Rez HD - Xbox Live Arcade

If there were a list of Rules for Videogames, the #1 rule would have to be, “Always make cutscenes skippable.” But the number two rule may very well be, “Don't play games based on movies.” It's a truth that's been self-evident rarely without exception ever since ET stunk up the Atari 2600.

But Rule #2's been in for some revision lately, as GoldenEye-shaped aberrations and Butcher Bay-escaping anomalies defy the “movie games are crap” truism. Maybe the way to make a non-terrible adaptation is to hold off until you're sure you have a classic property on your hands. Given movie games’ review history, the simple act of getting them to a stage where people say they’re “well-executed” or “worth the price” is a pretty big step...

How many gamers long for a remake of Final Fantasy VII? Or An HD remake of Sonic 2? On the surface, it doesn't look like rehashing your old games would make business sense as everyone's already bought them once. Why buy them again, right? Wrong! Here are eight perfectly good reasons why remakes are totally worth the effort.

3D is everywhere. It’s in megaton films with shitty blue aliens. It’s in magazines. Hell, it’s invading the upcoming GOTY version of Batman: Arkham Asylum. So we thought it was high time we start daydreaming about other games we’d love to see in that wacky dimension they call… the third (Duh! Duh! Duh!)

There are strong rumours flying around those webs of the inter variety that Guerrilla

In the mid-‘90s console scene, everyone knew that importing games from Japan was where the real action was at; because of the prohibitive cost of publishing games in the US, tons of great games stayed in Japan, apparently because they were just too awesome to find audiences outside of its borders.

Ten years ago today, the Dreamcast stormed onto US shelves in one of the most explosive console launches of all time… and then suffered a premature death less than two years later. Now, however, the internets are buzzing with retrospectives, histories, love letters and lamentations as every major game site lines up to pay its respects to gaming’s most brilliant failed system.

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.