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Grant Kirkhope continues to do amazing stuff.

Hell of a trailer!

@Hero-of-Time @Happenstance @Josh64

When I seen Helmsly had posted in the thread I knew it would be that video. Great episode. I love the DKC games to bits and I'm always interested in watching anything about the series and its development. Im very happy with the tease of episodes featuring Rare's N64 output. Any Banjo and Diddy Kong Racing videos will be much appreciated.

Digital Foundry have put up this really good mini-documentary talking about Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct for the snes and what went into making those games:

The US version has always had more noticable slowdown than the PAL version (Same is true of a few other games I can think of, like Super Metroid and Super G N' G), something to do with the different clock speeds of the CPU and output resolution differences of PAL/NTSC; can't quite remember the details off the top of my head. But yes, that's normal. The game still runs noticably faster during normal gameplay though, because of 60hz. As for graphical glitches? I've not played the game on New3DS, so I can't really comment I'm afraid.

@Kav Just read the first chapter of My Hero Academia. So far, so good

If anyone ever needs a good list of video game art books and short reviews on them then I suggest using the Parka Blogs page I link to below. Its helped me find quite a few books I didn't know had been released. https://www.parkablogs.com/content/video-game-art-books-list

Urgh, Attack on Titan...I keep forgetting about it because it takes so long for a chapter to be released. Now I want to get back to it, but I'd have to start at the beginning because I forgot most of the plot.

I completely disagree and think it was a blatant rip off of Empire AND Return of the Jedi. (Just read your spoilered thoughts - haha)

Ok then, starting with The Art of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney right now. I'm in the mood to replay those games so probably a good one to read next.

Do what I do and just look at the pretty pictures.

Same, shamefully I've barely read all of the game books I have but I'm hoping to put them all in a more permanent place when I'm finished sorting out my room so that I'm more likely to read them more often.

Thanks, I've just backed it. What I really need to do is actually get around to reading these damn books!

I watched it first thing this morning and laughed my back off at his line when the Stormtroopers passed by.

You took the words right out of my posts @Dcubed, couldn't agree more with a lot of what you say

PSX + Huber = Hype!

This film was kind of all over the place really. It has some cool ideas, some good characters and scenes, but man, it could really have done with some editing and cuts. First of all, I have to give it props for actually (mostly) being a new film this time. Unlike Ep7, this is not a thinly veiled remake of ANH with bits of Empire thrown in (more on that in the spoilers...). Secondly, the cinematography does veer closer to actual Star Wars than EP7 ever did, which felt much more like Nu Trek. It's still not quite there (and some scenes are just flat out, not Star Wars at all in terms of cinematography style), but it's much closer now (one scene in particular really nails the look and feel, more on that in the spoilers). Right! Time for the spoiler block... I think my biggest issue with the film though is its kind of haphazard structure and pacing though. Like how @Julius Caesar mentioned, this film doesn't really follow the typical kind of 3 Act structure that the past movies did. It bounces back between people and places without any real connecting structure to support it; it doesn't really feel like the events all happen at the same time (especially when plotlines actually end up leading nowhere, like... ..., it comes across as a bit pointless, especially given just how much running time they give to that part of the film - it feels like a 3rd of the entire running time and it ends up doing next to nothing for the story, despite being a cool twist that goes against what you'd expect), making the film feel rather disjointed as a whole. It's just kind of a messy movie that goes on for longer than it should really. Overall though? I really enjoyed it! It's nice to see them be daring and try some new ideas, even if it ends up being a bit jumbled and messy. The pacing is poor, but the characterisation is really good. There's some good comic relief here, but also some real silliness that makes no sense. I'd rather see a movie that takes risks and kind of stumbles doing so, than a safe movie that gets most things right but does nothing new. They've also really kind of wiped the slate clean and dropped off a lot of series baggage going forward, leaving the past behind... So from here, it seems like they can basically do anything they want with the story now going forward, which should be interesting to see in Ep9!

I've been in a bit of a gaming rut all week, where I either couldn't be bothered to play anything or just kept jumping from game to game after about 10 mins of play. When this happens I have to go to my go to game to kick me out of the rut and that is A Link to the Past. I started it on Thursday and finished it this morning. I picked up the 3DS VC version when it was on sale a few months ago. I've played the SNES, Wii and Wii U versions and this one doesn't hold up as well compared to those. During my time playing the game I noticed slowdown in places I've never seen it before. There were also a few graphical glitches throughout the game, most notably at the top of the screen when using the mirror or walking on those tiles in dungeons that create holes. I wonder what they done with this that causes these issues? @Dcubed you're usually good with this kinda stuff. Was this version different to the others? Was this the US version or have they always used that when porting the games to the VC? Still, the game done its job in giving me a gaming jump start that I needed. Man, I love LTTP to bits. Best Zelda game I've played all year. I will say that I hate how Miiverse has ended. I loved keeping track of my progress while playing on my 3DS. Kinda feels weird not being able to post on it anymore. I'm now in the mood in play something else, possibly a JRPG. I could crack on with Pokemon Ultra Moon or start Dragon Quest VIII or Bravely Second. Pokemon sends me to sleep ( seriously, I have fell asleep numerous times playing both Moon and Ultra Moon ) so I'll probably go with one of the latter options.

Bought Finding Paradise yesterday and I'm really looking forward to playing through it. I loved To The Moon, one of my favourite gaming experiences.

Learnt a cheeky new technique from another player on Clam Blitz. They were on the opposing team and threw a clam towards me, which I initially tried to avoid, thinking it was a projectile , but once I realised it was just a clam and went to collect it, they then chucked in a bomb! Very nearly got me with it too. At first I thought they had thrown the clam by mistake (which I found hilarious at the time ) but looking back on it now it's actually a pretty cool tactical move. Captured a vid of it: This game keeps getting better and better, already played it way more than I did the Wii U original. Just wish they would patch out that bloody startup sequence! At the very least make it skippable!! It massively detracts from the quick pick up and play nature of the Switch.

@Glen-i Have you seen this video?

Beta is returning! Well happy with this. I can get another crack at finishing off Blos.

Wii U eShop releases for 14th of December; Wii U Virtual Console Battle Lode Runner (Konami, TG-16 VC, €5.99 / £5.39) Bomberman ’93 (Konami, TG-16 VC, €5.99 / £5.39) Lords of Thunder (Konami, TG-16 VC, €7.99 / £7.19) Wii U DLC Shantae: Half-Genie Hero – Shantae: Friends to the End (WayForward, €6.79 / £6.09) Wii U Festive Discounts Found here

3DS eShop for 14th of December; New Nintendo 3DS BLOK DROP CHAOS (RCMADIAX, €1.49 / £1.39) 3DS DLC Culdcept Revolt – Lost Woods (NIS America, free) 3DS HOME Themes Kirby Copy Ability Global Poll (Nintendo, free) Zelda: Four Champions (Nintendo, €1.99 / £1.79) We are Fashion Friends! (Rainbow, €0.99 / £0.89) Maggie and Bianca glam rock (Rainbow, €0.99 / £0.89) GO.ZY. & LOVE (Rainbow, €1.99 / £1.79) Rose and Joy (Rainbow, €0.99 / £0.89) Rose and Astoria (Rainbow, €0.99 / £0.89) Fairytale mission! (Rainbow, €1.99 / £1.79) Stella, Bloom and Flora Tynix (Rainbow, €0.99 / £0.89) 3DS Festive Discounts Found here

Enjoyed it but it needed more time in the editing suite. The pacing and plot lines were all a bit convoluted. The beauty of the original trilogy was the simple narrative thread, this was a bit all over the place. THAT Leia scene was utterly stupid but otherwise I didn't think there was much else to complain about, for me at least, just the plot was a bit messy. I thought the film got better as it went on. The first half hour or so wasn't good. Characters continue to impress. Especially Rey and Kylo Ren. Lightyears better than anything Rogue One served up.

That scene is the single most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I have no idea why it was included. Just a 'what the fuck' moment.

I hated it. Worst one since Final Frontier.

The only really fair major 3rd party retail comparison we have to go off at the moment is LA Noire (given that it launched day and date alongside all other platforms and was a very good port by all accounts), and that seemed to sell roughly in-line with the Xbone version. But it didn't exactly do gangbusters on any platform, so... I don't really think that the port to Switch itself was the issue here with those games in particular, given that they run poorly on all platforms (hell, the former was even ported by Tantalus and they generally do good work). That being said, there is certainly a trend of poorly ported games, like Pinball FX 3 (Which apparantly only runs at 30FPS in handheld mode and is hardly a looker) and Overcooked (which definitely needed more time in the oven before it launched); there are plenty of Switch eShop games that rightfully should run much better than they currently do, given the hardware. The eShop is quickly becoming crowded though and the gold-rush is likely to end soon; meaning that there's less of an incentive to cash-in quick. Nintendo also desperately needs to fix the Switch eShop's discoverability, as games are already getting buried (it's impossible to find an older game now unless you either search for it, it goes on sale, or you trawl through the All Games list). Wii U had a far, FAR better eShop layout than Switch does.

What a world we live in.