Posted by: Jane Douglas

If you haven't caught our fortnightly games video show yet, then get on board with a fresh episode of games fix, brand new today!

Other highlights from this week on the Tech & Gadgets channel include:

And elsewhere on the web we've been diverted, distracted or amused by the following:

We're glad David Aaronovitch doesn't agree that the web rots your brain - we were starting to get worried.

Hellphone, the cellphone from hell, scares us just a little bit.

And finally, if the highly desirable R2-D2 projector wasn't to your liking (and why not?) then how about a life-size R2-D2 refrigerator?

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Stacks of groovy stuff on Tech & Gadgets this week, as ever. By the way, did you listen to episode 4 of our gaming podcast yet? You really should. Let us know what you think afterwards on the message board thread.

Pick of the week:

Check out the 10 best new laptops on the market.

Why will no-one talk to Iain Lee online?

Relive that misspent youth: the 20 best ever Speccy games.

Which iPhone apps are worth buying?

Has the mouse had its day, or is it still king of controllers?

Other stuff we found on our wanderings through the web...

A glare-free PSP screen? Result.

One man's life, told through all the consoles he's ever owned.

Hacking someone's identity online is a breeze, at least it is according to this chap.

Remember that ridiculous 'I Am Rich' iPhone app? Here's what you got for your $999.99.

Are these the most difficult games of all time?

Have a good Bank Holiday.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Regular visitors to the T&G site will know I've been getting thoroughly overexcited about Bethesda's upcoming title, Fallout 3, ever since I got my hands on an early version last month.

So forgive me a small whoop - *woo!* - with the news that it's finally got a release date. October 31, yup Halloween, is the day we'll all finally be able to get hold of this slice of post apocalyptic action.

That's unless you're based Stateside, in which case you can get hold of it three days earlier, on October 28, you lucky blighters.

Either way, it's just the thing for when the clocks go back and the nights start drawing in...

Posted by: Jane Douglas

We recently popped into the British Library to catch the opening of a new exhibition of Weird and Wonderful Inventions.

The owner of the collection, Maurice Collins, spoke to us about his favourite curious antique gadgets, including a clockwork teasmade, moustache protector, "sat nav" wristwatch and glass anti-fire grenade.

Click here to watch the video

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Posted by: Jane Douglas

This week we've been hunting for gadgety cash in the attic, checking out "weird and wonderful" inventions at the British library, contemplating piggybacking on other people's wireless networks and the future of games machines.

Oh, and if you haven't heard, there's a new Tech & Gadgets gaming podcast to listen to.

In other news, angsty time-travelling platform puzzler Braid, an Xbox Live Arcade title, is turning out to be not just the most original game of the year thus far but also perhaps the most significant: it sold around 55,000 copies in its first week, marking an important success for independent game developers.

When so many triple-A games are expensive sequels of blockbuster franchises, there's often not a lot of room for taking risks or blazing trails. To see games that really surprise us in the future, we may end up looking to the indie developers working with limited budgets...

For more Olympic technology, how about this? It's the surprisingly simple key to the DiveCam that precisely follows a diver from board to pool: good old gravity.

And for the nostalgic gamer on the go, check out the bargainous (£30) Blaze Sega Mega Drive LCD-screen handheld: it comes with 20 games, including classics like Golden Axe and Ecco the Dolphin, though Sonic and Streets of Rage are sadly absent.

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Posted by: Nik Taylor

Everybody loves iPhones, right? But then everybody is also waiting for the 'iPhone killer' - that gadget that will take on Apple's slab of gadgety loveliness and slap a proper camera and picture messaging on it. Nokia is next up to have a try, with the Tube. It's all a secret at the moment, but you can find out the rumours about it in our news story.

While you're at it, why not take another look at the pick of the features we've had on Tech & Gadgets this week?

Also out there somewhere...

PlayStation Home will launch one day. Honest. And when it does, here's how to take part in the beta.

Why bother free-running when you've got a portal gun? Mirror's Edge meets Portal.

Got more money than you know what to do with? Why not drop $1000 on a featureless iPhone app, just to prove how rich you are?

Star Wars, Indiana Jones, now Batman. But these are five Lego videogames that will never happen.

Have a good weekend.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Blimey, it's August already. How did that happen?? We've only just got used to a bit of summer sunshine and it's almost Christmas...

Anyway, with another month over it's time for us to trawl through your frothy comments on our goodly selection of July articles. Comments are good, folks, so keep 'em coming - we like to know we're not all alone in this draughty ol' internet.

One piece that has definitely got you going is our list of the greatest games of the 90s.

Some of you were shocked. "I was just really surprised to not see Championship Manager in the top 20," says Adam. Others were driven to the brink of breakdown. "I'm in tears," says poor old Tim Horton. "How on earth could you possibly miss the Monkey Island games off this list?"

How indeed? Personally speaking, I loved Championship Manager, Monkey Island and tons of other games of the era. But Jane and I got to pick just one game each for every year of the 90s - so there were always going to be tons of classics we couldn't fit in.

Thanks for your comments on the message board though - they brought back a lot of memories of other quality games from the 90s. Oh, and thanks to amiga power for reminding me of James Pond on the Amiga - truly a legendary game.

Elsewhere, we had our coverage of the E3 videogame conference and all the major games on show there. On the messageboards, you're getting excited about Fable 2, Fallout 3, Resistance 2 and God of War 3, among others.

Not everyone was happy with the games I chose as the pick of E3 though. Andy was positively apoplectic that I'd missed out Valve's new shooter: "Yes, you named some good games but where the hell is Left 4 Dead?", while Joshua was a bit more philosophical when pointing out "you missed one of the most spectacular games shown at E3 this year, LittleBigPlanet."

I must admit to being yet to be convinced by LBP. Yeah, it looks like a stunning technical achievement, but I've not seen anything about it so far that makes me go, 'Wow, I've got to play that'. Still, maybe that will change when I get hands-on.

A lot of you agreed with our piece asking 'why do gadgets for girls always have to be pink?'. But not mamma-p: "Pink gadgets.......I LOVE em!!," she says "It means my mobile stays mine, my son won't nick it and my tools are all mine too, they won't end up in someone else's tool box, what man wants a pink hammer?"

Posted by: Jane Douglas

It's time to wrap up Tech & Gadgets' working week with a glance back at the best features of the last five days and a few fun web finds to keep you going over the weekend.

Anyone who is as impatient as I am to get their hands on a Nokia N96 should stay tuned for an early review from our technology columnist Rob Clymo next Thursday. Don't ask me how he got hold of one. He knows people, our Rob.

Best of T&G

Best of the rest

The web comes over all prophetic on us: see the future with Web of Fate.

A Quake 3 map modelled incredibly accurately on The Simpsons? Two of our favourite things, together at last.

If you're not hooked on Twitter yet, get on board: Nik kicked off his with E3 and I'm just getting started.

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