Grazza

Happy Birthday you two! darksnowman, load up Metroid and fire off a celebratory Ice Missile!

That's very fair if it really does include Wii Sports Resort and Motion Plus. Time to get one! Perfect timing as I'm just at the end of Echoes (the final last-gen game I wanted to play)

Yes, exactly. It has continuity without being irritating. I'm sure we'll see more of Sigan, for example! He's no more "banished" than he was at the start of the episode. I've tried to watch American TV shows, but they're very commercial (for obvious reasons). They just want you to watch the commercial break, then watch again next week; and the actual seasons are very long, because it's just about selling advertising. Nothing wrong with this, but it does lead to cliffhanger after cliffhanger.

Yeah, you'll have the most fun experimenting with all the weapons. The boomerang is definitely the best one for groups of enemies in dungeons. What I will say is that the boomerang's special skills are not very useful. It might be worth putting some points into it just for strength, but not really for the skills.

With the Omega Pirate, I just ignore the reinforcements unless they're Gold Troopers (in which case I just fire off a couple of quick Super Missiles). Next thing I turn on my X-Ray Visor and keep jumping and turning until the Omega Pirate appears in one of the three pools of Phazon. Completely ignore the Troopers at this point, as it's very unlikely they'll hit you whilst you're moving. Do that twice with two Super Missiles each time and he's easy.

No, it's intentional - a villain called Ridley (ie. Ridley Scott) and a female protagonist who used to strip off at the end! (They should bring that back!) It must be. The only problem with the Boost Guardian, I found, is that you may panic and not have enough time to work out a stategy. When you know what you're doing, you're only using skills you developed during the first Prime.

Some beer is very good, such as German Pilsners, Czech lagers such as Staropramen and the mighty English Ales, such as Abbot Ale. The alcohol and strength is part of the taste, but I wouldn't say the purpose is to get drunk. Enough to lose some inhibitions, yes, but "drunk" means too much. I don't get drunk after two pints, but I begin to feel poisoned and want to cleanse my system.

Exactly. I don't think alcohol is terrible, it's just the way people use it. I tend to think the fermented drinks (beer, cider, wine) are the most wholesome. Distilled drinks just seem a bit unnatural and "dodgy" to me. I also think people should stick to the units on the back of the bottle. Yes, people get used to drinking more, but you shouldn't. This has been scientifically devised - it's not some politically correct, nanny state thing. Now, I won't lie, I do genuinely enjoy the occasional beer. I tend to have one pint of English Ale a week - Fuller's London Pride, Adnam's Broadside, Abbot Ale etc. More than one in a night and I feel worse for wear. I don't care if I'm a "lightweight", I don't want my body to get used to more than that. What I also dislike is the way alcohol is linked to socialising. OK, I do enjoy a beer, and I even like the way it helps you relax, but what I don't like is the way the actual socialising is about drinking, pub crawls etc. I usually just drink Coke, because I never do things because other people think I should.

Ah, Patch, glad to hear of your progress. I'm also glad you don't dislike it! The Waterfall Cave is quite difficult (I recommend being at approx Level 7-10 ), so you're certainly not taking it too slowly or anything.

Hmm, my guess is that it's a backwards tyre launch. Would that be a world's first for a switchback coaster? Any other launch would probably be too intense, considering you're going backwards. Another possibilty is what I call a "pivot point". There are a lot of rumours of a "track drop". Rather than a "points" system (like Expedition Everest), where the train rolls back into track that has been re-aligned, the train might be held on a piece of track that has one pivot point (in front of the train), with the rear of the track dropping and slotting into slanted track that is directly below. The train would then be released and roll backwards down into the helix.

Yeah, they used to be a steal. Literally the only thing stopping me buying one was I wanted to wait for the supposed "Valhalla" chips (ultimate version). However, now the prices aren't even tempting. I actually consider it to have gone up in price, as the Arcade has and I'd probably have wanted a Pro (which you can't get any more), so now I'd have to buy an Elite. I'll probably still get one some day, but I'll have to clear all these DS and Wii games first!

Shooting Stars - This series is incredible. Angelo the burger van owner is funny and I loved the James Bond fight. The categories on The Dove From Above are increasingly hysterical. 10/10 Merlin (2,1) - I've still not seen a bad episode of this. Great characters, great acting, great monsters - brilliant! What I like is that it never has irritating cliffhangers - the 45 minutes always packs enough entertainment in for you to be satisfied. 9/10

Conversely, I didn't use a guide at all and I think that slightly lessened my enjoyment. Yes, I got a sense of achievement, but it also made the game seem far too long (which it's not - I can do it in 22 hours, which I feel is a good length). My rule is "No to walkthroughs, but get help if you're stuck for a day or so". If I can't make any/much progress in one game session, that ruins it for me. I'm much the same. I just feel it's a bit too early for HD. The 360 is bound to have a cooler version sometime, the PS3 is bound to get cheaper eventually and the TVs themselves are always getting better. Also, I'm a fan of Japanese games and I don't feel the Japanese industry is fully behind the HD machines yet. Hopefully this will happen as PS3 gets more popular. My "Pile", however, is for the DS. I just stop playing the games for some reason. I mean, why? I bought Metroid Prime 2 and I'm hooked, but why did I do that instead of finishing my DS games (apart from the fact it's much better!)? Must get them finished!

Yes, definitely. I think there's something about the last dungeon that doesn't suit the time-limit gameplay.

Excellent! Awesome games! Yeah, I love that bit. I love scanning them and seeing some of them are from previous games! Yeah, it is, but it's a marathon - something that tales patience more than anything. If you can beat Metroid Prime fairly easily, it shouldn't be too bad. Until the Spider Guardian, that is! You need to be very good with your Morph Ball control, but that should be a bit easier in the Trilogy too.

Yeeeeeesssssssssss! I beat him! First time after watching your video, with about 80% of my last health bar left. Thank you so much, it never crossed my mind that there were video tutorials out there. I was very lucky with my double bomb jump. I did a quick "bomb, leave, bomb, bomb" in my head, and luckily I was positioned just right. Then I jumped up to the last bomb slot itself with what was probably less than a second on the clock! No boss has ever made my hands tremble like that. I don't know where the nearest save point is afterwards but, recklessly, I bomb jumped up to get the missile expansion instead of taking the spider-track back to where I'd just been. This wouldn't have been so bad, but then I foolishly entered a very dangerous Morph Ball tunnel, with fire blasts and the like! Luckily I made it out of there with plenty of health. Thanks again. I can get back to enjoying it now.

I've got a good feeling about this one. Everything's in place for this to be the Wii's definitive 3rd-party game.

Seriously, could someone help me with the Spider Guardian please? I've been stuck on it for three days and it's totally halted my play. It's just 100x harder than any other Metroid Prime boss. It's a totally different thing. I understand the general idea, and I can get to the 4th room, but I just can't bomb the last bomb slot. I've looked on GameFAQs, but what I really need to know is: How many times do you need to stun him in order to get you enough time to reach the 3rd bomb slot? Where are the best places in the room to stun him? I sort of understand that he's got to hit the flaps from the front. Other than that, I just can't get my head around it!

Phew, I'm glad you linked that, as I didn't know about the glitch. To be honest, my enjoyment of this game has trailed right off. I don't like the 3rd big area and I'm stuck at the Spider Guardian, which seems an awful boss to me. Plus, I'm constantly trying to avoid the glitch (glad I know about it though). I take my hat off to Hero-of-Time for completing it in 3 days! Don't know how he did that!

Yeah. I agree. The Boost Guardian is about keping your cool, evasion and replenishing your health via the "hands". I'm stuck at the Spider Guardian right now (on the GameCube), and it's a real nuisance. I thought it'd just be about fighting a giant spider!

My opinion is that it's good to see Hyrule and Ganondorf once per generation, but I like the more alternative stories as well. As the Wii is pretty much the same gen as GameCube, I quite fancy a "Majora's Mask" or "Link's Awakening". I wouldn't even mind if the graphics were kept the same as TP, and the Wii's extra power used to make a more fluid overworld.

I'm like that at the moment. I've got a Wii Pile and a DS Pile. I don't own a Wii, but I snap the games up if I see them for £10. For some reason I keep leaving the DS games to go onto something else. Also, a lot of them are RPGs, which tend to have long and boring post-games! I don't know why I bother with them, but I do! I'm very much the same. I buy consoles when they're about £130 and games when they're about £10-20. I do try to get them new if I can, and I will pay full price for a new Zelda, but I very rarely feel I should have paid more (I would have paid full price for Dragon Quest VIII). I don't much like DVDs either. I only ever listen to two CDs - Flight of the Conchords and Dragon Quest VIII: Symphonic - and that's just to accompany me whilst I'm drawing. Glad to hear you don't smoke! No idea why anyone does, it's terrible!

I would play IV, then V, then VIII (unless VI is released before you finish V). DQV is quite a lot better than IV, but personally, I was glad I'd played IV first, as it is set after IV and there are quite a few references to it. Not a lot, but enough. My favourite is VIII, then V, then IV. Haven't played any of the others.

Do you own all those games? I must admit, I assumed you were a big fan of Okami already! Shadow of the Colossus is a great game. As for Banjo Tooie, maybe I'll download it if I ever get an Xbox 360 and really get the urge to play it!

Congratulations nando! I have to say I totally agree with the general consensus on this game. Changing apes, collecting all that stuff... awful! Donkey Kong himself should have all the strength and agility you'd need. It was the worst 3D platformer of the era and I never finished it, although I suppose I might have more patience now we've got GameFAQs and such. I loved Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, but this was so bad it put me off even trying Banjo Tooie! One thing I did like though was the Donkey Kong coin-op. I'm pretty sure it was the arcade one (housed in a cabinet as it was), not the NES, and as such it was the most enjoyable version I've played. Not worth keeping the game for though!