Hollywood might be gripped with Bat-fever at the moment, but the Caped Crusader will shortly be joined on the big screen by a superhero of an altogether different nature.

That’s the crux of Space Siege – the toss up between preserving humanity and embracing the technologies necessary to defend it from an all-powerful alien aggressor.

When Call of Duty 4 was announced as being a modern day shooter, many saw that as confirmation of what many had begun to suspect – that World War based shooters were passé.

Nintendo’s ‘New Ways to Play’ mantra was impressive enough to begin with, but to see how the platform holder’s successful DS and Wii platform duo have evolved far beyond that is truly mind-blowing.

Hype is a very dangerous commodity to play with. When manipulated properly it can lead to tremendous retail success, but when the hype is laid on and a game fails to deliver it can damage an IP.

Considering the thousands of sports played around the world, it’s surprising to think that only a select few ever make the successful transition to games. Mind you, there are loads out there still begging for their first console outing.

Though it seems like a lifetime ago now, cast your mind back to May 2004 and Nintendo’s E3 unveiling of its DS handheld. Though many of the doubters now deny it, the reaction was not just one of doubt – it was outright ridicule.

You can see the logic behind Mercenaries 2 right from the off. GTA-style free-roaming games are obviously massively appealing to both developers and publishers nowadays.

Once the cornerstone of arcade and console gaming, 2D shooters, much like their dimensionally limited platforming cousins, had seemingly fallen off the radar, doomed to a fate akin to text adventures and point ‘n’ click.

It’s funny how the misconception that innovation only comes from small independent developers continues to run rife when it has been proved wrong again and again.

There was a time when the RTS genre was held aloft by PC gamers as one of the key reasons why their format reigned supreme. Replicating the gameplay of the genre that was perfectly suited to the keyboard and mouse, was an unenviable task on a joypad.

TNA, WWE, ECW, WCW – the world of three-letter wrestling acronyms is almost as intense as the actual battling that takes place in the ring.

As MCV has touched upon in this section in recent weeks, Ubisoft’s Imagine brand is indicative of the modern world of games. However, even with a brand as tightly focused as Imagine, there’s still a wide range of interests and tastes to consider.