Konami is clearly thinking strategically about how to differentiate home video games from arcade. For instance witness LifeLine, the first ever ‘voice-activated’ console game for the PS2. Kid’s bedrooms could suddenly get a lot noisier if this sort of thing catches on.

‘Compatible with any USB headset peripheral, LifeLine’s unprecedented technology features voice-recognition of over 5,000 words and 100,000 phrases such as “Shoot!”, “Run!” and “Dodge and reload!” ‘