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A mother's enquiry about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for her ten-year-old son prompted a night-time visit to her home from a state trooper.

In these risk averse times of mass market videogaming, the best we can generally look forward to in terms of innovation is a new engine or more accurately, more powerful technology. The sort that enables developers to basically show off and up the wow factor with more convincing physics, better AI and prettier graphics. It feels like progress of sorts, and the novelty of seeing our favourite gaming styles dressed up in new clothes is perpetually exciting... but it's a quick fix that hides the sad reality that originality is way down the list of priorities. The truth is, sadly, most popular genres have been lacking in genuinely new ideas for half a decade or more - which is why a game like In Memoriam stands out all the more.

The Grand Theft Auto series could be on its way to San Andreas, Sin City, Bogota or even Tokyo according to a raft of pre-Christmas filings Take-Two made with the US Patent and Trademark Office. After a year of speculation, the registration on December 17th of "GTA: San Andreas", "GTA: Sin City", "GTA: Bogota" and "GTA: Tokyo" by Take-Two has intensified speculation as to where the series will venture next. Take-Two also registered "GTA 5" and "GTA 6" and the above titles with "Grand Theft Auto" prefixes instead of "GTA".

According to Swedish publication Superplay (no relation, we're guessing to the best SNES mag ever), Naughty Dog is currently busy beavering away on a follow-up to highly rated action/platform game Jak II: Renegade, imaginatively dubbed with a working title of "Jak III".

As anticipated, January 9th has joined January 2nd in being almost completely devoid of any sort of shopping related interest for avid gamers such as yourself. Indeed, in this house it's once again been termed "catch up week", as yours truly scrambles to play any games missed out during the Christmas rush ahead of voting for our annual Top 50 Games feature in the near future...

The enigmatic new machine at the centre of Nintendo's E3 plans, which is neither a GameCube nor Game Boy Advance successor, remains something of a mystery today despite reports that it somehow measures movement and may be compatible with existing game software for either Cube or GBA.

Gran Turismo 4 has slipped from Q1 to summer 2004 according to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. "It's looking like June or July now," a spokesperson was quoted as saying yesterday.

Sega fans can get their hands on a second Japanese demo of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the PC today well ahead of the game's February 6th release date here in Europe.

Firaxis Games' Director of Creative Development Sid Meier has been inducted into the Computer Museum of America Hall of Fame as part of a Class of 2002 induction - alongside such luminaries as Sir Clive Sinclair and the recently knighted Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Microsoft Game Studios confirms today that it has signed on to publish Tecmo's Xbox exclusive Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Online titles in Europe during 2004. In the words of Xbox EMEA platform director Michel Cassius, "They join a strong portfolio of Xbox titles coming this year such as Halo 2, Kameo, Fable, RalliSport Challenge 2 and Sudeki."

Oxygen Interactive is set to launch a new budget priced PS2 sports sim, International Golf Pro, on March 26th "in good time for the British Masters and the Open". IGP is Oxygen's second sports title following the release of tennis sim Perfect Ace last summer, and should retail for £14.99 here in the UK.

Microsoft's Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach, speaking before Bill Gates' keynote address at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show on Wednesday, reportedly told reporters that Halo 2 might not make its April release target.

Everybody's favourite games console, The Phantom, has finally made an appearance at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas following months of speculation over whether it even existed.

Ubisoft has signed a deal with Tecmo to publish PS2 survival horror title Project Zero 2 - Crimson Butterfly in Europe and Australia in Q2 2004.

Although Valve has gone to ground somewhat in the aftermath of the recent Half-Life 2 source code leak, offering little in the way of comment or news on the progress of massively anticipated and delayed first-person shooter, we did learn this week that the developer plans to release game's Software Development Kit (SDK) in the near future.

The PlayStation 2 console has arrived in China at last - but only just, with the major launch Sony had hoped for fizzling out following weeks of delays brought about by pricing concerns and unexpected legal problems.

1UP notes today that Namco producer Akira Yoshizumi has confirmed in the latest issue of Japanese Nintendo Dream magazine that another game in the Tales RPG series is currently in production, adding that the Namco Tales Studio will continue to work with animation company Production I.G.

World of WarCraft developer Blizzard has explained how a collection of files from its internal alpha test have made it onto the Internet, adding in Half-Life 2/Pain Killer/Stalker parlance that "they are not fully playable and therefore do not convey the experience that World of WarCraft will provide when it is released."

BBC Multimedia is planning to launch a multi-format game based on the much maligned FightBox TV/game crossover programme, showcasing the best of the FightBox warriors created by members of the public and recreating its tournament structure on PC, PS2 and Game Boy Advance.

Square Enix's online gaming service PlayOnline has passed the 500,000 registered users milestone in North America and Japan combined, the publisher announced this week, with nearly one million characters regularly active in Final Fantasy XI.

In his keynote address to the CES convention in Las Vegas this week, Bill Gates has revealed Microsoft's desire to push "seamless computing", starting with technology that will allow users to view movies and images and hear audio stored on their PCs, using a regular television equipped with a gadget from the Media Center Extender Kit (MCX) family of products.

Nintendo is such a frustrating company at times. It can be absolutely brilliant, when it wants to be. Mario Kart, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Metroid Prime - all games which shine brightest in the genres they inhabit, nurture or just plain created. But there are times when you have to wonder what in God's name the Sloth From Kyoto is up to. The GBA software situation, for example, is a colossal farce. A million and one SNES ports are hurting the console in the eyes of both players and publishers, and instead of fighting the tide with classic, original content, Nintendo is practically leading them off the cliff! Mario Advance? Much as we like games like Yoshi's Island and Super Mario World, we yearn for something new.

Sam Fisher makes a welcome return to our screens shortly, so Ubisoft has dutifully cranked up its PR machine in advance of its March 26th release (or March 16th in the US if you fancy importing it) and has released a two-minute 59MB trailer showing off several of the game's key moments and enhancements.

EA's delightful new press extranet has been updated with various release dates for some of its key and most interesting Q1 titles - namely Final Fantasy X-2, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, The Sims 2 and Battlefield Vietnam.

Majesco's Terminal Reality-developed BloodRayne may not have been the biggest success of 2003, flirting with outright mediocrity rather too often for most people's liking, but it certainly showed plenty of promise and the subject matter was ripe for a sequel. (And indeed a movie.)

UK game sales for 2003 were the highest ever according to the latest annual figures released by ChartTrack and ELSPA, reaching £1.26 billion for all "leisure" software during the year - up a not inconsiderable 7.1 per cent on 2002.

Infinium Labs has announced that it is finally unveiling its vapourware console The Phantom at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas tomorrow, (hopefully) putting an end to months of speculation that the PC-based games machine was one of the most elaborate hoaxes of all time.

Rockstar has updated its Classics site with the second in its series of freely downloadable full PC games from the publisher's expansive back catalogue - and surprise, surprise it's another DMA Design production, this time Wild Metal, also known as Wild Metal Country.

Generally media shy DOOM developer Id Software has made co-owners out of CEO Todd Hollenshead and lead designer Tim Willits, granting them ownership shares alongside the long-standing team of John Carmack, Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud.

However unlikely it seemed at the time, the original Max Payne proved to be the ideal foundation for some of the finest amateur modifications ever released, and that's something that developer Remedy and publisher Rockstar are keen to continue nurturing in the sequel.