Spider-Man 3: The Game

Activision boss Bobby Kotick has said the company's recent Spider-Man games deserved to get low review scores - because they're rubbish.

Once more Eurogamer returns to the front-lines of the next-gen console war, as we present our latest batch of cross-platform games available on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and put them to the test. Which titles are better on which console? More importantly, where there are differences, is there a fundamental effect on the gameplay?

As is the norm, there's a range of comparison screenshots accompanying each game, acquired digitally and losslessly at full 24-bit precision from the HDMI ports of the Xbox 360 Elite and the PlayStation 3 respectively, courtesy of a Digital Foundry HD high-definition capture box. Not too much we can add here other than to say that every pixel of each console's video RAM can be extracted, meaning there's no better way to judge the graphical capabilities of each game on each console - short of mailing you all a disc.

So, onto the roster of software up for discussion then - another gaming mixture that once again encompasses the good, the bad and the fugly of cross-platform development.

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In case you hadn't noticed, the European PlayStation Store was updated with a handful of bits and bobs yesterday.

Among its biggest treats were new demos for the excellent SEGA Rally and not-so-good Folklore, as well as fresh content for MotorStorm, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Spider-Man 3.

MotorStorm fans will now be able to race a new truck and mud plugger around some dirty land in the Capitano & Varjack vehicle pack for GBP 1.49 (EUR 2.12); Ninja Gaiden Sigma owners will be able to master a series of challenges based around alacrity in the Speed Master pack for GBP 2.99 (EUR 4.27); and Spider-Man 3 fans will be treated to a new Goblin character in the functionally named Goblin pack for GBP 3.99 (EUR 5.69).

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Activision has stuck to the top-spot of all All Formats charts for the fourth week running with the official game of Spider-Man 3, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

Activision has continued its winning streak by spending a third week on top of the All Format charts with Spider-Man 3, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

Activision is enjoying the benefits of movie cross-promotion with this week's UK All Formats number one, as sales of Spider-Man 3 jump 26 per cent in its second week at the top, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

You'd almost think the folk at Activision are a bit paranoid to judge by their demo of Spider-Man 3, what with the controller being snatched away at various points and the console getting switched off with a dramatic flourish at the end of the presentation. However, it's not the folk at Activision who are paranoid, but the folk at Sony Pictures, who are at pains to make sure that no grubby games journalist is going to spill the plot secrets of its forthcoming summer blockbuster. That's because Spider-Man 3 is, like its predecessors, based closely upon the events in the film.

It might be fun to giggle at American games journos howling and hollering at unveilings like a pack of drugged monkeys but personally I think they've got the right idea. The dignified professionalism of the European games press is cute but sometimes I want to whoop at that screen, damnit. Keeping that excitement bottled up is frustrating. I'm sick of having to hide any little gasps I make by following them up with thoughtfully chewing on my biro. So I'd like to thank Activision for showing Spider-Man 3, a game seemingly based entirely around the concept of "awesome", in a darkened auditorium. The notes I took are totally illegible but I was able to safely grin like a loon the entire time.