Top 10 Gaming

It’s nothing new for famous actors to lend their voices to video games – Liam Neeson as your dad in Fallout 3, for example – but Team Bondi are bringing their faces into it too in its new title, L.A. Noire (PS3, Xbox 360, due May). This massive, open-world detective story has been developed with MotionScan, which uses 32 cameras to capture the expressions of real actors including Mad Men’s Aaron Staton, then maps them on to the characters. This gives a new level of realism to the action, and allows the player to make moral choices based on whether or not they think the character is lying or under stress. It’s set in 1947, features thousands of lines of dialogue and 20 roughly hour-long missions, and could well be the game of the year.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

1. At home When you buy a new console, check that it comes with enough controllers and the relevant cables. If not, set aside some money to get the system working properly with your other gear. With cables, third-party alternatives are often a good value option, although generally it’s best to stick with official controllers for the best experience. A subscription for online gaming can be another expense, depending on your format.
2. Out and about Portable gaming machines are being marginalised by the ever-increasing power and usability of smartphones and Apple’s handhelds. Even a cheap netbook can do the job if you pick older and less graphically intense games.
3. What about PC and Mac? If you want to play the latest PC games you’ll need to stump up a four-figure sum and be prepared to upgrade regularly. The Mac has to make do with nibbling on the crumbs that fall from the PC’s table.