Five of the Best is a weekly series about the bits of games we overlook. Things like crowds, potions, mountains, hands. Things we barely notice while we're playing but can recall many years later because, it turns out, they're fundamental to our memory of the game. Well, now is the time to celebrate them!

Today we're celebrating...

Blocks! Or do I mean cubes? Don't! We had a whole argument about this. Cubes are a kind of block, as far as I'm concerned, and so are other shapes like the lower-case L Tetris block. If we confined ourselves only to cubes, we'd have to talk about the Companion Cube from Portal, again, and then I'd be forced to counterbalance it with Peter Molyneux's Curiosity cube just to be mean. But no, I'd never be so cheeky as to put a red herring in the list...

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Lumines, Tetsuya Mizuguchi's brilliant music-infused puzzler, is coming to Nintendo's Switch this spring - and it will include the ability to turn your JoyCons into Trance Vibrators.

It looks set to be a remastered version of the PSP original, first released in 2004 by Q Entertainment, the studio Mizuguchi founded in 2003. The former Sega producer has had a varied career since, leaving Q Entertainment in 2012 and taking up the role of a professor before returning to games in 2015 with his new company Enhance Games and, in 2016, releasing Rez Infinite on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR.

Enhance Games is behind Lumines Remastered, and the new game looks to recreate the PSP original on new hardware. That means enhanced visuals, of course, but on the Switch it also means the resurrection of one of Mizuguchi's more notorious innovations - the trance vibrator, which debuted alongside the PlayStation 2 version of Rez. By turning on Trance Vibration, you can sync a number of JoyCons and place them around your body in order to feel the music, if that's your kind of thing.

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Rayman Origins, Assassin's Creed and Lumines are among the titles Ubisoft is bringing to the PlayStation Vita, the publisher has announced.

Asphalt, Dungeon Hunter Alliance and Michael Jackson: The Experience are also "currently in development" for Sony's new handheld, according to its Gamescom announcement.

No word yet on exactly what form that Assassin's Creed game will take, but we'll update as soon as we find out more.

"With its processing power, dual tactile screens and cameras, PS Vita allows creators like Ubisoft new and unique opportunities to develop innovative games," commented Ubi CEO Yves Guillemot.

"We've got a strong and varied line-up that will offer fun and immersion to all audiences of the PS Vita."

There seems to be a near-universal acknowledgement that the iTunes App store is, to put it bluntly, a bit crap. So why on earth hasn't Apple done anything to evolve it?

Perhaps the overwhelming sales numbers has convinced the company to stick with this 'winning' formula, but you can't help but wonder aloud how much more successful it could be if it made browsing a less painful process.

When browsed from a computer (where I tend to browse), a simple task like selecting iPad games is a bizarrely convoluted process, but the storefront itself must be a complete travesty to anyone actually trying to get their games in front of people.

Unless you're one of the lucky few that gets pulled out for selection in 'New & Noteworthy' or 'What's Hot', your game is going to get almost zero visibility. And even if it does, the chances of it staying visible are even less likely without a concerted PR push elsewhere.

It's much the same story in the Android Market, while the less said about Microsoft's efforts on Windows Phone 7, the better. Anyone would think they were trying to make the process of finding out about the best new games as much of a ballache as possible.

Which is where we come in. Look! Games!

Pocket Academy

• iPhone - £2.39. Free trial version available.

As part of Kairosoft's ongoing quest to simulate every facet of human existence, the Japanese studio turns its all-seeing-eye to education.

As with its other endlessly infectious efforts (Game Dev Story, in particular), the aim is to become top dog in your field through a mixture of diligent resource management, astute hiring (and firing) and building the right facilities at the right time.

As a formula, you'll know what to expect by now; it's presented in the exact same adorable pixel art style of its other trio of releases and features the usual drag-and-drop mechanics and simple drop-down command interface.

But while it gives the usual impression of instant accessibility, it crucially lacks an adequate tutorial (unlike the excellent Grand Prix Story) and largely leaves you to your own devices to figure out the ins and outs of building up your educational institution.

Without an a defined set of goals to shoot for, its likely that you'll spend early hours watching pupils and teachers wandering around aimlessly, until you eventually run out of cash and dive into the help menu to figure out what you're doing wrong.

Given time, though, and Pocket Academy gets under your skin just like the other Kairosoft efforts, largely thanks to the attachment to your pupils, the satisfaction from their eventual progress, and the burgeoning relationships with other pupils. It's enough to bring a tear to your eye.

8/10