Midway has taken further efforts to reduce costs and minimise losses today with the closure of its Austin studio and the cancellation of all its projects that were projected for a 2010 or 2011 release date, all of which were unannounced.

Midway has announced redundancies across all territories also, losing staff in San Diego, Austin and Chicago according to GamesIndustry.biz. The move sees the total workforce of the company being decimated with more than 25 percent of the publishers total employees being terminated.

Electronic Arts may finally be taking advantage of the Valve's Steam platform it seems, with rumours that Spore is set for release starting to circulate after the EULA for the title is spotted on the Steam storefront.

While not immediately shocking to many, if Spore does see a Steam release then it'll be the first time that Electronic Arts has even tried to release a game on Steam.

Electronic Arts and Valve currently work together on many other projects, with EA publishing retail copies of

Cyan Worlds has announced that the Myst-based MMO, Uru Live, will be going totally open source in the future in order to avoid closing totally.

Uru Live has led a troubled existence, much to the frustration of players, having been cancelled twice and recently closed before being driven to open source in and effort to stay online.

Cyan Worlds had previously tried to keep the game afloat after closure through a Myst Online Restoration Experiment (MORE), but that too has gone under according to RockPaperShotgun, forcing the game to go open source as a last resort. You certainly can't fault Cyan Worlds for trying again and again though - the team apparently just can't afford to carry on working on the project.

The Best Gaming Moments of 2008The end of the year is always a dangerous time for tech journalists because it’s the time when we have to start putting together our ‘Best Of’ lists. Not only does that lead to plenty of in-office arguments but it also means that we get swamped with (hate-)mail no matter what games we include or leave out.

So, we’re doing things a bit differently now. From now on you get to choose the best games of the year, leaving us to find other ways to vent our own thoughts on the matter, safely.

A Vampyre StoryPublisher:Crimson Cow
Platform:PC Exclusive
UK Price (as reviewed):£14.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price as reviewed:$35.47 (inc. Tax)

At bit-tech, we have a well-known love of adventure games and the old LucasArts adventure games especially being especially important items in our gaming histories, but the sad reality is that the age of the adventure game is considered by many to be deader than the main character of

Grand Theft Auto IV PCPublisher:Rockstar
Platform:PC
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (incl. Tax)

There are obviously going to be problems with reviewing Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC, but we expected most of them to be raised by the fact that we’re essentially re-reviewing the same game again. We didn’t expect them to be a result of simply trying to get the game running.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear SkyPlatform: PC Exclusive
Publisher:Deep Silver
UK Price (as reviewed):£17.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$32.99 (inc. Tax)

Maybe the stress of Christmas shopping is finally getting to us, but something about this article seems awful familiar. I swear I’ve done this before, though last time it didn’t seem as easy.

And, of course, we have. This is the second time we’ve put our critical little hats on and sat down at the keyboard to play

Vote for your Game of the YearIt's that time of year again, when we look back at all the games that were released in the last twelve months and try to arrange them into some crazy sort of order. It's just human nature - we want to know what the very best game was.This year though we're doing things a little bit differently.

In the past we've presented our own selection of the top ten games after much arguing and careful deliberation. This year however we're opening up the voting and letting

Prince of PersiaPlatform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Publisher:Ubisoft
UK price (as reviewed):£39.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.99 (inc. Tax)

This is something wholly new for the Prince of Persia franchise, using the title of the original game but telling a brand new story utterly detached from any of the other previous games.

In other words, this is the start of a new Prince of Persia

Trackmania DSPublisher:Focus Home Interactive
Platform:DS Exclusive
UK Price (as reviewed):£17.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$29.99 Pre-order

Games like Trackmania shouldn’t really belong on the Nintendo DS. Super fast, ultra-precise racers with decent graphics and an emphasis on multiplayer challenges and huge environments? That’s just not something that sits well with the DS’ limited hardware and D-pad.

Finally. Electronic Arts has stepped up and said that it will publish Brütal Legend, the latest game from Tim Schafer's Double Fine Studios, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The heavy-metal inspired game first fell into difficulty when Activision-Blizzard discarded a bunch of in-development titles after their merger. Games like Ghostbusters, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and Brütal Legend suddenly found themselves without a publisher, though all have now found new homes.

With Gears of War 2 recently released and already a firm contender for bit-tech's Game of The Year, it would only make sense that Epic would want to get to work on the next game in the hit series, right?

Wrong.

In fact, according to Epic's Mark Rein the company hasn't even started thinking about making Gears of War 3 yet, officially. Rein went so far as to tell Eurogamer that any rumours about the title were total nonsense.

RadioShack will put an Acer Aspire One 3G Netbook on sale Sunday for $99. But there's a catch. You also have to buy a two-year AT&T DataConnect contract.

The Acer Aspire One grabbed 38.3 percent of Netbook market share in the third quarter, propelling it past industry pioneer Asus and its Eee PC 4G.

Acer's Aspire One normally sells for about $300.

The RadioShack-AT&T offer, as previously reported, is valid through December 20. The 2.44-pound, 9.8-inch by 6.7-inch Netbook includes:

Self-healing coatings developed by researchers at the University of Illinois can protect materials from the effects of environmental exposure.

Applications range from automotive paints and marine varnishes to the thick, rubbery coatings on patio furniture and park benches.

Paul Braun, a professor of materials science and engineering, said: 'Starting from our earlier work on self-healing materials, we have now created self-healing coatings that automatically repair themselves and prevent corrosion of the underlying substrate.'

A StrathclydeUniversity researcher has won the Thales Scottish Technology Prize for laser technology and applications for his work on rendering cheap industrial lasers eye-safe.

Dr Walter Lubeigt, from Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics, won an individual prize of £2,500 plus £40,000 for the university for his work on eye-safe neodymium (Nd) diamond Raman lasers.

It was presented by David Lockwood, managing director of Thales’s optronics facility in Glasgow.

Researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno claim that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally-friendly source of biodiesel fuel for cars and trucks.

The major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high-quality source, or feedstock.

Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 per cent oil by weight - about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soya bean oil.

Sonic UnleashedPlatforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
Publisher:Sega
UK Price (as reviewed):£39.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$46.99 (inc. Tax)

This is a written review and not one of those fancy video reviews, so you’ll have to just imagine my disapproving tone when I ask: ‘Sega, Sega, Sega – what have you done to Sonic?'

There was a time, long ago, when Sonic the Hedgehog

Castlevania: Order of EcclesiaPlatform: Nintendo DS
Publisher:Konami
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$27.99 (inc. Tax)

There are few games that are as long-running and widely respected as the Castlevania games. Ever since the first instalment, the weird clash of RPG and platforming mechanics has made the series instantly recognisable and massively appreciated.

And the latest title,

Enterprising hackers have succeeded in booting a copy of Linux on Apple's iPhone – although it's a long way from being a usable alternative to OS X.

According to Hack a Day, the iPhone-Dev team have created a bootloader – dubbed openiboot – which has successfully loaded a copy of the Linux kernel alongside the Busybox toolkit on a jailbroken iPhone. By running the bootloader code and supplying it with a copy Linux compiled specifically for the ARM processor used within the iPhone, the software was able to communicate with a USB-to-serial device and be used as a very limited Linux console.

Motorola on Thursday has announced the latest additions to its digital cordless home phones, the D10 and D11. The handsets are optimized to use as little energy as possible and are made with at least 20 percent of recycled materials. An eco mode will automatically adjust the wireless reception strength and therefore draw less power based on how far a phone is from its base station

Mature Scot improves anger management to take deserved spot in gang of four

By Paul Newman, Tennis CorrespondentSunday, 30 November 2008

Empire: Total War hands-on previewPublisher:SEGA
Platform:PC Exclusive
Release Date: 6th February 2009

If somehow you’ve not yet heard of the Total War games, you couldn’t be coming in at a better time. The time in question is the 18th Century, which sees the Industrial Revolution, George Washington’s American War of Independence and the French Revolution; it’s the time of Napoleon’s European conquest and the rise of Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington.

Tomb Raider: UnderworldPublisher:Eidos
PlatformsPC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$39.99 (ex. Tax)

Lara Croft has been called a lot of things over the years. First she was a ground-breaking step forward for the way women are represented in games, then later she began an inevitable decline to being just a sex symbol and icon of Eidos’ past successes.

Tomb Raider: UnderworldPublisher:Eidos
PlatformsPC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$39.99 (ex. Tax)

Lara Croft has been called a lot of things over the years. First she was a ground-breaking step forward for the way women are represented in games, then later she began an inevitable decline to being just a sex symbol and icon of Eidos’ past successes.

Tomb Raider: UnderworldPublisher:Eidos
PlatformsPC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$39.99 (ex. Tax)

Lara Croft has been called a lot of things over the years. First she was a ground-breaking step forward for the way women are represented in games, then later she began an inevitable decline to being just a sex symbol and icon of Eidos’ past successes.

The Nuvifone from Garmin is still due for an early 2009 release despite being delayed earlier this year. It will be a carrier-exclusive offering, though the company is not revealing its choice of partner network to the public. As Garmin is traditionally a portable navigation device manufacturer, the Nuvifone will bring many of the company's technologies to its GPS mapping functionality, as well as access to high-speed 3G data networks.

The Nuvifone from Garmin is still due for an early 2009 release despite being delayed earlier this year. It will be a carrier-exclusive offering, though the company is not revealing its choice of partner network to the public. As Garmin is traditionally a portable navigation device manufacturer, the Nuvifone will bring many of the company's technologies to its GPS mapping functionality, as well as access to high-speed 3G data networks.

Need for Speed UndercoverPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DS, Wii, PlayStation 2
UK Price (as reviewed):£39.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$58.99 (ex. Tax)

There’s a lot to be said for a game that understands what it is and doesn’t try to hide it; games which don’t try to over-reach themselves or are content to refine a specific formula without ever trying to push the boundaries of game design.

Shaun White SnowboardingPlatform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher:Ubisoft
UK Price (as reviewed):£38.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$55.24 (ex. Tax)

We’ve always found it weird that PCs and consoles, despite being a form of home entertainment commonly associated with all the negative aspects of being a geek have always played host to such a large number of sports games.

After all, computer games could be used to let you experience

Shaun White SnowboardingPlatform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher:Ubisoft
UK Price (as reviewed):£38.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$55.24 (ex. Tax)

We’ve always found it weird that PCs and consoles, despite being a form of home entertainment commonly associated with all the negative aspects of being a geek have always played host to such a large number of sports games.

After all, computer games could be used to let you experience

Shaun White SnowboardingPlatform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher:Ubisoft
UK Price (as reviewed):£38.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$55.24 (ex. Tax)

We’ve always found it weird that PCs and consoles, despite being a form of home entertainment commonly associated with all the negative aspects of being a geek have always played host to such a large number of sports games.

After all, computer games could be used to let you experience

Tom Clancy's EndwarPublisher:Ubisoft
Platform:Xbox360, Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.73 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.79 (inc. Delivery)

Predicting the future is a difficult thing – according to the comics that I read as a child, we'd all be flying around in hover cars, be waited on by robots and living on Mars by now. I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am that none of this has come true yet.

Shaun White SnowboardingPlatform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher:Ubisoft
UK Price (as reviewed):£38.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$55.24 (ex. Tax)

We’ve always found it weird that PCs and consoles, despite being a form of home entertainment commonly associated with all the negative aspects of being a geek have always played host to such a large number of sports games.

After all, computer games could be used to let you experience

Tom Clancy's EndwarPublisher:Ubisoft
Platform:Xbox360, Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.73 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.79 (inc. Delivery)

Predicting the future is a difficult thing – according to the comics that I read as a child, we'd all be flying around in hover cars, be waited on by robots and living on Mars by now. I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am that none of this has come true yet.

Left 4 DeadPlatform:PC, Xbox 360
Publisher: Valve (digital), Electronic Arts (retail)
UK Price (as reviewed):£19.97
US Price (as reviewed):$44.99

Zombies. Co-op. Steam. For those of us who like our action geeky, gory and varied, it’s like a dream come true.

Ever since the pre-order demo dropped onto Steam two weeks ago our lunch times, our evenings and our weekends (and in Joe's case his girlfriend's entire life) have been filled with zombie blasting, flash light flailing mayhem, and despite only featuring one and a half levels from the full game,

LittleBigPlanetPublisher:Sony
Platform:Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.99 (inc. Delivery)

Physics is a funny thing. In games, I mean, not in real life. In real life, physics is a very serious thing, and should only be studied by serious people in lab coats, pocket protectors and thick glasses. Probably.

In games, though, physics is usually a take-it-or-leave-it affair. After all, modelling physics to make a completely realistic game environment requires a lot of computational power, even if you use something like a PhysX enabled graphics card.

On Our Desk 14Another month, another rising pile of bits and bobs in the corner and another burst of spring cleaning for us here in the office as we sift through all the things that slipped through the cracks and give them some coverage.

So then, what have we got to amuse ourselves with this time around?

Well, as ever we’ve got a USB drive to kick things off with. Round-ups like this just don’t seem to work unless you’ve got a thumb drive to fiddle with and dunk in water, but this time we’ve chosen something a little special. The Earthdrive 4GB from ATP is part of a project to create green tech made from recycleable material.

007 Quantum of SolacePublisher:Activision
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$47.99 (inc. Delivery)

Believe it or not there was actually some hope for the Quantum of Solace game – a possible light at the end of the tunnel which hinted that maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be the feeble movie cash-in we were all expecting.

Call of Duty: World at WarPublisher:Activision
Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£31.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$69.99 (inc. Delivery)

Normally, we’d start a review of a game like this with an explanation of the story – but today we’re not going to. There are two reasons for that.

Firstly, this is World War II (again) and if you need the plot of that explained to you then you’d probably be better off using your time to learn something useful like how to tie your shoelaces. There’s really no excuse for not knowing the basic structure of World War II – especially at this time of year.

A newly-leaked document has elaborated on earlier reports that Verizon will be removing the choice of low-end data plans for smartphones. All new smartphones sold on or after November 14th should indeed require a $30 data plan, the principal exception being Verizon's government clients, who will be able to continue on as normal. The restriction is expected to expand in 2009, when "Mobile Web 2.0" phones with a full HTML browser will be expected to have either a Connect or Premium Plan, or else the $15 VCast add-on.

Hercules has unveiled the XPS 2.150, the latest addition to its line of multimedia speakers. The system features two eight-watt compact satellite speakers and a 16-watt wooden subwoofer. The magnetically-shielded satellites feature a gloss black finish with orange driver cones and a back-lit control knob. Users can adjust the ported subwoofer separately, with bass controls and an on/off switch.

Mirror's EdgePublisher:EA
Platform:Playstation 3, PC (delayed), Xbox 360
UK Price as reviewed:£39.99 incl. Delivery
US Price as reviewed:$53.99 excl. Delivery

Video games and violence go together like...well, Jack Thompson and disbarment proceedings.

Combat is an easy way to pull you into the storyline; the adversarial nature of most games is a way to engage you and provide a challenge and sense of progression – whether it's with bigger better weapons or improved skills. Playing

Seagate on Monday announced it has teamed up with virus-protection software developer McAfee to develop its self-encrypting notebook PC hard drives from its Momentus Full Disk Encryption (FDE) line, in both 7200RPM and 5400RPM versions. Both are now available in 320GB capacities, or the highest of any FDE drive on the market, and Seagate promises to introduce even larger, 500GB versions soon.

Keeping the good-post bad-post Google Android theme alive, today we bring to your attention the news that an enterprising hacker has successfully installed the Debian distribution of Linux on his jailbroken T-Mobile G1 handset.

The hack, reported over on Engadget yesterday, is the brainchild of Jay Freeman – perhaps best known for creating the Cydia third-party App Store clone for the iPhone – who wanted something a little less restrictive than the default Android platform supplied with the handset.

In a furious internet rant on his work blog Infinity Ward community manager Rob Bowling has called for sites to stop interviewing Treyarchs Noah Heller, who he feels is drawing nonsense comparisons between Call of Duty 5 and Call of Duty 4.

While COD 5 is being developed by Treyarch, COD4 was created by Infinity Ward and the two entirely separate teams have traditionally divided the franchise - with Infinity Ward creating the superior titles in the eyes of many fans and critics.

With the news that Google's Android shipped with an embarrassing security hole being followed by a simple two-step method to 'jailbreak' the OS, you'd think that the company had ironed out most of the remaining bugs – but you'd be wrong.

According to ZDnet's Ed Burnette, the open-source Linux-based smartphone platform recently shipped in T-Mobile's G1 handset contains a real doozy of a back door: it would appear that absolutely

Dell on Tuesday silently released the XPS 430, the latest incarnation of its mid-range media desktop. The new update to the glossy black tower system pushes it past 4GB of RAM for the first time and gives even the base XPS 430 a full 6GB of 1,066MHz DDR3 RAM (up from 800MHz DDR2) in stock trim. Also new are recent-generation Core 2 Quad processors at the baseline that trade some Level 2 cache for a faster 1,333MHz system bus.

Novatel Wireless over the weekend announced the upcoming release of a new USB modem, the Ovation MC760 Micro Modem. Calling it the world's smallest EVDO Rev. A USB modem, Novatel goes on to reveal the MC760 provides both its wide-area Internet access as well as the added benefits of an on-board GPS receiver and a built-in microSD memory card slot. The MC760 weighs less than one ounce and is just slightly longer than two inches.

After repeated leaks, AT&T today finally but quietly launched the HTC Fuze. The carrier's adaptation of the Touch Pro brings a customized version of HTC's TouchFLO interface with an AT&T icon as well as support for several of AT&T's services over its tri-band HSPA Internet access, including HBO Mobile video as well as Napster Mobile and XM Radio for music purchases and Internet radio streams.

Apple's recent MacBook lineup and the iPhone may make it one of the better-positioned companies to survive a likely steep drop in spending during the holidays, according to new data from ChangeWave. The analyst firm says that a full third of all studied US notebook buyers, or 33 percent, plan to buy some form of Apple notebook during the season or within the next 90 days from the start of November. The number represents a slight boost from 29 percent in September and puts Apple's demand on par with Dell; HP continues to significantly trail behind at just 22 percent.

V-MODA today broke cover to launch the Vibe II with Mic, the successor to its long-serving Vibe Duo. The iPhone-oriented but not exclusive in-canal earbuds carry a new, machined metal design which V-MODA calls eco-friendly and should also have improved audio. A new 8mm driver is said to have a more organic sound than most and is tuned in favor of the bass response needed for electronic, rock and urban music; the company estimates frequency response at the very low end between just 12Hz and 22Hz.

Gears of War 2Publisher:Microsoft Games Studio
Platform:Xbox 360 Exclusive
UK Price as reviewed:£34.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$51.99 incl. Delivery

After our initial preview, this was always going to be a difficult review to write. That first article didn’t exactly prove all that popular, nor were we in the initial aftermath.

Which is a shame because we’ve never been of the opinion that

From Andrew Mullen, PA Sport, Shanghai Monday, 10 November 2008

A below-par Andy Murray kicked off his maiden Masters Cup bid with a sluggish 6-4 1-6 6-1 victory over American Andy Roddick in Shanghai today.

British number one Murray gained the crucial and solitary break in the fifth game of the first set as he was rarely threatened by world number six Roddick.

Murray looked off the pace through the second set, which was won by Roddick in under half an hour, but the world number four looked a different man in the decider and wrapped up the win in 95 minutes at Qi Zhong Tennis Stadium.

By Paul Newman in ShanghaiTuesday, 11 November 2008

GETTY

Andy Murray made a stunning start on his first appearance in the Masters Cup in Shanghai yesterday, overpowering Andy Roddick decisively to win 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

By Paul Newman in Shanghai Monday, 10 November 2008

Fears that Roger Federer's back injury would leave him struggling to make his mark on the Tennis Masters Cup were realised here today when the world No 2 was beaten 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 by Gilles Simon in his opening match.

Although the defending champion can still qualify for the semi-finals, a defeat against the least fancied player in the tougher of the two groups has left him with a major challenge in his remaining round-robin matches against Andy Murray and Andy Roddick. The latter pair met in today's other match, Murray winning 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Canadian wireless provider Solo Mobile on Thursday announced it is introducing four new voice plans and two new handsets to its line-up. The Bell sub-brand enhanced its Unbeatable and Solo in the City plans, giving users what it says is better value. It now waives the controversial System Access Fees and emergency 911 charges to new subscribers who sign up for a two-year contract. This represents a savings of about $8 CAD (about $6.75) per month.

We remember a few years ago when Electronic Arts was a publisher known only for endless remakes and clones and Activision was known for making creative new titles like Call of Duty. Now though, that's almost turned around on them and while EA is pursuing more new IPs, Activision is cancelling everything that can't be totally exploited.

Not our words either; those of Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

Speaking in a conference call yesterday (Transcript at Seeking Alpha) Kotick explained why certain new titles were abandoned when Activision took over Vivendi, namely

Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode TwoPlatform:Xbox 360, PC, Mac, Linux
Publisher: Hothead Games
PC price as reviewed:$14.99, or about £10
XBLA price as reviewed: 1200 MS points, or about £10

Just like the last game, Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two (which from now on shall just be referred to as Penny Arcade Adventures Episode Two

Left4Dead Demo ImpressionsPublisher:Valve
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360
UK Pre-order price:
US Pre-order price:$49.99 incl. Delivery

There’s a credit crunch on, so we’re told, and it’s forcing everyone to be perhaps a little more frugal than they might have otherwise been. So, y’know, it’s OK. Nobody holds it against you that you didn’t just blindly pre-order Left4Dead already, securing early access to the demo.

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3Publisher:Electronic Arts
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360
UK Price (as reviewed):£26.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$39.99 (inc. Delivery)

Things have changed with the Command and Conquer franchise over the past few years and it seems that ever since developer Westwood was first devoured by Electronic Arts the series has had a turbulent time.

It’s not all be bad, admittedly;

Prince of Persia Hands-On PreviewPublisher:Ubisoft
Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Release Date: December 2008

We’ve had some secret concerns about the upcoming Prince of Persia game from Ubisoft lately, so we’ve been waiting until we’ve been hands-on with the game before we really started to make up our minds about it.

And now we have been hands-on. And the news is good.

Prince of Persia Hands-On PreviewPublisher:Ubisoft
Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Release Date: December 2008

We’ve had some secret concerns about the upcoming Prince of Persia game from Ubisoft lately, so we’ve been waiting until we’ve been hands-on with the game before we really started to make up our minds about it.

And now we have been hands-on. And the news is good.

Fable 2 Non-Gamer ReviewPublisher:Microsoft
Platforms:Xbox 360 exclusive
UK Price as reviewed:£36.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$58.99 with free delivery

Preface by Joe Martin

We don’t normally operate our reviews according to the whims of manufacturers and developers, but this was an option that was far too tempting to ignore.

For those who missed the original news story, the story behind this ever-so-slightly-special review is that the lead designer of

If you're still waiting for AMD's answer to the current offerings from market leader Intel, you might be one step closer to being satisfied today.

According to CNet, the first 45-nanometre server chip to come out of AMD – the quad-core 'Shanghai' Opteron processor – is starting to see availability at selected resellers, despite not officially launching until 13th of November.

The processor ranges – Opteron 837X and 838X – don't come cheap, however: the relatively high-end 8384 model, which features quad 2.7GHz processing cores and takes a surprisingly low power draw of 75 watts, is listed on reseller's sites for a whopping $2,350 (£1,443) per chip.

Fallout 3Publisher:Bethesda
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 with free delivery
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 including delivery

Here's a quick and easy history lesson.

Once upon a time, there was a company called Interplay that made some of the best computer games ever. One of its most well known franchises was the Fallout series, which was an isometric RPG set in a post-nuclear apocalypse wasteland inspired by 1950s culture.

An Interview With Lara CroftWe’re lucky sods here at bit-tech. Not only do we get to play with the latest and best hardware on your behalf (though judging by Richard’s current expression that’s something that causes more grief than gladness), but we also get to occasionally get out of the office and go on press trips too!

On our latest excursion we popped along to Luton ‘Croft Manor’ Hoo, a manor estate outside of London where Eidos was showing off the latest build of

Tomb Raider: Underworld Hands-on PreviewPublisher:Eidos
Platform:Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP
Release Date: 21/11/2008

Tomb Raider has changed a lot over the years and through the eight main games that make up the franchise we’ve seen Lara change from a straight-up Indy-a-like to a character with deep motivations and parenting issues.

The new Lara, as seen in Underworld is a driven and single-minded young heiress who is always on the fringes of society. Think Paris Hilton crossed with Han Solo, but who is desperate to rescue her mother from the mystical realm of Avalon.

Saints Row 2Publisher:THQ
Platforms:Xbox 360, Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£31.73 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.99 (inc. Delivery)

The life of a gangster in the twenty-first century is not an easy one. Gone are the days of spats, gentleman's agreements and speakeasies. These days any self-respecting gangster has to worry about bitches and hos, cred and bling, guns and whether or not to get that MBA.

Far Cry 2Publisher:Ubisoft
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (inc. Delivery)

Here’s the funny thing about Far Cry; it was never all that great a game in all honesty, but that somehow ended up getting forgotten and it was the console expansions that got all the flak.

Wow, I know – controversial, eh? It’s true though.

If you like your video streams to turn the air blue, you might want to avoid content from Microsoft in the future: the company has received a patent on technology designed to automatically censor words from an audio stream.

According to Ars Technica, the company has been granted the patent by the US Patents and Trademarks Office and is now free to implement the system – which uses a predefined blacklist of banned words and a real-time monitoring system which can immediately react and censor the offending word – in its existing products as well as apply it to future technologies.

An Islamic non-profit group called American Islamic Forum for Democracy has commented on Sony's recall of LittleBigPlanet and said that it doesn't see it as A Good Thing.

Sony recalled all copies of LittleBigPlanet, as well as delaying the European release of the game, after they discovered that there was two lines from the Qur'an inserted into one of the pieces of background music. Sony never received any official complaints about the game, but decided to recall it anyway in order to avoid causing offence and the issue has since flared into a serious discussion.

NEW YORK--A California train engineer who was sending and receiving text messages was blamed last month for causing one of the worst railroad crashes in U.S. history that killed 25 people.

Dead SpacePublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£26.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$46.99 (inc. Delivery)

There’s an on-going discussion in the more pretentious corners of the Internet, where floppy-fringed journalists like myself are to be found constantly waging over one argument; are computer games an art form?

I say yes, based on nought but the idea that they are a creative process designed by a group of individuals in an attempt to elicit an emotional response.

By Paul NewmanTuesday, 21 October 2008

Laura Robson makes her debut on the main Women's Tennis Association tour today when she plays Iveta Benesova in the first round of the Fortis Championships in Luxembourg. Britain's 14-year-old junior Wimbledon champion has been given a wild card into the tournament.

Robson, who will be 15 in January, played her first senior tournament last month, winning her opening match in Limoges before retiring injured in the second round. She has since played two more senior events, reaching the semi-finals in Shrewsbury and losing a tough three-set match to Germany's Angelique Kerber in Barnstaple.

LG Display is demonstrating a 15-inch double-sided reflective display at International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) 2008 show that kicked off on Tuesday in Korea. The reflective LCD (RLCD) has a resolution of 512x384 and features a 14:1 contrast ratio. The prototype is an ECB-mode display that is white when no power is applied to it, and it has a 46 percent aperture ratio, along with a 20 percent reflectance ratio and 12 percent color gamut. The display uses ambient lighting to illuminate its image, making it ideal for use in outdoor, daytime environments.

Fans of the rich-content made available on the web by Adobe's Flash Player will be pleased to hear that yesterday saw the official launch of Flash Player 10.

According to BetaNews, the latest Flash release coincides with the simultaneous RTM of Creative Suite 4, Adobe's premier content creation software. The delay due to wanting a simultaneous release with CS4 may go some way to explaining why Adobe managed to get pipped to the post with Microsoft launching the second release of its Flash competitor Silverlight two days earlier, and also why the latest build had a longer than usual six month beta period.

LG Display is demonstrating a 15-inch double-sided reflective display at International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) 2008 show that kicked off on Tuesday in Korea. The reflective LCD (RLCD) has a resolution of 512x384 and features a 14:1 contrast ratio. The prototype is an ECB-mode display that is white when no power is applied to it, and it has a 46 percent aperture ratio, along with a 20 percent reflectance ratio and 12 percent color gamut. The display uses ambient lighting to illuminate its image, making it ideal for use in outdoor, daytime environments.

Fans of the rich-content made available on the web by Adobe's Flash Player will be pleased to hear that yesterday saw the official launch of Flash Player 10.

According to BetaNews, the latest Flash release coincides with the simultaneous RTM of Creative Suite 4, Adobe's premier content creation software. The delay due to wanting a simultaneous release with CS4 may go some way to explaining why Adobe managed to get pipped to the post with Microsoft launching the second release of its Flash competitor Silverlight two days earlier, and also why the latest build had a longer than usual six month beta period.

The Force Unleashed was available on pretty much every platform from the DS to the PlayStation 3, but it failed to make an appearance on the PC much to the chagrin of the PC Gaming Alliance. Now, PCGA President and Intel boss Randy Stude has hit back at Lucasarts and accused the Star Wars team of making uneducated excuses.

Lucasarts had previously explained that the reason for a lack of a PC version for The Force Unleashed

The Force Unleashed was available on pretty much every platform from the DS to the PlayStation 3, but it failed to make an appearance on the PC much to the chagrin of the PC Gaming Alliance. Now, PCGA President and Intel boss Randy Stude has hit back at Lucasarts and accused the Star Wars team of making uneducated excuses.

Lucasarts had previously explained that the reason for a lack of a PC version for The Force Unleashed

Big software releases like Windows Vista mark the end of "planned software" for the industry, according to Red Hat chief executive Jim Whitehurst.

Speaking at a forum in Singapore on Friday, Whitehurst said the proprietary, "top-down, planned" software-development model, characteristic of closed-source companies, is coming to an end. Such a model is demonstrated by Vista and the number of bugs within it, he said.

Whitehurst claimed that there are "half the number of bugs in Linux per thousand lines" compared to the Microsoft operating system, because of the open-source, collaborative model.

Manufacturer:Silverstone
UK Price (as reviewed):£152.69 (inc. VAT) With windowed side panel
US Price (as reviewed):$199.98 (exc. Tax)

Silverstone, and its TJ07 premium aluminium chassis especially, has achieved something of a cult status within our community over the last few years thanks to the TJ07’s elegant design and excellent build quality. It used a unique uni-body construction where the majority of the case's chassis is made from a single piece of curved aluminium.

Drakensang Interivew: From Fable to FalloutI’d not really heard about Drakensang before I went along to the Eidos press event where the European release of the game was being showcased. An epic 3D RPG with deep combat and multiple gameplay paths, it’s fair to say that though I didn’t know the game going in, I left very impressed.

So impressed in fact that, while the mini-doughnuts and spring rolls were being handed out as finger food to a crowd of journalists who were clearly baffled by the strange blend of cultural culinaries, I sat down with two of the men behind the game – Boris Arendt from developer Radon Labs and Class Wolter from German publisher DTP.

Lego BatmanPublisher:Warner Bros. Interactive
Platform:Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£27.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$48.99 (inc. Delivery)

There is a season for all things, so they say. A season to plant, a season to reap; a season for growth and a season for recession. Judging from Hollywood’s latest antics there’s also a season for the true comic book adaptation and the kind-of re-imagining of some classic heroes.

Need for Speed: Undercover Hands-on PreviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platforms:Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, PSP, PS2, DS, Mobile,
Release Date: 21/11/08

I’ll get this out of the way right now and say that, no, I cannot drive a car. Or rather, I can – I just haven’t ever since I crashed my first car back when I was in my late teens. I’d be more specific with the dates, but the head injury makes that a bit difficult.

Skate it!Publisher: [eurl=http://www.skateit.ea.com/ ]Electronic Arts[/eurl]
Platform:Wii and DS
Release Date: To Be Announced

It’s weird to be nostalgic for a console that isn’t yet out of date, but I remember the sheer feeling of potential that went through me when the Wii was first announced. It was strange, but wonderful.

Motion-sensing? Hell, that means first person shooters can be played with 1:1 movement – imagine how cool it would be to aim a gun with that?!

The second edition of the ITF/Tennis Europe Educational Forum took place recently. Held for the first time at the Tennis Europe Junior Masters in Orbetello, Italy, the event was attended by many of the continent’s top Under 14 and Under 16 players.

The educational forums, of which around 10 are held every year all over the world, are a key part of the ITF’s Junior Tennis School initiative. The other part of the Junior Tennis School is the e-learning website www.itfjuniortennisschool.com.

Awind tunnel that simulates airflow around and under a car's body is helping the design of vehicles that use less fuel and emit less carbon dioxide.

The new 27m2 wind-generating chamber was recently installed at Volvo's facility in Gothenburg, Sweden. It has four steel belts to rotate car wheels at motorway pace and a giant 5MW fan to generate the corresponding air speed a vehicle would be driving against.

These features, the company believes, will help engineers better understand aerodynamic forces in real-life driving conditions.

Brothers in Arms: Hell's HighwayPublisher:Ubisoft
Platform:PC, Xbox 360, PS3
UK Price (as reviewed):£23.73 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (ex. Tax)

It looks like we’re due for something of a World War 2 game renaissance this winter following the avalanche of apathy that had begun to greet the genre following massive over representation in the last few years.

There were only so many times we could parachute into Normandy or re-capture Stalingrad before the whole setting started to feel old and stale, and while the occasionally superlative game managed to make the setting seem fresh and entertaining again, with the arrival of the FPS juggernaut that was

World of GooPlatform:PC, WiiWare
Developer:2D Boy
UK Price (as reviewed):£11 (Direct download)
US Price (as reviewed):$20 (Direct download)

I know what you're thinking.

Artsy, kind of casual sounding and positively reeking of a small development studio – it's another one of those damn indie games that Joe's about to rant on about!

I can see your point, I suppose. With a name like

Wipeout HDPublisher:Sony
Platform:Playstation 3 exclusive
Price (as reviewed): £11.99/$20 (PSN download only)

Back in the depths of history (1993 for the factoids amongst you), a new games console was introduced to the world. This console came to be known as the PlayStation, developed by Sony, and would change the face of gaming forever.

That's what Sony said, anyway. The two other console titans of the day, Nintendo and Sega, were not concerned. After all, Sony made consumer goods – televisions and Walkmans – so it couldn't oust the incumbents, could it?

Toshiba Canada recently bolstered its notebook lineup with four new products, including an all-new Tecra R10 premium notebook meant for business users, which the company is touting as the fastest and most secure Toshiba notebook to date, a Wednesday report reveals. The remaining three include updated ultra portable Portégé-series notebooks with the A600 and an update to the R600, while a new M750 Tablet PC was also introduced.

Toshiba Canada recently bolstered its notebook lineup with four new products, including an all-new Tecra R10 premium notebook meant for business users, which the company is touting as the fastest and most secure Toshiba notebook to date, a Wednesday report reveals. The remaining three include updated ultra portable Portégé-series notebooks with the A600 and an update to the R600, while a new M750 Tablet PC was also introduced.

Cell carrier Orange is dropping the BlackBerry Bold due to quality issues, according to a leaked internal memo at the company's UK division. The provider says that reports of chronic software flaws from a "variety of mobile operators" have prompted it to remove the phone from the market entirely until it can be promised a definitive fix from Research in Motion. The latter is said to be fixing the glitch and promises extra testing to prevent such a problem from reoccurring.

Manufacturer:ECS
UK Price (as reviewed): N/A
US Price (as reviewed): N/A

Core Clock: 740MHz
Memory Clock: 2,200MHz (effective)
Memory: 512MB GDDR3 per card

The 9800 GTX+ is something of a forgotten commodity in the current generation of graphics cards – a hanger on from the heady days of G92, when Nvidia ruled the roost and 8800 GTs roamed LAN parties in great graphics rendering herds.

Manufacturer:ECS
UK Price (as reviewed): N/A
US Price (as reviewed): N/A

Core Clock: 740MHz
Memory Clock: 2,200MHz (effective)
Memory: 512MB GDDR3 per card

The 9800 GTX+ is something of a forgotten commodity in the current generation of graphics cards – a hanger on from the heady days of G92, when Nvidia ruled the roost and 8800 GTs roamed LAN parties in great graphics rendering herds.

CHICAGO--U.S. researchers have developed ultrathin films that when sandwiched together form a superconductor, an advance that could lead to a new class of fast, power-saving electronics.

Quantum of Solace Hands-on PreviewPublisher:Activision
Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2
Expected Release Date: October 31st 2008
Get the Demo!

There’s a rule. You know it, I know it and the whole damned industry know it. It isn’t exactly a secret.

Games based on movies are almost universally very poor. There’s so much evidence to support this view that we could build a house out of it, and then probably charge an inordinate amount of money for it based on the way the economy is going lately. Oh, well.

Day 2 at the Osaka Mayor’s Cup, Asia’s Grade A event, saw the seeds continue their march through the draws relatively unscathed.

In the boy’s event number 1 Yuki Bhambri (IND) had a straight sets 60 62 victory over Wild Card Shu Saito (JPN). Number 2 seed Hiroki Moriya (JPN) also continued into the 3rd round with a 62 63 victory over Stephen Hoh (AUS). Number 3 seed Hsieh (TPE) put a shaky start behind him with a 75 63 victory over Wild Card Suk-Yong Jeong (KOR).

Breaking out of its normal camera business, Nikon this morning unveiled its unique Media Port UP300x media player. The device mounts a video eyepiece on headphones that supplies a 640x480 picture equivalent to a 50-inch screen viewed from 10 feet away. The unusual trick lets owners watch MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and WMV videos while on foot, on public transit or other areas where users want large-screened video without access to a regular TV. It also builds in 802.11g Wi-Fi and supports not just web browsing with Flash and Javascript but also buying music and video directly from an online store.

Skate 2Publisher:Electronic Arts
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Expected Release Date: Q1 2009

Three or four years ago everyone thought that the skateboarding genre was pretty much filled up and if a developer had expressed any intention to create a new skateboarding game for consoles then you could bet your bottom dollar that the publisher would quickly talk them out of it. That space was filled by one man; Tony Hawk.

Warhammer Online: Age of ReckoningPlatform: PC Exclusive
Publisher:EA
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. Delivery) with one month free, £8.99 per month there after
US Price (as reviewed):$44.99 (inc. Delivery) with one month free, $14.99 per month there after

Reviewing an MMO is a pretty difficult job because of the masses of content available and the amount of time required to get to the higher levels. We've been playing

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher:Lucasarts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$57.99 (inc. Delivery)

In case you hadn’t noticed there are an awful lot of games coming out at the moment. New games, re-releases, indie games, freeware – the bit-tech offices are getting swept away by a tidal wave of gunfights, statistics and CDs. That’s why it’s taken us some time to get around to

FIFA '09Publisher:EA Sports
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS
UK Price:£24.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price: TBA

Football games are the strange stalwart of the videogames industry and have been ever since we were all blown away by Sensible Soccer as kids. Even now the mention of that classic top-down adaptation is enough to make us all shiver with nostalgia.

Ah, the good ol’ days; the time of

FIFA '09Publisher:EA Sports
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS
UK Price:£24.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price: TBA

Football games are the strange stalwart of the videogames industry and have been ever since we were all blown away by Sensible Soccer as kids. Even now the mention of that classic top-down adaptation is enough to make us all shiver with nostalgia.

Ah, the good ol’ days; the time of

Gears of War 2: Hands-On PreviewPublisher: Microsoft Games Studios
Platform: Xbox 360 Exclusive
Release Date: 7/11/2008

There’s a simple fact that everyone has to learn to face about Gears of War and that is that, no matter how much you might like it, it isn’t really as revolutionary as the reputation it has built around itself might suggest.

Sure, it’s fun to play and the co-op campaign is a great excuse to murder your best friends when they don’t lay down the covering fire you so desperately need – but at the core of it, it’s pretty much the same as many games which have gone before.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear SkyPlatform: PC Exclusive
Publisher:Deep Silver
UK Price as reviewed:£17.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$39.99 with free delivery

It's been 18 months since we last STALKED through the shadows of Chernobyl and now we're back to do it again with Clear Sky in the prequel to the first game in this survival FPS franchise.

We loved the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for its gritty edge, cool weapons, creepy enemies and inventory system that harked back to classics adventure games like

Gears of War 2: Hands-On PreviewPublisher: Microsoft Games Studios
Platform: Xbox 360 Exclusive
Release Date: 7/11/2008

There’s a simple fact that everyone has to learn to face about Gears of War and that is that, no matter how much you might like it, it isn’t really as revolutionary as the reputation it has built around itself might suggest.

Sure, it’s fun to play and the co-op campaign is a great excuse to murder your best friends when they don’t lay down the covering fire you so desperately need – but at the core of it, it’s pretty much the same as many games which have gone before.

Mount & BladePublisher:Paradox Interactive
Platform: PC
Price:€24.99 (download)

These days, much is discussed about the demise of the PC as a gaming platform and the rise of console exclusivity. Whether or not you agree that PC games are a dying breed, there is some truth to the rumour. More often we review games that either never even see a PC release, or only see a PC release months after the initial console release.

Mount & BladePublisher:Paradox Interactive
Platform: PC
Price:€24.99 (download)

These days, much is discussed about the demise of the PC as a gaming platform and the rise of console exclusivity. Whether or not you agree that PC games are a dying breed, there is some truth to the rumour. More often we review games that either never even see a PC release, or only see a PC release months after the initial console release.

Final Fantasy IV DSPlatform:DS, Retro
Publisher:Square Enix
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$39.99 (free delivery)

Final Fantasy is a franchise that I’ve had an awful lot of trouble with over the years and, before I really got into console gaming as much as I am into PC gaming, I have to admit that I had the same misconceptions about it that a lot of people have. Namely that I thought

On Our Desk – 13It’s that time again – when we gather up all the assorted gadgets and gizmos, sort the odds from the bits, put the ends with the bobs, search all the nooks for the dribs and the crannies for the drabs. The result is this review and an office that’s left looking spic.

Yes, that’s pretty much a direct rip-off of a Michael MacIntyre joke, but ho-hum. Here’s another one to balance it out.

So, what have we got in to look at this time? What miscellaneous packages have turned up unannounced on our doorsteps, been left behind by PR spokespeople or been stolen from the small ginger orphans who run around the

Multiwinia: Survival of The FlattestPublisher:Introversion Software
Platform:PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360
UK Price as reviewed:£15 Digital Download
US Price as reviewed:$24.90 Digital Download

Introversion are pretty much held up as the last of the UK’s bedroom-coders-done-good and their sudden and dramatic rise to geek stardom with games like DEFCON, Uplink and Darwinia is a story that has been well-told elsewhere. The important thing though is that their latest game,

Multiwinia: Survival of The FlattestPublisher:Introversion Software
Platform:PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360
UK Price as reviewed:£15 Digital Download
US Price as reviewed:$24.90 Digital Download

Introversion are pretty much held up as the last of the UK’s bedroom-coders-done-good and their sudden and dramatic rise to geek stardom with games like DEFCON, Uplink and Darwinia is a story that has been well-told elsewhere. The important thing though is that their latest game,

Monster Madness: Grave DangerPublisher:South Peak Games
Platform:Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$38.99 (inc. Delivery)

Some things are destined to go together. Some things fit so well together that they are virtually inseparable in the imaginations of Joe Public.

Gin and tonic. Cheese and onion. Fish and chips. Zombies and computer games.

Roy Taylor on Physics, AI and making games funAt this year’s Nvision conference in San Jose, I managed to catch up with Roy Taylor to talk about some of the current issues surrounding the gaming industry. Roy is vice president of content relations at Nvidia and is also head of the marketing sub-committee in the PC Gaming Alliance, which means he spends a lot of his time talking with gamers, developers and some of the big industry decision makers.

Roy Taylor on Physics, AI and making games funAt this year’s Nvision conference in San Jose, I managed to catch up with Roy Taylor to talk about some of the current issues surrounding the gaming industry. Roy is vice president of content relations at Nvidia and is also head of the marketing sub-committee in the PC Gaming Alliance, which means he spends a lot of his time talking with gamers, developers and some of the big industry decision makers.

The Witcher: Enhanced EditionPublisher:Atari
Platform: PC Exclusive
UK Price (as reviewed):£12.79 (inc. Delivery) - standard
US Price (as reviewed):$39.50 (inc. Delivery) - enhanced

If you’re a regular bit-tech reader then you’ll probably already know that we’ve had a fair old bit of bug-related controversy as of late – though if you aren’t a regular reader then you don’t have to take our word for it. You can just check out our

Shattered Horizon PreviewPublisher:Futuremark
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 2009 TBC

It's been eight months since Futuremark, the developer best known for its benchmarking software, surprisingly announced its intention to get into the games development industry following the formation of Futuremark Games Studio. At the time, the developer said it planned to start releasing games very soon, but things went quiet soon after and we heard very little from the wannabe game developer from then on.

Mercenaries 2: World in FlamesPlatforms:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Publisher:EA
UK Price (as reviewed):£26.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (free delivery)

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is a game that presents itself as being built on two simple concepts: Go anywhere, destroy anything. All well and good perhaps, but the reality is that the concept is actually much simpler and Mercenaries 2

OpoonaPlatform: Wii
PublisherKoei
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$45.99 (free delivery)

Opoona surprised me when it first turned up on my desk, partly because I wasn’t expecting Tim to throw it at me quite as violently as he did and partly because where I grew up in Derbyshire a Poona was a slang term for something rather unsanitary. I won’t detail what.

Regardless, I was somewhat intrigued by the promise of a casual Japanese RPG adventure on the Wii, if only because it seemed to be a concept built entirely from buzzwords. In fact, I’m not sure a Japanese casual RPG adventure is something that is entirely possible.

Crysis WarheadPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform: PC Exclusive
UK Price (as reviewed):£14.99 (inc. Delivery)
US price (as reviewed):$27.99 (inc. Delivery)

The best games always start with a bang of some form or another, whether that’s the emotional impact of Alyx getting impaled at the start of Episode Two or the more literal explosions and ricochets that mark the beginning of Crysis Warhead.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher:EA Sports
UK price (as reviewed):£39.99 (free delivery)
US price (as reviewed):$58.99 (free delivery)

I may as well get this out in the open before we go on, otherwise it’ll be unearthed in some forum discussion later on and people will start shouting at me; I’m not a big golfing fan.

In fact, as my ever expanding paunch will prove, I’m not a fan of any sport really, except perhaps for Competitive Whinging. I’ve got two left feet on my wrists and a mis-wired co-ordination system salvaged from a broken torch, the combined result of which means that I always get picked last in sporting events.

FacebreakerPlatforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher: EA Sports
UK Price as reviewed:£39.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$48.99 with free delivery

Beat-em-up games are the bread and butter of the console games industry and there’s a good number of well-known franchises out there ranging which have either well-earned or are on their way to earning status as household names. Mortal Kombat

SporePlatform:PC, Mac, DS
Publisher:Electronic Arts
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (free delivery)

It’s here, it’s here! Spore is finally here! Jump from the rooftops, swing from the rafters, w00t from IRC and perform other rituals to express glee, disbelief and celebration!

Or, if you’re like me and are suffering from an awful pre-winter, post-holiday cold; cough, sputter, attempt to smile and then collapse back into your office chair, sending up a billowing cloud of dust, shed human skin and germs. Cough, cough, die. Ugh.

SporePlatform:PC, Mac, DS
Publisher:Electronic Arts
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (free delivery)

It’s here, it’s here! Spore is finally here! Jump from the rooftops, swing from the rafters, w00t from IRC and perform other rituals to express glee, disbelief and celebration!

Or, if you’re like me and are suffering from an awful pre-winter, post-holiday cold; cough, sputter, attempt to smile and then collapse back into your office chair, sending up a billowing cloud of dust, shed human skin and germs. Cough, cough, die. Ugh.

On Our Desk – 13It’s that time again – when we gather up all the assorted gadgets and gizmos, sort the odds from the bits, put the ends with the bobs, search all the nooks for the dribs and the crannies for the drabs. The result is this review and an office that’s left looking spic.

Yes, that’s pretty much a direct rip-off of a Michael MacIntyre joke, but ho-hum. Here’s another one to balance it out.

So, what have we got in to look at this time? What miscellaneous packages have turned up unannounced on our doorsteps, been left behind by PR spokespeople or been stolen from the small ginger orphans who run around the

Mount & BladePublisher:Paradox Interactive
Platform: PC
Price:€24.99 (download)

These days, much is discussed about the demise of the PC as a gaming platform and the rise of console exclusivity. Whether or not you agree that PC games are a dying breed, there is some truth to the rumour. More often we review games that either never even see a PC release, or only see a PC release months after the initial console release.

OpoonaPlatform: Wii
PublisherKoei
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$45.99 (free delivery)

Opoona surprised me when it first turned up on my desk, partly because I wasn’t expecting Tim to throw it at me quite as violently as he did and partly because where I grew up in Derbyshire a Poona was a slang term for something rather unsanitary. I won’t detail what.

Regardless, I was somewhat intrigued by the promise of a casual Japanese RPG adventure on the Wii, if only because it seemed to be a concept built entirely from buzzwords. In fact, I’m not sure a Japanese casual RPG adventure is something that is entirely possible.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear SkyPlatform: PC Exclusive
Publisher:Deep Silver
UK Price as reviewed:£17.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$39.99 with free delivery

It's been 18 months since we last STALKED through the shadows of Chernobyl and now we're back to do it again with Clear Sky in the prequel to the first game in this survival FPS franchise.

We loved the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for its gritty edge, cool weapons, creepy enemies and inventory system that harked back to classics adventure games like

FacebreakerPlatforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher: EA Sports
UK Price as reviewed:£39.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$48.99 with free delivery

Beat-em-up games are the bread and butter of the console games industry and there’s a good number of well-known franchises out there ranging which have either well-earned or are on their way to earning status as household names. Mortal Kombat

FacebreakerPlatforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher: EA Sports
UK Price as reviewed:£39.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$48.99 with free delivery

Beat-em-up games are the bread and butter of the console games industry and there’s a good number of well-known franchises out there ranging which have either well-earned or are on their way to earning status as household names. Mortal Kombat

FacebreakerPlatforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher: EA Sports
UK Price as reviewed:£39.99 with free delivery
US Price as reviewed:$48.99 with free delivery

Beat-em-up games are the bread and butter of the console games industry and there’s a good number of well-known franchises out there ranging which have either well-earned or are on their way to earning status as household names. Mortal Kombat

Mercenaries 2: World in FlamesPlatforms:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Publisher:EA
UK Price (as reviewed):£26.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (free delivery)

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is a game that presents itself as being built on two simple concepts: Go anywhere, destroy anything. All well and good perhaps, but the reality is that the concept is actually much simpler and Mercenaries 2

Mercenaries 2: World in FlamesPlatforms:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Publisher:EA
UK Price (as reviewed):£26.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (free delivery)

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is a game that presents itself as being built on two simple concepts: Go anywhere, destroy anything. All well and good perhaps, but the reality is that the concept is actually much simpler and Mercenaries 2

Final Fantasy IV DSPlatform:DS, Retro
Publisher:Square Enix
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$39.99 (free delivery)

Final Fantasy is a franchise that I’ve had an awful lot of trouble with over the years and, before I really got into console gaming as much as I am into PC gaming, I have to admit that I had the same misconceptions about it that a lot of people have. Namely that I thought

Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher:EA Sports
UK price (as reviewed):£39.99 (free delivery)
US price (as reviewed):$58.99 (free delivery)

I may as well get this out in the open before we go on, otherwise it’ll be unearthed in some forum discussion later on and people will start shouting at me; I’m not a big golfing fan.

In fact, as my ever expanding paunch will prove, I’m not a fan of any sport really, except perhaps for Competitive Whinging. I’ve got two left feet on my wrists and a mis-wired co-ordination system salvaged from a broken torch, the combined result of which means that I always get picked last in sporting events.

SporePlatform:PC, Mac, DS
Publisher:Electronic Arts
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (free delivery)

It’s here, it’s here! Spore is finally here! Jump from the rooftops, swing from the rafters, w00t from IRC and perform other rituals to express glee, disbelief and celebration!

Or, if you’re like me and are suffering from an awful pre-winter, post-holiday cold; cough, sputter, attempt to smile and then collapse back into your office chair, sending up a billowing cloud of dust, shed human skin and germs. Cough, cough, die. Ugh.

Shattered Horizon PreviewPublisher:Futuremark
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 2009 TBC

It's been eight months since Futuremark, the developer best known for its benchmarking software, surprisingly announced its intention to get into the games development industry following the formation of Futuremark Games Studio. At the time, the developer said it planned to start releasing games very soon, but things went quiet soon after and we heard very little from the wannabe game developer from then on.

Shattered Horizon PreviewPublisher:Futuremark
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 2009 TBC

It's been eight months since Futuremark, the developer best known for its benchmarking software, surprisingly announced its intention to get into the games development industry following the formation of Futuremark Games Studio. At the time, the developer said it planned to start releasing games very soon, but things went quiet soon after and we heard very little from the wannabe game developer from then on.

Is Accessibility Killing PC Gaming?When I write a feature like this, I like to get emotional over it and I try to avoid just giving a dry re-listing of my favourite games complete with the hows and whys. I’m passionate about games, so I try to get passionate about my games writing.

Passion however didn’t make my approach to writing this article easy. Instead, it made it harder because there is so much I want to talk about that can stem from the idea of a gaming retrospective. I could spend pages and pages just looking back at any one of a hundred games.

Tom Clancy's End War Interview: Julian GerightyWhile we were at i34 absorbing the unprecedented levels of geekery and hardware lust, we also had time to take in some of the many upcoming game presentations on offer, one of which was Tom Clancy's End War.

Joe already had a good look at the game back at Ubidays in June, and the 3D action-RTS is still on target for a winter 2008 launch. Looking very much like a shrunken down World in Conflict, this multi-platform title has one very serious ace up it's sleeve - the crucial use of voice control to command all your units.

On Our Desk – 12It has happened again. The tide of gizmos and gadgets and thingymabobs and whatyamacallits has risen and flooded the bit-tech offices with a barrelful of assorted tics and tacks.

And what do we do when the high water mark starts to get dangerously near to head height and we come close to drowning in the ocean of bits?

We round ‘em up, that’s what. We corral them together in a pen, dump them all on my desk and then enjoy the unusual once-in-a-while turnaround where Tim’s desk isn’t the messiest thing on the face of the planet and mine is. Everything gets sifted through, nothing is left behind.

Space SiegePublisher:Sega
UK Price:£17.99 (free delivery)
US Price:$49.99 (free delivery)

Chris Taylor is something of an oddity in the games industry and I don’t just mean because he can lick his own elbow or has a passion for cow-tipping. No, what sets Chris Taylor slightly apart from the unwashed, unashamed and unanimous masses is that he is recognisable as a name.

If we were in Hollywood and this were the movie business then that wouldn’t be anything of nothing; most anyone on the street could name at least a handful of famous movie directors. This isn’t Hollywood though, this is southern England and we’re in the tech trade, not showbiz.

Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy IslandPublisher:City Interactive
Platform: PC
UK Price:£16.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price:$19.99 (inc. Delivery)

First things first – yes, I know that in the UK we spell the word ‘Honour’ with a U. I know this is a UK based site and yes, I am English. Still, out of a need for consistency and respect for the developers of this game, we’ll be using the American spelling for this article.

BraidPublisher:Microsoft
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade, PC (at a later date)
Price: 1200 MS Points

There are just three things you need to know about Braid, which is quite remarkable when you think about how many games there are out there which pile on extra levels of needless complexity.

First, you should know that Braid is beautiful. Not just pretty, but beautiful. It isn’t like Crysis where you play it for a bit and occasionally go

BraidPublisher:Microsoft
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade, PC (at a later date)
Price: 1200 MS Points

There are just three things you need to know about Braid, which is quite remarkable when you think about how many games there are out there which pile on extra levels of needless complexity.

First, you should know that Braid is beautiful. Not just pretty, but beautiful. It isn’t like Crysis where you play it for a bit and occasionally go

Fallout 3 Interview: Pete HinesWe got a chance to go see Fallout 3 in action recently, and obviously we couldn't turn it down. Though the event itself was the usual blur of excitement and curiously small burgers on cocktail sticks, we bemusedly came to the next day to find that not only had we done a hands-on preview of Fallout 3, but we'd also done an interview with Bethesda's Pete Hines.

How had this come about? Had we managed to make it through the interview without making utter tits of ourselves or fainting like 18th century bodiced ladyfolk?

The Winter Games PreviewThere are a lot of good games coming up this year. Maybe not as many as last year admittedly where we had massive hits like BioShock and The Orange Box and Mass Effect, all of which managed to make it into our Top Ten Game of 2007, but big nonetheless.

So, we’ve scrawled down this tidy little guide to the best games coming out in the madness of the pre-Christmas rush.

We’d love to say that this article is for you – that we’ve lovingly created this article so you can be fully prepared to spend your hard earned cash, but that would be a lie. The truth is that Joe is just awful at remembering release dates, so hopefully this should help keep him on track.

Soulcalibur IVPublisher:Ubisoft
Platform:Playstation 3, Xbox 360
UK Price (as reviewed):£39.99 (free delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.99 (free delivery)

In days of old, when nights were cold and consoles weren't invented, the only place to get your gaming fix was at the local arcade. We were enthralled by the little blobby aliens moving from side to side in Space Invaders, we thought that the vector graphics in the

Fallout 3 Hands-on PreviewPublisher:Bethesda Softworks
Platform: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release Date: Autumn 2008

I'm typing this introduction in the brief interlude I have for lunch, having spent most of the day up 'til now being ferried from one room to another. Demonstrations and introductions. Hands-on time. Embargo briefings. I have an interview scheduled in about fifteen minutes and then it's back to the hands-on.

Crysis: Warhead InterviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform: PC Exclusive
Release Date: Q4 2008

When we went to see Crysis: Warhead we were lucky enough to get a special guided tour of the game as well as some hands-on time. As we sat down to plough through bad guys and destroy as many Korean tanks as we could, we asked questions and got some commentary from Ben O’Donnell, producer on the game.

If you’ve missed our extensive re-telling of our experience with the game or haven’t got chance to looking at the

Mercenaries 2: World In Flames PreviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
UK Pre-order:£39.99 with free delivery
US Pre-order:£58.99 with free delivery

Back when the original Mercenaries came out, I was just finishing off my dissertation for the last year of my university education. It was a rather thrilling piece about the types of language used on the back of cereal packets.

Red Alert 3 Hands-on PreviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platforms:PC and Xbox 360
Release Date: TBA

In all honestly, I’m not a very clever kind of guy. I’m also kind of clumsy and can barely get a muffin in my mouth without getting a black eye, so there are a number of things Tim has made it clear I’m just flat-out not allowed to do at bit-tech.net.

That list of forbidden activities is fairly diverse and includes everything from ‘Touch the graphics cards’ to ‘Go anywhere near the graphics cards’ and ‘Be in the same room as the graphics cards’. And ‘Review RTS games, because you’re really bad at them’.

Crysis: Warhead Hands-On PreviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform: PC Exclusive
Release Date: Q4 2008

It’s been almost a year since Crysis hit shelves across the world and still it doesn’t seem like Crytek’s engine has achieved the full impact it should've done.

Months on, it can be a little hard to remember that building excitement we all had for the game and that’s a shame all in itself. Here was the first game that could really start making claims about being photorealistic on a massive scale, using an advanced custom-built physics engine and levels so big that you could complete

Crysis: Warhead Hands-On PreviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform: PC Exclusive
Release Date: Q4 2008

It’s been almost a year since Crysis hit shelves across the world and still it doesn’t seem like Crytek’s engine has achieved the full impact it should've done.

Months on, it can be a little hard to remember that building excitement we all had for the game and that’s a shame all in itself. Here was the first game that could really start making claims about being photorealistic on a massive scale, using an advanced custom-built physics engine and levels so big that you could complete

WALL-EPublisher:THQ
Platform:PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PC, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$48.99 (inc. Delivery)

Have you ever had one of those dreams? You know, the one where you're in school taking an exam, only you don't know anything about the subject and for some strange reason, known only to your subconscious, you're completely naked except for your marmite clotted handcuffs?

Facebreaker Hands-on PreviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform:Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Release Date: 5th September 2008

I like to prepare quite thoroughly for preview and interviews, if only because there’s nothing more embarrassing than having to stutter through and make up questions on the spot. That’s why, before going to go and do a hands-on preview of Facebreaker, I did a fair bit of research.

On Our Desk – 11A true geek is a person of many, many interests and with very sticky fingers. At bit-tech.net, we know that to be true. We’re true, hardcore geeks ourselves in fact – and that has certain consequences in that we end up slowly accumulating all sorts of junk priceless artefacts.

So, every now and then we have to have a little purging of our desktops – sweeping all those little bits and bobs up into a bag and dumping them down in one place for one big round-up.

The Top 10 Computer Game CharactersIt isn’t all about the Master Chief and Gordon Freeman, you know. Sometimes we have to give some love out to the NPCs and supporting characters too – which is exactly what we’ve tried to do here.

Below, we offer up the list of our top ten supporting characters from computer games. The only rules we imposed on ourselves are that entrants cannot be the main playable character of a game and that each franchise can only feature once. Other than it’s a level playing field – villains and heroes are both welcome!

Multiwinia Hands-On PreviewDeveloper:Introversion
Platform:PC, Mac, Xbox Live Arcade
Release Date: September 2008

Sigh. You know, I love Introversion - like really, really love them. The guys there are smart, helpful and good at what they do. Also, they sent me a little toy Darwinian as a present, which was very nice of them.

But, I have to admit, I sometimes hate writing articles about them. Not in a malicious haha-I-put-tabasco-sauce-all-over-the-only-loo-roll-in-the-flat type way, of course. It’s just that I can never pin down where Introversion falls exactly on the scale of things.

Team Fortress 2 Sentry ModMod and pictures by Ton Khowdee

Foreword by Joe Martin
Here we are again, drooling all over another one of Ton Khowdee, AKA TiTON’s, beautiful Team Fortress 2 themed mods.

Last time we looked at one of TiTON’s mods was with the Team Fortress 2 Dispenser Mod, which blew our socks off. Now, it’s time to look at the next stage of TiTON’s plan – one which now threatens to blow us out of our shoes unless we’re very careful; The Sentry Mod.

The Bourne conspiracyPublisher: Sierra
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£30.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$58.99 (inc. Delivery)

Sigh – again, with the movie tie-ins. There’s been a fair few movie-game adaptations come across my desk in recent weeks – Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, for instance.

Each time we have the same burst of hope and the same eventual disappointment. It’s quite tiring after a while. Still, if you’re looking for reasons to get excited over

Battlefield: Bad CompanyPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform:Xbox 360. PlayStation 3
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$58.99 (inc. Delivery)

Bad Company has, just like the main characters featured within it, had a rough time of it over the past few months. Not only does it bear the stigma of being the first proper Battlefield game to debut on a console, but it’s also singleplayer-focused.

Overlord: Raising HellPublisher:Codemasters
Platform:Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£39.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.99 (inc. Delivery)

We've written in the past about how hype can damage a game's reception and about that creeping fear of dread when an over-hyped game lands on your desk for review.

The problem is that most games these days are surrounded by some level of hype, however small, and it's becoming more and more difficult to sort out the decent games from the not so decent games. It's not even possible to assume that a game will be good because it's written by a particular developer, since most have a bastard son of a game that they'd rather keep hidden in the basement.