Easter is one of our favourite bank holidays in the British calendar, not least because it involves two free days away from the burdens of wage-slavery, which can of course be frittered away playing games guilt-free while idly gnawing on chocolate logs.
And what better time, if you can find one, to treat yourself to Nintendo's latest handheld, the DSi which has – predictably – sold out in most games stores over its first weekend on sale.
Once you tire of messing around with the pitch and speed of your mates' voices with the DSi's cool new recording features (we still haven't) then there is also the lure of Rockstar's GTA: Chinatown Wars – quite possibly the first proper 'adult' game to be released for Nintendo's handheld.
Nintendo also plans to update the DSi download store on a weekly basis – effectively turning it into a kind of 'virtual console' for DS.
So, other than the fact that you are not going to be able to play that filthy library of pirated games your dodgy mate gave you on an R4DS cart (you should be ASHAMED of yourselves!), we really cannot imagine any reason why gamers will not want to invest in Ninty's new matte-encased beauty.
Is Wii MotionPlus TOO accurate?
Elsewhere in the world of Nintendo gaming, it looks like the forthcoming Wii Motion Plus controller add-on/dongle is sure to be out pretty soon, with EA Sports' first titles to make use of the tech – Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 - launching mid-June, although the big N has still to officially confirm a date.
While we await that news, it was interesting to catch up with some of EA's producers to poll their thoughts on how easy the new control tech was to implement into their games, as well as finding out more about how they feel it changes the overall gameplay experience.
It seems that there were few teething troubles in building games that made use of the full 1:1 motion-control afforded by MotionPlus. If anything, rather surprisingly for some, EA has had to tone down the responsiveness of the controllers, which are a little 'too accurate' – no bad thing! We look forward to playing the new EA Sports tennis and golf games in June (after all, we'll no doubt have given up on a Brit winning Wimbledon after the first week into that tournament…).
Retro abandonware and PC ftw!
Finally, as we coast towards the long weekend, Alec Meer gives a timely shout out in defence off the oft-maligned PC gaming scene, reassuring us all it's not all about PS3 versus 360 and that the future is bright for the PC.
While if you are a fan of retro gaming and want to know more about what you can legally grab off the internet (and how to do it) you can read all about the abandonware scene in Richard Cobbett's latest piece from PC Plus.
Oh, and if you have yet to invest in a Sony PS3 – hang fire! Enter our Warner's compo to win Sony's console and copies of the publishers' new game, Wanted: Weapons of Fate.
