There's not been a gaming thread of late, so here's one for the discussion of what folks are playing at the moment, along with associated purchasing advice. Here's the current raft of games that are exercising my thumbs....

Mario Kart: Double Dash - quite simply, don't bother. If it wasn't for the inclusion of the Nintendo characters and IP, this would be a better-than-average generic kart racer - it's a sad follow-on to the SNES original, which remains superior in every way.

Prince of Persia - quite simple, bother. This is pure brilliance. Great to look at, impulsively fun to play, so intuitive it's a joy to play. And saucy puzzles. Get the Xbox version if possible, as it contains unlockable versions of PoP and PoP2

Metal Arms:Glitch in the System. flawed in places, and outrageously difficult in others, but a riot to play. Lots and lots of fun to be had here. And lots of big weapons that go bang. Yay for bang.

Project Gotham 2: Xbox's answer to Gran Turismo, not going to be to everyone's taste, but it's got me hooked. Loads to do, loads of cars to drive, loads and loads of fun. Handling is very drifty, but solid and predictably wonderful. Selectable challenge difficulties allow gamers of all skills to enjoy. Be warned, obsessively aiming for the platinum medals will take a long time, pin-point precision and a vast amount of skill and/or practice.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - an absolute must buy for gameboy owners. Yup, it's Mario and his lanky bro in an RPG!! How long have we waited for that? Too long. And better still, it's actually really really good fun. Certainly one of the best handheld RPGs available. The combat system is innovative in that it relies on arcade timing as much as tradional turn-based attacks. Just perfect for the bus ride to work!

Knights of the Old Republic: Still getting regular play - still lots of fun. You can't argue with beating up folk with lightsabres, can you now?

Project Zero/Fatal Frame: Still trying to get the minerals together to play this again. It scares me stupid.

Panzer Dragoon Orta: Another Xbox must-have - stunningly beautiful and outlandishly frenetic, as all good sh'm'ups should be.

Right, that's me done - your turn.....

Mario & Luigi, Superstar Saga: I probably should have finished Tactics before I bought this, but despte the similarities it has a lot of it's own great features. The idea of mixing Platform with RPG is great. Plus the plot and sprites are completly insane, which is always a plus for games, I guess.

A mate of mine works in Vivendi and offered to get me some games on the cheap. The only one I hadn't heard of was Metal Arms, so naturally, it's the one I went for. Hearing that it's good has made me happy. Hearing it's got bangs has made me very happy. Hearing that it's also bitch hard... Sir, I have ruined my pants.

i recommend the new Wolfenstein game. Enemy Territory. ill post the URL when i get it form my cousins, you can download it off the internet for free.

X2: Threat. Very much in the Elite/Privateer line, with more freedom than I've seen in a long time. Just make sure you have a manual for it, or you will become enraged when trying to avoid mines in a spacesuit... Grah!

the new Judge Dredd game is pretty cool, i'm stuck though....don't know how to kill judge fear and there's lots of vampires coming at me....never good and theres no way to get help because no ones down a walk thru for it yet....bum bum bum

Mediaeval - Total War
I haven't even installed it yet. It's just been sitting on my desk. Sometimes I smell it. Every time I think about putting it into the D-drive I have to rush off to the bathroom. I am so excited!

lord of the rings "return of the king" great fun to play, and theres well inserted bits from the up coming movie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. not to bad, not as good as the old retro game for nintendo. But simply for the nostalgia component I'll give it a thumbs up.

Theres anthor game I just played that I cant remember the name of. it was shinja or something like that. Looked promising sense you get to be a crazy ninja, but the game really sucked.

I haven't bought new games for ages. I was going to get the new Mario Kart, but it didn't get as good reviews as I thought it'd do. So I'm going to buy Mario Kart for my SNES instead! I just ordered some US RPGs from eBay that I've wanted for a while. Don't suppose I'll see them until after Christmas though.

I tried to like this game. I WANTED to. But that god awful screaming out attacks names and such every effin second really didn't do it for me. Give me TMNT4: Turtles in Time. Best. Turtles game. Ever.

And Jonman - I just placed my Xbox on layaway. Based on your recommendations and that of others, Prince of Persia and Panzer Dragoon Orta are just the way to go. Any other Xbox must haves that I simply cannot live without? I placed DDR Ultramix and Dead or Alive 3 on layaway with the system. Just figured I'd ask your opinion, Great One.

ooooh, you sure know the way to butter me up. Flattery'll get you everywhere....

'K.

Project Zero, as it's called in england, or Fatal Frame, as it's called stateside is worth getting just to have the experience of soiling your underpants due to a videogame. Soooooo scary. And quite fun too...

Morrowind is worth getting for an excellant open-ended freeform RPG experience. Make sure you get the Game Of The Year Edition, as it's got the 2 expansions lumped in with it. I know that you're a bit of an RPG whore, and this is class. Requires a sizable investment of time, of course.

Quantum Redshift is a wonderful futuristic racer, in the vein of Wipeout, but in my opinion, far superior. And it's loony fast too, which is nice. So much fun.

Halo, clearly. I mean, clearly . Having an Xbox and not having Halo is like having a trampoline with no naked-oily-hula-cocktail-barmaids on it (or barmen, I guess in your case) - it's just foolish.

Knights of the Old Republic - go on. You can make the wzzzsshhhh noises and everything.

I've read glowing reviews of Broken Sword 3, and I'll be sure to be investing in that when it's released here next week.

Ninja Gaiden (release slipped to Feb, I think), looks interesting, but keep an eye on reviews...

That's all that springs to mind at the mo, so I guess that's my must-have list, pick and choose as you see fit...

P.S. Mmm, I'm going to have to get hold of DDRMax too, maybe with a couple of mats for mega-dance-party-attack-fun.

if anyone is into linear cutsie-poo life-stealing RPGs, dark chronicle is your best bet. i have'nt played anything else in weeks!

Double aye on the Project Zero, Jonman. I played through a decent portion of that game back on PS2 when it got released. 3 in the morning, lights off, stereo cranked. Needless to say I got freaked. Beautiful work of a game. I heard they reworked it a bit for Xbox, so I'm definitely intrigued.

And I recommend DDR Ultramix. Practice hard. For the Aries shall soon hunt you down like swine and own you

...or not. I'm falling behind on me DDR

And poo on Ninja Gaiden falling to Feb. Such beauty....