Available on: PS3, X360, Wii U, PC [Version Reviewed: X360] Released (UK): 16/11/12 - 30/11/12 - 31/01/13 Space reserved for YouTube video: Due Soon Sumo Digital have a history with racing games; with previous experience on Outrun and Sonic Racing, in addition to having staff from defunct studios such as Bizarre Creations and Black Rock Studio - and as a result Sonic ASRTransformed feels like a 'greatest hits' collection of the best karting games around. If you have ever played a mascot-based kart racer before, the core gameplay will be familiar to you instantly, but Sonic ASRTransformed does make one or two nice additions in what might be one of the finest 'kart racing' games in recent years.

2013 is shaping up to be an interesting year for video games; we're just over half way into January and we already have a surprisingly active start to the year. We have the announcement of the 6th Generation of Pokemon , a controversial collectors edition that just makes you ask 'why ' , the unfortunate collapse of a publisher in addition to two major retail outlets going into administration , a new game reveal from Suda51 , new console efforts on the way from Nvidia and Valve and of course; the next generation arms race from Sony and Microsoft is now officially under way with countdowns and pre-E3 events in a match of one-upmanship. There is so much left to be revealed but already we have a great line up of titles and this year is just going to keep hitting us with new titles, new IPs and news stories. I originally tried putting together a top 13 but there was many unknowns and such a good range of titles that it became so hard to choose so instead I have put toge...

Hello and welcome to 'The Ramblings of a Bearded Bloke'; a domain for the collective ramblings of an David Cousins - a twenty-something Brit with too much time - rambling and ranting on about whatever topic seems 'relevant' or of interest at the time. Of course you might have already guessed this. If, for some reason you are still interested, please see after the bump to give yourself an idea of what I have in-store.