THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK
NINTENDO 3DS

Christmas has come late at Nintendo. After a VERY quiet period, with no significant release to speak of in months, we now have a new console – an update of the 3DS XL – and a new episode from the long-running Zelda series to play on it. Well, not really a new episode – Majora's Mask originally came out for the N64 in 2000 – but it's been modified significantly to make it friendlier for on-the-go gaming (with more generously sprinked save points, for example, and good use of the second screen for notebook-style inventory management). The plot, unsurprisingly, is extremely convoluted, even by Nintendo standards, but essentially requires our hero, Link, to save the world in 72 hours, at which point the moon crashes into it (and what a world it is, filled with bonkers characters like Deku the leaping shrubbery).  Once again, Link can use his magical Ocarina flute (you blow into the microphone) to solve puzzles and – crucially – to rewind time so he can have another crack at completing challenges before the deadline, Groundhog Day-style.  Eventually, we hear, there will be releases that will only run on the new 3DS; meantime, games like Majora will work on both (apparently it's slightly easier to play with the new handheld's extra control stick, but, like, whatever).  AH

FREE-TO-AIR

TOAST OF LONDONSUNDAY FEBRUARY 22, SBS2, 9.30pm

Matt Berry (Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace) uses his trademark booming voice and smarmy charm to great effect in this British series about an eccentric, washed-up actor, Steven Toast. Co-written by Berry and Father Ted co-writer Arthur Mathews, Toast of London focuses on the has-been actor's off-stage antics and those of his flatmate, Ed (Robert Bathurst, last seen here in Downton Abbey). In this opening episode Toast's agent Janet Plough ("It's spelt 'plough' but pronounced 'pluff"") tells him he's up for an award, but fails to mention it's a "worst actor" award, and his attempts at romance fall horribly flat when one of dates turns out to be a murderer and the other a hoarder. Toast fares better than Ed though, whose old friend Kikini, the daughter of the Nigerian Ambassador, comes to stay so she can recuperate from a cosmetic surgery procedure that has left her looking like British game show host Bruce Forsyth – except for her left hand. Some of the jokes might be very British, but the sheer absurdity of proceedings transcends any nationality. If you're a Berry fan, this is a surreal treat. KN

CLASSIC

PAY TV

HANNIBAL BURESS: LIVE FROM CHICAGO
FRIDAYS, THE COMEDY CHANNEL, 8.30PM

Hannibal Buress is not everyone's cup of tea. His jokes push boundaries so far they teeter on the edge of dangerous before frequently falling flat on their faces in the tasteless category. He recently caused a stir with his Bill Cosby rape-allegations routine in a Philadelphia comedy club. Here the New Yorker returns to his home town to play The Vic Theater. After some nice anecdotes at the expense of fellow comics including Eddie Griffin and 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan, Buress' material slides into egotistical rants about restaurants, rats, dating and that comedy minefield, domestic violence. By the hearty chuckles coming from the crowd, Buress might be saying what a lot of men are thinking, but that doesn't make him right or even funny. BM

DVD

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP
UNIVERSAL SONY (MA15+)

Nicole Kidman can be hit and miss. When she's bad, you usually blame the script – it's too stilted, the character doesn't fit the role, the lines are unnatural. But when she's good, she owns the screen. In this role, we enjoy the best of Kidman in the role of Christine, a confused, suspicious housewife trying to figure out how she became a clueless captive in her own home. We open to her rising from bed in the morning, seeing pictures of her life in a collage on the wall – happy days, wedding etc – and having her husband Ben (Colin Firth) explaining how she wakes every day with no memory of her past. We are quickly introduced to an interloper, Dr Nasch, a neuropsychologist played by Ben Strong, who is attempting to help her regain her memory, and life. And thus begins an intriguing thriller, as Kidman pieces together the elements – who attacked her and nearly killed her, and why? Who was she? Who did she love? Who can she trust? Colin Firth is a natural in the role. He's the stand-up guy, but not necessarily the good guy – and he's a good match for Kidman. JK

CLASSIC

THE 39 STEPS
MADMAN (G)

This loose 1935 adaptation of John Buchan's novel established Alfred Hitchcock as cinema's master of the comedy-thriller, a genre he would revisit throughout his career. Robert Donat is the gentlemanly hero who comes to the aid of a glamorous foreign spy (Lucie Mannheim), then finds himself framed for her murder, launching him on a string of adventures that take him from London to the Scottish moors and back again. For Hitchcock the chase format is a liberating one, permitting constant plot twists and shifts in tone, as well as brief but incisive sketches of typical Britons ranging from a lecherous Cockney milkman (Frederick Piper) to a grim Calvinist crofter (John Laurie) and his downtrodden wife (Peggy Ashcroft). Nominally playing a Canadian, Donat starts off as the incarnation of British phlegm, but his increasingly zestful embrace of his "outlaw" role – especially when taunting and bullying his reluctant travelling companion (Madeleine Carroll) – marks him as one of many Hitchcock heroes who are innocent only in a technical sense. JW