As you read this Atari’s Driv3r will have be in the shops and being played in homes across the world after it’s worldwide release. If you’ve played it already you’ll no doubt be aware that the game is a huge disappointment and certainly not the Grand Theft Auto beater that the hype may have had you believe. Folk out there playing the game will be aware of it, and judging by Atari’s actions over the last week they are also very aware of it.

Inevitably, as we all roll out of our beds in 2004 the games industry instinctively begins to speculate on the year ahead. Sony’s PSP and the Nintendo DS guarantee a fierce handheld battle in the run up to Christmas, but on the established formats there is one battle that is really going to let rip this year – the war of the padless game.

A few weeks ago we had a Reporting In From 'MMOG' Land editorial which took a closer look at the the discontent of the EverQuest community. Sony Online took wind of the angry EQ community and arranged a summit of sorts where the flew in various people from EQ guilds to hear the concerns. Not that said summit has been held we felt the need to do a follow up story ....

Two simple words – Electronic Arts. You can gauge what type of gamer you are by your reaction to the name. If you rejoice in celebration and bow in worship, you’re probably what we know as a ‘casual gamer’. If, however, you curl your toes in disgust then you may be more of a ‘hardcore gamer’. One thing is certainly true – EA divides opinion like no other company other than maybe Nintendo.

I want to discuss something today that isn’t necessarily games related as such, but I think is a factor that as purchasers of games we should be aware of. Over here in the UK there’s a guy on TV called Derren Brown. You may know him in the States and across the world, I don’t know. He’s one of these modern day magicians; the sort that call themselves ‘illusionists’ because pulling rabbits out of hats is no longer cool.

This is an article for you younger gamers out there, but even you oldies can take note. I remember what it was like when I was a wee nipper (as we call it here in Britain). I’d read the odd magazine and drooled over what seemed amazing new releases for the Megadrive/Genesis and SNES. I would have loved to own them all but seeing as my only income was the pocket money given to me by my parents, purchases were few and far between and had to be very carefully selected.

The discontent had been muted, but the underground (non-official) message boards of the EverQuest community were full of long-winded posts that all screamed the same thing: “You released Gates of Discord in February and a new graphics engine in May. Both don’t work. Late May, you announced a new expansion, Omens of War, due to come out at the end of July. Dammit Sony, fix the broken crap FIRST!”

With another E3 now behind us I find it difficult not to spend much of my time thinking about the future of the games industry. Does the future look any different now than it did pre E3? Not really, but if nothing else the Los Angeles event has certainly solidified a few truths. In the coming year the battle for gaming supremacy seems as if it’s going to be fought on a new front – the realm of innovation.

Before E3 officially kicked off, several of the biggest publishers have their annual pre-E3 conferences where they give speeches about past achievements and look ahead at things to come. Micrsoft had its pre-E3 conference on Monday, and we were treated to some exciting Xbox Live news, footage from the new Forza Motorsport racing game, several announcements, but above all, a live demo of Halo 2 multiplayer. Read on for our report ...

It’s unbelievable to think that only 10 years ago the internet was nothing more than a curiosity. I remember my first experience of the net in my first year of university in 1997. We were all handed printed A4 guides to introduce us to this new technological marvel by the IT department. I loaded up Netscape and found my way onto Yahoo. The first thing I searched for? Spiderman. Why, I couldn’t say? A few hours later I’d browsed a couple of Transformers fan sites and checked out some porn with my neighbour. It was a fun afternoon, for sure, but it was a few years before I realised just how useful, no actually – vital, that internet thingy was to become.

Decisions. They’re something we face all the time in our day-to-day lives. When we wake up in the morning, we decide what to wear, what breakfast to have, whether to have tea of coffee before we leave for work. Do we obey or break the speed limit on the journey in? Do we pretend to like the boss when we see him at the office or sneer at them embodying the utter disdain we actually hold them in?

Excitement spread around the office as, shock horror, another screenshot for Halo 2 was released on the net. Not that the screenshot showed us anything new, of course, merely more of the same. In fact, for all intents and purposes it could have been a shot from the original Halo. I couldn’t help but wonder, as I sat there engulfed by the surrounding euphoria, whether there would be the same level of excitement if an example of a new sound effect from the game had been released onto the web?

Back when games were in their mainstream infancy, there was a time when companies like Nintendo and Sega fought their battles through the games released on their systems. Did you prefer the ingenious structure of Miyamoto’s Mario platformers’ or the high-speed kicks of Sega’s Sonic? Was it Nintendo’s Mode 7 graphics technology or the arcade thrills of Thunderforce 3 that got you hot under the collar?

As gamers we’re constantly striving for perfection. This must be true, or why else every year do we happily fork out forty notes on the latest annual update of our favourite franchise, be it Madden 2004 or Pro Evolution Soccer 3? Though sometimes these sequels are a significant step forward, more often than not they’re more or less the same as the previous year’s version, bar cosmetic enhancements or trivial alterations; a few hundred extra polygons here, updated team rosters there.

It’s been a really long day. You’ve put in 10 hours on the job. The commute home was a nightmare. You were cut off no fewer than 5 times by self-important pinheads that seem to have Ericsson cell phones grafted to their skulls. Everyone you did business with today had a major superiority thing going on. You have an overwhelming urge to, as I say to my wife, “blow sh*t up.” You sit down at your PC or your console, you fire up your flavor-of-the-month, and you aim for the nearest thing that isn’t you…

Most recently there has been a lot of commotion around violent games, lawsuits, ratings and letigation regarding "mature" titles. When we use the term "mature gaming," what is it that we actually mean? Are we simply referring to titles that have received a "mature" or "18+" rating certificate? In this week's editorial, we give our thoughts on the recent "phenomenon."

Massively Multiplayer Online Games are all the rage these days, and given how frequently they change with expansions, free updates and patches, we felt they were worthy of their own column. This article is our latest in a regularly scheduled (bi-weekly) series devoted solely to MMOG development. To kick things off, we take a look at Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis and the recent changes/developments...

Massively Multiplayer Online Games are all the rage these days, and given how frequently they change with expansions, free updates and patches, we felt they were worthy of their own column. This article is the first in a regularly scheduled (bi-weekly) series devoted solely to MMOG development. To kick things off, we take a look at LucasArts' Star Wars Galaxies and more specifically, the recent "changes" announcement ...