The original Call of Duty went on sale on XBLA this week, bringing the game that started it all six long years ago to consoles for the first time. Lucky for you, we just uncovered a strategic stockpile of Call of Duty videos going back to the series’ inception in 2003. Won’t you come for a spin with us in our videomatic time-bender and watch the series evolve before your very eyes? ...

Lords of Shadow is the latest Castlevania in over two decades of games which encompass ten centuries of the past and eight thousand years of the future. Since the eleventh century Count Dracula has walked the Earth, rising every hundred years to spread his evil influence across the world, and at every resurrection he has been foiled by a descendant of the Belmont bloodline. ...

Gaming hardware creators have to stop playing it safe. So many of the common, mainstream videogame controllers released over the years are just watered-down, vanilla versions of the supreme greatness they really could be. They don’t inflict pain, get you high, cause intense public shame, stimulate your erogenous zones, or let you get your freak on in other ways. Fortunately, we found some that do. ...

The characters and environments of the gaming world are so colourful and exciting, it’s little wonder they inspire many of us to pick up our crayons and coloured pencils and have a go at recreating them – or even reimagining them – ourselves. The numbers of drawings we've seen of your favourite characters just goes to show how popular it’s become to take the game art world into your own hands. ...

We’re on to you. We’ve noticed you casting a roving eye over recent announcements of price cuts, seen you ogle the unveiling of lithe younger models. Yes, even you, 360 fanboy, the one who said the PS3 had no games. We caught you looking longingly at LittleBigPlanet’s Sackboy, imagining the things you would do to him if only you could get him online. ...

We suspect it’s very difficult to work in game advertising. Videogames are a scary new artistic medium, and as such, not everyone knows how to market them – even to their target demographic. More than with anything else, videogame ad-makers love to target their audience with sex and sexy imagery, but that’s nothing surprising – advertisers have been using gender dynamics to sell products on TV since the folgers coffee days. ...

It's a rare occurrence nowadays, but every once in a while, a game you’ve never even heard of comes along and absolutely blows you away. Sometimes it's a little indie gem that didn't get enough promotion. Other times, what appears to be a quick cash-in turns out to be an awesome game. ...

For millions of MMO players, there was no love lost. In fact, last July’s widespread report, that the Chinese government had banned gold farming, was met with giddy rapture.

For years, gold farmers had been the worker ants in games like World of Warcraft and EverQuest, trading virtual loot for real-world profit. ...

We love games. We love films. And most of all, we love a good pun. That’s why we’ve taken some of our favourite movies and games and stuffed them into a giant blender for mighty mash-up results. Ever wondered what would happen if Kratos collided with the Corleone crime family? Or if Sackboy met Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes? Well wonder no more, because we've answered your day-dreaming prayers with the following mash-up movie ...

Over the years we've enjoyed steering some of the animal kingdom's most awesome specimens through some pretty awesome games. Banjo the bear. Donkey Kong the ape. Amaterasu the wolf. We've loved them all. But it's not always nature's most magnificent beasts that game makers deem suitable for the role of hero. Some creatures that have made the jump from wildlife to virtual life are little more than food chain filler. And this is those pathetic ...