And the companies that make them can live or die by the game's success - it was the lukewarm reception to Realtime's last game, All Points Bulletin, that finally tipped it into administration.

BBC: Video games industry: Rise of the 'bedroom' developer

As Davidson's partner Mark Sauter points out, APB Online (derived from the classic police acronym "all-points bulletin") may be the world's only news organization with a reporter assigned full-time to the missing persons beat.

CNN: APB Online wants crime to pay