Grazza

It might be that people just prefer to play on a TV. However, I don't think I'm missing the point at all. The aim of VR is to be so realistic it's visually indistinguishable from reality, whereas at the moment it's not too dissimilar to just seeing a giant screen in front of you. The essential apps could even be something akin to Google Earth, where it takes you to a place it's very hard to visit otherwise - however, until the tech gives the "wow" factor, those experiences won't be believable.

I feel much the same. As far as 16-bit goes, I'd rather play the System 16 coin-ops than the Mega Drive ports. The achievements do sound fun though.

A much-needed leap forward has been made, plus an idea of how good the tech needs to be: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/google-and-lg-display-have-made-the-highest-resolution-vr-screen-yet/ar-AAxMFm7?ocid=spartandhp I've always loved the idea of VR, but think it needs to be more amazing for people to be properly grabbed. It's good that strides are being made with field of view, as that shouldn't be underestimated.

Sounds like it could be a way of bringing us F-Zero without it officially being such. Nintendo is probably more confident about the Star Fox brand than the former, as Fox McCloud is a better mascot than those in F-Zero. Could be great!

Yeah, Sweden's bass line was going round my head all yesterday. It's like Justin Timberlake music, with a bit of Daft Punk and the performance style of Justin Bieber. Mind you, Moldova's going round my head today!

Thanks, Hero-of-Time. I did a search to see if there was a thread for this game and saw you were interested in it. To be honest, I just didn't know for sure how it compared to the other versions. There are certainly long loading times, but I didn't feel qualified to assess things like framerate. In its defence, I never encountered any technical glitches that impeded my playtime - it was more that the combination of detailed graphics, small visuals and occasional darkness felt like they were slowing down my progress (especially as you have to read/see a lot). I hope I got across my true impression of the game, which is that there's room for optimisation, particularly as a Switch game. Some tweaks, especially in terms of adapting it to handheld, could really give it a boost.

Back in the late-90s there was a classic comic called Battle Chasers, which was so highly thought of, there has been a game based on it 20 years later. I was a fan at the time, and am honoured to have done the review: Battle Chasers: Nightwar Thanks to @S.C.G!

Oh wow, that looks rather good. Like a much more Metroidvania version of Shovel Knight.

Well, that turned out to be a bit of a classic. Well done @Jonnas. Austria had a pretty good song, performed terrifically by Cesár Sampson. I like him even more now I know he's the nephew of Pepsi from Pepsi & Shirley. The lucky lad also got to "lift" one of the presenters a few times. Norway and Sweden were both catchy pop songs. Thought the former would do a lot better, and perhaps the latter could have been more complex in order to stay interesting. Even though the time limit is three minutes, I think it's important to include a small bridge, not just a verse and chorus. United Kingdom usually enters songs that are a bit simple and "singalong" for my liking, but I was massively impressed with SuRie. It was extremely selfish of the protester to ruin her big moment (and quite frankly there should have been enough bouncers to nip that in the bud before he got on stage), but the way she coped actually made me proud to be British. Not every performer would be tough enough to cope with that. Albania and Netherlands both had good rock songs. Whilst not exactly my favourite genre (I prefer soul and R&B), I appreciate how Waylon in particular brings a touch of class to Eurovision. Israel was wacky, but I can see why it won. Strange lyrics, but a well-constructed song. Moldova had a better song than they were given credit for, and the staging put a grin on my face. It was properly camp in the true sense. Ireland was memorable on the night and I thought it'd do much better. It almost certainly belonged in the left-hand side. Italy was very interesting in how the jury wasn't keen, but the voting public loved it, almost certainly for the message. Overall, a great night, and my sound bar performed admirably.

Looking forward to tonight. I'm definitely backing Sweden, as the bass line has been in my head ever since I heard it. Going to turn the subwoofer up to max! Now if Portugal can just get Hadise to perform Dum Tek-Tek again, it'll be my perfect show!

Yes, I am miffed about Latvia myself, and I didn't personally get Ukraine's or Australia's, despite thinking that Ukraine's is objectively good. I found an article backing up what you were saying about the video screens: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/eurovision-2018-semi-final-two-results-dancing-robots-creepy-lookalikes-and-russia’s-shock-exit/ar-AAx5pe5?ocid=spartandhp Not sure why they picked on those two, as lots of them are using video effects, but still... Yep, I always respect the native language ones, not least Armenia, who produced what I think is one of the all-time greatest - Inga & Anush's Nor Par/Jan-Jan. As Salvador Sobral said, "music is feeling, not fireworks". It's more important to get the feeling of a song than it is to understand the lyrics.

Well, that was a lot better! Like @Eenuh though, I am still disappointed about Belgium, as I've not been able to stop singing that one myself. It's probably my favourite out of all the tunes I've heard this year. Tonight, I really enjoyed Latvia, how it was just good singing with no gimmicks - it's a shame she didn't get through. However, although country is not my style, Netherlands is always high quality, and as for Ukraine, he can really sing. My personal favourites though were Norway and Sweden - both funky pop songs, and it was nice to see Norway's 2009 contestant back, as I really loved those days. Looking forward to the contest, and I'm backing Norway or Sweden. PS - Rylan has been a brilliant presenter.

Ah, I see. Fair enough. Nah. Brits are probably the most irreverent people on the planet. We have programmes like Gogglebox and Harry Hill's TV Burp, which take the mickey out of everything on screen, including the good and the great!

Maybe that's what I couldn't put my finger on about the Code of Princess remake. So the 2D frames have been based on the position of polygon models, like pre-rendered? I think there could be a market for fighters with simplified controls, like this and SNK Heroines, as I've always quite liked them, but never been able to master a 6- or 4-button control scheme.

I did wonder. Well, we did have last year's winning song, but nothing on stage. That's the thing I didn't like about the presentation this year, actually - it was too "video". I really didn't like the video effects on our TV screens, as I like to see exactly what happens on stage as though I'm there.

Well, that was a very disappointing semi-final. Not that it was Portugal's fault, but I thought the result was terrible. Belgium was my favourite entry, with really beautiful music to it. I also thought the woman from the Switzerland duo was very attractive and gave a great performance. I'm gutted that neither got through - might not even set up my sound bar for Saturday (which has been a tradition in recent years). On a positive note, last year's contestants singing Salvador's song was very moving. Hopefully some good songs from Thursday will go through, but I felt today the winners were the ones with the biggest, most impactful gimmicks rather than the best musically.

Looks fantastic, like the first time there's been a true successor to VIII.

It took me ages, but I finally completed Dragon Quest Builders! I did get burnt out along the way, but ended up loving it again by the end. Completed all the challenges within each chapter, and genuinely feel a bit lost as to what to play now! Very much looking forward to the sequel. Dragon Quest Builders Thanks, as ever, to @S.C.G for the graphic and putting the review up!

I just think doing "movie marathons" is a guaranteed way to get burnout. I always remember Richard & Judy hosted a competition on their TV show to win tickets to a Daniel Craig Bond film (I think it was Casino Royale). The task was to watch more James Bond films in succession than the other contestants. Not surprisingly, no one could be bothered to watch them all - in the end, I'm not sure even the winners cared! Personally, I think if you fancy Infinity War, that's the one to watch. A middle ground might be to go back and watch the ones that caught your interest (What happened to Cap? Why is Thor like that?) between watching this and the next one. I'd say the Star Wars prequels taught us that knowing all the previous details is not all it's cracked up to be - many of the MCU films are better than those actual prequels, of course, but it's a similar principle.

What a thought! I wonder if they would keep it 3rd-person or switch to 1st-person? It would certainly give me a fright when those Easter Island heads came flying at me!

Yes, but the Japanese version is meant to be much better. There were some very strange choices when localising it.

If I really narrowed it down, the only Mega Drive game I might re-buy is Streets of Rage 2. And Bare Knuckle 3, but I've never owned that. What I'm really hoping for is the 16- and 32-bit arcade games. Both Golden Axe coin-ops please!

My choice would be for Nintendo to keep the same model that's working for them at the moment, and to just keep improving it at their own pace. I don't think it's like the Wii, which was popular for a certain time, and then not. The Switch is just a genuinely good idea, and I don't think the appeal will wear off. As Sony brings out the PlayStation 5, Nintendo might be able to make something that's similar in power to PS4. Switch is not getting all multiplatform games at the moment, so there's no pressure to keep up.

Has Bad Dudes been improved for Europe (and presumably patched for the US)? I've just downloaded it and there is the option to have no scanlines/screen effect. The charge attack is also in there. There's still no Japanese version (as a purist, I miss references to "Dragonninja"), but it's a lot more complete than expected.

Yeah, same here. Part of me wonders if they just wanted to make a third EO on 3DS, as there were three on DS. It seems like this has every character class from previous games, as well as every aspect in general. It's interesting that Force Boost is back, from Etrian Odyssey I and II - this was before Limit (team skills) and just allowed each character to emphasise any one move. I wonder if it will have Boost and Limit, as I can't imagine it not having the latter. It'll probably have every enemy too, but presumably not every map, as that would be too much. The elemental dragons actually weren't in V, but it seems you can't keep them away for long!