WipEout HD - PS3 Network

There's not much love for loading bars. But why should there be? Their ubiquity in games is not based on an overwhelming popularity for their normally-horizontal-but-sometimes-spinning sexy charms. No. They are everywhere in games because games make us wait around a lot and the loading bar merely provides a little graphical reassurance that something is happening. So it's understandable that these hard-working visual devices go largely unnoticed and unloved.

Which is a tragedy, because with a little care and attention from developers, loading bars can be things that are absolutely deserving of love. I know this is true because I'm in love with one right now.

Doing 150MPH in Gran Turismo is pretty fast, right? Wrong. It's as fast as a terminally geriatric snail that's taken to tethering itself to a tree and trying to walk through treacle – at least compared to the games on this list. Some of these games let you break the sound barrier. Some literally keep accelerating until you inevitably blow up. They're all stupidly fast, but which is the fastest game of all time? Find out right here…

For many of us, try as we might to feign indifference, there’s a nagging desire that we secure at least a respectable number of Trophies. So for smarter, time-deprived gamers, we’ve devised this quick-fix guide to scoring a respectable 40 Trophies in around an hour. Onwards, with dignity!

Distilled gameplay, old-school values and why you need never load another disc into your console again. We take a look at how new-gen technology has revitalised old-gen gaming and even sparked a new wave of superb retro-style games.