Grazza

Suicide is always tragic, whatever the reason. I can only suggest people should question their friends if they make derogatory remarks. For example, when one of my colleagues says something like that, I say "You're not homophobic, are you?" The sad thing is, a lot of lads think they've got to be homophobic or they don't fit in. That said, I do support people's right to think homosexuality is wrong. I can't understand why they care what other people get up to in their private lives, but they do have a right to their opinion, as long as they're not bullying about it.

I've got a feeling it would. Of course, there could be wildly different extra-terrestrials out there, such as living gas clouds etc, but I'm even more interested in how universal the known prototypes are. For instance, would aliens have eyes, mouths and legs? I'm sure some of them would. That leads me to wonder if they have creatures like ours, even humans. Take the cat, for instance. It is basically the same creature all over the world, yet it has evolved into different species depending on the needs of the environments, and so we end up with tigers, lions, cheetahs - they are all fundamentally the same as a domestic cat, but bigger/stronger, more camouflaged when necessary. So, would we find giant cats on other planets, I wonder? I'm particularly interested in seeing dinosaurs. Imagine if they had existed elsewhere, never to have been wiped out... Which Stephen Hawking episode is on tonight in Denmark, Dannyboy? The aliens one?

That's the one I just mentioned, albeit not in any detail. It's bound to have life on it, I think. I'd love to see how similar it is to ours, eg. does it have humanoids, apes, felines, canines etc? Don't suppose we'll be able to find out anytime soon.

Only if it's boring. Gaming is something I do at the end of the day after I've done my exercises, work, going out etc. Badly. I usually just get the to the point where I say "I'm not enjoying these, I'm never going to finish them" and sell them. After all, if it was a really great game I'd have played it through in less than two weeks from starting it. The Virtual Console has added to my backlog, as I've downloaded a lot of games into my Wii that I really can't be bothered to play. Zelda: Twilight Princess. I was so excited when I first got it, I played it for six hours! No, it's just a "when I've got time" or "when I want to" thing.

No, it's very well designed. I would say, however, that one of the puzzles was almost impossible to figure out, so if you got stuck at that it would have been very frustrating. The overall "3-level" design, though, was much better than TP's Lakebed Temple.

We've got Stephen Hawking tonight, on Channel 4 at 7pm (two hours? Great!) and The Sky at Night on tomorrow at 12:10am on BBC1. Apparently the latter is about "Light Echoes", but I hope they feature the "Goldilocks Planet" too.

It's not like I have a massive problem with Mario 64, I just find it a bit tedious to go back to. Yes, I'd say finding exits is a bit better than finding Stars, but I don't want to split hairs about that. What I will say is that the exits in Super Mario World were found through exploration, whereas the objectives in Super Mario 64 were that much more irritating and obscure. As I say, though, it's not like I have a problem with it. I've loved every Mario since SMW, as long as we pretend Galaxy 1 & 2 only have 120 Stars, that is...

Yep! It's not as strong or confident. The layers of shading don't wash over the picture in the same way.

Regarding the graphics, I must admit I always hoped the next time I played Ocarina of Time it'd be in 1080p and dual analogue. Oh well. I suppose so, yeah, mainly Super Mario Land 2 and Metroid II. I put it down to not having as much money when I was a teenager, didn't really go for the later GB games over console games. OK, but it's not like I dislike Mario 64! I'd say the three slides are highlights of the Mario series. Great fun! Yes and yes. What's that got to do with anything?

Not played. Can't wait to download for the 3DS!

Please release it, Namco, I really want to play it too!

Each to his own. Personally, Super Mario Bros 3 is one I don't much like. Very well. I played the GameCube version of Ocarina of Time after I'd played Wind Waker, and the only drawbacks were things I'd noticed back in the N64 days - blurry, low-res graphics and the fact Hyrule Town has static backgrounds. I'm pleased to hear they're fixing all of that. It's not as technically advanced as MM or WW, and actually, OOT is my 3rd favourite after those two, but the brilliance of its design is still plain to see - the bare Hyrule Field with a ranch in the middle, the claustrophobia of the Fire Temple, the intimidating feel of the Gerudos' territory. Above all, the bosses and gameplay are all top notch.

Have any of them ever become true favourites of yours though? If so, I salute you! Personally, I've only ever had that "wow, love it!" feeling in the "correct" generation.

Did you play it this generation or last? I don't feel playing something on release is important, but I do feel it's best to play something in the generation it's released. Heck, I didn't play Super Metroid until I got it on the Wii's Virtual Console, and yes, it's good, but I honestly can't see how it's any better than Zero Mission or Fusion. If you were used to the PS3 or Xbox 360, no last-gen game could impress you as much as it would have at the time. I forgot about that. I suppose if a game "wows" you enough, you can get used to any control or camera quirks. For me, the sense of meditation and immersion was enough to make me overlook any problems.

Loved it. Maybe not in a Dragon Quest VIII/Wind Waker sort of way, but I definitely wasn't disappointed. I'm a technical geek, so I was massively impressed with the overworld and its lack of loading times. Plus, climbing up on giant creatures genuinely felt like something new to me. Basically, the game had that immersive "I'm really in this world and I'm searching for monsters" vibe.

I'd agree with that just by playing it on the Virtual Console, but Super Mario 64 has aged a lot worse than Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask, what with its sometimes-dull, cryptic missions. Then again, everyone knew at the time it wasn't actually as much fun as Super Mario World. Impressive spectacle, yes, but it was never as good as the SNES game. Presumably, a remake would take far fewer resources than having to think up and design a brand new game. I'd agree that it shouldn't take resources away from that, but the game design's all in place - it just needed cleaner graphics. Films don't age anything like as badly, and CGI isn't plain "better" than optical anyway, it's just different. Back to the Future was still filmed with high-resolution film. It looked good at the time and still does. Ocarina of Time, though, always looked muddy and low-res. I vividly remember that was my first impression of it, not being able to see the Kokiri village very well. Games benefit massively from being remade, assuming the technology is at least one generation ahead of the original, such as in Metal Gear Solid: the Twin Snakes, as they're still being built with the same method (polygons), just with much higher capability.

No, I get you. Following on from the news that the UN has appointed someone to greet aliens, I saw this story about an event that happened yesterday. I know some of you will scoff at the idea of UFOs being alien, but this is remarkable. Six USAF members plus one other military member, representing 120 other military personnel, have made statements that UFOs have interfered with our nuclear weapons: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8026971/Aliens-have-deactivated-British-and-US-nuclear-missiles-say-US-military-pilots.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1315479/Aliens-interfered-weapons-UFOs-deactivating-nuclear-missiles.html I know it's hard to believe, but since when have so many USAF personnel made formal statements about this? It's unprecedented.

Any aliens who could travel to Earth, though, would be massively, unbelievably intelligent. They would have intercepted our TV broadcasts and certainly know that they should contact Barack Obama, for instance.

First of all, I'm sorry I didn't give a "heads-up" about Stephen Hawking's Universe. I've been watching them on Channel 4, but just had a mental block about mentioning it on here. If they're available on iPlayer (or the equivalent), I certainly recommend them, although I preferred the one about aliens, as the one about time travel made my brain hurt! I hadn't heard that one. Stephen Hawking said time travel into the past would be impossible because any wormholes would suck in radiation and collapse, but most importantly, he doesn't think the laws of the Universe would allow the possibilty of paradoxes. Either way, it's not something to be messed with, in my opinion! I'm glad you said that, because I thought it when I read it in the newspaper and immediately thought I must be paranoid! Realistically, the big countries, like USA, Russia and China would storm in and demand to be part of it.

Happy birthday chaps!

I like Katy Perry, especially Hot & Cold and I Kissed A Girl. My mates think I fancy her but, although she is attractive, I simply think she's the best female pop star at the moment.

Oops! Sorry Smeagol!

True, and I always favour those methods. However, it could be argued that cryptozoology is not (or needn't be) paranormal at all. For example, scientists declared a prehistoric fish, the Coelacanth, to have been extinct for 65 million years. Then it turned up! However unlikely, what if the Plesiosaur or the giant ape, Gigantopithecus, also still existed? To me that would not be paranormal at all. Sorry for taking your thread off-topic, Dannyboy.

I had a fantastic play session last night. It started with me doing my first Grotto since revocating, in order to get my first "higher quality" map. We were all approx Level 42 in our "true" classes, and I chose to explore a Level 68 water Grotto. I hadn't been in there long (I was on Floor 5) when I saw this: As you can imagine, my heart soared! Then the blighter ran off! Never mind, I was soon encountering loads of them on that floor and the next two, including in pairs, and I defeated plenty. Such pure joy! Then a Minstrel Moai appeared, so I defeated it with Hot Lick and unlocked the Superstar class. Further into the Grotto, I had a tense tangle with a yellow-coloured Manguini and two Slugsy Betsies. They kept reviving each other about 20 times. I thought I'd be getting loads of EXP (as in Dragon Quest VIII), but that was not the case. Deeper down, I got into a lot of bother with some pink-coloured lizard men. I defeated a few, but they kept calling for back-up. Unfortunately, I got careless with not healing my Sage and he got KO'd. Now this was a real problem, with four or so lizard men to defeat. I decided to have my Hero Paladin use either Kerplunk or Kamikazee, opting for the latter, which was a mistake as it only took out one or two of them. The remaining lizard men called for back-up and there were four of them again - this was turning into a real problem! I instructed my Gladiator, Dave, and my Armamentalist, Kate, to Flee. It failed! I tried it once more and it worked. With no evacuation spells, I used an Evac-U-Bell, then a Chimaera Wing. We escaped, but it was a close one! With a couple of Quests now cleared, I decided to obtain the Rusty Shield. I turned it into Erdrick's Shield and, with my Shield skill maxed, it gives a massive 15% block chance. What an excellent game. Last night's session was the type of RPG brilliance I've only had from Dragon Quest.

So do I. There's so much richness in European legends in general. The cryptozoologists are basically divided into two camps - those who believe all these monsters exist in other dimensions; and the more scientific ones, who believe any unknown creature has to fall in with existing rules (ie. has to be real!) I am with the latter, and as such I do not "believe" in any cryptozoological animals. I also accept there is hardly any evidence at all. However, I am very interested in them and I think there could still be large, unknown animals, especially in the seas.