Grazza

OK, it's no Kraken, but there's a decent amount of track there, and a lot of elements. This is a good site for it: http://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/11-02-2011/LC12-Plans-Released I misunderstood it before (hadn't looked at the overhead views). The elements seem to be: Station Lift hill Inline twist/dive loop Zero G roll Inclined helix Low right-turn Corkscrew Left-turn Inline twist Left-turn Brake run So, five "real" elements (emboldened). I thought the 2nd element was a giant corkscrew, but seeing the overhead view, I realise it's a Zero G (although as the original idea, with inverteds, etc, was that you're in the middle of the heartline, doing it on a Wing Walker will be interesting!) Awesome, I think. Could hardly be better.

Does that actually work? You're getting more metal slimes than normal? I quite fancy Shantae (the game ) but I can't face the hassle of transferring anything from my DSi XL to my 3DS. Maybe when I get that.

Exactly. I love the personalities of my female friends, they are every bit as witty as men. As for celebrities, though, I can't imagine a woman being as funny on stage as Russell Brand. It just wouldn't fit.

Brilliant news! Here are the plans for the Thorpe Park roller coaster. It has a plane theme and no vertical loop, so is bound to be a Wing Rider. It's short though (do they lose more energy than normal coasters?) The layout has a curved drop, a massive corkscrew, an inclined helix/inclined loop and then another corkscrew: Let's hope it gets permission, because it looks like the best UK coaster since 2003!

Michael Portillo Andrew Neil Roger Moore Bret & Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords Russell Brand Sigourney Weaver 5 of my favourite glamour models from the ages Ah, it's embarrassing how few women I like on personality alone!

That's awesome. I played the WiiWare demo, but wasn't blown away. Not trolling, but I prefer to play on a handheld rather than the Wii if I can help it. This is exactly the type of game I like to play on them too.

Super Mario Kart is the main one for me. The reviewers went crazy for it. My neighbour bought it, I went round and played it and thought "This is nowhere near as good as F-Zero". Any enjoyment I might have got from the racing (which wasn't that good anyway) was ruined by the weapons. I've never liked any version since.

The main reason I mentioned Efteling was for Joris en de Draak (George and the Dragon), a new GCI woodie. Sure to be a good, smooth coaster for Eenuh to try: Please can we have some in the UK!

I'm afraid to say there are only two UK parks with lots of roller coasters (which Rez detailed in his awesome post), apart from Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which is good for wooden coasters but the steel ones it has are not up there with Thorpe/Alton's. There are lots of other decent coasters scattered around the UK, but not in one location that I could truly recommend. I don't know if you can easily get into Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands? If so, you have a lot of good options available to you, such as Heide Park, Europa Park, Efteling, Toverland and other parks with one really good coaster each. I haven't ridden a new "thrill" coaster since Nemesis Inferno in 2003. I'm a bit of a wuss, unfortunately, and I felt the UK coasters got a bit too extreme last decade, especially with the Intamin rocket coasters and the Gerstlauer Euro Fighters, so I stopped visiting the parks. I did used to love riding Nemesis, Air and Nemesis Inferno though, and I'd like to reawaken my inner thrillseeker. It didn't help that I really hurt my neck on a Pinfari looper in 2008 (Klondike, Hayling Island) and it only fully recovered late last year. Please, please do not ride these small (50ft) looping coasters. I know it's hard to believe that a coaster could seriously injure you, but it's possible. My favourite coasters are, let's see... Millennium Coaster at Fantasy Island, Megafobia (if it's still smooth), Cobra at Paultons and Roller Coaster at Great Yarmouth. To me, the past decade has been all about the Netherlands and Germany, which have got the bulk of Europe's GCI woodies. Just out of interest, am I the only one who would prefer a greater number of medium-sized parks with one really great coaster to the mega parks like Thorpe and Alton? I can't help but feel they've got a bit out of control. That's how it used to be in the UK, with many parks just as important as the Big Two, like Drayton, Flamingo Land etc etc. On a happier note... B&M, yes!! I'll rule out a Dive Machine unless they remove Saw and I'll also rule out, unfortunately, a Speedcoaster, because even their junior hypers are bigger than 126ft. That leaves the Wing Walker. I also wouldn't rule out a flying coaster, although if it had a pretzel loop, that would be easy to identify on the planning application (which I haven't seen myself).

I find them too scary, to be honest.

My memory's hazy, but I thought... [spoiler=]...there were lots of Miniblins and then one big Moblin?

But it does have... [spoiler=]Moblins on a train!

That's awesome, Rez. I feared it might be a dive coaster (which are not my thing), but at "only" 126ft, there's a good chance it'll be something more interesting to me. The Wing Rider just became that much more likely. Also, Thorpe's annual publicity stunt is better than usual this year. They have "relocated" (cough) the new water ride because the area was "haunted"! It's all good fun: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354393/Thorpe-Park-Storm-Surge-ride-Headless-monk-seen-workmen.html

Oh my word, every time I see Wind Waker I remember what a work of genius it is. Was it even crafted by humans?

Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission are sheer gaming bliss. They are my two favourite Metroid games and are both in my Top 10 Games in general. I've kept my Game Boy Micro just to play those two, as they're so enjoyable on it. Fusion has even better-balanced gameplay than Zero Mission, with bosses that are tough at first, but easy when you learn the right technique, and doesn't have that bit at the end that unbalances ZM. Two small nitpicks I have are that the colour scheme isn't as nice as Zero Mission (but hey, it's a different game) and the locations and bosses in Zero Mission are just simpler and cooler. But Fusion is really a 10/10 game for me.

Girls do say it, but, in my experience, they only say it when there is some attraction there. Disclaimer: I might not understand emotions either. Anyway, it's Spring!! Am I the only person who feels a hundred times better than they did in Winter? Didn't realise how deflated I actually was over December and January. I bumped into an asshole (see the bad stuff thread), but even that couldn't ruin my mood. I'm getting fitter again, my muscles are growing, it's warm, it's sunny and I've been loudly singing Flight of the Conchords songs all day!

I was out running as usual, when some asshole in a van slowed down and shouted "Run, Forrest!" at me. The worst thing is I assumed it was one of my mates going to say hello, so I was taken aback and too slow to give him the finger and shout "twat".

It's certainly not about race to anyone decent. Employment is an issue, like Jimbob said, although I would say, on balance, foreign workforces are doing the jobs other people don't want, like nightshifts. The fewer number of "normal" jobs (subjective, I know) available is almost certainly due to the recession and companies wanting to squeeze more profit out of their business by employing less staff. Put it this way, yes, my mates find it hard to get jobs, but none of the ones they want are taken by immigrants. The biggest problem, undoubtedly, is culture and religion. We'd just be naive if we didn't think we have masses of Muslims who hate us and try to harm us, far more so than any other culture that the UK has ever absorbed.

True. I doubt we'll be seeing any games from Nintendo with extra effects, although if they at least run smoother, I'll be happy. Nintendo aren't scared of having a bit of slowdown in a game like Spirit Tracks, for example, so hopefully the 3D version of anything will be the one to push the system, and the 2D version is the one that runs perfectly. Too right. Ever since the 3DS was unveiled, the screen size and resolution was the thing that seemed behind the times to me. I mean, the Nintendo DS had poor graphics, but the bigger screen of the DSi XL was a revelation. Handhelds need that. My attitude to the graphics in general is that they're good and what I expected. They're a full generation on from the DS (which was sub-N64; this is probably slightly sub-GameCube), so fair enough. I would guess the 3D adds extra expense for the consumer, rather than limiting the graphical clout Nintendo would have put in.

BUMP. If you care about this subject, please sign this petition: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/campaigning/save-ancient-forests/Pages/fc-disposals-act-now.aspx?WT.mc_id=fc Let's send the Government a message. They're our trees, not theirs to sell. They have absolutely no mandate to do this. Cameron and his cronies are out-of-touch toffs, that's why they're arrogant enough to think they can sell our woodlands. The upper classes own so much forest, they don't realise normal people appreciate the public ones. Trees are massively undervalued. The UK has less forest cover than Europe anyway. We need more, not less! The least we can do is send the Government a message that they've severely understimated how much people care about this.

Woke up this morning feeling terrible, mentally and physically. Thought I wouldn't accomplish anything. Just to snap myself out of it, I walked into town, sorted out a few little things that were bugging me and walked home. When I got home, I still didn't feel 100%, but I had perked myself up with the fresh air and exercise. So, then I did my weight training, which I wouldn't have been capable of earlier in the day. Surprisingly, I was really strong (I'm still recovering my strength from when I was ill at Christmas), so that made me feel great. Enjoying a fantastic pizza now and I'm looking forward to "The Biggest Loser" on TV tonight! The moral of the story is you really can set off a chain reaction of things that'll make you feel better. I would suggest Eenuh sees a doctor, because those do sound like panic attacks. Generally though, a bit of activity can make you feel a million dollars.

My most cherished piece of Lego was the railway. I had the freight train and a loop of track. Then, for birthday and Christmas presents I got bits of expansion track such as the stop/go lights and the crossing points, so I could make a figure-eight. Ah, I loved it.

According to Zelda Wiki, they are Bokoblins, although I agree they don't look very good: http://www.zeldawiki.org/Bokoblin

Very true. I actually agree with you about the pacing in the later half of the game. My only problem with the pacing was how the very beginning of the game was dragged out significantly to get gamers used to the Wii controls (the Slingshot was only added when they decided to put the game on the Wii). It now takes hours to get to the first dungeon. Crazy. To be honest, I think the overall "hook" of the game was one of the weakest ideas they've had. Whilst the 2004 trailer - Link running around and riding on Epona - looked awesome, I must admit my heart sank a bit in 2005 when they revealed the wolf mechanic and all this "clearing up the Twilight" stuff. I just wanted a game where Link ran around in a new land, with new enemies and new dungeons. As for Ganondorf, I was surprised to see him, for one very specific reason - Zelda works best when, every generation, you get one "normal" game and one "different" game. That is to say, Ocarina of Time had all the Zelda standards, then Majora's Mask was deeply unconventional. You could say Link to the Past and Link's Awakening had the same relationship, even though they were on different machines. If Wind Waker was the GameCube's "normal" Zelda, with Ganondorf et al, Twilight Princess could have been the "different" one. One thing's for sure, I do want to see Ganon and Hyrule on Nintendo's next machine, to see how they look in HD with some real graphical grunt behind them.