Lens of Truth

@RedShell Sonic Racing definitely improves the more you play it and the mechanics are a bit more involved than Mario Kart. If I judged it on my first few races I'd have thought it was lacking too. I agree with what @dazzybee says for the most part, but I'd love to see a Mario Kart equivalent to the World Tour do it with coherence and charm. My biggest gripe with SASRT is it could honour the Sega legacy so much better - it all feels so plastic and second hand. The tracks never really evoke their respective series for me (whereas Nintendo manage umpteen variations on the simple Mario themes and they invariably feel 'right'). If MK8 did half of what Sonic does but with the all important character and charm it would be a winner.

Nintendo have, in error, sent me two sticker books, so if anyone has missed out and wants one drop me a pm.

@Debug Mode & @Ike I've added your Japanese codes

They were. They did. This is rather worrying. The Wii U version has gone from being talked up as the flagship version to seeming like an nuisance afterthought. Hope the extra few weeks results in a good product and not an Epic Mickey 2 job. =/

Once the supermarkets get in on the act and the price is driven down by about £50 it will hit more of a sales sweet spot. They do need some solid announcements between now and E3 though to appeal to core gamers and Nintendo fans who haven't bitten yet. Things like the OS speed boost and the beginnings of the VC will also make it seem like a more robust prospect. Gradually marketing needs to ramp up too and clarify what hell this "U" thing is for folk who are less clued up. I don't think we need to worry about another Vita scenario just yet! This seems silly, but maybe it's a fellow Nintendoid trying to do them a favour! The ads need a revamp!

That's good to hear! That Pikachu XL looks pretty cute. Are you taking part in the Mario Kart League this year? You've reminded me I should probably join in. The poor 3DS hasn't had much of a look in since the Wii U arrived. I love that some of the music is so 'right' and classic it feels like it's been around forever. These two spring to mind in particular: Audio Audio The are two very minor things that could have been improved. Firstly, a new ghost house theme would've be nice instead of a midi version of the one from Galaxy (the reuse mania did start to creep in here! ) and, perhaps more importantly, I wish they'd decided to break the bank and record a real sax for the main theme - the midi one does my nut in! Wait until you get to the special worlds. Pure handheld Mario genius!

Launch trailer

Great comments as ever Grazza. You've made me want to play through again! All of which begs the question... why on earth did you sell it in the first place?! :p

The only thing I can think of is that it might be stuck in Nintendo testing hell. But then they let Sonic Racing through and that was a nightmare before the first patch (and still freezes on me a lot online). Surely Nintendo subjecting it to their cherished and often demented "space things out" policy wouldn't come into play? I've just started going through the movies on blu in the run up! Hoping the inevitable delay is a matter of day/weeks rather than months...

No, I'm afraid not. I can't imagine it would be delayed for developmental reasons because they've had plenty of time to get the Wii U version ready. Hope we hear soon.

Magnus those drawings are brilliant! Really brightened my morning

I was shocked at how crisp they were too. There are only little tells like certain edges on the world map in Mario and so on. Mighty Switch Force and the Rayman Legends demo do look lovely in full 1080p, but the difference isn't that noticeable, and I'm quite fussy about this type of thing. Having said that, I wouldn't mind seeing Wara Wara Plaza get a bump to 1080 in the future, so that the little faces and expressions are that bit more distinct when zoomed out. Speed first though [Apologies for harping-on about resolutions btw! I'll shut up now and let the sales talk recommence]

So The Cave is out next week in America. That's a lot sooner than I expected! I hope this means it makes an appearance here before long

I was thinking the same thing today. Hope we get one before the end of the month at least. This Thursday would do nicely!

It's a combo of the large overheads with (still) inflated pricing. For a start, the difference between running and paying rates on 230 sites vis Amazon's, what, 4 warehouses in the UK? It's huge. Almost every time I'm in HMV though I see stock that's been lying there for years with crazy higher than RRP tags and random stuff like both series of Sherlock for £17 and then right next to it series 2 alone for £30. The same (already popular) items always languish in the perma-sales. It's like they wanted stock to rot. To be fair to the staff at the main Liverpool branch they certainly are friendly. And they gave me my £20 Wii U deposit back without a fuss. Didn't know at the time they were in such schtuck!

You've phrased that as nicely as you could In my experience £400 PCs are far from consistent or comfortable with 'current gen' games at 1080p. I think Sony are their own worst enemy on this sort of thing (like Nintendo are, but the inverse). They're in financial dire straits and before 1080p has even had a chance to bed-in they want to push to another new standard that's entirely irrelevant unless you have a wall-sized screen and a wallet to match! Even then, there is no 4K content. Try getting movies in that res. The big studios are only just beginning to open up their catalogues on blu-ray and getting their heads around how to do decent transfers that actually take advantage of the format. 1080p downloads are still a rarity (ones that aren't compressed to hell and back, and official ones even more so). Imagine downloading a monster 100GB+ file (currently not on the horizon) every time you want to justify that layout on your beast of a 4K LCD. A large proportion of the films you see at the cinema are shown from 2K files (ie about the same as 1080p). Even at that size most people can't tell the difference. TV broadcasters are all fighting for space and struggle to output a small handful of 'premier' channels at 720p. There simply isn't the bandwidth. If a notional 4K capability (or lack of) had any bearing on Wii U's potential sales it would be negligible, coming only from a rich minority of a crevice of a niche in tech-oneupmanship land. The Digital Foundry article paints a realistic picture, while remaining 'optimistic'. I'm sure you're right that the PS4 will use it as a marketing line, but I thought this comment was telling: HMV going under is rather sad for me because I often browse and impulse buy there (not games though, they're all a bit steep!). If in a few years hence we have a situation with Amazon and pretty much nothing else then I hope we at least get them to cough-up a bit more in tax, after highstreet retailers have been crippled by massive overheads and council rates (and of course reluctant and hubristic pricing schemes). Ah, that does sound plausible. Would fit with the whole 'soft launch' strategy too.

Definitely agree on this. I'm gobsmacked at the how slow the eshop is getting going. They could have filled this period with fresh Virtual Console gems we've not seen before, or dumped the whole Wii VC library on with the option to update to 60Hz with decent upscaling. I think they wanted to step back a bit during the launch window and allow 3rd parties and the few indie devs who are on board to get some limelight, but there's no doubt it's alienating many gamers. It's odd for me because I find myself with over half a dozen games to enjoy, all top quality, and playing more multiplayer than I have in years. Paid a visit to another big Tesco here today and not a single solitary sign of the Wii U; no games, nothing. They really need to get this sorted. [For what it's worth on the UI front, I've been checking for updates practically every time I switch the console on ]

The gamepad isn't a gimmick in the sense that I would understand it; somewhat borne out by the fact that it can't be sold as such - just look at how the marketing is struggling! No, the screen just adds to the general usability of the console, navigating, touch menus etc. It can be used in certain games to enrich the immersion and interactivity, and opens up new possibilities for off-screen and multiplayer, but it's not a "gimmick" any more than adding a second analogue stick or four controller ports is. This quote from Shin'en the other day speaks volumes and I'm pretty sure we'll see some impressive feats from the Wii U once its up to speed. Games that are exclusively single player (ie that don't need to render a second view to the pad) like Zelda and Metroid, should be able to throw around some pretty impressive stuff. I'm not going to debate further whether the Wii U is 'powerful' or not because if the current definition of that is 4K then it's pretty pie in the sky. Wake me up in about a decade when the recession's almost over and there's a £300 piece of kit that can handle 4K 60fps. :wink:

I love the fact that Frosty Village and Walrus Cove reference 'Winter Wonderland' I think there might be a few more nods to well-known songs in there too. Does anyone else think Star City is like an up-tempo version of the chorus from: Another one I've always had a soft spot for: Audio

I personally think Wii U is quite a canny name. I'd be just as happy with Super Wii - SWii - though.

If they're anything like our mid-sized Tesco the games will be £45+ =/ They don't seem to stock the console itself and the whole game section is a shambles.

David Wise has set up his own site and is getting back into videogame music I believe. It'd be the icing on the cake if they brought him back for this [the thread's practically convinced me it's happening! ].

One example of grain being perfectly represented in a not-so-old film on blu-ray is the original TRON. They didn't erased any of the texture that makes the film and its combo of CG, matte and optical effects so unique. It looks gorgeous: Haven't seen Sucker Punch, but I'm pretty sure the Matrix films should have a healthy layer of fine grain. In the cinema you see even more!

@EEVILMURRAY - I didn't know you put up a review. I miss so many great articles! I'll check it out. I only wish they'd got Rodrigo y Gabriela (/on a budget) to be centre stage for both Gerudo and Dragon Roost (which is its spiritual successor) with subtle support from string harmonies and trumpets and latin percussion. Why on earth did they go for a monotonous rent-an-ostinato with slamming drums and flipping xylophone(!). It could be from anything. Then of course they have the whole horn section wobbling out the melody in octaves. Different strokes for different folks I guess. [i'm only going on the cd perfomance that came with Skyward Sword] The TP and WW movements are both great though and really showcase how through-composed and rich in melodic consequence the original soundtracks were

Guys, just to clarify, I think Gerudo Valley is a smashing tune! I just can't stand the clunking orchestration of it in the 25th Anniversary concert. For a start it totally loses the Spanish flavour and replaces it with the worst kind of modern film score pap. It could be any genero movie chase cue. Listen to those squawking horns - painful!