Who’d have thought that, just 200 years ago, it was fashionable to hate the French? It’s one of the great burdens of having an empire. Poor Napoleon: before declaring himself the Emperor of France, he probably thought back to the time when he was the plucky revolutionary underdog, and all the blokes said “way to go, Naps.” ...

Some people, after reading our review of Empire: Total War, wanted to string us up and splice our main brace. We can’t help it if the bugs other people experienced didn’t happen to us. Still, it’s safe to say that there were some problems that perhaps could and should have been sorted out before release – specifically the AI’s total lack of ability to perform invasions over a stretch of water. ...

“Whoa!” We’re pretty sure that’s exactly the response EA and Black Box were angling for when they recently showed off Need for Speed: SHIFT, ‘cause that’s sure as hell the one they got. Why else would they be going around demoing the game earlier than ever in the franchise’s history if they weren’t 100% certain of the wow factor therein? ...

We’ve got a confession to make that goes against most critical response: we quite liked Need for Speed: ProStreet (at least on consoles). It was a competent and relatively accurate recreation of organized competitive racing events. Unfortunately, what ProStreet did at the same time was completely remove the essence of what made a Need for Speed game, leaving a dry approach to simulation in its place. ...

Wait a second, don't run away! Yes we know, the Neopets name might sting like poisoned gasoline but hear us out. You like Puzzle Quest, right? You like going on quests, busting gems to gain mana for spells, buying items and all that fantasy crap that made an already addictive game downright irresistible, right? Thought so. And that's exactly why you're going to like ...

Last week Capcom revealed one of its strongest lineups in ages during the Captivate 08 event (we briefly talked about it on TalkRadar). The embargos have lifted and now we're able to say what we saw, what we played and what totally stole the show (it surprised the hell out of us, that's for sure). We'll be adding links throughout the day, so read on! ...