Guns. We need lots of guns.

There was a time when your only option for a light gun videogame was the NES Zapper, and you’d be sure to be blasting ducks ten minutes after you got it home. These days, with the massive variety of different TV, displays and consoles it’s a lot more confusing to work out what you need to unleash digital carnage with a plastic gun.

We take a look at what’s available for what console so no matter what machine you have with what screen, you’ll soon be ducking and diving like a hardened member of the SAS.

PLAYSTATION 2

CRT TVs are still most common, and are the classic, boxy, style. Lightguns work on these by the console calculating the horizontal refresh rate when the electron beam excites the phosphor at the point the trigger is pulled. Put more simply – plug it in, point it at the screen and blast the bad guys.

If you have a PSOne or Playstation 2 and a CRT TV, the Zero Force Laser gun is your best option. It features realistic recoil and an optional red laser sight to improve your gameplay. For the PS2, you only need plug in the controller & USB cable, while the PSOne requires you plug the yellow T-Connector into your AV cable. Extremely accurate, with a plethora of options (Blast mode, Guncon mode etc), it’s and is a great price at £14.99

XBOX

Although not many light gun games were available for the original Xbox, the few that were are highly revered among light gun fans - House of the Dead III, Starsky & Hutch (one player drives while the other shoots!) and the Silent Scope Series. Since there aren’t that many Xbox games, it makes perfect sense to buy an Xbox/PS2 compatible light gun, if you own both consoles.

The Hais Xbox/PS2 Light Gun (50/60/100 Hz) is compatible with the original Xbox, PSOne AND Playstation 2! If you have a 100Hz refresh rate CRT, it will even work with that. Again, this feature rich model features individually controllable recoil and targeting laser and is an absolute bargain at £15.99.

PSOne/PLAYSTATION 2/PLAYSTATION 3/PC

But what do you do if you don’t own a CRT TV? What if you’ve invested your gaming cash into a brand new LCD or Plasma television – or even a projector? For a long time there was no solution to play light gun games on these modern displays, but the LCD Topgun presents the perfect solution.

By utilising the latest motion sensing technology, similar to how the Wii remotes work, the LCD Topgun will work on any type of display – LCD, Plasma, Projector, CRT - even a PC monitor (which makes it great for MAME arcade games). You simply set up the sensor bar at the sides of your display screen, and plug it in to your console. It’s so versatile that it works on almost all m\todern consoles, including Playstation 2, Xbox, Playstation 3 and the PC. It can work with any size screen, up to 120 inches, so is great for projector owning gamers. The technology used means the LCD Topgun is ultra accurate and at just £34.99 is a complete must for any real light gun fan.

The World's Easiest (and coolest?) Wii Mod

We'll shortly be getting in a brand series of products from Talismoon to let you customise your Wii even more. The Talismoon Wii Gate changes the LED colour of the front panel on your Wii, where you insert discs.

It's billed as the easiest Wii modification yet and, because you're not opening the internals of the case, only the front panel, it won’t void your warranty. We've included a set of Wii Gate instructions for you to get to grips with right here. As you can see, it’s an extremely easy four step process and everything you need to carry out the procedure is included in the package.

Initially, red and green colours will be available and we expect this range to expand even further. The full package includes a specialist screwdriver, the Wii Gate of your choice (including LEDs, plastic diffuser and black DVD curtain) and a set of instructions. At a low, low price of £4.99, watch out for these later this week!

Welcome to The Game Train

Hi all and welcome to The Game Train's new blog where you can hear the latest news and developments on what's going on at The Game Train. You can expect hands on product reviews, guides, articles, comments and much more, all from our gamer mad staff. We’ll also keep you up to date with some of the latest news from the gaming world and informing you of forthcoming products.

Like you, we love videogames and are always looking to get the most out of our gaming experience - be it by improving the picture and sound quality, completely changing the look of our consoles with replacement shells and faceplates or using them in new and exciting ways, like using Playstation controllers on Xbox consoles. We believe we provide some of the best sales service in the business and are always on hand to advise on what equipment you need, or how to set up kit.

Ever wanted to know how to connect a particular console to a certain type of TV or monitor, but confused by the amount of options available? We’re busy working on an exciting new website feature that will make working out how to get the best picture and sound quality from your consoles an absolute breeze. We’ll reveal it in the next few days so stay tuned to The Game Train…