Stories by: Bruce Buckman

If you're looking for more features in a slightly larger package then Canon's new PowerShot S80 might suit. The new top-of-the-line model in the S range, the S80 offers 8 megapixel resolution with a 3.6x zoom lens that boasts a useful 35mm equivalent range of 28-100mm. On the back is a large 2.5-inch LCD and you also get a simple optical viewfinder, should bright sunlight prove too much for the LCD.

MP3 music; MPEG and DivX/XviD movies; digital photo collections--these manifestations of the digital age have entered most of our lives through our PCs, not our home entertainment centres. But recognising that many people want to access their digital files from the comfort of the lounge, vendors have been trying to find ways to let us do just that, without setting up a dedicated Media Centre PC in our living rooms.

EA's The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth offers a real-time strategy game that lets players fight it out in the familiar terrain of Middle Earth - from the beginning of the quest to destroy the ring, right through to the ultimate face-off between good and evil. And as this is a game, not the books or the movie, the outcome is not set. Choose to play on the evil side and you can defeat Frodo, Gandalf and company, casting Middle Earth into darkness. And if you play as the good guys, events won't always pan out in line with the books.

Olympus introduced its new 4/3 open digital standard last year with the E1, its first digital SLR. While the E1 was a good camera, in a market dominated by the battle for the consumer rather than professional digital SLR (DSLR) dollar, at $2,999 it wasn't going to steal too much business from Canon and Nikon. Olympus has now followed up with the E-300, and at $1,599 including lens it's much more competitive, at least on paper.

Portable media players that let you view pictures and movies, or listen to your MP3s are certainly sexy little toys, if a little on the expensive side. But if you are willing to do a bit of tinkering and dispense with brand-name build quality, you can have many of the advantages of a portable media player at a much cheaper price.

Rome: Total War is a glorious game. The third instalment in the Total War series builds on the game mechanics of its predecessors, adding both more tactical and strategic depth and throwing in fully 3D graphics for good measure.

JVC's GZ-MC200 Everio camcorder takes an interesting approach to the problem of storing large amounts of high-quality video on digital media. Where some camcorders, such as Sony's DCRDVD201E, have renounced DV tape in favour of 8cm DVD discs, they suffer the drawback that the current discs, at 1.4GB, are limited to around 30 minutes of high-quality MPEG footage. JVC's approach is to use a 4GB Microdrive - the CompactFlash-sized mini hard drive produced by Hitachi.

Kodak's $699 Easyshare DX7590 offers great flexibility thanks to its 10x Schneider-Kreuznach (35mm equivalent 38mm - 380mm) zoom lens, which lets you cope with pretty much anything you'll come up against.

Samsung's top of the line Digimax V50 is a 5 megapixel, $699 camera sporting a 3x Schneider-Kreuznach zoom lens. The lens, with a 35mm equivalent range of 38mm-113mm isn't going to let you grab close-ups of wildlife, but it's good for standard snaps.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is based on the Games Workshop universe in which factions of Space Marines, Orks and others do battle in the 41st millennium. But even if you're not an anorak-wearing member of the Warhammer fraternity, there's plenty to enjoy here.

Fable, a landmark effort from Lionhead Studios, succeeds where many computer RPGs fail; namely, it makes you feel like you're participating in the creation of a great story.