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.

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."