Stuff for Dads

  PlayStation Portable (PSP) Games Console

Price: £130 for the PSP Slim & Lite. You might be able to pick up the older, heavier version being sold off somewhere for a bit less but you'd probably be better going for the newer version anyway - it has quicker load times and can output to a TV.

Essentials: Memory Stick Pro Duo (required to save game progress and to store music and video) - £30 for 4GB or £20 for 2GB.

Alternatively, if you want to store several movies at once, can't be bothered to ever swap cards and have too much money, you could always go for 8GB at around £70.

Extras:

• Mini USB cable (for transferring files to and from PC or PS3) - £3.
• Carry case - £10.
• Screen visor - £5.

Comments: Christmas is almost here and my series of games console reviews draws to an end with the PlayStation Portable (unless anyone wants to send me a PS3... Anyone? Aw, go on...) The thing about the PSP, though, is that, judging by software sales, no one seems to buy it to play games. It's an MP3 player, movie player, internet browser and photo viewer that also just happens to run PS2 quality interactive entertainment.

I do wonder which features people are buying the thing for, however. On paper the functionality is fantastic but the reality is that the PSP is a bit big for everyday use as an MP3 player, movies have to be bought on UMD disk or somehow transferred to memory card in a suitable format, the internet browser is slow and requires a wi-fi hotspot and, as for photos, is anyone really going to bother?

So who's buying the console?

Gadget fans mainly, I suspect. The PSP looks great, has a superb screen, does all kinds of things and let's you play Grand Theft Auto on the bus (if there's not too much glare and you're not concerned about getting mugged).

I mainly play mine on holiday. It lets me take home console style games with me wherever I go. Far easier than lugging round a PS2 and TV. Of course, this means the PSP isn't much use when I'm actually at home - the style of game it tends to host is readily available for me to play on a big telly with a proper controller. Sure, it's handy just being able to pick it up and play when the kids give me a moment of peace but Grand Theft Auto doesn't work as well in five minute bursts as many of the offerings on the DS.

Short sessions aren't impossible, though. Like the DS, the PSP has a sleep function allowing games to be paused in a battery-saving mode which lasts several days. In normal use, the batteries last between four and eight hours, depending what you're doing.

Probably the biggest disappointment with the PSP is the movie playback feature. The picture quality is excellent but getting hold of something to watch is a problem. Buying a film on UMD rather than DVD means being restricted to always playing it on a PSP. True, the new Slim & Lite model allows output to a TV (with the right cable) but building a UMD collection seems as sensible as starting a music library on mini-disk. Putting movies on memory stick, however, is a real faff. Converting a commercial DVD would require the use of dubious decryption software and then some conversion software, such as PSP Video 9, to put the video files into a suitable format and resolution. Recording stuff off the telly onto DVD and then converting that is easier but time-consuming. Downloading films is less hassle but costs more than you might expect.

If you want to watch films on the move, you'd be as well to buy a portable DVD player.

Long-term, plenty of interaction between the PSP and PS3 is promised, with the PS3 streaming video over the internet to the PSP and the like. That might be good but would require proximity to a wi-fi hotspot. At the moment it's possible to download PSOne games for £3.50 each onto the PS3 or a PC and then transfer them to play on the PSP. There's only a small selection so far, however.


Original PSP with its rather chunky charger and a Joytech visor which screws into a couple of handy holes for attaching peripherals on the top edge of the PSP.

Where the Nintendo DS has something for everyone in terms of software, the PSP is aimed much more at experienced gamers. The best PSP games include:

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories - A proper, 3D Grand Theft Auto on a portable console! And, look over there, it's the Holy Grail as well!
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - Oh, and another one...
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow - Third-person spy action which uses lots of buttons.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness - Clever, witty turn-based strategy.
Crush - Puzzle platformer where solving problems involves switching between 2D and 3D.

Other good games include: Final Fantasy: Tactics, Silent Hill: Origins, Daxter, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command, LocoRoco, Capcom Puzzle World, a vast selection of racing games and various retro collections (notably Sega Mega Drive Collection).

Notice, however, that most of these games are inferior re-hashes of PS2 franchises or have been ported to the PS2 themselves. Many of them suffer from the fact that the PSP has fewer buttons than a PS2 controller and a single analogue 'nub' rather than two analogue control sticks. First-person shooters really struggle on the PSP, for instance. On the PS2, the left stick would be used to move and the right to look around. On the PSP, the face buttons tend to be used for looking, which is clunky and inaccurate. Also, the PSP is much less comfortable to hold over an extended period than a PS2 controller.

The PSP looks cool, has many impressive features and plenty of decent software. It provides so many possibilities in the palm of your hand. Unfortunately, it seems that all of those possibilities involve some form of compromise. At any given moment, you'll find yourself wishing it was really an iPod, DVD player, PS2 controller or DS in your grasp.

Conclusion: A great machine that's still looking for identity and purpose.

Pros:

• Does everything - MP3 player, movie player, internet browser, PS2 quality games.
• Large, high quality screen.
• Plenty of good, cheap games.

Cons:

• Doesn't do anything as well as a dedicated machine would.
• Awkward controls.
• Lack of really startling software.
• Getting movies onto memory stick is a pain and legally dubious (and you have to buy a memory stick!)
• Not very rugged.
• Playing one in a public place feels akin to writing 'Mug me!' on your back.

Rating: 3/5.

Labels: computer game review, computer games, PSP

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  Nintendo DS Console (& DS Lite)

Price: £100 for the DS Lite. (The older, chunkier version is £90 but isn't widely available any more). You should be able to pick up the console with a bundled game for an extra £10 or so.

Extras:

• MP3 player cartridge - £20 (requires an SD memory card which isn't included).
• Web browser - £30.
• All kinds of other bits and bobs like carry bags, stylus spares, screen protectors, in-car chargers and cartridge cases - a few pounds each. (Screen protectors are a bit of a waste of time, though).

Comments: There was a conspiracy theory going around when the DS first came out that it was really just something Nintendo had cobbled together in a bit of a hurry to distract some attention from the fast-approaching PlayStation Portable and give them a little breathing space to design a machine that out-classed Sony's offering. Where were the multi-media capabilities and the cutting-edge graphics? Why did the games come on expensive cartridges rather than cheap discs? What was the point of downloading stuff over wi-fi if there was no way of storing it?

Sure, the touchscreen interface was a good idea but why two screens? Nintendo said it would encourage innovation. Great gaming minds considered the possibilities. They pondered wonderful new gameplay. They thought long and hard, and then, as one, developers around the globe hesitantly murmured, 'Well, you know, you could play the game on one screen and have a map on the other.'

And thus it was so...

Sony executives must have been pretty pleased. Their machine was obviously technically superior, could play music and movies and had all kinds of games from Wipeout to Grand Theft Auto lined up. What did Nintendo have? A gimmick-laden oddity with Mario, a brain training non-game and a dog-owning simulator. Sony must have thought they'd have an unassailable lead in the handheld console war by the time the proper Game Boy Advance 2 turned up...


An original DS, charger, stylus and game cartridge. DVD box for scale. (I would have used an original DS for scale, like I normally do, but I only have the one...)

Funny old world, isn't it?

Hardcore gamers and gadget freaks bought PSPs but their mums all bought DSs. And so did everybody else. If there ever was a GBA2 being secretly prepared in Nintendo HQ, then it's been indefinitely shelved. The DS has easily beaten the PSP in terms of sales, and soundly thumped it in terms of profit.

By keeping things simple, the DS reaches out to people who haven't played games before and to those who haven't played games in years. Its software line-up is laden with fun, colourful platformers, puzzle games, turn-based strategy games and tongue-in-cheek cooking simulators. These are supported by familiar franchises such as pokemon, Mario and Zelda which lure in the traditional Nintendo fans.

If you like the kind of game where you use big guns to shoot terrorists or you want a decent racing game which doesn't involve Mario in a kart, then the DS isn't for you. Indeed, even if you just like games with three dimensions, you're going to be fairly disappointed. The graphical capabilities of the DS would struggle to compete with the PSOne, let alone the PSP.

The appeal of the DS is the control system, however. It has plenty of buttons but the lower of the two screens is touch sensitive and can be worked using a stylus or a thumb strap. A few games miss the point, requiring the use of all the buttons and the touchscreen which really only works for those people with three hands but there are other games which are controlled almost entirely with the stylus. Chess pieces can be moved round the board with a couple of taps, for instance. In Trauma Centre, the stylus is used to perform surgery, lending itself to cutting, stitching and injecting. In general, though, games utilise the stylus to make control easier rather than to add significantly to the gameplay. Being able to use a pen rather than having to get to grips with a load of buttons is very appealing to gaming newcomers.

The DS has a few other nifty features. Closing the lid puts the machine into battery-saving sleep mode. In normal use, the rechargeable battery lasts eight hours or so but the DS can maintain itself in sleep mode for days. This means it's perfect for a quick go on the bus - there's no need to worry about finding a saving point before reaching your stop. Close the lid and it can go straight in a pocket. (The screens are also much easier to see clearly in sunny weather conditions than the PSP screen).

Some games (notably Mario Kart Super Circuit and Metroid Prime: Hunters) feature online play over a wi-fi internet connection. Metroid even has an option for voice chat. Other games allow local wireless multiplayer, so you can play with other DS owners in close range. In some cases, only one player actually needs to have a copy of the game.

The DS is backwardly compatible with the Game Boy Advance, providing access to a vast catalogue of old games. (Sleep mode doesn't work with GBA games, however).

The newer version of the DS, the DS Lite, is smaller, lighter and has adjustable screen brightness. It's slightly more expensive but is definitely the version to get. The only disadvantage of this version is that GBA cartridges don't fit snugly and protrude slightly from the bottom edge of the console. To make up for this, the DS Lite has a built-in cover for the GBA slot when it's not in use.

All in all, the DS is a great little machine. Whether you should get one, though, depends on whether you like the sound of the games. You really need to be a fan of cute platformers and puzzle games to get the most from it.

It's also worth pointing out that the decent games have maintained their price over time so don't expect to hoover up a load of old games at a bargain price. Mario games still typically cost £25 new - and that's online. It's £25 for a second-hand copy in the high street.

The best games include:

• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - A witty RPG with entertaining turn-based combat.
• Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Exploring and adventuring in a semi-sequel to the GameCube's Wind Waker. Good use of the stylus.
• Dr Kawashima's Brain Training - Simple language, memory and maths games tarted up as exercise for your brain. It's addictive and also includes sudoku.
• Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - Sprog1 got Pearl the day it came out and we didn't see him again for a week.
• Wario Ware: Touched - A huge selection of frantic microgames designed to use all the features of the DS. Blow out candles, wipe off dirt and unroll toilet paper as fast as you can!

Other good games include: Freshly Picked: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, Advance wars: Dual Strike, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Tetris, Nintendogs and a zillion platformers, such as Yoshi's Island and New Super Mario Bros. There's a startling lack of games developed by western studios, though. The DS would be perfect for real-time strategy, point-and-click adventures and some Tolkien-esque role-playing action but has almost no software in these genres.



Conclusion: The DS is great but it's not for everyone. If you want to play movies, music and portable versions of PS2 games, then you should get a PSP. The DS is about less adrenaline-fuelled games - the kind of games where you train a puppy. It's also cheaper, more rugged and has a much wider range of titles suitable for children.

Pros:

• Touchscreen provides an intuitive means of control.
• Plenty of good games available.
• Lots of games suitable for kids.
• Lots of games suitable for your mum.
• Plays all Game Boy Advance games.
• Clamshell design protects the screens when not in use.
• Lite version is particularly small and portable.

Cons:

• Lacks graphical power.
• Unique features (second screen, touchscreen, etc) are often under-utilised.
• Games are relatively expensive.
• The volume control switch is a bit fiddly.
• Poor support from western developers.
• The game cartridges are small enough to be mistaken for chocolate mints.
• My seven-year-old won't give mine back.

Rating: 4/5.

Labels: computer game review, computer games, DS, toy/game review

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  Nintendo Wii console

Price: £180 including one wiimote, one nunchuk, composite AV cable and Wii Sports game.

Extras:

• RGB Scart cable: £20 (an essential purchase).
• Wiimote: £30.
• Nunchuk: £15.
• Classic controller: £15 (for use with GameCube and retro games).
• GameCube memory card: £10.
• Internet browser: £4.
• LAN adapter: £23 (for connecting to a wired network).
• SD memory card: A few pounds.

Comments: The Wii is an attempt by Nintendo to take consoles in a different direction. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are graphical powerhouses with major multi-media capabilities; the Wii is about fun games for all the family and intuitive controls. As such, the Wii's processing power is more in line with the original Xbox than the 360. This is still pretty powerful, though. Only hardcore gamers are going to care and Nintendo's hoping that they'll pick up a Wii as their second console to complement a more 'serious' purchase from Microsoft or Sony.

The plan seems to be working. Nintendo can't make Wiis fast enough.

Many Wii games are controlled using just the wiimote (which looks like a TV remote control). A sensor bar you sit on top of your telly can tell where the wiimote is pointing for moving cross-hairs, etc, and there are also motion-sensing components so the wiimote can be used like a golf club or tennis racket. For some games, a nunchuk attachment can be connected to the wiimote. This has more buttons, an analogue stick and its own motion sensors. Unfortunately, some of the buttons on both controllers are awkward to get to. Also, poorly designed games use shakes in different directions to replace button presses. This adds no immersion whatsoever, can be imprecise and, frankly, is just plain annoying. Motion-sensing only makes a game better when the player's movement is required to mimic 'real life' movement, such as swinging a sword or bowling a ball. Anything else is pointless. Very few games have got it right so far.



GameCube games and some downloadable games require a GameCube or classic controller to play. These are sold separately. Fine if you already have a full set of GameCube controllers but expensive if you're new to Nintendo and want to try out some of the GameCube's excellent multiplayer titles. You'll also need a GameCube memory card.

The Wii itself is very small - about the size of three DVD cases - but there is also an additional power block that tends not to get displayed in publicity photos. This, combined with the wired sensor bar, makes the Wii difficult to unthread from the matted cabling behind my telly and a faff to move round the house. The sensor bar means that a video-sender isn't much use either.

Photos can be read from an SD memory card and there's some software for playing around with the images. The results can't be saved back to the card, however, so it's a bit of a waste of time.

The Wii can connect to the internet over a wireless network and there's an internet browser available for download. This works surprisingly well even on a normal telly and I wish I'd had it to entertain me during all the sleepless nights I had when the kids were small.

As ever, a console is only as good as its games and this is where the Wii really falls down at the moment. There are hardly any that make worthwhile use of the innovative controller. Many Wii games feel like they'd actually be easier to control with a GameCube pad. Like the EyeToy camera for the PlayStation 2, developers seem to think the Wii is great but none of them appear to know what to do with it. The best games available include:

• Wii Sports - Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Bowling and Boxing. Genius on a DVD. Not much more than a tech demo of the wiimote's abilities really but this is a game that will even get your mum leaping around breaking your light fittings once she's had a couple of sherries.
• Wii Play - A selection of minigames which come bundled with a wiimote. Great fun but, once again, very limited. Good for getting children used to the wiimote.
• Wario Ware: Smooth Moves - A vast collection of microgames which display more imaginative design than much of the rest of the Wii's back catalogue put together. All over in an evening, though.
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - A lengthy and excellent action adventure. Just like every other Zelda game, however, and motion controls feel tacked on (because they were).
• Super Paper Mario - Platforming adventure that, like Zelda:TP, began life on the GameCube.
• Paper Mario - Witty and fun role-playing game that first saw release on the Nintendo 64.

So that's two sets of minigames that are too insubstantial to justify a stand-alone release, another set of minigames, two GameCube ports and a N64 game. For a console that's been out ten months, that's not hugely promising. I guess there's also Mario Party 8 (another game which looks suspiciously like it began development on the GameCube), Trauma Centre: Second Opinion (a port of a frustratingly hard DS game) and the mildly entertaining Excite Truck.

On the way, there's Metroid Prime: Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy and, erm, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. I'd be willing to bet good money there's also a huge stack of minigame collections incoming, closely followed by a skipful of shoddy tie-ins to CGI movies. Can't wait.

Honestly, if it weren't for my kids' large collection of GameCube games, then our Wii would barely have been used for months. The only places to find more GameCube games these days, however, are GameStation's second-hand racks or on eBay. Even then, the decent ones are still pretty expensive.

Conclusion: Lights will flicker up and down the country this Christmas as a million Wiis are switched on. Whole families will wave their arms about like lunatics for a few days. Everyone will have a great time. By Easter, though, the thing will be covered in dust and the kids will start demanding a PlayStation 3.

Pros:

• The only console you're likely to get your gran playing this Christmas.
• Easy to control.
• Fully backwards compatible with GameCube.
• Lots of quality retro games to download.
• As much fun as an EyeToy...

Cons:

• ...But when was the last time you actually played with your EyeToy.
• Lack of 'proper' games.
• Cost of extra controllers quickly adds up.
• Limited internal memory.
• Retro games are relatively expensive.
• Wiimote eats batteries.
• Not as easy to control as they'd have you believe.
• Not as portable as it looks.
• Can be dangerous in the hands of small children or drunk grannies.

Rating: 3/5.

Related Links:

Review: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Review: WarioWare
All Wii Reviews (including Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball & Excite Truck)
Review: Microsoft Xbox 360 console
Dear Dave: Gamesnight
Dear Dave: Gamesnight II
Dear Dave: Satire on the PS3 price cut
Dear Dave: Satire on the other PS3 price cut

Labels: computer game review, computer games, wii

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  Xbox 360 console

Prices:

• Premium console: £250 including 20GB hard-drive, wireless controller, headset & a dual composite/component AV cable. (Component works on HD tellies; composite is a slightly rubbish connection for normal TVs).
• Core console: £180 including wired controller and composite AV cable.
• Elite console: £300 including 120GB hard-drive, wireless controller, headset & HDMI cable.

There are plenty of bundles and deals around and you should really expect a couple of games thrown in as well at these prices.

Don't bother with the core console pack. A few games don't work without a hard-drive and you'll need a hard-drive or memory unit to save your game progress. A hard-drive will also improve load times in some games. The premium pack is a better deal than buying a core pack plus a hard-drive separately.

Don't buy second-hand. The design has changed slightly so that new consoles are more reliable. The disk drives are also (allegedly) faster and quieter. Microsoft have retrospectively extended the warranty of all 360s from one year to three years for problems involving the 'three red lights of death'. They'll fix or replace consoles with this problem for free but it's a hassle and takes a few weeks. For the amount of money you'll save, you're as well buying new.

Extras:

• VGA cable: £15 (for using a computer monitor).
• RGB SCART cable: £15 (an essential purchase if using a non-HD telly).
• Wired controller: £25.
• Wireless controller: £33.
• Wi-fi adapter: £60.
• HD-DVD player: £130.
• Media remote: £20 (but you can just use a normal controller).
• 20GB hard-drive: £70.
• 64MB memory unit: £23.
• Annual subscription to play online: £40.

If you're wanting a console that plays HD movies, can store lots of downloads, you can play online and that connects wirelessly to the internet then you're looking at well over £500 for the full Xbox experience. Suddenly the PS3 looks like a bargain (and that lets you browse the internet, not just download things).

Comments: As I've said before, if you're thinking of getting into gaming then your best bet is buying a PS2 or second-hand Xbox and a pile of second-hand games. You'll be able to try out plenty of different genres of games cheaply. (Sadly, desirable second-hand GameCube games are hard to find these days). The latest generation of consoles is still expensive and the selection of games is limited (particularly for the PlayStation 3 and Wii). With Christmas approaching, however, if you have an aging console already, you may be thinking of upgrading. The supply of decent, new games for the last generation of consoles has dried up. For better or worse, developers have moved on to the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

First things first, the new generation of consoles are much more complicated than previous generations. There are screens and screens of menu options and it will probably take a couple of hours to get the 360 set up to take the best advantage of your AV system and to get familiar with it.

When you first get a game going, you may be a little disappointed.

The graphics aren't going to blow you away. They're impressive but, let's face it, your mum won't be able to tell the difference between the 360 and your last console. The increase in power is less obvious than between previous console generations - it's most notable in things like level of detail, draw distance and number of objects on screen at once. On a normal telly, even you may struggle to tell the difference between the best Xbox games and a mediocre 360 title. Hook a 360 up to an HD display and shove in BioShock, however, and you'll be amazed.

There are plenty of game demos available. You can even download them while playing other games. Most weigh-in at more than half a gigabyte, though, so you'll need to check your broadband connection doesn't have a usage cap. There are also music videos, game extras and small games to download for a fee. There's the promise of films and TV shows in the future. You can put your own music collection on the hard-drive and use it as the soundtrack to games.

The machine itself looks nice (if you care) but whirrs incredibly loudly when in use, making more noise than my washing machine on rinse. It also gets very hot - hide it in a drawer to blank out the noise and you'll need oven mitts to pick it up afterwards. Seriously, give it plenty of room to breathe.

Hmmm... This isn't coming across as too encouraging. On the one hand, the 360 is expensive and has a number of flaws. On the other, of all the consoles I've owned, my 360 is the only one I've become emotionally attached to. It's provided me with a great deal of entertainment and relaxation. That's down to the range and quality of games available. Highlights include:

• Oblivion - An enormous first-person fantasy role-playing game. There's a beautiful world you can roam freely, hundreds of quests and all manner of things to do.
• BioShock - A first-person adventure. Trapped in an underwater '50s utopia gone bad, you must explore the wreckage, using guns and your genetic mutations to fight off the mad residents.
• Hitman: Blood Money - Yes, you too can be a professional assassin! Oddly, however, this is as much a puzzle game as an action one. You have to figure out how to take down your targets as quietly and inconspicuously as possible. The levels are particularly imaginative, ranging from Mardi Gras to a red-neck wedding.
• Gears of War - Third-person shooting. Bald marines take on the alien horde.
• Saints Row - Gangster sim. Grand Theft Auto III with better graphics and most of the gameplay niggles fixed. Result.

On top of those, there's Halo 3, Kameo, Crackdown, Dead Rising, The Darkness, Tomb Raider: Legend, Command & Conquer 3, a stack of Tom Clancy games, plenty of racers (most notably Burnout Revenge) and vast numbers of shooters.

Many other titles are on their way soon(ish), including: Grand Theft Auto IV, Mass Effect, a Half-Life 2 compendium and Assassin's Creed.

Of the downloadable games, most seem over-priced attempts to wring a few pounds from nostalgic gamers. Pac-Man really isn't as much fun as you remember. There are a few worthwhile offerings, however: Worms, Bomberman, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Geometry Wars and adaptations of strategy boardgames Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan.

The 360 will also play many games written for the original Xbox. Each game requires a patch to be downloaded to make it work, however. (It's possible to send off for a DVD with all the current patches on it). Which games are compatible and how well they work is somewhat pot-luck. Check online before making any purchases.

Conclusion: Any console is all about the games.

At the moment, the 360 has the games I want to play - western role-players and third-person adventures - and there's almost nothing on PS3 I'm interested in that I can't get on 360. The Wii has some fun, novelty titles, a couple of good games and a pile of substandard ports and party games.

It's telling that when my 360 turned itself into a giant doorstop and Microsoft reckoned it would take a month to fix, I felt bereft. The Wii couldn't tide me over and I couldn't see the point of buying a PS3. I just wanted my 360 back.

Pros:

• Excellent selection of games.
• Downloadable demos.
• Acclaimed online service.
• Premium console is good value.
• Plentiful, cheap supply of older and second-hand games.

Cons:

• Warm and loud. Like putting a fan heater under your telly.
• Reliability issues.
• Expensive if you buy all the extras.
• Requires an HD display and surround sound to really shine.
• Few games for children.

Rating: 5/5.

Labels: computer game review, computer games, Xbox 360

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  Mario Kart DS Super Race Set

You bought more pokemon tack? No, no, it's Mario tack.

But it is tack? Oh, definitely. It was only £10, though.

That's not so bad, I suppose. But does it actually work? Just about.

Er... It's a slot-racer. You put a car on the track, you squeeze the accelerator trigger and the car goes round. How can it 'just about' work? The sections of track clip together nicely on a flat surface but the joints feel the strain a bit once you've got the bridge up and are working in three dimensions. There's plenty of fine adjustment of supports to be done. The wire brushes on the underside of the cars which allow them to take power from the metal strips on the track need frequent tinkering because they can be easily knocked out of line by spins and crashes.



Sounds like a faff. Can be. You'll be cursing it under your breath on occasion. Then it will suddenly work properly and you'll be away. The cars really whizz round and keeping them from flying off is quite a challenge. The way the cars spin out of control is very reminiscent of the computer games.

Speaking of which, do you get to drop banana skins and throw shells at your opponent? Sadly, banana skins and shells are not included. Not that staying on the track isn't hard enough as it is. Trying to race two cars by yourself when the kids have long since got bored is a particular challenge.

Are you sure you bought this for the children? They're actually quite taken with it. It's supposedly not for under-fives but Sproglette plays with it as a toy and doesn't mind the car coming off every couple of seconds as long as I'm there to put it back on. Sprog1 enjoys the racing. Sprog2 (who's five) finds it frustrating, though - he can't keep the car on the track long enough to really get into it.


Ooh! A whole nine feet of track! (DVD box for scale).

What happens if one of them sits on it by accident? It's doomed but, considering how much Sprog1 recently spent on Pokemon danglers from a toy dispenser in a desperate effort to get a pikachu, the cars are probably worth nearly a tenner as ornaments. They seem pretty sturdy. (I wouldn't want them flying off a table onto a hard floor, however).

Stocking-filler? Yeah, but it takes fifteen minutes to set up and adjust so you'll be wanting to put it together the night before as part of the last-minute Christmas Eve panic. Avoid trashing it in a mulled-wine-fuelled grand prix with your partner. The crash barriers, banner and scenery are made of thinner card than the packaging. Oh, and it requires 4 AA batteries which aren't included and you'll be needing a screwdriver to insert them. (I really hate that).

Yeah, the kids are much more likely to eat the batteries in excitement while I'm hunting around for a screwdriver during set up than they are to take them out of the controllers and snack on them in the middle of a game. Exactly.

I bet the packaging is full of annoying wire ties as well. Anything else? Some sets seem to have Donkey Kong rather than Yoshi but the box has pictures of both DK and Yoshi. That's the kind of thing small children can get really worked up about.



Pithy conclusion? Worth a shot if you have little Mario fans and you can find it cheap. (Check out GameStation). Otherwise you'd be better saving up for something more convincing.

Rating: 3/5 (but anyone charging £30 for it is having a laugh).

Labels: computer games, toy/game review

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  LOVEFiLM

What is it?: An online rental service for games and DVDs.

Price: Subscription plans include:

• £7.99 - 2 DVDs at a time, up to 4 rentals a month
• £12.99 - 2 DVDs at a time, unlimited rentals
• £15.99 - 3 DVDs at a time, unlimited rentals
• £14.99 - 2 DVDs/games at a time, unlimited rentals
• £18.99 - 3 DVDs/games at a time, unlimited rentals

Subscriptions are paid monthly. If you sign up for six months in advance, however, there is a discount equivalent to one month free.

How does it work?

1. You pay a monthly subscription based on the number of discs you can have on loan at a time.


2. Via LOVEFiLM's website, you create a list of films/games you'd like to rent. You look through the online catalogue, click on the ones you want and give them a high, medium or low priority according to how desperate you are to receive them. You can choose any game from any console that they stock.


3. LOVEFiLM sends the discs nearest to the top of your list that they have available.


4. You watch/play them and then send them back in individual, pre-paid envelopes when you're done. You can keep discs as long as you like.


5. When LOVEFiLM gets a disc back, they send another from your list.

Items stocked: LOVEFiLM's DVD collection is vast and comprehensive.

Along with films and TV series, LOVEFiLM also stocks PS2, PS3, PSP, GameCube, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360 games. You can't get DS games. Older games may not be available and certain games which require extra controllers, like Guitar Hero, can't be rented.

Comments: I've covered the basics of online games rental elsewhere. I even did a mini-review of LOVEFiLM. A couple of things have changed since then, however:

1. LOVEFiLM's selection of games has vastly improved. Pretty much all new releases on disc-based consoles are now available. Supply seems to be good, too. I've received popular titles like Crackdown, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and God of War II as soon as I've put them to the top of my list.


2. Multiple lists are now in operation. It's possible to have more than one rental list and specify which list your next rental is to be selected from. You could have lists for action films, comedy, TV series, etc, and closely manage what you get to watch. Personally, just being able to differentiate between games and films is all I need - it means I don't have to have a separate subscription with a games rental company any more.
   
   On my package, I can have three discs out on rental at once. I've got a list for games and a list for films. At the moment, I have two discs from the films list and one from the games list. If I send back a film, I get a film in return. If I send back a game, I get a game in return. A quick click on the website is all that's required, however, to make sure that the next time I return a film, I'll get a game back (or vice versa).

LOVEFiLM has always been a solid choice for DVD rental. Discs are sent out six days a week and turn-around time is speedy. Customer service responds quickly to emails and deals with common problems effectively. (Geeky suggestions and queries may confuse them, though... (Don't ask)). Prices are competitive, particularly if you sign up for six months at a time.

Combining this experience and competence with the two new improvements means that LOVEFiLM is now also a serious consideration when looking for a games rental service. The choice of games is there and it's at last possible to guarantee the ratio of games to DVDs that is received, rather than just shoving games to the top of the queue and hoping.

Conclusion: Finally, a combined online DVD and game rental service which is both easy to use and at a reasonable price.

Pros:

• Very efficient.
• Good customer service.
• Decent price.
• Excellent DVD selection.
• Wide choice of games.
• Combined game/DVD packages offer great flexibility.

Cons:

• No DS or GBA games.
• The usual online rental quibbles - you don't have exact control over what you're going to get and you're at the mercy of the Royal Mail.

Rating: 5/5.

(Also, check out my tips on how to get the most from online rental).

Conflict of interest warning!: Click through from this site and take up a free trial with LOVEFiLM and I'll earn some money, which doesn't make this an entirely disinterested review. On the flip side, however, LOVEFiLM is the rental service I currently pay to use myself, the trial is free, so is this site, LOVEFiLM is actually good and I have overheads, you know. So don't complain too much. (You can always type the domain name into your browser just to spite me, if you really want).

Labels: computer games, rental, service

  8:00 AM - Permanent Link - 3 comments - Post comment - Links to this post

  Online rental tips

The internet is awash with reviews of online rental companies that read something like, 'This service is rubbish! I had ten Xbox 360 games in my queue but they sent me the four-year-old PS2 game at the bottom.'

Often these critical reviews are less to do with the stock levels of the company involved than with a mixture of misfortune and inexperience on the part of the reviewer. If you want to get the best from a rental service, then you need to use a little strategy. No one gets their top choice all the time; everyone gets their bottom choice on occasion. That's the nature of the system. Plan for it.

To go with today's review of LOVEFiLM, I've put together a few tips that should help maximise enjoyment and value for money when using an online games rental service. (Plenty of the tips apply to online DVD rental, too).

• Only add games to your list which you really want to play. There's a temptation to bung anything which sounds half-decent into your rental queue. Resist. By all means, try something new, but choose carefully.



• Don't add games you know you won't like. Which sounds obvious but... I've never got past level three of any game with Tom Clancy's name on it and yet I keep being impressed by great reviews and gorgeous screenshots. I keep renting them. I keep getting bored. I'm going to stop. (T.C.'s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 does look good, though. The reviews are great and the screenshots look gorgeous...)



• Rent more than one game at a time. Three is a luxury but two is essential. Otherwise, if you rent a game you don't like and send it back straight away, you'll have nothing to play for a week or more.



• Play one game at a time. Finish a game, send it off, play the next while the Royal Mail does its thing. You really don't want to keep swapping between two games, finish them both early on a Thursday evening and have nothing to play until Monday at the earliest.



• Try a new game as soon as you get it. Yes, I know this contradicts what I just said but it's the single exception. If you don't like a game then it's important to find out and send it back as soon as possible. Don't wait until you've got another game finished and sitting on the shelf ready to post.



• Never give a game a second chance. If a game hasn't got you at least interested within five minutes then proceed with caution. If it hasn't got you hooked after an hour or so then it's just not going to. Don't leave it a few days and try again - put it back in the envelope and get something else. There's no point playing a game that spends its entire time promising to be good at any moment when you can swap it almost painlessly for something that actually is good.



• Don't add games just to make up the numbers. You'll need to add a certain number of games to your list to activate your account. If you can't manage this then don't bother renting. However, if your list drops below this level later on, don't panic. Chances are that nothing bad will happen except you'll have to wait an extra day or two for them to have one of your listed games in stock. This is less time than it will take for you to receive and send back a game added to your list for the sake of it.



• Buy more consoles. As a housedad, time is limited, so why waste it playing rubbish games? Convert the money you save from renting into a new console. This way you'll have a wider choice of quality exclusive games.



• Finally, whatever you do, don't give the kids any indication you've rented a game they might be interested in. They will want to see it. Then they will want to play it. Then they will want to keep it. This cannot end well.

Now go and give it a try. Enjoy!

Labels: advice, computer games, rental, Xbox 360

  7:59 AM - Permanent Link - 0 comments - Post comment - Links to this post

  Online Games Rental

It's possible to play videogames cheaply if you don't mind living in the past. Go to the second-hand section of GameStation with £100 and you could probably pick up an Xbox and a dozen games. That will last you a while. Stick up a calendar from 2005 and pretend Dr Who hasn't been on telly for fifteen years and you'll be right at home.

The problem is, when you actually turn on the TV, you'll be seeing shiny adverts for games like Mass Effect, Motor Storm and Metroid Prime: Corruption. An Xbox 360, PS3 and a Wii will set you back around £900 altogether once you've added in extra leads and stuff like that. You'll probably be wanting a large HDTV to really get the most out of the first two as well (or at least a decent computer monitor). A good surround-sound system is nice too.

That's a lot of birthdays and pocket money.

After all that, the games still cost £40 each for the latest releases. You can hunt around for bargains and trade-ins but that takes time and, if you have children, that's time you don't have. At the very least, it's time that would be better spent playing games rather than sifting through clearance racks full of rubbish. There's no point having a shiny new console, though, if you've got no games. You want games. You need games... Games... Want games... Games...

Er...

Anyway... If you're happy playing whatever's in the bargain bucket, then stick to the PS2/Xbox/GameCube generation of consoles and save yourself some cash. If you hanker after hi-res shininess or can't resist a Wii, then you might as well play the decent (expensive) stuff. However you look at it, though, if you want to buy the latest and best, then you're going to need a well-paid and understanding partner.

Shh... She can hear you thinking.

Alternatively, you could rent rather than buy. If you live right next to Blockbuster then check them out but for most of us the simplest and cheapest way is online rental.

How does it work?

1. You pay a monthly subscription based on the number of games you can have on loan at a time (roughly £15 for two games).
2. Via the rental company's website, you create a list of games you'd like to rent. You look through the online catalogue, click on the ones you want and put them in order according to how desperate you are to play them. You can choose any game from any console that they stock.
3. The company sends the game or games nearest to the top of your list that they have available.
4. You play the game(s) and send them back in individual, pre-paid envelopes when you're done. You can keep games as long as you like.
5. When the company gets a game back, they send another game from your list.

Advantages

You can play the latest games for a relatively small monthly subscription. It's a bargain if you play lots of games. It also allows you to try different styles of games at no risk - if you don't like a game you can send it straight back and get another one.

Disadvantages

Unfortunately, online rental is not for everyone. There are a few things you're going to have to be able to put up with:

• No instruction book. You get sent just the disc in a clam case. To be honest, this can be liberating. Nearly all games have some form of tutorial to get you up to speed and without an instruction book you can just get on with playing. If you get stuck, you can always check out GameFAQs.
• You don't have much control over what you get next. It just depends what everyone else has returned at the same time as you. If you really can't face another first-person shooter for awhile then your only option is to remove all of them from your list. Sometimes you're lucky and get a game you really want on day of release. Sometimes you won't get it for months. You'll get it eventually, though.
• You are at the mercy of the Royal Mail. First-class post is supposed to arrive the next day but that doesn't always happen. If you finish a game early on a Thursday evening, post it on the Friday and it doesn't make it for Saturday, then it's going to be at least Tuesday before you get another game. That's a while. Also, post sometimes goes missing. If you don't have proof of postage (which is realistically too much like hassle to get every time) then the the rental company might hold you liable. They probably won't but it's still stress and you'll have one game less than you should for nearly a fortnight. I'd say I've had about one rental in fifty be eaten by the postie in one direction or the other.
• Loss of retail therapy. There's no point going into games shops once you're renting. You'll need to own a game or two to tide you over if you fall foul of a string of unwise rentals. You might want to have a couple of multi-player titles as well. But that's it. If you want to play a game, add it to your rental queue - don't buy it. Particularly avoid buying games that you can't be bothered to rent. No matter how much of a bargain they are, that's just madness.
• You need to like playing through one game at a time. If you like dipping in and out of a selection of games then renting isn't for you.
• No PC games. There are registration, piracy and installation issues involved with PC games which mean no one rents out discs. There is at least one PC download rental service, though. You pay for access to a library of games. You can download as many as you like, when you like, but they only work as long as your subscription is still valid. This obviously does away with many of the problems of a disc-based systems. You'll need a good broadband connection, however, and the selection of games is limited.

Recommendations

Swapgame.com - PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, GBA, DS, PSP

Swapgame has a wide selection of games. It's the only place to rent GBA games and back-catalogue DS games but they don't have many copies of these games in stock. You can rent one, two or three games at a time. It can take them a while to answer emails and deal with problems.
A solid choice if you want three games at a time or own a Nintendo handheld.

Gamesfrenzy.co.uk - PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, DS, PSP

Again, a wide selection of games. DS games are a recent addition, though, with a limited catalogue. You can rent one or two games at a time. Slightly cheaper than Swapgame if you subscribe quarterly. Customer service is excellent.

The best choice if you don't own a Nintendo handheld.

Lovefilm.com - Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PSP, Wii, PS3

The main focus of this site is DVD rental but, for a little extra each month, you can rent games as well. They haven't added any new games to stock since October 2006 which makes the additional charge seem a little cheeky. Useless if you mainly want to rent games but worth a look if you mostly want to watch movies (particularly if you've just bought an Xbox 360 and want to try out some of the older games). You can rent one, two or three discs at a time. Customer service is generally good until you try and find out when they're getting more games.
UPDATE 20/2/07: Hurrah! They've finally added an absolute stack of new games including all the latest 360 titles. This makes for a much better gaming prospect. (Still no Canis Canem Edit (Bully), though).
UPDATE 5/07: They're stocking Wii games now! (And Canis Canem Edit). Now very enticing.

A good choice if you're up half the night comforting a baby. Catching up on Battlestar Galactica with the subtitles enabled beats watching baseball on Channel 5.

Labels: computer games, rental

  10:47 PM - Permanent Link - 0 comments - Post comment - Links to this post