The demo ferret has been busy this week, ferreting around the Internet for the best playable demos. But what did he find? Croc 2 for starters, followed by Tower of the Ancients and Missile Command. Wheat or chaff? You decide... Latest additions to the Hints and Tips database include The Sims on PC, Medal of Honor on PlayStation, Knockout Kings 2000 on N64 and Virtua Striker 2 on Dreamcast. We've also got patches and updates for all the latest games.

It appears that, finally, the Future Gamer Chat Forum has returned to relative normality after a hectic couple of weeks. Gone is the discussion over whether Zinedine Zidane is destined for the Reds, "Cheese vs Sausages" is but a distant memory and the excitement over Tyson's demolition of Julius 'Punch Bag' Francis has long since faded. So you'd think the topic of the moment would be the pending release of PlayStation2, right? Well, as ever, the Forum never follows the form book and the Dolphin took centre stage. Will the Dolphin be released this year or not and whether it would be a success were the main topics of debate.

AndyXL seemed adamant it would succeed on both counts, whereas Steve disagreed: "Personally I think Nintendo have had it. No-one sees them as 'cool' any more since the PlayStation took over - they haven't learned from their mistakes and I don't care what you say. Their attitude towards Europe stinks; they can't even be bothered with us over here and that's why they employed those clowns THE to mess everything up." However, AndyXL countered with: "I really don't think that with record Game Boy and Pokémon sales, the top-selling games in the US in 1999, and two major hardware launches in the near future, Nintendo are in trouble. Sounds like a real crisis to me!" Will the Dolphin rescue Nintendo Flipper-style or will it be tinned up in tuna before you can say Ecco the Dolphin?

The ever popular "Play, Want, Bin" made a welcome return too. Gran Turismo 2, Unreal Tournament, Snakes (you know, the old wiggle around a screen and eat stuff game, found on fancy mobile phones) and, for some lucky people, Crazy Taxi featured highly in the "Play" category. Crazy Taxi, Resident Evil: Code Veronica and Perfect Dark dominated the "Wants", while residing in the "Bin" were Omega Boost, AOL, Virtua Striker 2 and Aerowings. Other 'interesting' threads have included a bet on Schumacher winning the Formula 1 championship this year, a Krusty Quiz (for the OAP Forumites, bless 'em) and, finally, which car to buy in GT2. Future Gamer would go for the Renault Clio any day because it has an extra four centimetres of lateral suspension. Size matters.