Unless you’ve had your head stuck in a box of the plastic bricks for the last five years, you will be well aware of the presence of the series of videogames which has been reducing the heroes of our favourite movies down to tiny plastic figures who possess a considerably higher level of charm and wit than the actors who portray them in the films. I am referring, of course, to the Lego videogame series developed by Traveller’s Tales, which so far has released two (soon to be three) Star Wars titles, two Indiana Jones entries, as well as a Batman game. While the critical responses to some of the more recent of these games have begun to wane in their original enthusiasm, which seemed to peak at the first Indy game, all of the games inhabit an irresistible likeability, particularly when it comes to accessibility for all types of gamers and friendly multiplayer, which has you and a buddy cooperating happily, working in unison to solve charming puzzles instead of trying to blast each other’s heads off with a sniper rifle, which has been the general objective for the most recent cooperative games.

Now Traveller’s Tales next Lego game is on the horizon and it looks to be the best yet. While the main flaw with the series’ latest games has been their persistent inability to improve on the weaker elements of their predecessors, never seeming to even try and fix problems which were present in the first Lego Star Wars which was released five years ago, a lot of effort seems to have gone into this next game. And what could bode better than it being based on one of the most successful franchises in history; Harry Potter?

Focussing on years 1-4 of Harry’s time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (which makes sense seeing as once Warner Brothers are finished with the series, there will be a total of eight films, allowing TT to make two games, each containing the content of four films), Lego Harry Potter boasts the biggest location ever included in the Lego series, Hogwarts, which apparently will constantly expand as your progress though the game. The latest two non-Lego videogames based on the Harry Potter movies have adopted a sandbox gaming format, where the character is free to roam around the massive virtual campus of the enchanted school. Presuming this game is going to follow the trend set by all the other Lego games, however, it can be assumed that this will have levelled structure. That’s probably for the best, really, as the two games in question were painfully tedious as you walked wearily from one end of the school to another doing boring tasks.

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On the surface of things, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars Review looks like to be the rightful successor to Marvel vs. Capcom 2; the spirit of teamwork, hectic, over the top fighting and a hugely accessible gameplay. But in practice? Well we can thank Capcom and developers Eighting for not just delivering an exciting fighting game, but also giving Wii owners a title they can be proud off.

It’s a given that many won’t know much, if any, about Tatsunoko and may feel they are an odd choice when compared to X-Men, Marvel and SNK characters. This is perhaps why we don’t get as many characters when compared to most of the other vs. series games. However, what we do get is a fine selection itself, though you have to ask where is Ken? And why is the Mega Man in Ultimate All-Stars the one from Mega Man Legends? Minor quibbles aside, you’re bound to have fun with characters familiars such as Ryu and Morrigan, to new stars like Yattaman-1 and Polimar.

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Despite the DS outselling its Sony rival and even the big consoles on a regular basis, Nintendo are determined to get one into every gamer’s (and their relative’s) hands. With the children's market sorted they’re going for the grownups in force.

Handheld console manufacturers just can’t help but fiddle around. With both the DS and PSP getting numerous make-overs over the last few years getting bigger, smaller, slidier but rarely cheaper.

So it’s surprising to say that this is one upgrade that looks pretty good. Adding all the extra functions of the still recent DSi and supersizing the console to fit in adult hands and give them a screen big enough to make all the extra features worthwhile for once. While still not exactly cheap, the console will retail at £150 which is only £10 more than the smaller DSi.

So what does it do that we haven’t seen before on the DSi? Well not much to be honest. No Nintendo, new colours don’t count. There are only two colours available at launch, Wine Red and Dark Brown. It would seem Nintendo believe this the best strategy to attract the more ‘mature’ gamer, assuming they all like merlot and dirt.

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Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Ultimate All-Stars looked like it wasn’t going to be released in the west after all. In fact, next to Yakuza 3, it seemed like it would be the most likely game (since it was revealed) not to make it to Europe and North American shores. Well thank God that Capcom managed to pull it off. It’s a bit complex how the localization came to be but in a nutshell, Ultimate All-Stars will have some new characters and online play via Wi-Fi.

And it’s about time, since we haven’t had enough fighting games that can showcase the frantic, over-the-top action Capcom manage to produce when they teamed up with Marvel. While the Super Smash Bros series, Guilty Gear series, and Blazblue contained hectic gameplay, I don't think those games came close to the action MvC 2 provided, something that Ultimate All Stars promises to deliver.

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The ‘Day of Fury’ part of the title probably gave it away, but this isn’t part of the Wii Fit-style wave of games. So there’ll be no breathing games or dragging out the balance board, instead it’s good old-fashioned hit-things-with-a-stick gameplay.

Everything in the game seems to be enraging your guy, so in order to keep his stress levels (like a health bar) down you need to smash everything up and occasionally calm yourself down by finding money or a brew.

Playing from a first person perspective you guide your stressed psychopath through environments like your flat, a bridge traffic jam, your office and the airport. Using weapons varying from a slipper to a fire axe you must smash your way through doors, zombie cops, bugs, and hallucinations of traffic-signal men and other such demented ‘issues’.

Missions involve finding and destroying all your alarm clocks, breaking car windows, smashing phones and finding missing luggage at the airport. If you’ve ever seen the film Falling Down, just imagine that but with Michael Douglas on acid too.

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All your votes are in and counted. So who were the winners of the Game Hub Games of the Year Awards 2009? There are a few surprises amongst the obvious ones.  Fortunately for all the nominees, nobody got zero votes (somebody got one though). So here are the Top 3 for each of the 13 categories:

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Safar' Wii 1

There's a lot of rubbish for sale on the Wii and DS, but Safar-wii actually looks good and I am genuinely looking forward to seeing it released and seeing what it has to offer.  Safar'wii is a new safari game for Wii and should fit right in with the family friendly, non-gaming-centric Wii owners and will even be worth a look from gamers looking for a break from the usual shoot-it, drive-it, score-it action.  Refreshing games with quirky features, innovative controls and game play are at home at the Wii, and although we've already seen a similar game in Afrika on the PS3, it's good to see this kind of thing make it on to the Wii as well, hopefully bringing with it Nintendo's charm and knack for this kind of thing.  Pitched at the younger Wii audience it'll make a good family game and any parents or older siblings with an interest in photography or wildlife will likely enjoy themselves too, while for the man cubs, it promises to be a great learning tool.  It's for pre order at a bargain price of £19.99 at Amazon and is released on 12th February. 

Safar' Wii will let you explore Animal Island and take pictures of it's wild inhabitants, fulfilling your role as photographer for 'Animal News'.  You'll be given daily assignments from your editor to take pictures of some of the 21 different species to be found on the island and as you complete your assignments your relationship with the animals will grow. As you gain their trust, you’ll be able to do things like hug a panda or ride an elephant.

“Safar’Wii makes your dreams of getting close to wild animals a reality,” said Emma Jenkins Product Manager, “it gives kids the chance to interact with animals, see them in their natural habitats and learn about them in an exciting and fun way.”

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Prince of Persia : The Forgotten Sands will be on the shelves in May 2010 and Ubisoft are setting the launch gears in motion with a teaser trailer above and some of the first concrete details about the game.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is the next chapter in the Sands of Time universe. Visiting his brother’s kingdom following his adventure in Azad, the Prince finds the royal palace under siege from an army bent on its destruction. When the decision is made to use the ancient power of the Sand in a desperate gamble to save the kingdom from total annihilation, the Prince will embark on an epic adventure in which he will learn to bear the mantle of true leadership, and discover that great power often comes with a great cost. Game features will include:

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Who would have thought one of the Wii’s most engrossing games of recent months would totally forgo any motion controls and be a 2D side-scrolling RPG slash-em-up? That’s right; you can sit and play this Wii game all afternoon without worrying about waking up the next day feeling that familiar tightness in every muscle. Well, your thumbs might take a slight pounding, but nothing the little brutes can’t handle. So dust off the pad for this one folks.

The game plays across 2D screens of ancient Japan with the art-style done in a hand-drawn and cell shaded style to fantastic effect. Everything’s brilliantly smooth and a fine example of how to make a retro-styled game without blocky sprite animation. If you ever played Odin Sphere on the PS2 but felt it was too little, too late (not to mention too damn hard), think of Muramasa: The Demon Blade as the game you hoped Odin Sphere would be.

You run and jump across the short scrolling screens, that if empty of enemies can be ran through in under ten seconds. There are lots of screens though and many with multiple tiers such as the balconies of a Feudal Japan-style building or the inside of a cave or over the top of it through a forest. Some areas will have a door or a bridge for you to move up or down to another screen too. This is all easy to follow with a map that you can have over the screen while you play, highlighting colour barriers, treasure and entrances to challenge caves.

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It’s been years since the last F1 game and it’s a little surprising to see Codemasters test their newly acquired license on the Wii first, but probably a wise decision seeing as Dirt 2 and Forza 3 are keeping the non-Wii crowd busy for now. While Codemasters’ modern classics of Dirt 2 and Grid were developed in-house, Sumo Digital are in the driving seat for this one. Sumo do have a history of racing titles, but admittedly nothing that comes close to Codemasters’ recent output.

All the 2009 tracks are here along with the season’s original 20 starting drivers and their teams. Players can opt for single races, time trials, Championship, a three season career, split-screen (2 players only) race or career and challenges.

The whole race weekend experience is here if you want. Multiple practice and qualifying laps are all present along with a massive amount of tuning options. The only issue here is if you decide to go through all the qualifying there’s a good chance you’ll be sick of the sight of that track by the time you get to the actual race. Thankfully you can skip it all, at the cost of a low starting grid position.

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This ‘fright simulator’ loosely borrows from the films to provide a few cheap jumps and puzzles. You control a girl that enters an abandoned warehouse to retrieve her wandering dog. Naturally it’s cursed, now you are too and you better start to work out how to appease the spirits of these spiteful child ghosts before they claims your soul, or something.

You navigate your way around the darkness in a first-person viewpoint with your wiimote controlled torch that works well when moving forwards but struggles to keep up if you try and turn too quickly. Poking around the chilling locations in the dark does feel quite immersive though as you are in direct control of what you aim the light at.

The main scares the game uses are similar to those found in the films. The creepy kid with the coal-black eyes appears when you open doors, pops up in your face or sticks his head through a window. It’ll make you jump and sometimes laugh at his cheeky persistence. The speaker on the wiimote is used to creepy effect when your in-game mobile goes off and you get an earful of that familiar croaking noise. Bits of ceiling fall near you and windows smash in the background to add to the atmosphere, but have little effect after repetition. Overall though the sounds are done well and occasionally catch you out with a cheap scare.

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It's now common knowledge among most gamers that the Wii is primarily a box for parties, novelty games and the quirkier titles that make up your games library.  There's nothing wrong with this, afterall the 360 and PS3 have got the more serious end of the market sown up very nicely with quality game after quality game.  Nintendo have made a spectacular success and fortune out of what the Wii is and the latest addition to the Party Box identity of the Wii comes in the shape of We Sing and 4 USB microphones.

We Sing follows in the footsteps of Singstar and Lips and definitively brings the karaoke genre to the Wii.  Up to 4 players can sing along at a time (apparently the first time this is possible) and some pretty cool features looks set to bring the title alive.

Coming with 30 tracks at launch (though I would expect more to be available via download later) and spanning a range of genres, they will include: 

UB40 – Red Red Wine
Amy Winehouse – Tears Dry On Their Own
Charles & Eddie – Would I lie To You?
Sugababes – Girls
OneRepublic (ft. Timbaland) – Apologize
Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha
Shampoo - Trouble
Spice Girls - Wannabe
Tasmin Archer - Sleeping Satellite
Moloko - Sing It Back
Lady GaGa - Poker Face
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Lily Allen - The Fear
Tom Jones - Delilah
Kylie Minogue - Loco-Motion
Roxette – It Must Of Been Love
The Automatic – Monster
Duffy – Mercy
Madness – Our House
James Morrison and Nelly Furtado – Broken Strings

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The Winter Olympics might be a while off yet but Mario and Sonic have got an early assault planned for space under Christmas trees again after the massive success of their first Olympic Games title on the Wii.

It’s a more relaxed affair this time around with most of the games being about balance and leaning rather than frantic arm swinging. If any players have been glued to Wii Fit they might just have an edge here.

All the events work with just the wiimote, with the nunchuk an optional extra for more precise control or to feel more realistic for events such as skiing. And it’s the skiing that makes up the main meat of the game, whether it is downhill slalom, freestyle or ski jumps. They control well and are the disciplines that are the most accessible to a wide range of players.

In a smart move, Sega have allowed the Wii Fit balance board to be used in some events, just in a separate single player ones though and not in the main game. The best use of this is for the Bobsleigh or Skeleton events where you can sit on it and lean around corners. Kids will love it and reclaim the Wii from their Wii Fit loving mums. The only thing missing is the chance to hop onto the board after the initial sprint; this is replaced by a button press. So you might as well start sitting on it. You can’t help but feel Sega missed a bit of a trick here, but safety might have been a concern. You could always put a few extra moves in just for fun, such as lying on the board for the Skeleton events (probably works better if you’re a small child). Multiplayer Bobsleigh is fun though with the wiimotes, as you all have to line up and lean at the same time.

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It was a bit of a surprise to all of us finding out that the next game to follow the excellent Dead Space would be on the Wii. It might be an ‘on-rails shooter’ but fans will enjoy this prequel to the original game, especially the first level which has a neat twist that they or anyone that’s seen the anime might appreciate.

The game starts before the Ishimura planet cracker mining ship was overrun by an alien plague causing severe psychosis and mutation in their human hosts. Haven’t played the first game? Don’t worry, the prequel nature of the game welcomes newcomers by letting them play through preceding events. Veterans will enjoy some familiar locations and characters and being a part of earlier events from a different perspective on how the shit hit the fan in the first place, as the first game had you starting well after the infection had already spread.

The biggest changes to the game are the transition to an on-rails FPS and the inclusion of constant companions. You are part of a group of four and despite one of them being a soldier, you are the only one that seems to know how to shoot anything. Sure you might see the odd bullet from the other guy but it never does any damage. And naturally, as is the rule in on-rails shooters, the enemy will always go for you instead. The on-rails aspect makes this feel like a seriously twisted ghost train ride. You do get to choose from multiple paths though sometimes.

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When, after a hideously disappointing film adaption of Phillip Pullman’s ‘The Golden Compass’ was panned, New Line Cinema collapsed into its brother company Warner Bros., Warner decided they wanted more than just New Line’s film franchises, so they took The Lord of the Rings game rights off EA as well, no doubt hoping they might be able to spark a bit of interest back into old fans ready for 2011s and 2012s two film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit.’ And so, to start with, we’re going to have ‘The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest.’

In case six film free years have left your memory hazy, Aragorn is the one who goes from creepy looking, scraggly haired guy, to the slightly more combed King of Gondor. This makes him a great hero to star in yet another gritty LOTR game entry. But that’s not where Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are taking it; this game’s for kids!

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