June 17th, 2009
8,241 
1 Despite working in the technology industry I was a little behind in the world of gaming! I still had my trusty old PS2 which guided me through university and at one stage doubled up as my DVD player on my 14” CRT.
I finally decided that the PS2 was being neglected when it came to games releases and if I wanted to stay in contact with some of my friends – playing games online against them was actually the only chance I could communicate with some of them. The other barrier to overcome in buying a new games console was convincing the other half that it was an essential purchase, and would in no way lead me to neglecting her needs.
A quick play on a friends Guitar Hero and the promise that she could watch Desperate Housewives in the other room, thanks to every TV in our flat having built in digital tuners, she could watch in peace on our 22AV616DB on E4 whilst I won the Champions League with Spurs on the hardest setting on Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, she was convinced it would not ruin our relationship.
So after deciding what games, what games console to connect it to, I knew I had to practice what I preached and made sure I had a suitable TV – the 42XV635DB. The main draw was the 100Hz, 1080p combination which was supported by a dedicated gaming feature, called Game Mode!
Game Mode was introduced to our 2008 line up and is now standard in our line up. Basically it is a dedicated picture setting that is designed by our clever engineers in Japan to offer the best picture settings when playing games. Whilst picture settings like brightness, contrast and colour will always differ from person to person, our engineers have dedicated a setting that strips out some of the processing needed to offer a decent picture for watching BBC1 etc. The speed at which some games are played is also so quick some TVs simply cant keep up with all the messages that the control pad is being sent - just think how quickly you can press those buttons.
Game Mode’s party trick however is its ability to display the full screen, exactly as the game maker intended it to be. Many non-game mode TVs will overscan the image and you miss important details. You may be able to live with this if you play on your own, however if you play on line you could be seriously disadvantaged. When playing Pro Evo Soccer for example with Game Mode on you can see considerably more of the pitch so you can easily identify players which the person you might be playing against online might not be able to see.
Game Mode can be selected via HDMI which is the best way to connect your HD games console.
