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Frontier boss David Braben has urged publishers to remember that taking a chance on an unproven game can often lead to mountains of money.

Far longer, more intricate, more challenging and just simply more imaginative than most shooters cluttering up the shelves, Metroid Prime 3 is another master-class of design brilliance from Retro Studios and the perfect end to an almost perfect gaming trilogy.

As the race to release the next generation of video game consoles comes to a photo-finish extravaganza of cutting edge technology and universe-expanding games, the most prized possessions of the videogame enthusiast are not coming from the high street stores but from car boot sales and internet auctions. Once again, Sir Clive Sinclair is racing down the final stretch at the heels of newcomer giants Microsoft and Sony, with many other old campaigners like Atari, Commodore and Amstrad in hot pursuit.

There's something intrinsically likeable about Exit - so much so, in fact, that it's hard to approach the game without desperately wanting to like it. Whether it's the wonderfully eccentric art style, the sense of humour that suggests a mind somewhat askew, or simply the fact that it's a puzzle game that isn't another bloody variation on bloody Tetris, we're not sure. Perhaps it's a bit of all three.

Capcom has said it will be joining forces with Sony Pictures Japan to make a computer-animated Resident Evil film.

Developer Fireglow Games has said that Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory will be released in the UK and Ireland on 5th December.

Microsoft has issued a statement saying that IPTV functionality will not be included in the fall 360 firmware update.

EA and MTV have finally unravelled the track list for Rock Band.

EA has confirmed to Eurogamer that it will not be offering any downloadable content for SKATE in the future.

Microsoft has confirmed that Mutant Storm Empire will be released on Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow, priced 800 Microsoft points (GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.30), and has also highlighted some of the other XBLA titles due out in "the coming weeks".

If you've ever wondered what Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime makes of the competition, an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle has the answer: he likes the look of LittleBigPlanet, reckons the Halo trilogy is indispensable and thought BioShock was "tremendously well done".

Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 has topped the UK software charts, entering its first week at number one according to Chart-Track data, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The success of EyeToy was undeniably one of the factors that kept the PS2 ticking long after its peers had slunk away to the hardware graveyard, so you can hardly blame Sony for introducing the next generation PlayStation camera package early in the PS3 life-cycle. Launching it with a collectible card game, however, seems like an odd option, such things not being famous for their cross-generational appeal, and the first two downloadable PlayStation Eye offerings don't exactly scream mainstream either.

Of the DS' major rhythm-action games, only Jam Sessions has made it to Europe with relatively little fuss - Ouendan took its sweet time, and the venerable Daigassou! Band Brothers never made it at all, despite rumours that it was in development for Western audiences as Jam With The Band. Shame, then, that Jam Sessions is ultimately the weakest of the DS' music games, although it's not without its uses. Where traditional rhythm-action games are essentially reflex tests, Jam Sessions is essentially a synthesiser instead, letting you make your own music instead of playing along to preset patterns like in Guitar Hero.

StreamMyGame has revealed fresh technology that will let you remotely play games installed on your home PC.

Rising Star has picked up the publishing rights to No More Heroes, and will be pumping it out across Europe in February.

The absolute best thing about being a gamer in the mid 80s was that you didn't have to wait very long for sequels. Like The Beatles releasing two albums a year, Epyx's blisteringly prolific output of genius multi-sport games made it impossible for die-hard Speccy fans like myself to ignore the fact that the C64 had an awful lot of games that simply couldn't be ported to other machines. Dammit.

Having carved itself a reputation for making the finest sports games in the world the preceding year, Epyx quickly released its best yet with the wonderful Winter Games.

In an all-time list of great C64 games (or 8-bit games in general), Uridium should be near, if not right at the top of the list. At the absolute peak of his creative powers, Andrew Braybrook created the kind of effortlessly innovative and visually slick horizontal shooter that even die-hard Spectrum fans liked.

After about forty five minutes, my best friend Marc put down his controller in disgust. "This isn't a game," he raged. "This is an assassination!"

The official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website has trumpeted that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will come with its own Stage Builder.

When beardy old farts bang on about how games were so much more original in the old days, they're not just wallowing in a misguided sea of addled nostalgia. Paradroid - a robot power-struggle game quite unlike anything else - is proof positive of this.

"Speedup! Rotate! Extra life! Missile! MissMissMissile! Speedup!" Those were the words which repeatedly barked out of the C64's extraordinarily capable SID chip every time you picked up the plethora of pickups which spewed forth from outer space between rounds in the frantic, but wonderful arcade shooter Mega Apocalypse.

Not dissimilar to Stuntman in concept, the novel idea of Kikstart II was to complete a motorbike assault course in the quickest possible time - preferably quicker than your opponent.

From moment Impossible Mission begins you know it's something special. Possessing one of the most memorable introductions in videogaming history (Professor Atombender's ominous verbal greeting), it subsequently delivers a devilish duel experience of platform-leaping and puzzling. As noted by programmer Dennis Caswell, players would sometimes breeze through one of these facets only to struggle with the other.

At a time in the C64's history when every other game was a tedious, bloated multiload pain in the butt, it was refreshing to come across a game which pushed all the right buttons and had the decency to load all in one go. Such issues blighted the carefree mind of a mid-teenager in 1988.

It's long been acknowledged that Miner 2049er inspired Matthew Smith to develop the wonderful Manic Miner, but its superb 'official' sequel never seems to get the credit it deserves - so let's put that right.

After initially flirting with the Atari 8-bit machines, LucasFilm evidently noted that the C64 was a more bankable format internationally. When that time came in mid 1985, it unleashed a flurry of top-rated and hugely ambitious games in the shape of The Eidolon, Rescue on Fractalus, Koronis Rift and Ballblazer.

One of (if not the) earliest arcade games to have its own TV commercial (featuring the seductive, if slightly self-defeating, slogan "The Atari game you cannot play at home!") Xevious was an impressive game to behold; even if the play mechanics were less than imaginative. That said, this was one of the first examples of the scrolling vertical shooter, and while a little sparse at times, the incredible clarity and conceptual insight helped inspire an entire generation of shmup games.

The best thing about publishers relentlessly vomiting up their ancient 'classic' back catalogue onto the Xbox Live Arcade is that there's only a finite amount of this stuff that can feasibly be bracketed as an arcade 'classic'. Remember folks, just because it's old, that doesn't make it a classic.