i-Mode gets carried away with hype

It would be a lot easier to warm to O2's launch of its i-Mode service if the company didn't dress it up in overblown hype. The most ridiculous quote from the press release announcing what is, thus far, a fairly standard web-on-mobile experience has to be the one describing i-Mode as the "world’s most innovative high-speed internet access".

It's nothing of the sort, as you will find if you buy one of the only two handsets available. i-Mode looks almost identical to the current service, O2 Active, but besides running a little more smoothly and offering a few new merchants, it's the same old story: hard to navigate, frustrating to use and - of course - expensive to use on a regular basis. Read the full review in today's paper.

In games, The Warriors (PS2/Xbox) is another tour-de-force production from Rockstar, full of top-notch voice talent, evocative 70s tunes and violence galore. Based on the 1979 flick about gang wars in New York, it's full-on brawler with plenty of punch.

Then there's Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (PS2/Xbox), whose back-to-basics take on beat-em-ups together with the familiar gallows humour of the series won me all over again.

Kids will love movie tie-in Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit (PS2), a gentle romp for the under-10s. Finally, Quake 4 (PC) - definitely not for the under-10s - resembles a Doom 3 expansion pack and lacks much personality of its own.