You know, LEGO is pretty magical stuff, even without the help of JK Rowling’s rabble. Ever clipped a normal LEGO piece to the underside of a Duplo monstro-block? Magic. Ever connected a man’s legs to his own head? Magic. Ever completed a Technic model? No, us neither, but apparently some people somewhere have.

Connect everyone’s favourite blocks to the coat tails of the Harry Potter universe and something happens that’s a little bit more than just ‘magical’. The two combine to form a game that puts a little hocus-focus back into the staling LEGO template.

Above: Screens from the Wii version

Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman – all franchises that primarily revolve around duffing people up, and their LEGO game counterparts duly obliged. Nerdy old Harry Potter can’t keep pace with the Skywalkers and Indys of this world, which has necessitated a less action-orientated design for his LEGOised console debut. Far from holding the game back, it inste

Parents like to claim that videogames are destroying our nation's youth, but that doesn't stop them using the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 as surrogate babysitters so they can continue having unprotected sex and squirting out more little toads that they won't look after properly.

With this in mind, it's clear that videogames and the characters within have a moral and social responsibility to our future generations. Basically, they all need to be qualified to look after our kids, and they're going to have to shape up pretty sharpish in order to meet our high childcare standards.

We've taken a look at some of the least suitable videogame characters, and what they need to do in order to make fit babysitters. Read on to make sure which of these social misfits you won't want near your firstborn.

 

Tingle

They say that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but let's be honest—if the book's cover says "creepy little midget in tight spandex will probably lick your eyes while

 

A man is dead after being bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer by his teenage son, says an Australian news site. The father had taken away the boy’s keyboard in an attempt to get him to stop playing the videogames, according to the report. The boy waited until his father was asleep, then allegedly entered his room with a sledgehammer and hit him at least twice in the head. Investigators say the man died immediately.

These sort of “gaming addiction results in death” stories seem to be more and more common lately. Media hysteria, or legitimate concern? Discuss!

Edit:

After the killing, the boy's frightened mother gave him the keyboard back and the boy played computer games for several more hours until he fell asleep, the spokeswoman said.

At that point, the mothe

 

Fat Kid Throws GameBoy Across The Street 00:00 - 00:05 The kid makes what we like to call "Baby T-Rex Hands" when he loses at something on his terribly outdated GameBoy. His friend, rightfully, laughs at him.

00:07 - 00:15 His friend, who's filming this, taunts him, the kid gets pissed and then pwned.

00:30 After dealing with the game he obviously can't beat, and the friend who is constantly pointing that fact out, the kid has had it and throws the GameBoy on the street. He is then overcome with instant regret, judging by his "oh my God".

Amazing. Let's step the crazy up a little, shall we?

 

 

 

Chocolate Milk, The Classic This internet classic is a case of a young boy talking tough, kicking ass at Rainbow Six and taking names... until his mother tells him to stop playing.

At about 00:45, the kid gets so mad at his mom for telling him not to play the game, that he begins to fire at his teammate in frustration. Absolutely hilarious.

At 1:16 the

Online gaming is completely different to offline play. There's a tangible buzz and quickening of the heart-rate when you're leading a race on the last lap or sniping some guy in Australia, which you simply can't get from a single-player experience. But this experience can be so easily ruined by a few small things. Technical or man-made, these obstructions threaten to tip otherwise well-balanced men over the edge of madness and into the pits of frustration-fuelled rampage mode. And these are they.

 

1) Not being able to pause

The phone's ringing. Your girlfriend's at the door. The cat's brought in a live bird. You've got an itch. You need to pee. There's a swarm of bees and the window's open. Your pizza's ready. Your baby brother's reaching for the flex that dangles from the still-hot iron. There's a UFO hovering outside the window and the aliens are posing for a photo.
But you can't pause the game! What's it gonna be?

 

2) Other people's crap connections

If there's

Shoot this, jump on that, collect the other... Computer games may be the media of the 21st Century but players have been pursuing the same objectives since Pong and Pac-Man.

On the very periphery of the industry are some pioneers though - developers attempting to move beyond the Pavlovian paradigm of simple goal pursuit. Some tell stories, others deliberately set out to bewilder, but all make you question what constitutes a computer game. We've picked ten of the best for your PC.

10. Nestlings

Get it here: www.moddb.com/mods/nestlings/

Price: Free

A gentle introduction into the world of interactive fiction, Nestlings is Lewis Denby's second foray into the genre. The first of four Half Life 2 mods in this run down, it's a short and creep story.

Though thematically slight, it's a brave mod that challenges your preconceptions. You can't shake the fear that NPC foes will emerge at any turn, pulse rifles blazing, but the final pay off is far more subtle.

9. Minotaur in a China Shop

Get i

The gaming industry constantly changes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse.

Until now, we’ve mostly read about these things on gaming blogs and in magazines, but a new medium is rising. Over the past year, a number of satirical flash games have traveled around the world, from browser to browser. These funny flash games ridicule and take on some of the critiques on the current-day gaming industry.

We’ve listed the three best and most famous of these games for you, and the messages they are trying to tell.

You Have To Burn The Rope (YHTBTR)

This game has made its parade around the internet, and was instantly loved by nearly anyone who played it. The concept isn’t too complicated — you have to burn the rope.

You play the role of a Kirby-like creature, equipped with an infinite number of axes. At the end of the first (and last) tunnel, there’s a boss to be fought – The Grinning Colossus. Your axes are futile against this mighty beast, you’ll

 

If there was ever a greater feeling in the world than that of levelling up, we are yet to experience it. From the chorus that chimes in World of Warcraft to the heavy rock riff of Modern Warfare 2, you know that for all your hard work you just got a little more badass.

Whilst this is true of your in-game avatars, it’s also true of you and your own abilities themselves. Increasing with each and every game, your own attributes are advancing as gaming teaches you to ‘level-up’ yourself in ways that make you almost super-human. Look below to see just what abilities video games enhance to transform you into a superior human being.

 

7. Games give you heightened concentration

So, the end credits roll, 30gs or another trophy pops up on the screen, you sit back and smile as you have another blockbuster title under your belt. Placing the controller down, you see four cups of cold tea on the side, your dinner in the bin and an angry note from your significant other stuck

From Resident Evil to F.E.A.R. there have been plenty of titles that had us on the verge of a self-soiling. So the night before you head back to Rapture, take a trip down memory lane with some of these games. Just remember to turn down the volume, turn on the lights, and have your mommy ready on speed dial…

 

TITLE:Alone in the Dark (1993)
CONSOLE(S): PC
  Back in the day, Alone in the Dark was one of the first games to have gamers jumping up and down in their seats. It was also one of the first to do the whole “I’m trapped in a spooky mansion” thing. While its success might have opened the door for a lot of horror games, the scariest thing about the series is how bad the latest installment was—not to mention the film adaptation.

TITLE:Clock Tower (1995)
CONSOLE(S): PlayStation, SNES, PC
  While Clock Tower may not seem scary now (c’mon fam, the killer has a pair of huge scissors—he’s not gunning for you, he just got lost on th

Game Features
•Multi-Platform Entertainment Experience. Gamania takes the Hero: 108 brand from an animated series that aired on March 1st, 2010 on Cartoon Network USA and Cartoon Network UK, Italy, and Germany to an online world where players discover the mayhem, malevolence and trickery of High Roller’s army for themselves. Coming in 2010, Gamania will also unveil Hero: 108 consumer products, created in partnership with Playmates Toys Inc.

•Become Your Favorite Character. With characters based on the animated show, discover special fighting skills, harkening to the four elements – wind, water, fire or earth – and personalize your character with unlimited combinations of customizable equipment and costume items for a uniquely personal touch

•Wicked Animal Adversaries, Numerous Quests and Maps. Unwavering heroes from across the land come together to conquer the programmed Animal Army through six Animal Kingdoms – each with 13 separate map quests &nda