Grazza

You could tell Patrick Moore was an utter gentleman by the way he treated people on The Sky At Night. He never belittled anyone, never spoke over anyone and never ridiculed anyone's theories. He just seemed like a very generous person to me.

Seriously, do you think if I ordered it now I would get the sticker book? (Anyone know the European sales so far?) I was disappointed not to be able to pick it up on Friday. Since then, I decided to wait for a price cut as I assumed I'd missed out on the sticker book. If that's not the case, I might still buy it soon.

Do you have any direct quotes to prove he was sexist and homophobic? It's a new one on me. As for his "xenophobia", Patrick Moore had been through extreme situations and therefore felt strong emotions about certain countries. They weren't my views and it sounds like they aren't yours, but I'm guessing our fiancés weren't killed in bombing raids. Lucky us, eh? We have the luxury of being able to be modern and "tolerant". Either way, you shouldn't have called him a prick.

All this talk is making me want a game like this on Wii U. There's a lot of talk about Nintendo needing "mature" (violent) games, but for my money, something like Metroid Prime brings them 100x the respect. Whatever people say about the GameCube, it was respected among gamers - very much so.

I can see there being some truth in this. Nintendo has enough money that they could make an aquisition if they thought it would be profitable. Sonic being Nintendo-exclusive may be of some benefit (not to me, personally, but financially), and there are already various Mario & Sonic at the Olympics titles. Bayonetta 2 being Nintendo-exclusive is an even bigger clue - remember what a genuine surprise that was. Nintendo seems to want titles that are seen as "mature" at the moment, and a number of Sega IPs fit that bill. So yeah, I'm not a betting man, but I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Very sad to hear this. I first became aware of Patrick Moore when Channel 4 launched Gamesmaster in the early '90s. Even then I realised he was a legend. One of my fondest memories of him was his appearance on a special edition of "Going Live", where Patrick played the xylophone on the Isle of Wight ferry. Nowadays, every month I am pleased when The Sky At Night is on - a programme that feels like a little club, quite unlike anything else on TV. It's just terribly sad and the end of an era.

It's sad, but struggling businesses always seem to think up strange ideas that are totally unrelated to what people want. All customers (of any kind of shop) want is decent prices, stock availability and enough staff to deliver that. Instead, we seem to get executives "brainstorming" and taking part in endless PowerPoint presentations, when all that's really needed is a decent staff budget, hard work and common sense!

I wouldn't say I've ever really been "hyped" for this game. It's more the feeling that it should have been released earlier in the 3DS's lifespan rather than later on. It's not like a Zelda, which people really do get hyped for, but then you can usually finish those in a week and have done all the sidequests within two weeks. It's precisely because Animal Crossing takes a long time to play that I would have liked it earlier - when the 3DS was shiny and new, and StreetPass was full of potential. When it finally does arrive, it's going to feel like a long-brewed epic rather than the essential bit of software that could have become synonymous with the 3DS from the start.

Metroid Prime represents one of the most unusual relationships I've had with a game. I did not follow its development, had no hype for it at all and generally wasn't "into" gaming at the time (I'd been on approximately a three-year "hiatus"). When I bought my GameCube though, I became aware that Metroid Prime was considered one of the very best games. Truth be told, I had hardly heard of the Metroid series, as the SNES game had passed me by (probably something to do with it being late in the cycle) and, as we know, there wasn't one on N64. The 1st-person screenshots actually quite confused me - I don't know why, as I'd played a couple of FPSes, but I couldn't get my head around this one. However, I wanted to play the GameCube's best games, so I made my purchase. Initially, I didn't have much problem with Metroid Prime. I did the training mission first time and all was going OK. As I made my way through the first areas, though, I became dismayed at how difficult even the mini-bosses were. The first real boss was even harder. Alarm bells were beginning to ring. I slogged my way through the game. Every journey from one save point to another was arduous. Every boss and mini-boss seemed like a vertical difficulty spike. Sheegoth, Thardus... crazy. Omega Pirate, Meta Ridley... insane. Nonetheless I fought my way through and got up to the Metroid Prime itself. Well, if I thought the previous bosses were hard, this was on a whole different level. Time and time again, I could only get up to the 2nd part of the battle (if you consider it 3-stage) - the one where it charges at you and you can hide in the trench. Didn't have enough missiles, didn't have enough health... it seemed impossible. Frustrated at its difficulty, Metroid Prime became my most-disliked game. Looking back, I am embarrassed at how I just didn't "get" it. Even so, I thought there might be more to Metroid than that, so I played (and loved) the GBA installments. Then one day, a few years ago, I said to myself "I'm going to re-buy Metroid Prime, obtain every Energy Tank and Missile Pack, and I'm going to beat that sucker!!" I didn't use a walkthrough, I just played it at my own pace, only looking at a guide if I'd missed something or needed reminding how to beat a boss. This time it felt different. I could strafe and dodge with ease. It was as though the movement and controls were now built into my instinct. None of the bosses or mini-bosses stopped me for long at all. As for difficult journeys? Pah! There is probably only one in the game (when you first enter the Mining Facility). Eventually I reached my rematch with the Metroid Prime. This time the 2nd phase seemed like a piece of cake. The 3rd phase needs all your beam-switching, visor-changing skills, but it didn't matter. This time it was built into my head! I defeated the Metroid Prime with very little trouble, and finally had closure! From then on, I played Metroid Prime 2 with relatively little trouble (apart from the Spider Guardian, which I think was ridiculously frustrating in the GameCube original) and Metroid Prime 3, which just required a bit of getting used to the pointer controls. My favourite is still Metroid Prime though, on the GameCube. Out of all the games I've played, it is the one that developed my gaming muscles the most.

They did have the Wii U tonight (Basic only - Premium was out of stock). Ah well, guess I'll have to come to a new arrangement. Personally, I really loved GAME a few years ago - thought they were perfect.

Well, this is a little bit disappointing - not the game itself, but my attempts to purchase it. I aimed to pick it up tonight, but neither of my local Tescos is stocking it (or has even heard of it). One of them is an "Extra" too. Comes to something when big supermarkets aren't stocking Nintendo's big handheld Christmas game... Guess I've missed out on the sticker book.

I can just imagine someone trying to watch a Ninja Gaiden video before 11pm. It fails, so they watch violence on TV and porn on the web browser instead!

At a guess, @Ike organises his titles so that 3DS exclusives (whether retail or otherwise) are on the main screen, whereas there are folders for other things. I only say this because I organise mine a bit like that, but with a slight difference. I have folders for: * 3DS exclusives * DSi Ware * Game Boy/Color * NES * GBA * Videos (remember the days?) Yes, I'm sad!

That's the trouble with Zelda. They've got the style right so many times, the series means different things to different people. For the record, I think Link to the Past, OOT/MM and Wind Waker are all perfect, tonally, and "Twilight Princess HD" (ie. Zelda Wii U demo) has a lot of potential too.

This is my first port of call for Nintendo news and discussion. I come here because I like the people and want to know what they think of news, announcements and the games themselves when they become available. I'm not just saying this, but I've never seen another forum where I feel I could have the same sort of discussions. When the next Zelda is out, for instance, there are people here that I want to play it alongside and hear their impressions of it more than anywhere else. That is really what it's all about to me.

Agree. XL is the ultimate 3DS - I just don't see what else they could do with it (apart from things that they've dismissed, like dual analogue sticks). I wouldn't be upset if 3DS only lasted about four years, although I'm still hoping for a Zelda, a 2D Metroid and a Dragon Quest...

Difficult one but I'd say... rural. The more you develop the planet, the more you ruin it. Every tree that is cut down, every field that is concreted over is just awful, in my opinion. And yet at the same time I wouldn't want to be without plumbing, electricity or communication, not to mention facilities. I don't mind a 7-mile walk by any means, but it would take up a good chunk of the day. Perhaps that's the answer? Rural would be great if we didn't have the lives we have, if we didn't have to earn money etc? I often imagine a fantasy version of England where it's still mostly trees (which it was, once). There are no real "housing estates"; every building of any kind is carefully slotted-in and spaced apart from the others. Ah well, it's a fantasy. The sad thing is we had to "ruin" the country with cities to get the kind of economy we have and to have had any power in the world. In the meantime, I'll stick to Dragon Quest...

GDC is pretty good for handheld games though - it's where Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks and Super Mario 3D Land were revealed.

Hmm... Oh, well, I didn't think it was too bad, really, just not what I expected. Naively, I assumed it was going to be a "Quick, make everyone excited about the Wii U" type of broadcast, whereas it was more like a "Remind everyone of games we've announced before" type of broadcast. I enjoyed the earlier parts more, as the games were fairly decent, and yet I wouldn't have bothered to watch videos about them otherwise. Lego City Undercover does look very good (and funny). The Sonic racing game looked quite good, but when they started talking about the Wii U version it suddenly didn't look so good. Were they showing the Xbox 360 version first of all? The SD/HD comparisons of various games were nice. As for the 3DS, most of the games they showed just aren't my sort of thing. The real disappointment of this Nintendo Direct was no news on Etrian Odyssey IV, Code of Princess or a few other Japanese games (but mainly those two, as they have US releases). More than anything, I'm wondering what Nintendo's plans are for next year. Their software is trailing so late into 2013, anything they announce at E3 for the Christmas period is only going to have about 5 months of hype. My predictions are still: * Zelda 3DS at GDC * 3D Mario (and maybe Zelda) at E3 to combat Sony and Microsoft's new consoles ...But the way Nintendo's software development goes these days, I really can't imagine how they're going to release any of those soon.

Looks my I got my wish for Animal Crossing to be still quite new in the autumn! Autumn, 12 months after I thought, admittedly...!

Do I get hyped for Nintendo Directs? Yes. They are not usually disappointing, although I admit I am a little bit disappointed to hear the Japanese one has happened and there were no new games. European ones are a different matter. If we get confirmations for localisations of Japanese games, that's almost as good as a new game announcement these days (what with region-locking). Very true. I would not like to see the Wind Waker style just on handhelds either, although I think it is the best style for them. Basically, I think this is what style works well on each type of system: Consoles * Wind Waker style * "Realistic" (eg. Zelda Wii U demo) Handhelds * Wind Waker style * True 2D (Link to the Past) In other words, I can't see them putting the Twilight Princess style on handhelds yet, although a 3rd game in the OOT engine would be very interesting... Either way, I do hope every Nintendo handheld gets an original Zelda.

I thought I was being modest! If you want my standard 3DS Wish List it's here:

Great stuff. I always wanted to play it when I heard about the Megadrive cart, although I had sold my Megadrive years ago. No complaints from me about having to play a downloadable version!

Does anyone else wish they'd release remakes of both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on Wii U? They could keep the utterly perfect art style and character models from OOT 3D, just in 1080p and 60fps. Yes, I'd like Majora's Mask on 3DS, but I feel it's a little bit late in the day - unless we're getting two 3DS Zelda games next year, that is. What I'm saying is that I suspect they could have released it by now, and I really, really want a 3DS Zelda in the style of Wind Waker!

Nice to hear some of you really enjoyed it anyway. I'll make sure I play it sooner rather than later.