Nick Hide
Nick has been playing videogames for 20 years. He believes games are as valid an art form as music or film. They are interactive sculptures capable of profound emotional impact, so it really annoys him when games come out where you can mug old women.
Thursday 29 November 2007, 3:08pm
Mass Effect presses all the old buttons
I got my eager, nerdy hands on a copy of the Xbox 360 sci-fi epic Mass Effect just over a week ago, a few days before its official release. My friends on Xbox Live were not happy -- "You jammy git!" was about the friendliest response to them seeing what I was playing. Forget Halo 3 or BioShock -- for dorks of a certain age, Mass Effect was why we bought a 360. Click here for more
Wednesday 3 October 2007, 5:45pm
Football Manager 2008: Unbelievable, Jeff
I managed to tear myself away from the mesmerising Halo 3 to install the demo of Football Manager 2008 yesterday. I didn't get into last year's version -- thanks, World of Warcraft -- but a few hours spent guiding the mighty Swindon Town through their gruelling preseason reminded me why I spent most of my university years playing its predecessors. Click here for more
Tuesday 25 September 2007, 3:48pm
Ignore the hype: just play Halo 3
Hype is, by definition, extremely irritating. It's people who don't know what they're talking about -- let's call them the mainstream media, shall we? -- trying to explain to the general public, who couldn't care less, why a certain group is very excited about something. I'm a gamer. I'm very excited about Halo 3. And today I got to play it. Everyone else can sod off. Click here for more
Friday 31 August 2007, 2:07pm
Nokia finally gets serious about mobile gaming
I've always hated mobile phone games, from bloody Snake to this ridiculous game I had on an old Sony phone that involved knocking monkeys out of trees by throwing bananas at them. The screen is the wrong shape and the buttons are always too close together. It's just no fun. So three cheers for Nokia and its widely derided N-Gage platform, which is gamely being relaunched yet again. Click here for more
Thursday 9 August 2007, 5:14pm
Xbox 360 Elite available for pre-order online
Major online UK retailers such as Amazon and Play have started taking pre-orders for Microsoft's pimped-up new version of the Xbox 360, the Elite. Released on 24 August, the Elite comes in goes-with-your-other-stuff black, features a bigger 120GB hard drive and HDMI output, and will set you back £330. Click here for more
Friday 13 July 2007, 4:27pm
E3 sets up biggest Christmas ever for games
After the utter madness of last year, this year's E3 looked like being a total let-down. In their infinite wisdom, the organisers of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest games show of the year, decided to massively downscale the show, making it effectively an industry-only event, locking out the screaming gaming hordes. Click here for more
Thursday 21 June 2007, 2:57pm
Manhunt 2 ban shows ratings system isn't working
The recent decision by the British Board of Film Classification to deny Rockstar's Manhunt 2 a UK release is, in my humble opinion, the right one. But not because I don't think the game should be released. It should, and as an adult I should be free to completely ignore it as a meretricious piece of Daily Mail-baiting rubbish. Click here for more
Friday 8 June 2007, 2:46pm
Mario Strikers: 10x more fun than England
My favourite lunchtime bash at the mo is Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii. Now, I've been critical of the lack of games on Nintendo's undoubtedly innovative console before now, but this cutesy arcade football title is definitely one to redress the balance. And it's a whole lot more fun than the one-paced snooze-mongers who represent England at real footie. Click here for more
Articles by Nick Hide
Test-driving NASA's Moon-landing simulator
Crave Our colleague at CNET News, Daniel Terdiman, has used NASA's Moon-landing simulator and written a long piece about how awesome it was. We're not at all jealous
Survey: Asus laptops more reliable than Apple, Sony
Crave US warranty firm SquareTrade has researched laptop failure rates and found that Asus is the top of the pile. Bad news for HP though
CNET UK's games console reliability survey: 60 per cent of Xbox 360s have broken
Crave We commissioned a survey of UK gamers to find out how reliable the different consoles have been. The results don't reflect well on Microsoft
Intel settles with AMD for $1.25bn
Crave The rival chip manufacturers have settled their bitter legal disputes in a massive deal that also sees them sharing patent rights for the next five years
OpenOfficeMouse has frankly preposterous 18 buttons, joystick
Crave With 18 buttons, 63 profiles and an analogue joystick, the OpenOfficeMouse by WarMouse is set to be the most customisable peripheral ever. And the most insane, by some distance
EMI Abbey Road Live: Instant gig recording
Crave The major label has announced a new service that will sell recordings of gigs, mixed and mastered at the gig itself, and sold to fans as they make their way to the car park
Sony BDP-S760 Blu-ray player: Super bit-mapping reality enhancer
Crave Sony's new top-of-the-range Blu-ray player, the BDP-S760, is jammed full of exciting new features such as Wi-Fi Internet access and multi-channel headphone mode
Nokia Booklet 3G hits US: Hands-on verdict
Crave Nokia's Booklet 3G netbook has arrived in the US and our chocolate-voiced NYC colleague Dan Ackerman has one in
