Sonic Heroes

At first, he was a blue hedgehog sprite with feet that blurred because he ran so fast. But that was 18 years ago (yeah, where's the time gone?) and he's been redrawn over and over again to fit new technology. In fact, unbelievably, Sonic the Hedgehog has appeared on our screens in some 50 guises. Don't believe us? Take a look in here!

So many sequels, so much hype, so little time... Let our foolproof guide help you cut through the crap before it's even released

This is really weird, so brace yourself. Many years ago, while toiling away in the Toys "R" Us salt mines, I was in charge of the electronics department. This included the glut of cheapo PC software the company carries, from seven-year-old games that will never sell to brand new, hardware-crunching titles that no one shopping in that store could ever install. The amount of unsold software was so choking that some

Working as a games journalist has its good points. There's the fame, the money, the endless barrage of adoring, screaming women who follow you whenever you walk down the street... oh, wait a minute, that's being a rock star. Um... ok, well at least there's still the free stuff we get sent 'most every day. The quality varies considerably, but there are some real gems of PR merchandising that would probably be worth loads of money on eBay. Of course, by contract we're not allowed to sell them,