreaded post below. For one, an Xbox 360 has entered my life, died twice and now faces a swift kick out of the [...]

Bioshock is an odd treat of style over substance in the best way possible. Set in the lush, art deco-themed utopia of Rapture, rarely and ironically do a game’s underlying mechanics seem so trivial compared to the world they’re supporting. Usually half the fun is in being given the tools and then set loose in [...]

An unnoticed feature in the PS3 title Lair was recently discovered. It was just a minor thing - letting you play the entire game on a PSP via Remote Play.
Due to the lack of extra shoulder buttons, playing the game successfully could be quite difficult, which is probably why the feature hasn’t been promoted thus far - [...]

Designer Marc Owens has crafted a device allowing someone to view themselves in the 3rd person, quite like in a game.
With rather fetching attire and a camera mounted to you, Owens mentions the possibility of users feeling less socially responsible, allowing them to play out gaming fantasies in reality.
Like running and jumping around everywhere and [...]

Let me tell you a tale of woe and despair.
Having received an Xbox 360 for my birthday last year I was excited, as this was my first foray into the so-called ‘next-gen’ era. Sure, the majority of the games weren’t that novel, but they certainly were pretty. I was content, for the first few months. [...]