Grazza

This irked me. Animals aren't there for us to muck about. Once a shop let me hold a 10ft boa constrictor on my own, and it never bit me. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366202/Snake-dies-silicone-poisoning-biting-models-breasts.html#ixzz1GcGB4QEo

Yeah, I overdid it a bit. Just looked on GameFAQs, and the only things that resist Blunt are Lucky Charms and Steely Sweatbands, the latter of which only Martial Artists can wear. So, Ethereal Gloves are definitely the best! The secret to levelling-up your party is Metal King Slimes. Once you find a floor with them (I still think water Grottoes are the best) and you know where they appear, go for it. Mind you, if you're +8, you're a lot of the way there.

Beaten the latest one:

It would be nice if they remade all of them for the 3DS, voice chat intact.

Combined with Iwata's hints about new content in Ocarina of Time 3DS, I wouldn't be surprised if the thing to celebrate Zelda's 25th anniversary and to "allow all Zelda lovers to celebrate together" was an online mode in OOT. As Ronnie suggested, perhaps a "Force Gems" sort of game.

A double pack of IV and V would be nice. I'd buy it.

Very high fire Grottoes, eg. "Void". Personally, I don't have one of those, but luckily I've got a fire "World" which is deep enough to have them.

This is a misgiving I have... A lot of the games they release seem very appealing, but I can't see them as full price.

Remember, there are loads of Americans who will think that person's an idiot too.

Indeed. I think the Wii's real legacy has been to help create a genre I call "Living Room Games". At first I thought motion control might improve all genres. However, as the dust settles, it seems that it's most popular with an audience that likes to play as a group, in the living room, moving about a lot. If you look at Wii Sports, the reality is that you only have to move your wrist. However, many Wii owners believe you have to stand up to play it, or at least that's how they like to enjoy that genre. I'm most impressed with Microsoft's Kinect. Like Nintendo's Balance Board, they have proved that a peripheral can be immensely successful (quite ironic when you consider the Wii Remote's origins...) And that's exactly why I quite like Kinect - it's a peripheral. They even admit you need a certain amount of space to use it. Many of my friends like Kinect, but admit they can't play it in their bedrooms, so have had to move it to their living rooms. I really think this is profound, because this says a lot about a new (equally valid) genre, rather than something that has improved traditional games. If you look at some of the more recent big games - Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Metroid: Other M - they certainly seem to have cooled-off the idea, or at least cooled-off the idea that motion control is integral to all genres. If there's one rule I'd like developers to consider with traditional games, it's this: Wrist = good Elbow = bad The motion control I've enjoyed is such as in Mario Galaxy, where it feels natural to extend your jump with a wrist shake, or latch onto something that will propel you towards a planet. Also, I think most people are quite fond of pointing. Conversely, I haven't enjoyed anything with MotionPlus, or any motion-using games like Wario Land: the Shake Dimension where you hold the controller with both hands, because that's not a wrist shake. As such, I think it would be agreeable for any future controller to utilise pointing and gyroscopes. Imagine playing a Zelda where you could just tilt your left wrist to position the Mirror Shield. I think I'd like that.

Yep, it's bound to be worth it. Flying about in 3D, headphones on. :awesome:

You chose a good week to leave it, darksnowman, as the DQVC sale was not really worth it (only for completionists). This week it's great again though. I was thinking about how rare these items actually are. The chances of getting them are: Rank 10 armour - 2% Rank 10 weapons - 1% Rank 9 armour - 1% Rank 9 weapons - 1% Still, the real reason Rank 10 armour eventually becomes easier to obtain is because you can use the Thief's Co-op de Grace, like RedShell mentioned a while ago (Rank 10 armour is the rare drop of Grotto bosses). However, you really need four Critical Fans for this to be fast enough, so certainly buy it instead if you can.

Story is very overrated, in my opinion, as a driving force. I'm glad Miyamoto, Iwata and co are feeling the components of Ocarina of Time... how important the overall design was.

If anyone wants to know my picks of DQVC this week, they're: Rank 10 equipment: Brain Drainer Hallowed Helm Victorious Armour Rank 9 equipment: Metal Slime Armour Metal Slime Helm ...and everything else Metal Slime (but the above remain the most useful) The Metal Slime Armour is absolutely awesome. Take a look at these comparisons: Metal Slime Armour: -15% all elements Liquid Metal Armour: - 18% all elements Metal King Armour: -20% all elements Victorious Armour: -18% fire, ice Glorious Armour: -20% fire, ice Mythical Armour: -22% fire, ice Legendary Armour: -25% fire, ice From: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/937281-dragon-quest-ix-sentinels-of-the-starry-skies/faqs/60936 So, you have to upgrade the Victorious Armour with 4 orbs and 4 agates before it's better than the Metal King, and even then, only against fire and ice. I still recommend the Victorious Armour though. It's great fun for Grottoes, as it restores HP and MP as you walk.

Let's give flameboy a break. Whilst I don't believe in prophecies, I'd be lying if I said they didn't spring to mind when I see terrible disasters such as this tsunami and the earthquakes in New Zealand. Conspiracy theorists are usually onto something. They've been proven right many times over things we'd rather believe governments didn't do. However, it can't be escaped that there are also loads of nutters and liars about. I've got no time for hoaxers who try to scare people with false images of "Planet X" or whatever. My theory is that, whilst we are not heading for apocalypse, there is probably something someone's got wind of, such as the higher solar flares at the moment or the imminent supernova of a star in a distant solar system. Maybe the conspiracy theorists are even right that there is going to be a "pole shift", or maybe there really is an extra planet in our solar system. Combined with pure fiction, such as the film "2012", this has got people worried. Don't be gullible, but don't think governments won't lie to you either. So, basically, don't worry. My guess is that nothing will happen. Even if it does, it'll probably be so subtle (if you can call natural disasters "subtle") governments will be able to say nothing happened anyway.

I forgot another one of my favourites - Directors, brewed by Courage. Hope I haven't ruined my batting average there? Yep. I can't drink alcopops like "Caribbean Twist" because they taste like pure sugar to me (I'm always surprised when they sell). Even cider is too sweet for me to drink a lot of. The perfect bittersweet taste, and I know a lot of people take the mickey out of this, is a drop of lime with lager. Yeah, it's very interesting. There are basically two types - lager and ale. You can separate those easily because they are brewed differently. Lager is basically lager, although you can have dark and amber lagers, which is interesting. Ale, though, has so many different types, like stout (porter), mild beer, wheat beer (white beer), pale ale, light ale and of course, probably the best of all, the classic bitter! I suppose the quintessential ale is what I'd call "strong bitter" - not sure if that's a real term or not. Guinness is amazing out of the pump, isn't it? That's my favourite thing you can get in the average pub. Yeah, pilsner is a German and Czech invention.

I would recommend: The Ace Attorney games (the first four anyway) Etrian Odyssey (as you like RPGs) Dragon Quest V (great music) New Super Mario Bros Both Zeldas (but especially Spirit Tracks) And download Shantae from DSi Ware (3DS Ware?)

Well after all, I am the Greene King!

English ale for me. It's spring, it's sunny, it's pleasantly warm. I've been out all day photographing local villages. I have a nice pint of Fuller's London Pride, Adnam's Bitter or Broadside, or Greene King Abbot Ale. As I drink it, I imagine some unrealistic, medieval, fantasy version of England or the days of Robin Hood. I know I'm a romanticist, but that's what beer's about to me.

It looks so good. The thing I'm most interested in about the Water Temple, is whether what I thought was the most difficult puzzle will have a visual clue this time.

Probably not worth its own thread, but here's a (rather flimsy) rumour that the Wii 2 will be announced at E3: http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/rumour-nintendo-to-announce-wii-2-in-june-933913

Good point, region-control seems mean-spirited to me, as importing is honest and above board. We only want to play games that aren't released here, not steal them. That's what I meant. I'm not getting confused with holograms. If you look at say, a column, your left eye will see more of the left side and your right eye will see more of the right side.

I think it helps to remember that all these people, however clever, are still only humans positioned on Earth speculating. I'd love it if a UFO appeared, an alien got out and said "Brian, you're talking absolute rubbish!"

I'm totally against piracy, so support these moves very much. The other day I did a search for "Shantae: Risky's Revenge" because I enjoyed the game so much and wanted to find out more about it. I was dismayed that the "auto-complete" function of the search engine revealed most people had been searching for the ROM. WayForward poured their heart and soul into making this beautiful game, only for people to steal it. Thieves have to realise: developers do not owe you anything. They only make these things if there's a chance they'll make money on it. As for the censorship of words, I'm against it. I always feel insulted when a game tells me I can't type something.

Oh, well I never. It's worth checking out the status-resistance of these speciality clothes. (For those that don't know, "Stop" is when you get scared by a Raging Roar or something like that.) In other news, I finally got a good enough ice Grotto to have a Blight Knight in it!