&

your home computer. these compact

camcorders fit in the palm of the

hand while offering super high

resolution among a host of other . features such as manual focus, two- ,

frame-per-second burst mode and exposure bracketing for professional results. If you don't need something quite as powerful the GZ-MC2OO (RRP £699) offers two megapixels compared with the MC5()()'s five. along with the solid, steady film rate. The slim and stylish (6) GZ-MC1OO (RRP £599)

is the smallest and most compact at ;

i just 3l5g. still packing a massive amount of memory and not letting

the side down with an equally I

impressive two megapixels. Or try

the latest in the range the (5) 62- .

MG70 (£599 approx) with 2.12 megapixel CCD and 3008 hard disk drive. which equates to a massive minutes of ‘ultra fine’ recording quality or a phenomenal 37 hours

seven hours and ten‘

and 30 minutes of economy while -

still only weighing 320g.

This selection represents just the tip of the iceberg. lt all depends what you want to record: these are great all rounders. but of course there are tons more out there from budget (just over £100) to high end high definition (drifting off into .£l()()()s). And with mobiles and digital cameras offering mini- rnovies there are bound to be big changes in the market by this time next year. Happy filming.

Stockists include Dixons, John Lewis, Frasers, Comet, Currys, amazon.co.uk and Argos.

PLAY

Best Games of 2005

lain Davidson has spent the year sorting the sinew from the slag. Here are his favourites from the last 12 months.

RESIDENT EVIL 4 (GameCube/PSZ Capcom)

Every single alteration in the Resident Evt/ formula certainly lifted the fourth instalment to new heights. A change in camera position. a change in combat and a change in environment made one of gaming‘s oldest favourites one of gaming's freshest titles of the year.

GOD OF WAR

(P82 Sony)

Sometimes the last thing y0u want at the end of a bewildering day is to sit down in front of a game of choices. options. consequences and dilemmas. God of War was a gloriously violent mythological bloodbath that only ever asked you to choose between. say. a beheading or a disembowelment.

scale of movies. it rarely matches cinerna's story- telling prowess. However

there are some admittedly

small signs of a maturing regard for plot and

character. exemplified this

year by Fahrenheit. Not

quite a game. not quite an

animated move but it is

nevertheless a step in the right direction as well as a

hugely enjoyable experience.

ARCHER MACLEAN’S MERCURY (PSP Ignition Entertainment)

Mercury proves that a

unique and simple idea can

challenge any heaVily marketed copycat game. Perfectly executed on Sony’s new handheld console. Mercury is a

concentrated dose of mind-

bending pu/xle action.

JADE EMPIRE (XBox Microsoft)

WIPEOUT PURE (PSP Sony)

As a game W/peout Pure is simply excellent: fast and

challenging with just the right balance of risk and reward. There has never been anything quite so gut- wrenchingly Visceral on a handheld console before. What better way to sell a new piece of kit than with a software slice of adrenalin?

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

(PC Blizzard)

900:") may be the year that is remembered for turning Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games from a small, though profitable. genre into a gaming mainstay. And it was HIV/aids cartoon fantasy that almost singlehan(ledly smashed MMORPGs into the mainstream. Beautifully constructed, litiger entertaining and welcomineg easy to pick up and play. WOW is now the benchmark for all online games featuring persistent worlds. But the guestron remains . . . why are all fantasy dwarves Scottish?

PROJECT GOTHAM RACING 3 (XBox360 Microsoft)

combined with the ridiculously addictive kudos system ensures that this will be played way into 2006. Reason enough to buy a 360? Very nearly. If you can find one. of course.

NINTENDOGS (NintendoDS Nintendo)

There's normal baby cute. there's wobbly Bambi cute and then there is Nintendo cute. The company with the most tooth-achingly sweet sense of style Creating doe- eyed puppies should really push cute over the edge but somehow they manage it. Ni’ntendogs is fun, frothy and as heart-warming as any Disney movie. If games are to lose the geeky tag. they need more titles like this.

PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 5 (PS2 Konami)

When the first primate realised that he had been born with a finger that

An Eastern Knights of the Old Repub/ic is the simple description of Jade Friipire. a rich and detailed action role playing game that cloaks statistic. armour and

bent the other way. that worked against the other four. that had become the very first thumb. he immediately picked up a ioypad and tried to knock three past England. OK. Pro Evo hasn't been around that long but it is still by far the best football game out there. its ago only adding to its refinement. This year saw number five. You’ve got to hand it to Konami.

FAHRENHEIT (XBox/PSZ/PC Atari)

weapon building in a bright. colourful and subtly

managed story. It might not Though it sneaks in at the end of the year thanks to the timely XBox 3fo) launch. PGR’)‘ certainly deserves a

have the depth of other RPG games but the stylish execution and polished

interface certainly convince you that it was made Wllll p2 ssion and enthusiasm.

While the games industry tries so very hard to compare itself to the epic

place in any top ten. Delicious handling

WALKEN :" GHOSTS . Strange little art project in which a class Quick link to ‘My New Year's Eve .I. ' ' . ' ' are asked to write to the seemingly Victo'ian ammo“... among the Mummies' by Allan Grant ' I P if h - q f unhinged acting power house that is (1880) for a spooky end to 2005. This .I f 1' ' ' " ' Christopher Walken. but pretend he's W‘f h site collates a great selection of short ' ' ' ' " ' "*‘ ' " like father Christmas. Should bean - Victorian ghost stories from the likes of ' " g interesting morning round the Walken 3.3. Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and ' household when the mail arrives. 5 ' ' HG Wells. i l " i w l www.brandonbird.com/walken lett ' "if. www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsu t g _ _ __ *_ 0” Jl ers.html " oka/ghost-stories-allen.html

1 16 THE LIST 15 Dec 2005—5 Jan 2006