Grazza

Nintendo shouldn't, but Square-Enix should. On balance, I'd rather play the next Dragon Quest on an iPad than anything else. Games like Zelda are never going to be as good without buttons and sticks. Turn-based RPGs, however, could perhaps get away with it. There's no doubt about it, Apple are doing fantastic things with screens. Let's say I can play a game on a 1080p, 10" screen (actually, I expect the iPad 3 to be higher-res than that) - that's leaps and bounds ahead of handhelds, and much more convient than televisions. Despite all the hype about Apple, I think it is still quite underestimated how much they have improved the quality of handheld gadgets, and thus raised people's expectations.

Quite. I don't associate this with Scientology at all. My understanding is that they have a "story" of some kind that they gradually reveal to their followers. The Ancient Aliens theory, however, is associated with Erich Von Daniken and to my mind, even at its worst, is no more sinister than a way to sell books. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_D%C3%A4niken Even so, I do think it's more likely that archaeologists have made mistakes with their dates. For example, I've seen them say that the Great Pyramid was built in X amount of years, which does not tally with the construction method. Personally, I doubt they can date it accurately.

It's an extremely interesting theory. I don't have the History Channel, but am curious to watch this when I get a chance. The thing that makes me sceptical about it is that ancient technology is just that - ancient technology. The pyramids are amazing, but still primitive enough to be the epitome of human genius, rather than something otherworldly. If aliens had anything to do with them, they would be far more high tech than anything we have now, which, amazing as they are, is not the case. Same goes for the early electricty of Mesopotamia. Motivation, too, can be explained via non-extraterrestrial ways. The Nazca lines in Peru (which include drawings of animals), for example, are certainly extraordinary, but can be explained if you accept the people were presenting them to the spirits. These spirits of theirs need not have actually existed - the belief in them would have been motivation enough to create them. But, like all similar subjects, I try to approach it neither with scepticism nor belief. I simply like to think of the most logical explanation for what is presented to me. The thing that really does keep this subject interesting is The Missing Link - the giant leap in fossil records between modern humans and our ancestors. At some point our brains became much bigger and we became much more intelligent. I would not discount the possibility that, at that point, we were hybridised by aliens.

The three games I'd most recommend so far are: Pilotwings Resort - challenging and the most convincing argument for 3D. Super Street Fighter IV - less button-mashy than DOA. Ocarina of Time - looks a beauty, plays like a dream.

To be fair to Nintendo, they're sticking to the business model that works for them. I see their modern sidescrollers as "bridge" games (even though they may be very difficult), whereas downloadable games on true consoles/handhelds veer more towards being for the keen gamer, and that's the way I like it. Smartphones have got such an inherent net connection that the massive userbase will find it natural to download the "apps". With "real" games machines, though, it is only the more dedicated gamer who will take an interest in the downloadable content. Therefore we get sprite-based labours of love like Shantae and Contra. A "labour of love" version of Mario would probably be based on Super Mario World, but be greatly enhanced. Nintendo, however, quite understandably want the best chance of success, so they make it 2.5D and a retail product. It's a little bit of a shame, but it works for them at the moment.

Not the perfect RPG. I just meant that if they wanted to be more efficient (which may or may not be necessary) and just have one town, it should be a perfect one. I didn't mean that would make the perfect RPG. There are always downloadable games, which can use sprites (Shantae on the DSi was fantastic). I believe this method applied to RPGs would be better than remaking/replaying the 16-bit ones, as they can appear like the old games, but in reality be much smoother, more fluid with better music, more frames of animation etc.

One thing I forgot to address (sorry) is length. Are RPGs really so long and expensive to make? Maybe the designers could be a bit more efficient. For example, why do they have so many towns in them? I love towns, but why so many? Traditionally, they are a place to buy new weapons and armour. However, it might be an idea to have a shop that you return to again and again. It can make you better weapons depending on what drops you bring back, like Etrian Odyssey. In Dragon Quest, by far my favourite towns are the kingdoms, the ones with the castles. I wouldn't be too bothered if an RPG had, say, just three kingdoms that you could return to. Or maybe just one perfect one, that has the perfect shop, the perfect castle etc... Also, do RPGs need to be so long and have so much dialogue? A decent story is important, but all the different characters responses throughout the entire game (such as DQ's Party Talk) must make publishers think twice about translating. Basically, RPGs need to fit into the current business model of successful games, whilst keeping their core charm.

The way I look at it is: RPGs need power. They benefit from processing power just as much as any other genre. Now, I don't mind if that means it's played on my TV or handheld, but it does matter that it has top notch graphics and functionality. Actually, I prefer a handheld, but only because of how good they're becoming. If handhelds were still relatively low-tech, I'd be against it, but when you consider how close the 3DS is to the GameCube, it wouldn't be too bad if RPGs were at that sort of level for a while, with the extra functionality of StreePass, of course. The wild card is the tablet. If I can hold a 1080p tablet, then why would I want a TV screen? It's resolution that is important to me, not size (to an extent). At the moment there are issues with controls (ie. touchscreen only), but if you look at the Vita, that is getting very close to making the perfect solution for a gaming tablet. So, if in the future I can play an RPG with an overworld and graphics engine as good as Dragon Quest VIII, with StreetPass-type functionality inspired by (but better than) Dragon Quest IX (eg. swelling and swapping armour, "lending" warriors), I'll be happy. And if that's on something with a screen as good as the Vita or iPad, I'll be even happier. Viva the RPG.

Not 1st-generation immigrants, no, but probably 3rd-generation. Certainly new enough to this country that we can easily trace them back to somewhere else. I'm sorry if this offends, I really am, but most of them were black. Where do you think they came from, the Isle of Wight? We have lovely black people in this country (including on this forum) who are 100% welcome, but uncontrolled immigration over the past decades has created vast communities with very different values to our own and nothing to contribute. London is like a different country now - a hellhole for anyone unfortunate enough to be left there. It doesn't feel like England at all. Today, we see the evidence of this lawlessness, but it has been going on for decades - rape, muggings - and yet it's always been a taboo to say the vast majority of the perpetrators are black! So, if you can't see the link between this and immigration, I'm afraid you're the one who's deluded.

Ah, I'm sorry, but why have we got these people in our country? Decades ago, Enoch Powell warned of "Rivers of Blood" due to uncontrolled immigration. He was absolutely right, and yet was forever villified as a racist. Good job we've always had those liberals running the country for us. They know best...

The Sky at Night tonight! Wonder if they'll fit in the news about the water?

Please tell me you don't mean Madeline McCann? I mean, the idea of this party is tasteless enough, but that would be unbelievably sick and offensive.

It's a very interesting subject. When MCJ Metroid first posted this topic, I was going to ramble on and on about them, but didn't get round to it. Over the years, I have become more sceptical that they are extra-terrestrial, but hey, who knows? Some new stories: And:

Cor, that looks amazing, real fanservice. Hope I get mine soon.

I do, yes, that's still my favourite Metroid. However, I understand what you mean about sprites not being ideal for 3D. If I had my way, this would be a 2D-only game (sprites, non-stereoscopic), but I can understand that Nintendo probably wouldn't do that. So, if it does have a stereoscopic option, I can see that it'd be more likely to use polygons (although Excitebike 3D shows it works well even with sprites). You and Fierce Link mention Other M, which I do like, but I feel strongly that a handheld Metroid should be strictly side-scrolling. It feels more satisfying to me to use the L and R buttons for diagonals and missiles respectively. My instinct would be: wait for the price cut (and I should make clear, I'm speaking as someone who bought the machine on Day 1). This is because I own Metroid Fusion and, cool as they are, wouldn't actually buy the other games. However, if you would genuinely buy all the GBA games, I can indeed see that being worth around £40.

On the 3DS, with sprites. Imagine how good that'd be.

I can never get YouTube videos to embed on here, but here's a NoLimits approximation of the ride: EDIT - Aha, thanks Retro Link!

Hmm, so that's: Yoshi's Island Mario Kart Wario Ware Mario vs Donkey Kong Metroid Fusion Super Mario 3 Kirby The other three should be from this list: Super Mario World Metroid: Zero Mission F-Zero Zelda: Minish Cap Aw, can't fit them all in now! Can I trade-in Wario Ware?

Right, this is a challenge!

That brings back memories - CVG was brilliant during the PlayStation era. They had a regular contributor "Ed 'Pinky' Lomas" who liked Pink Floyd. I think they gave him a job.

My first love, which coincided with me getting the Megadrive, was Sega Pro. I was just so unbelievably excited to own the Megadrive, and this magazine was full of exotic games, Japanese and otherwise. I remember them previewing the Mega CD (which seemed like the most desirable piece of technology in the world) with games like Earnest Evans and Lunar: the Silver Star. Oh, if only I could own one of these! They also had a character called "Pro Girl", a gorgeous brunette who, sadly, I got excited about seeing every issue (these chaps have always known their market). It all ended bitterly when I entered a phone-in competition to win a Sega Wonder Mega. The phone call was extremely expensive and lasted for about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe my beloved Sega Pro would try to rip me off! That was the end of that. My more intelligent friend read Sega Power. It was a bit dry for my liking, but I do vividly remember their review of MERCS, which they criticised for being unpleasantly violent. Oh, how I wish we had those sorts of people in the industry nowadays... Shortly after, my schoolmate told me about the "Super Famicom" and how it was much better than the Megadrive (which I hated accepting). He lent me Mean Machines, with F-22 Interceptor on the front and (I think) a review of Super Ghouls & Ghosts in it. Though I loved my Megadrive, I couldn't deny these sprites were gorgeous, and I was soon hooked on the SNES and Mean Machines. Heck, I couldn't go for a car journey without a copy of this magazine. One month, I remember they carried an advert which featured two scantily-clad women (vest and knickers type thing, if I recall correctly). Well, the readers were shocked! People wrote in and complained, and Mean Machines admitted it was too much. Again, how times change... If Mean Machines wasn't enough, there was also CVG or Computer and Video Games. I was quite fond of this magazine, although the "Mean Yob" letters page wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I did like the way they featured a coin-op every month though. A little bit later my friends introduced me to Super Play. Now, I wasn't as much in love with Super Play as other people were, but I did like the way it gave me a window on exotic Japanese games like Final Fantasy. There was one series in particular I wanted to play - Dragon Quest. Would any of them ever be released over here? I wasn't banking on it. I would just have to hope. Mean Machines split into two: I remember buying the first issue of Nintendo Magazine System at Liverpool Street station, with Lethal Weapon 3 on the cover (which I still haven't seen) and the Game Boy keyring. I don't know if it was just me, but there just seemed to be a special atmosphere in the air. The other half became Mean Machines Sega, which felt more like Mean Machines than NMS. I remember being furious when their free demo disc wiped my Saturn's memory cartridge. Speaking of that machine, my next favourite magazine (and the last one I bought regularly) was Sega Saturn Magazine. How I loved them for championing the relatively unpopular Saturn. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been aware of gems like Guardian Heroes, Story of Thor 2 and Panzer Dragoon Saga. So, I have very fond memories of games magazines. Times have changed, things will never be like that again. As they say, the past is a different country.

Just connect to the eShop ASAP. As far as I'm aware, that's all you have to do. EDIT - Yep: http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=30048

One thing Nintendo could do is make their own games run better with the 3D turned off and 3rd-parties (I assume Nintendo wouldn't do this) could make some 2D-only games. That way, people could get past the "What's the point in buying a 3DS to play in 2D?" mentality (which is not my way of thinking; nonetheless, it exists). 2D-only/2D-enhanced games could take full advantage of the not-inconsiderable processing power.

For me, the 3DS has always been an 8/10 machine. I've said all along that it should have had a bigger screen, and just one of them if necessary. We can't pretend the iPhone and iPad don't exist. People are used to better screens now than when the DS launched. The DS owners I know want an iPad and are not interested in the 3DS at all. Whilst Nintendo probably couldn't have matched the size of the iPad, it should have been at least 4" to match the iPhone. OK, you may not be able to have a touchscreen parallax barrier (or maybe you can), but Nintendo should have decided which gimmick they were using and stuck to it, and above all else, the money saved from not having two screens should have been used to make one, better screen. The 2nd thing requires hindsight: the 3D aspect just has not been that popular. I thought it would have been, but it wasn't. What doesn't require hindsight, though, is that stereoscopic 3D (ie. sending a different image to each eye) was always destined to be a passing fad. Holograms are not too far off, ie. actually projecting light at different lengths. In the meantime, 2D may simply be better. Today I watched, side by side, a DS Lite running Mario Kart and a 3DS running Pilotwings. However good your eyesight is, there is no doubt a stereoscopic image is blurrier and less bright than a 2D one. I'm afraid I don't think that can be overcome. So, nice try Nintendo, but it didn't work this time. The 3DS can continue to be a great machine if the software is as good as it should be.

Another thing I thought of is that these people don't fight fair. You may think you're getting into a "fight", but it's more likely they'll punch you when you're not ready and run off. This type of person is really nasty. They could really do you some damage before you've even adopted a fighting stance. Most of the time, it's just better to leave it.