Containing nine of publisher Namco Bandai’s Xbox LIVE Arcade releases and then tossing in 25 old-school arcade games, Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is a tremendous value – IF you don’t have all this stuff already and you don’t mind a few rough edges. But as you might have noticed from the all-caps presentation, that’s a pretty big “if”. ...

Kiddie game? Think again. Last year’s Naruto: Rise of a Ninja was startlingly strong. Buoyed by the positive response, Ubisoft’s Montreal brigade have gone back to the drawing board and crafted a sequel that builds a little sandcastle on top of the original and decorates it with Christmas lights before plonking a fairy on top. ...

Thundering down a Daytona straightaway, trading paint with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch, and frantically trying to hold your beat-up bucket of bolts together, you realize there’s a decision to be made. Half a lap to go until the finish – do you nudge Junior out of the way and risk a black flag, cut Busch off on the inside, or just maintain your line and hope there are enough fumes in the tank and rubber on the tires to make it to the winner’s circle? ...

One the one hand, you’ve got EA’s shiny but occasionally flawed NBA Live; on the other, a game that doesn’t look quite so polished, but is built on a super-solid core that has consistently outplayed the opposition for years. If you’re a casual fan of the sport, then either title will probably serve equally well. ...