Creating an engaging role-playing world must be one of the most in-depth and time-consuming challenges faced by a games developer, which is why some of the most successful titles in this genre have come from the world of pen-and-paper role-playing games.
Along with the Baldur's Gate series, Vampire: The Masquerade has been one of the most successful conversions of a world, formerly built with paper and imagination, into an immersive gaming experience.
The first title, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption took White Wolf's World of Darkness and turned it into an engrossing game. Now the second title, Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines, has been announced for release on the PC next year and promises to do even more.
As the title suggests, players will be able to adopt the role of a vampire from one of seven different clans, all of which represent different interpretations on classic vampiric imagery - from the suave, sophisticated, Anne Rice-style vamp to the shadow-loving, stealthy Nosferatu.
Your chosen clan will give you access to a variety of different skills that will determine the way you play through the game. When coming across another creature you can, for example, either charm your way round them, use your skills of domination over them, become temporarily invisible and sneak past, or just go for the old-fashioned approach and bite them in the neck.
Bloodlines should open up lots of possibilities for advancing the role-playing genre, not least because it combines the power of Valve Software's Source engine which has been used to create the sensational graphics in Half-Life 2.
Meanwhile, Acclaim's advertising department has been rolling out the spin. The latest publicity stunt involves spray-painting pigeons in non-toxic, water based paint with the logo for Virtua Tennis 2. These flying billboards have apparently been trained to land on the tennis courts during Wimbledon fortnight.
However, considering this is coming from a company that delights in creating its own rumours (including planning to buy gravestone space to advertise Shadowman 2 and paying speeding tickets as part of the Burnout 2: Point of Impact promotion), it is more than likely that those attending Wimbledon won't find any spraypainted feathers dropping into their strawberries and cream.
Top 10 games - all platforms
Compiled by ELSPA
1. SOCOM: US Navy Seals (PS2) Sony - £49.99
2. Enter the Matrix (PS2, GC, XB, PC) Atari - £39.99
3. The Sims: Superstar (PC) Electronic Arts - £17.99
4. Midnight Club II (PS2, Xbox) Take 2 - £34.99
5. Hulk (PS2, Xbox, GC, PC) VU Games - £39.99
6. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PC, PS2) Take 2 - £29.99
7. Brute Force (Xbox) Microsoft - £37.99
8. Starsky & Hutch (PS2, Xbox, PC) Empire Interactive- £37.99
9. The Sims (PS2, PC, XB, GC) Electronic Arts- £37.99
10. World Championship Snooker 2003 (PS2, Xbox) Codemasters £39.99
