Sheikah

I have to say that I agree with you there. Basically research into anything historical seems to be a waste of money, then, as it doesn't directly affect the present. Wrong! Studying dinosaurs full stop, or any other extinct distant species is just as pointless if that were to be true. I for one know that studies using ancient DNA (although they can be questioned due to contamination) have yielded information about the evolution of host-infected pathogens, allowing us to know the pattern of changes that can be monitored and used to predict further changes within them. Of course, this wouldn't be possible had we not known about the infected species in question! If anything, this is no different to learning history and wishing for the 'truth'; and as you have pointed out, there are far greater wastes of resources than this research. @Supergrunch - That seems quite shocking. I had no idea that BBC News got things as terribly wrong as some of the other places; you'd think that having one of the world's most popular websites would mean they might run things by proof-checking every now and then.

All I can say is that people who loved RE4 cannot complain about this one, really. RE has only had two games with this formula, while series like Zelda, Metroid and Mario do similar games time after time but people don't moan that it feels the same. This game had the regular story as well as co-op (which works well), focused on a better villain and seemed more in line with the story of RE. I can't for the life of me understand why people are complaining about this game not being survival horror when it's just as RE4 was. It even expanded on mercenaries, and the PS3 version is set to have online battle modes via DLC. The only dispute I have is that the main character isn't as entertaining as Leon, and perhaps it could have been a bit longer. But I ended up replaying this more, and playing it online with others, so I've probably played this more in total than RE4.

Here's what I think they should do. I've made a template so that they can change it slightly to make various sequels! Why haven't they thought of this...(* = delete where appropriate) You play a 10/17* year old male who is/is a descendant of/is a lookalike of* Link. Initially, to even leave the starting area you must locate the basic shield from the quick-E-mart/your grandmother's bloody remains*, and a toothpick for a knife from a one-room dungeon/your father's bloody remains/the bathroom cabinet*. Shortly into your play you will be confronted by a terrible misfortune. A natural disaster/pirates/giant enemy crab/Matt Parkman's turtle/gonorrhoea* will strike your village/island/cul-de-sac within a mere ten/twenty* minutes of play. Rather than risk harm to the fully developed men of the village/island*, the townsfolk will opt to sensibly send their most well-equipped, versatile and experienced bio-weapon to deal with the problem. Your character will first venture to the forest/gale/nature* temple (note - never water) to obtain the boomerang/slingshot/deku seeds*, which will undoubtedly be your tool of choice for the confrontation of the final boss at the end of the game. Upon completion of the dungeon, you will receive the element-specific medallion/artifact/relic/finely grated slice of triforce/cheese sandwhich*, of which six/seven/eight/nine are required to destroy/seal/amuse* the final boss; Ganondorf. Throughout your adventure you will be accompanied by a fairy/talking hat/magical talking pendant/giant enemy crab* that will serve as your Pokédex and all-round annoying companion, who will talk in your stead. Approximately one-third of the way into the game you will acquire the master sword/master sword/master sword* from a forest clearing/sealed away temple/Zelda's bedroom*, which only you can wield because you are the chosen/the triforce bearer/gay*. Instantly picking up the sword will make you older/fire laser beams/a jedi*, and imbue a duty upon you that you have no choice but to fulfill. Traveling from place to place by epona/boat/pegasus boots/owl/giant enemy crab*, you will soon stumble across a variety of sidequests. You decide to begin with the ammunition parameter increase/empty bottle/stat fortification/mask acquisition/heart piece/sword upgrade/rent boy for rupees* quest, as it seems the most appealing at the time. In order to speed up travel/change the time of day/call forth the four horsemen of the apocalypse* you take to your trusty instrument; your ocarina/flute/harpsichord/drums/electric guitar/pipes* to play a variety of tunes acquired throughout your adventure. The songs consist of no more than seven/eight/nine* notes, but will strike the recipient NPCs in certain quests down as if they had just heard Beethoven's ninth. At the final showdown of the game, Ganondorf will play the role of a good host in his castle, making sure to keep you entertained. He will engage in a session of energy ball tennis/piano recital/dry humping* before proceeding to the main event; transforming into a massive dinosaur/tortoise/centaur* called Ganon. Princess Zelda/Zelda's descendant/blow-up doll* will then offer you/herself fire light-imbued arrows to take down the creature, allowing you to strike the final/not really that final/it'll never be final* blow on the sweating greasy monstronsity, so he can be sealed away until the next generation/sequel/dimension* decides it's time to let him out again. Zelda will then suggest to Link that she has feelings for him; at which point the game will end, because it is unthinkable for a Nintendo game to touch on anything more than a 'cake being baked' for the main protagonist. They'll make millions if they stick to this formula.

Well, it's BBC News - quite trustworthy. Clearly they're dumbing it down a bit for the readers.

It doesn't really break up. When someone joins you they can't join you until you reach a checkpoint or if you click restart (it restarts from the last checkpoint). Because you can only bring 9 items from your inventory it takes you to the item screen so that your friend can decide what he wants to bring in with him (and you can too). It needs a different system of joining to accommodate the fact that you can only bring up to 9 items. But really, most people seem to create a game on the chapter and difficulty they want, invite their friend, then begin playing together.

Nope - the 'under 5 hours' target to get the infinite ammo option for the rocket launcher is for any difficulty setting, so most go for that on amateur while simultaneously aiming for S-ranks.

Easiest way is via rotten eggs. It's such a grind earning cash that it just seems logical to do it.

I've bought her a digital photo frame - hopefully it won't be one of them presents that just lies around and is never used!

FMA and Valkyria Chronicles...very nice.

Split up pads just meant that you'd go to the pad, split, go to the place you needed to do, return to the pad and combine, etc. While splitting was a good idea they should have just made it possible to do anywhere, or within the certain zones where it was required. A button press should then have instantly recombined the two to be done away with all the backtracking. Those parts reminded me of DK64, but less harsh. In DK64 you would have to backtrack to character select barrels should you see a different coloured banana, blueprint, weapon button or instrument pad. That game was a bloody disaster in so many areas.

I kind of got the feeling that such shows were a hit with women and womenly men, unless guys are really into the whole teen schoolgirl romance issue dramas. :S

Yeah, I guess you could say it has one clear complete slice of the body, which is the most gore kill in the game.

Umm, that last level was from BK and is awesome. Take it back, swine. :P

Man, put all these things in and you'll have practically the same game! Give us something fresh, Nintendo. I'm thinking Link in black leather with a uzi and rebelling without cause. Smashing moblin drug rings and conquering the cocaine warlord Ganondorf. Nah, just kidding. Keep remaking the same game and we'll play them until we die, Nintendo.

But you said RE5 had the one gore kill and quoted that vid, suggesting you hadn't encountered the reaper one.

You've never been killed by a reaper? Were you playing on amateur? Reapers quite often don't stop even when you shotgun them (the weak spots often cover up), and they move about as quick as your character can. They don't even need to be that close to initiate the instant death attack. They were my most hated enemy in terms of what could kill me.

I'm thinking taint them in acid. Thieves are such cowardly bastards...some stuff was stolen from our house the other day, including my phone. Kinda sucks! It would be bloody amazing to attach GPS devices to valuable things, turn up to the thieves' houses (read: collapsing points) and bitch slap them into submission.

Umm, it has many more; got to play the game and not just google to find out these things, though. For instance, when you get close to a reaper. You basically get your guts ripped to shreds.

I wish I hadn't fully completed Banjo Tooie in a few days just a few months back...I don't think I could play it again so soon. It's the kind of game that can be soul destroying; the amount of backtracking to earlier levels and cumbersome switching of characters, plus convoluted level design might mean I'll give it a miss for a year. It's a shame it had almost none of the magic of BK.

Saw the last Clannad (technically) the other day. What a fantastic series, I must say. I had my doubts when I first read the synopsis and saw the 'girlish' posters for it. It looked like an anime that would be terrible and would only appeal to girls, and effeminate men. How wrong I was...it's fantastic! It's hard to make people genuinely feel attached to the characters in anime series or manga, as they're usually just rehashes of other ones in terms of the personality. But boy, the events of the anime can sure be sad. This series is definitely going down in my books as one of my favourites. A thoroughly enjoyable ride!

Heh, just realised after going onto Home that I got a load of costumes, probably for getting Platinum. Awesomage. Edit: or maybe it's for unlocking them in-game. Edit again: turns out they're figurines, doh! Here's what you can unlock:

You never lose the items in your inventory; they are for keeps. The only exception to this is if you gain new items while playing through a chapter offline, but quit before finishing the level. By this I mean you start a new chapter altogether via chapter select - if you quit after reaching a checkpoint in a level and then later on 'continue', you will resume with all the items you had up to the last checkpoint. If you choose a different chapter after quitting, and you wish to go back to the chapter you were on before, you will start it from the beginning; not the last checkpoint you reached. Also, if you reach a checkpoint, gain some new items/shoot some BSAA emblems, and then die, you will start from the last checkpoint but need to get those items again. Conversely, any items you used up after reaching the checkpoint but before dying will be restored upon restarting at the checkpoint.

Did pro yesterday and got the platinum trophy... honest to god, if anyone wants to do professional mode then get someone else to play with you. You basically need to tell your partner what to do, which is usually "don't go out there". You'll just get frustrated if you try and play with the AI. You can always replay the chapters in which you took a while on, as it counts the overall time from all the chapters on a given difficulty.

Blehhh, real men start the game on Veteran. That's what I did. :P Some games really benefit from playing in the hardest mode you can right off the bat...Resi 5 is definitely one of them, as it becomes one of the easiest games in the world once your weapons are upgraded (e.g. inf. ammo). I really enjoyed the game, so much so that I'm up for playing it again!