How can I describe being in Liberty City? It's a place where life is cheap and dangerous, the cops are bent or downright incompetent and gangs race sports cars through suburbia. It's because of all this that I keep coming back time and again.

After ordering Fallout 3 GOTY edition I figured I would go back to The Lost & Damned and just finish off the last few missions but I've found myself sucked right back into to those seething, grimey streets. Like Niko Bellic, Johnny Klebitz is a thoroughly unlikable character but has a sort of amoral code that I can't help but be fascinated by, and now I am one mission away from ending his story I can't help thinking that I would love to jump into Luis Lopezs shoes and hear The Ballad of Gay Tony. This with 50+ hours of time in the wasteland just sitting on the shelf and ready to go.

Sadly, the multiplayer aspect of Lost & Damned has not lived up to expectation. Not because of the game itself but because it's virtually impossible to get a decent game going. The modes are original, varied and full of potential but just don't seem to have generated enough excitement to drag people away from Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War which is a shame.

But tonight I am no lone wolf rider, one call from Johnny and I will be riding with Terry, Clay and the rest of my lawless bikie buddies. A last meeting with Ray Stubbs can only mean one thing - all hell is going to break loose - but like a violent boy scout I will be prepared. After a good sleep and a little shopping trip for guns and a bulletproof jacket, I will be ready to cause mayhem on the streets I love so much. Lost for life brothers!

The reason that every pub needs a DS and a copy of Scribblenauts is simple. After a few drinks, talk inevitably turns to that old chestnut "Who'd win in a fight between a bear and a lion?" but how would you settle this argument? Unless you have dangerous carnivores on hand you will never know. With Scribblenauts however, the answer is a few stylus prods away. Cat or dog? Scribblenauts. Bull or giraffe? Scribblenauts. 8 penguins vs a walrus? That's right, Scribblenauts. It's invaluable.

Aside from pub banter arbitration Scribblenauts has other charms. Fiddley controls aside (on one occasion my girlfriend accidentally beat a rabbi to death with a cross!) the game has a sandbox that makes Liberty City look like Vib Ribbon and that is just the front screen. Liberal use of landmines and jetpacks can get you through a lot of the basic puzzles but it's the restrictions that get you head-scratching. How do I get past that guard without resorting to high-explosives? (Dartgun) How do I get the druid's unicorn back alive? (Give him an apple) and how do I get the starite off that platform when I can't move? (Rope it to a murderer and get him to chase a woman onto lower ground!) It's all good fun.

So it's new game bonanza in the INK household at the moment with Dead Space:Extraction waiting to scare my trousers oily and Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition ready to swallow my life. If only I could get swine flu and start enjoying some sick leave. If life was Scribblenauts all I'd only be a P, an I and a G away from a weeks loafing. Bah!

It's official, winter is here (in the northern hemisphere anyway, s_h_a_d_o is busy unpacking flip flops and a sunhat). I know this because yesterday I turned on the heating. As a person who is usually too hot and resents spending money on luxuries like a warm living room when there's a spare jumper in the cupboard, I am always reluctant to switch on the boiler but last night was just too much. The next stage is 'depths of winter' which will come one night at 3am, I will have lost track of time playing online and will suddenly realize I need a massive pee but can't get to the loo because my feet are completely numb with the first stages of frostbite. Ah, good times.

Speaking (or is that writing) of online play, I have developed a taste for Battlefield: Bad Company which is an absolute blast. The whole squad thing works really well and it's great to spawn next to your mates instead of having to traipse across a massive battlefield to get to the action (only to get sniped before firing a shot). Vehicles are fun too and they never feel too overpowered especially with demo soldiers lurking about with RPGs (my personal favourite cIass at the moment).

Also on the gaming front my DS is finally getting the love it truly deserves. After pre-ordering Scribblenauts I finally broke Zelda: Phantom Hourglass out of the packet and it is great. It has all the charm, exploration and dungeon delving that made Wind Waker so playable and the touch screen is completely indispensable. I can't believe how I played Zelda in the past without notes on the map. I must be about halfway through by now and it makes a nice change of pace from Ninja Gaiden which has started giving me the jitters it's so damn nasty!

Well, I am off to catch up on all the reviews and On The Spot I missed in the last month or so of working so hard and put some serious thought into pre-ordering Tekken 6 with my overtime money. Choices, choices.