OKAY, SO we all admit that none of us understand the point of American football. It’s a bit like rugby, but the action stops every few seconds and all the players run about in Robocop-like-armour.

One of the most eagerly awaited titles of the year has touched down at retail and is proving to be a massive hit with consumers.

When Guinness World Records first started touted the upcoming gaming version of its popular compendium, many wondered what exactly it would fill its pages with.

Along with the rejection of the standard joypad, Nintendo’s DS and Wii have also bought with them a departure from traditional gaming and a move to titles that stimulate the brain and body just as much as the fingers.

Some of us pick up new games nearly every week, often forcing our families to the point of financial ruin. Others pick up the odd game here and there.

When publisher Gamecock first emerged and promised a fresh approach to publishing, liberating developers in the process, many eyebrows instantly raised.

Few companies are able to look back at the 16-bit era of console gaming with as much pride as Sega. The list of top-notch properties it nurtured in this period is staggering...

History is littered with examples of people not getting the credit they deserve for their achievements. Alexander Graham Bell the inventor of the telephone? Yeah right.

BioShock was in a perilous position when it arrived on 360 and PC last year. The hype had been massive, and expectations were huge – that sort of situation can either make or break a title.

The survival horror genre is a popular one, with more contenders in the genre than many people realise. Resident Evil, Alone In The Dark, Silent Hill, Siren, Dead Rising and Project Zero are your top-bill players.

Lionhead boss and head developer of Fable II Peter Molyneux is famed for aiming high. True, he’s also notorious for sometimes, by his own admission, not always acheiving his ambitious aims.

When Far Cry was released in 2004 it was the very definition of a landmark title. No other FPS had ever offered the sort of freedom, both in environmental and gameplay terms, seen in the title.

There are two distinct types of people in this world; those who like horses, and those who don’t. In the latter camp are folk who feel that cars are basically better, and that you should never trust an animal bigger than yourself.

To even the most hardened gamer, there is something really quite elemental about mini-games. Perhaps this only applies to a certain generation of gamer who can remember the first flush of incredibly simple but furiously addictive games that...

Though Fracture and recent LucasArts release Star Wars: The Force Unleashed are worlds apart in many ways, they do share one very firm link (aside from the fact that they’re both futuristic third person titles) – a strong focus on technology.

Once upon a time, young girls pined for sweet, fluffy toys – toys that have some sort of personality and preferably a tie-in cartoon. My Little Pony, Care Bears, that sort of thing...

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and few would deny that THQ’s 2006 title Saints Row was its answer to the then gaping hole left in the next-gen software catalogue by the lack of a new Grand Theft Auto.

As bizarre as it seems to those of us who are sound of mind, there are some people out there to whom the idea of playing a football video game holds no appeal whatsoever.

Public fascination with the detective genre knows no bounds. From the novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, to TV stalwarts Columbo, Morse and student favourite Dick Van Dyke vehicle (yes, really) Diagnosis Murder.

The world of racing games is a tough one, with several high profile titles such as Gran Turismo, Burnout, Forza or Need for Speed fighting for gamers’ cash. But don’t let that for one moment make you think that Midnight Club isn’t one of the big boys

Even those not into strategy games will be familiar with Command & Conquer. It first the hit PC in 1995, and instantly redefined what gamers expected of the genre.

Good old James Bond. Without him, we’d all be labouring under the misapprehension that the English secret service was a bunch of bumbling middle managers prone to leaving national security files on the tube.

The rose-tinted retro goggles adorned by so many gaming fans can, on occasion, be a dangerous and irreverent thing, propagating baseless prejudices that no longer deserve a place in modern gaming.

Bethesda might be a new name in games publishing in Europe, but it’s certainly not a new name to most gamers. Its Elder Scrolls series has enjoyed tremendous success since its arrival on PC in 1994.