Some parts of the print media have suffered more than others from the advent of the Web, but games magazines would come near the top of any death list. Monthly titles have seen their news coverage poleaxed by hundreds of blogs and sites that are able to run with the tiniest scraps of news and screenshots as soon as they emerge. But the best gaming blogs also offer sparky analysis and pointed reviews, while some simply serve up epic belly laughs. Our sister site GameSpot UK has all of those and more on its blog London Calling, but we couldn't really include them, could we? Here are the ten best we've found (that don't sit right next to us). By sheer weight of posts alone, this is a required RSS feed or bookmark for anyone interested in Nintendo gaming, whether Wii or DS. It sucks up stories from around the Internet and aggregates them quickly, offering a central point for the Nintendo news of the day. In truth, Shacknews is one of those sites that blurs the line between a blog and a news site, so comprehensive is its mixture of news and features.
With so many blogs chasing the same news, it's a worthy read because it still manages to pick up exclusives and new angles. Another multi-format blog that digs behind the headlines, often offering posts that are as interesting to people in the games industry as to gamers. A difficult line to walk, but it manages it with aplomb. A clean design and clear writing makes it a refreshing read. Don't come here looking for 20 news posts a day, but do come if your interests encompass Sega, Suzanne Shaw and Sony-slating at every opportunity. Not that UKR is a po-faced fanboy blog: it's so consistently funny you'll never dare drink tea in front of your monitor again. iPhone gaming, as you'll know if you've seen Apple's recent jabs at Nintento and Sony, is huge. Touch Arcade is one of the blogs that have sprung up to cover this burgeoning market, offering news, hands-on previews and a bustling forum full of developers talking about their latest games. As befitting the blog of a broadsheet newspaper, the Guardian's Games Blog eschews the scramble for press releases and screenshots in favour of a more measured approach, offering analysis, interviews and opinion.
Always readable, and often thought-provoking. There are hundreds of blogs that simply rehash games news -- none of which feature on this list. Destructoid stands out as one of the games blogs with a definable character of its own: sharp, sparky and never knowingly dull. This certainly has the most momentum of all the UK blogs on this list, having recently scooped three gongs at the Games Media Awards. They were well-deserved too: the writing is excellent, and it covers all the important news with a twist of humour. One of the two heavyweights of the games blogging world (the other is below), Joystiq offers dozens of posts a day, getting news stories up at the drop of a hat, and chasing down exclusive info whenever possible. An essential source for anyone interested in gaming. In truth, it's hard to choose between Kotaku and Joystiq -- a good deal of the stories they post are on the same subjects, such is the fierce competition between the two. Kotaku edges it for its humour, however, with its writers expressing their characters without becoming self-indulgent.
Shooting Bar EA is a BB gun target range and bar ... yup, drink up, and shoot things! Once you've signed the obligatory rules and regs contract and ventured inside, the bar and cosy tables are surrounded by BB gun replicas hanging on the walls – Glocks, Sig Sauers, Colts, and even a Samurai Edge, the handgun used in the Resident Evil video games. The partitioned shooting range is outfitted with a touch panel to control the targets' location, and guns with three magazines of BBs or rifles with two are available to rent for about £4.50. Goggles are provided.• 1-5-5 Gotenyama, Sawada Building 2F, Musashino, +81 4 2226 9100, shootingbar-ea.jp. isn't just an internet cafe. It's a glitzy all-you-can-eat otaku (geeks') buffet. Peruse the aisles of manga, play PlayStation and online games, charge your mobile, sleep, and guzzle as much free fizzy melon soda as you like. There are showers as well as shoebox-sized rooms with sofas for breaking out between games, and the Udagawa-cho location in Shibuya even has an on-site nail salon.
Thirty minutes costs ¥100 yen for women (just under £1), and around £1.75 for men, with an eight-hour night block costing around £11.• 12-3 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, +81 3 5428 5188, manboo.co.jp. Open year round, 24 hours a day The top floor of Akihabara's Super Potato retro games centre is an old-time Japanese arcade, complete with 1970s-style glass-top cocktail arcade cabinets. Besides arcade games, there are manga comics for perusal, bottled Coca-Cola for purchase, and a giant chair made completely of Nintendo game cartridges. The decor fails to match the retro theme – it's more like a jungle, with the rafters covered in fake leaves and vines, sheltering a camo-clad life-size statue of Snake from Metal Gear Solid, with pistol cocked. Open Mon-Fri 11am-8pm, Sat, Sun 10am-8pm Short for Hirose Entertainment Yard, Hey! is a must-stop in Akihabara for arcade game lovers. Rows and rows of arcade machines flicker under the fluorescent lights, and you'll need guts of steel and quick reflexes on the arcade's second floor, dedicated to crazy "bullet hell" shoot-'em-up games like Mushihimesama, in which endless streams of projectiles are fired at players.
The third floor is filled with fighting games, and the regulars are some of the best gamers in Japan. isn't where people go to practise. It's where they go to show off.• 1-10-5 Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, +81 3 5209 2030, taito.co.jp. Arcades in Tokyo are smoky – a major turn-off for many visitors. Namco Nakano, near otaku shopping centre Nakano Broadway, is a little different – clean, spacious arcade gaming with strict no-smoking sections and air purifiers, as well as the usual array of arcade games. What it lacks in smoke it also lacks in personality – the place is sterile compared with the grungier, older arcades, but the atmosphere is relaxed, and the competition isn't nearly as stiff as at pro-gamer haunts such as Hey!. It's a good place for "casuals" building their way up. • 5-52-15 Nakano, Nakano-ku, +81 3 5380 5442, namco.co.jp. The stubbornly strong yen is a drain on visitors' wallets. For gamers with a retro gaming itch who don't want to bust the bank, here's a solution: at Shibuya Kaikan Monaco, many of the arcade cabinets run retro games and take ¥50 coins (as opposed to the standard ¥100), which means you get more gaming for your yen.
The place smells like wet cigarettes, and while the dilapidated building does have its charm, it feels as old as the games it houses. • 23-10 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, +81 3 3461 9171. Joypolis isn't just an arcade, it's a colourful theme park complete with rides, a haunted house and a rollercoaster. There are arcade games, of course, but also virtual reality attractions and short 3D movies. One standout is Initial D Arcade Stage 4, which features life-sized versions of iconic Japanese cars for virtual racing. Many of the attractions are on the expensive side – a ride on the spinning rollercoaster is around £5. Open 10am-11pm, but closed for refurbishment until July 2012 Having first appeared in the mid-1990s, sticker photo machines, aka purikura or "print club", are now a cultural mainstay – whether on a date or with friends, Japanese teens have become obsessed with posing for snaps in these increasingly ubiquitous booths. Located right next to Shibuya Kaikan Monaco, Purikura Mecca is a cramped, schoolgirl-saturated first floor that features rows and rows of the machines.
Spend half an hour there and you'll get the idea. House rules say that male customers must be accompanied by a female, while all-girl groups are OK.• 2-23-15 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, +81 3 3477 8136 Akihabara isn't just about gaming and shopping. It's also about maids. For those who feel that visiting a coffee shop staffed by Japanese maids in frilly Victorian outfits isn't quite adventurous enough, Candy Fruit Refresh allows patrons to hire maids to play video games with them in what looks like a typical, cramped Japanese living room. You can get in shape with Wii Fit or hunt monsters together with Monster Hunter. When you tire of that, you can pay Candy Fruit Refresh maids to clean your ears – or even just talk to you. A 30-minute course costs around £23, while £40 will get you a full hour of maid gaming fun. Open Mon-Fri 3pm9pm, Sat, Sun 1pm-9pm What more appropriate way to end an Akihabara day than with a nightcap accompanied by all the old video game consoles you could ever want.