Devil May Cry 4

Better known to PS3 owners as "That Song That Plays on a 20-Minute Loop During the Goddamn Installation," the aria that begins Devil May Cry 4 is nonetheless a surprisingly pretty piece of videogame music. Sung in the game by protagonist Nero's love interest Kyrie (and in real life by Aubrey Ashburn), it creates an evocative backdrop for the game's prologue, during which Nero gets waylaid by some demons on the way to Kyrie's performance...

Pac-Man and Mario owned the 1980s. Sonic, Lara and Snake took over for the 1990s. Their games are considered classics. Their names are timeless and iconic. Their images are burned into the memory of every gamer, even those who were born after the characters themselves.

Now we have another ten years worth of heroes, villains, sidekicks and love interests to occupy our imagination. Which, however, will remain there?

Some games just never stand a chance, do they? Hated on from the moment they’re announced for a variety of reasons, they’re critically stoned by journos and gamers long before anyone lays finger on pad. The following titles all fall into this category of pre-release hatred. Whether they betrayed their series’ heritage, alienated PC gamers or their developer simply shouted his big fat mouth off too much; these games loved

For a medium that lets us chainsaw faces off, punch presidents in their plums and slaughter endangered species, it's amazing how sensitive some of us get when developers do things we don't agree with. Certainly there have been many decisions to get us all worked up, whether it's Killzone 2's 'target footage'  or Shigsy shedding that last bit of lingering dignity by playing Wii Music like a diminutive Japanese John Williams. That’s

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated the very best of 2008 with our Platinum Chalice Awards.Today though, we must temper our merriment with disdain and head-sagging shame, for these are the moments that truly made our stomachs turn.

Believe it or not, but some of your favorite games began life as completely different titles. Balderdash, you might say. Poppycock, even. While it’s known that game development is more rocky than smooth, there have been a number of instances when devs and producers take their widely-anticipated title back to the drawing board.

Cutscene after cutscene, they exhibit planet-shaking combat abilities and a level of indestructibility which would make God himself jealous. But as soon as you pick up the controller? The Incredible Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner and all of those showboating tricks and superhuman powers disappear into the ether.

Just why do game characters save their best tricks until we've already done all the hard work for them? Here are the worst offenders.

Devil May Cry 4 needs almost 5GB of hard drive space and a 20-minute install time on PS3. So we figured we should see how far you can get on the 360 version in that time. Video inside!