Nicktendo

I'm really, really not a fan of them announcing DLC before the game is out. It's unbelievably cheap and devalues the final product in my eyes. Exactly why are we paying £50 for a game that has had bits potentially cut out of it? I understand that BOTW has had a long and turbulent development cycle. I understand that they have gone way above any beyond any type of world building project the company has ever undertaken and that releasing DLC is a good way to make extra profit off these huge outlay costs, but did they REALLY need to do this now? What would have been wrong with announcing all this stuff in, say, April or May for example? Give people a chance to play and finish the game and then hit them with the, "Oh, by the way, if you enjoyed that, check this out". I would much prefer to pay £20 for a new storyline, new dungeons etc. set in the same massive world, than wait 18 months - 3 years and pay 50 to play a game which uses the same engine and models, but a different world (a la Majora's Mask). Financially for gamers, and for Nintendo it makes sense, especially when so much cash has been sunk into BOTW already. But WHY announce it now? Can we please just play the game first before you start telling us what it doesn't have? Dumb move, and it's really soured me on the game now. At least with MK8 they waited until people had actually played the game before the (excellent) DLC was eventually announced. I could have been really excited for this DLC coming off the completion of what looks to be an amazing game, now I couldn't care less, because I know the game I buy on March 3rd isn't the "full experience" I thought it was going to be.

I just received another £50 Amazon voucher from work, pre-ordered 1-2 Switch and got myself a Hori carry case. The hype is real. I don't know how much I'll like 1-2 Switch. It intrigues me, and I know at least for a couple of evenings it'll be fun to play with the missus or something to stick on between Zelda sessions. I figured it wasn't going to cost me anything, so why not? I definitely would have got Bomberman had it been half the price it currently is, but there's no way I'm forking out £44.99, even if it is free money, on something which looks like it should be a budget e-shop title. We could really do with a direct right about now.

Confirmed: Friday, Saturday and Sunday paid holiday from work. I'll be sat in my pyjamas for 3 straight days playing the Switch AND getting paid for it

You're obviously forgetting about this bad boy.

So they could sell you GC themed joy-cons with analogue triggers once they release the first GC VC game.

Just pre-ordered a pro controller from Amazon, do they usually hit release date for delivery of products? Seen some YouTubers who've played the game saying the joy-cons aren't entirely comfortable for playing Zelda, so seeing this as an investment for some of the bigger single player games I'll be playing exclusively at home.

So I'm back posting in the weight loss and fitness thread for the first time in 8 years... Back in 2009 I went from 12 stone 6lbs down to 9 stone 2lbs in about 7 months, with the help and advice of all you lovely people of course! I'm only 5ft 3, that's why that low weight might seem a bit shocking. Anyway, I had a bash on Wii Fit last night purely out of curiosity and there it was, a BMI of 31.5, or 13 stone! This is officially the heaviest I've been in my life and the first time I've seen the words "OBESE" next to my Mii. After a year or so of gradually gaining weight (I quit smoking last year and I'm convinced that had something to do with it), I'm going to try and shed 50lbs over the next 7-8 months. Last time I did it all without going to the gym. I walked for about 60-90 mins every day and drastically decreased my intake of unhealthy food and snacks. I then maintained 10 stone or so for the better part of 6 years, most of which was spent either going to the gym twice a week or doing light exercise at home to keep up some level of fitness, this time I want to go with a mix of both walking and light training. Since I moved back to the UK I have done almost nothing by way of exercise and binged on all the food goodness I missed out on while I was abroad, I think a stone and a half of my weight gain has been in the last 5 months a lone. I went for a walk this morning, about 2 miles, and despite working in a restaurant and being on my feet for hours everyday, I was exhausted within minutes. Going from being a teacher in Russia to working on my feet here, I guess I kind of naively thought I'd lose weight that way, or at least maintain my weight. I had obviously forgotten about free food. Pizza. Everyday and that has contributed massively as well I guess. So, my plan for the first 2 weeks is simply to drink lots of water, cut out beer, pizza, pasta and heavy carbs and walk for 60 mins on every day when I'm not doing a double shift at work. Other areas I'm going to work on are getting my sleeping pattern under control, I usually do sleep 6-8 hours a night, but don't go to sleep until about 4 or 5am as I never have to be up before 11. Plus I'll be doing 20-30 mins of Wii Fit activities every day. When the two weeks is up, I'm hoping to join a gym and take it from there. So this is Day 1 (again) and I weigh 13 Stone, or 182lbs. I'll check back in after two weeks with an update.

If you want to save a few bob but still get a magnificent TV without all the bells and whistles I'd recommend the Sony Bravia W805C. It comes in 43", 47" and 55" if I remember correctly. There's no HDR and no 4K, but it's easily the best 1080p TV I've ever seen. You can get it for around £400 - £500 in Richer Sounds / John Lewis depending on the model. It's a real top of the range TV, which perfects "known technology" but doesn't delve into the newer stuff. I bought one because I didn't want to go cheap on an entry model 4KTV as my budget was £600 max at the time. It runs on an Android operating system with built in Wi-Fi and there are countless apps available. The game mode is superb, lag is almost non-existent. It has a wealth of options so you can fine tune your viewing depending on the kind of content your viewing. An all round excellent piece of kit. Plus if you buy from Richer Sounds you get a six year warranty.

I expect we'll see a Metroid alongside Fire Emblem in 2018, given how quiet they've been about the distant future and literally all the traditional 'big hitters' are coming in year one, Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart and I suppose Splatoon. If Nintendo are serious about attracting the types of people they've been using in their marketing so far then they have a lot of work to do, marketing to gamers and not just Nintendo fans needs to happen throughout the console's lifespan. Obviously the third parties will fill this gap in a lot of respects, if sports games and shooters are on the table (they've already lost the racing fans thanks to the horrible decision not to use analogue triggers), but they need to show something less colourful and cutesy if they want to attract more "mainstream" gamers, who are now used to more complex storytelling and systems as opposed to simply solid gameplay and tight control which has always been Nintendo's staple. 1-2 Switch and Arms are likely not that, regardless of how deep Arms' control scheme turns out to be, it still looks like a 'Nintendo' game. Nintendo needs something like a Metroid to appeal to a different kind of gamer, those who are fond of these deeper, more story-driven experiences. Furthermore, "B-titles" need to make a return. Yes, I'm talking about F-Zero (sorry), WaveRace, even Disaster Day of Crisis and the like, but properly marketed and released! Support games niche games like Bayonetta. While these games might not sell bucket loads they give the console variety and the consumer a wider choice which ultimately improves the viability of the console to the averge gamers wallet. The days of slapping a Nintendo mascot on a title won't cut it anymore and hoping to sell it to the hardcore is a battle of diminishing returns. While I'll be more than happy with a Wii U 2 kind of lineup, selling 100 million consoles on that premise, as Kimishima boldly suggested they would do, simply won't happen. I really hope for their own sakes they have a lot more up their sleeves. As for Reggie, I'd pay him absolutely no heed. He is the just the English language mouthpiece for NCL. What US and EU gamers want from Nintendo is probably not even in their comprehension. The info they've released so far on the Switch so far (especially the information they haven't) is massively Japan centric and watching him squirm in interviews makes me pity the guy because he is obviously so neutered by Japan. Don't envy him at all.

Haha Colin is definitely not always right but this week's show is really well researched and he's a credit gaming journalism when he provides such excellent in-depth analysis on difficult issues.

This week's Colin Was Right is bang on the money and certainly touches on the eloquently discussed issues above. Well worth checking out if you have twenty minutes to spare. Sorry no link, YouTube is blocked at work.

Yeah we could keep this as 'Indie general discussion' and threads for individual games could spawn out of it. Maybe even have links to said threads edited into Ronnie's first post?

Just had an email from "Sony" delivered to my inbox asking me to change my PSN password, despite not owning a PlayStation for 7 years. Obviously fake but kind of looks like something Sony might send. It's dangerous to go alone, take this (knowledge).

Mine is 7039851614. Added both of you @Ike and @Jonnas

I saw that Man City had posted on Facebook celebrating the career of "Man City 'legend' Frank Lampard" and thought it was a bit cheap. Giorgi Kinkladze, Nicky Summerbee, Uwe Rosler? All Man City legends. Frank Lampard? Not so much

I always used to sell my consoles to fund the next one, something I've decided to stop now with the Wii U and Switch. I still get a hankering to play some old SNES, N64 and GC games from my youth but this isn't always easy or even possible via legal means. When I see YouTube videos of people's collections I always get envious and curse myself for selling off my gaming past for peanuts. I've decided to have a small corner in my house dedicated to gaming and I'm already re-buying old games and consoles to get my collection going, but damn it's expensive. I've started with a CRT TV and a GameCube and I'm going to work backwards from there. It's great that places like CeX have started selling retro games and I've been to a couple of car-boots to look around but I've come away empty handed thus far. For the Switch I'm definitely going to be buying physical only. I have two Wii U retail games downloaded to the system and kind of wish I had a physical copy of them both... With the 3DS I have seven or eight, but they were waaaay cheaper to buy digital while I was in Russia and the prices on physical copies are still ridiculous. Fire Emblem Awakening, anyone?

I am massively jealous. Used to walk my dog there every day back in 2006/7 and always wanted to own one of those houses. I could only afford something in Gipton back then, but would make the drive to those woods every day purely because they're perfect for dog walking and meeting other dogs. Enjoy it!

Not having a next-gen console or a super-fast PC I didn't even give this a thought, but I was in GAME the other day and the guys behind the counter were talking about it. They were all playing it in VR upstairs while the store was quiet and I was intrigued by what they were discussing. Anyway, I get home and see that Boogie 2988 has uploaded a Let's Play of the first 2 hours, so I stick it on in the background while I do some stuff in the kitchen.. Man, this game. It looks so freaking awesome! I was completely hooked despite hating the whole concept of a Let's play. I watched the entire two hours and was engrossed with the game's atmosphere, storytelling and graphics. The amount of tension is insane, I can't even imagine how incredible it would be to play in VR. It really looks like the "next step up" in the same way that Resi 4 revolutionised what had become a stale series. I'm planning on upgrading my PC in the Summer so this is the first game I'm going to go out and buy when that's done. I adored 4 on the GameCube but haven't played anything since, this looks like the game that could pull me back in to the series again. I'm even half tempted to re-start 4 from the beginning again to help ease the wait. Also the Arcade Club in Bury, where we had the MadDog Marathon, have just installed three new VR-enabled PS4s with this game running on them, I might go down and check it out when I have a weekend off.

I think it's absolutely worth it. Remember those notifications at the beginning of Wii games "please attach the nunchuck" etc. with the message repeated should it happen to be detatched? People didn't find them too intrusive or annoying, it was simply the standard required to play the game. I don't see how implementing the same here would be a problem. They could even go so far as to include a message like this to avoid any confusion at all:

We've spent the past 25 years playing handled games with the controllers attached to they system, yet all of a sudden tabletop mode renders this tried and tested, comfortable method redundant? I'm not buying it. Tabletop mode will likely be great for short bursts of 2-player gaming, but for long solo sessions I can't see it being even remotely popular outside games which use heavy motion control, even then it's not exactly ideal.

I think those guys are what are referred to as "millennials" these days.

Wow, this argument is amazing... The developer is totally in the wrong here. Nobody is forcing anyone to play the game with one joy-con or in table-top mode without the grip or a pro-controller no matter how "awkward" or "uncomfortable" it might be. Funny how you can log onto Steam and see tons of rally games / racing games or Codemasters' games, and all of them support keyboard and mouse controls? But without a gamepad, which isn't the "most basic setup" and which you have to buy at extra expense, the game must be unplayable! Hypocrisy, the dev is talking out his arse. Anyone remotely interested in serious racing games wouldn't dream of playing on one joy-con, and if they had to play on the go, it would be with the joy-cons locked to the screen for comfort and accessibility to buttons. Unless I'm missing something and 2-player split screen rallying is what people actually buy Dirt games for and six buttons and an analogue stick in the tabletop mode just aren't up to the job. He should just come out and admit that the fact the Switch doesn't have analogue triggers is the real reason it would bomb. Ludicrous decision by Nintendo and they are going to miss out on a host of serious racing games for yet another generation.

Bomberman still needs to drop by another 50% before I'd consider it. That's not a bad price for 1-2 switch if the game has a decent amount of content.

Going off what we know about the state of the Switch in undocked / docked mode, perhaps the smartphone app is required for voice chat in undocked mode and when the console is docked, it is handled through the device. Though considering the audio / mic jack is located on the system itself that could be unlikely. Having everything to do with online in one official app is kind of exciting. The ability to send messages and arrange "play dates" while the console is turned off is intriguing, and while it would certainly free up some space on the OS itself, I can see the complaints people would have if these features were removed from the system. The ability to go online with the console anywhere through 3/4G Wi-Fi tethering means the vast majority of people will have their phones with them when out and about and I feel phone based voice-chat is a good solution for this particular method of playing, even if it is simply to conserve battery. For use at home, it obviously makes much less sense. I'd like to see Nintendo team up with Wi-Fi hotspot providers to allow free connections to Switch gamers. Particularly if gaming online will eat a lot of data... Save The Cloud it amazes me how much the UK lacks free (or without lengthy registration) Wi-Fi hotsports in comparison with continental Europe and I hope they will strike a deal with someone in this regard. I really don't buy this "bulky headset" argument from Reggie. I just assumed most people use a small bluetooth one for online gaming, no? Wither way, the fact the console has a mic-in audio jack tells me voice chat WILL be possible on the system itself, though how this will work is still anyone's guess.

I started learning German the other day. My girlfriend and I are planning to move to Germany in Summer 2018 after she finishes her Master's here in Manchester, because after living abroad for 5 years I've finally realised just how much the UK sucks in comparison to Europe, and not just in terms of weather! I started with Duolingo and Memrise, but we are planning to start attending classes in the next few weeks. As someone who managed to get a 99% fluency rating in Russian after starting to study it in 2012 (thanks, Duolingo), I'm really surprised at how German seems to be a weird mish-mash of both English and Russian. Many words sound like their English counterparts and the grammar structure and casing system seems to be very close to Russian. My goal is to get to a B1/2 level by the end of the year. I'd love to learn Italian and Polish, also Japanese, but time and energy restrict me. I can understand basic Polish (thanks to my Russian and a host of native Polish friends) and Italian (ex-girlfriend), but speaking is a different story. I studied Spanish for five years at school and while my productive skills have almost entirely disappeared with time, my receptive skills are still pretty good. I've seen a few Spanish movies and managed to understand a surprising amount without subtitles. After living in Estonia and Latvia for the best part of 2 years I became really interested in those languages and can speak enough to do basic stuff in a bar, shop or at the post office, but it seems utterly pointless studying either of them fully when they have 1 and 1.5 million speakers respectively between them. Languages are fun though, and I'd love to be fluent in 3 or 4. My former lecturer at Glasgow University was fluent in 10 languages, including Latvian and Serbo-Croat, he is basically a demi-god who just happened to be born in Essex. Shows how incredible the human mind can be if you put it to good use.