Grazza

Here, the problem is corruption and paedophilia - those with power abusing it. Many of the victims are male and most men would absolutely despise the perpetrators. Is that something "men" do, though, or just low class people? Young women have shouted sexual things and me many, many times. Rather than thinking they were being sexist, I just thought they wanted to shout something sexual. Bad manners, yes, and I wouldn't shout at anyone else in the street, but I didn't feel offended. I think this comes back to the Puritanism - being against something because it might give someone a thrill, rather than judging it objectively on what it is. Yes, He-Man, The Hulk etc may well be created by men, and won't give a (sexual) thrill to heterosexual men, but that shouldn't matter.

It's been a pretty poor year for 3DS, in my opinion. Almost everything I played was extremely disappointing, tedious or cynical. Bravely Default was like Fantasy Life in that it seemed like it had something good about it, but became a trudge. Personally, the only good retail 3DS game I've played this year is Etrian Odyssey Untold, and even that now has an unbalanced post-game (it's a remake). Surely Shantae and the Pirate's Curse will be the best 3DS game though?

There's no shame in being bad at NES games, especially Mega Man! The only one I've played is Mega Man 9 (OK, WiiWare rather than NES) and it's the hardest game I've ever played. Whoah, H-o-T. Harsh.

Egalitarian. Feminists say they're in favour of equality, but what they really mean is equality from the viewpoint that women are discriminated against and men aren't. I agree with them on #freethenipple (a true way women are still discriminated against) and attacks on cultural barbarism such as genital mutilation. And of course, against rape and groping. But most of this stuff is not gender specific.

Homelessness is all too easy to understand, and one of the biggest failings of government, in my opinion. The way house prices are, it's hard enough to afford one even if you've got a job. I shudder to think how hard it'd be with no income or savings. We don't have enough accommodation or a big enough range. Why aren't there really small houses that cost £50,000, for instance? Pre-fabs, that sort of thing. If you want to live in a caravan, you won't be allowed unless you're a certain age, and maybe not all year round anyway. There just aren't enough options, in my opinion, and this is something that could be dealt with on a regulation level.

I don't know, but it would have been perfectly acceptable, like the one he actually wore. You simply cannot be in favour of equality and then say it's OK for women to do something, but not men. Regardless of how society is, equality means equality. We don't have it, but we should. topless male = topless female male nipple = female nipple nude male = nude female Etc, etc... This is why I mentioned Puritanism. I'm deeply, deeply suspicious about why feminists campaign against anything to do with glamour or nudity. Do they hate women giving men what they want? Even cartoon women? Images such as on this man's shirt simply cannot be sexist - they are merely depictions of humans. Female, yes, but as I say, gender shouldn't matter. Nowadays Marvel Comics can't draw Spider-Woman without campaigns against it. Computer game designers can't create female characters without complaints of "sexualisation" (as if that's a bad thing) and "objectification". Make no mistake, feminists are attacking this subject as a whole and it's something we really, seriously shouldn't let them get away with. Do we want a world where you can't draw or wear what you like? If we don't stand up to them, that's where we're going.

Many of us do. There's a huge amount of sexism and sexual discrimination against men. Here's a rather appalling article covering Shirtstorm and other recent controversies: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11240270/Julien-Blanc-apologises-Im-tired-of-sexist-men.html How obnoxious. Now for the record I do not defend the other cases she refers to. One of them supposedly encouraged the abuse and mistreatment of women, which is obviously totally and utterly wrong, but to compare that to a man who wore a shirt depicting scantily-clad women is ridiculous at best. At worst it suggests feminists seek the total domination, control and subjugation of men. "Don't do anything without our approval... and if you do, there'd better be tears!"

It's sad, I generally think bullying, sexism, racism etc is due to lack of class. I'm not having a go at working class people here - I mean the underclass. Being brought up with no respect for others. I had a few problems at school and did fight back then because I needed to defend myself. The trouble with school is it's too easy for bullies to think they are above the law and allowed to attack people. The only bully I've encountered as an adult was when I was unemployed at the turn of the century and attended a jobs club at the local vocational college. One of the men on the course was out from prison. He took a dislike to me and kept using derogatory homosexual terms towards me (I'm not even remotely homosexual - not that there's anything wrong with it - but it gives an insight into the mind of a bully/homophobe). As he never attacked me, I held back, as I really would have hurt him. So yeah, bullies are assholes. It's just one of those things you need to learn in life - when not to let people have power over you, and also when to use restraint. (Sorry, no picture as I'm an old fogey who wouldn't know how to take it/put it up!)

What I find obnoxious is the level of control the complainants want over him. You are free to dislike the shirt, but you should not be able to control what he wears. And honestly, it's petty. This man has done nothing wrong. Complaining about the shirt is as small-minded as saying "he missed a bit whilst shaving" or "there was a biscuit crumb on the floor". As for women being put off the sciences because of this shirt, I have a much higher opinion of women than that. It's as ridiculous as a man being intimidated because a woman has a George Clooney calendar or likes watching the Chippendales.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more, @Goafer. This man contributed to mankind's greatest feat of space navigation, and he was reduced to tears by those who have contributed nothing. I was furious. We could have a whole debate about feminism, but let me just say this - I'm an egalitarian. I believe in equal rights and respect for all, but so much of what I see leads me to believe that feminism is largely a Puritanical, anti-sexuality movement.

Quite. Whimsical worked really well, once, with Wind Waker, but only because they were going full-on to make it look like a cartoon. None of the other, lighter Zeldas have the same conviction. Generally I feel they need to take a good, hard look at why Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are so adored, as well as aspects of Twilight Princess. We need to get back to that feel of mysterious lands, weird characters and flickering torchlight.

So, I finished it at 8hrs 37 with all the sidequests done and about 89% of items (I gave up on music pages in the end). My favourite bit was actually the Hall of Champions. I assumed it was going to be a "fight as long as you can" sort of thing, but it was actually something completely different that happened to be a fun, easy diversion. I'm not normally a fan of double-speak ("it's good and bad"), but I really feel that every one of Shovel Knight's strengths is a potential weakness... and vice versa. Technically, I would say it has no faults at all, and could easily see how some consider it a 10/10. Yacht Club Games has achieved their goal to perfection. We've talked about the graphics a lot and I've admitted I am not a fan of the "12-bit" style, but let's be fair. The sprites are huge, detailed and drawn with great artistry. The parallax is amazing and there is no slowdown or flicker. In reality, it's far more than the NES could do. I've also said I don't totally love the music, but Jake Kaufman is an expert at meeting his brief. Just as Shantae is full of Eastern mystery, conjuring up Arabian Nights, and Mighty Switch Force is full-on techno/dubstep, Shovel Knight is full of the bleeps and bloops we all listened to in the '80s. Many of the tunes are catchy, but my personal favourite was the romantic campfire melody. Probably the best thing, though are the controls. It may look like a NES game, but you won't find yourself struggling with them like you might with Super Mario Bros (if you're not used to it). As for the difficulty, there are some moments I found frustrating, but the checkpoints are mostly reasonable. I was never stuck for hours and hours, and none of the bosses go too far. The final boss is a fair challenge, but enjoyable. @Glen\-i hit the nail on the head saying the only real problem is the knockback. It's not a short game, but I stand by what I said about the length being almost entirely due to the difficulty (exactly like all 8-bit games). So those are my general thoughts about Shovel Knight. The graphics have certain limitations... but they're meant to. The music has certain limitations... but it's meant to. The difficulty is high-ish... like it's meant to be, etc, etc. What I admire most about Shovel Knight is that it draws a line and says "Games used to be like this, and it was enough". There's no voice acting, no online play, no gratuitous violence, no DLC. It's everything that drew true gamers to games in the past. Whilst I admit I prefer WayForward's own approach to pixel art and music, the way Shovel Knight is done is still something to cherish. Perhaps surprisingly, considering all these self-imposed limitations, the thing that stays with me the most is the story. An honourable knight, the only one pure and true enough to resist evil, determined to rescue his lover. Maybe I'm taking it too seriously, but I genuinely found it quite touching. Sometimes less is more. Yacht Club Games has proved that, with simplicity and focus, you can produce a game that is far more satisfying than most retail releases. And you know what? I'll shovel to that!

I was the same until I played the GameCube port - at which point it all came back. I think because it re-uses so many assets from Ocarina of Time, it makes it very easy to confuse the two. It's a truly superb game though. Still a benchmark of how to do sidequests well and make the world as a whole feel interesting.

Martha's season was, in part, absolutely incredible! Smith and Jones was very entertaining, as was The Shakespeare Code. Human Nature/Family of Blood was gripping, Blink was very good (although I don't like it as much as others) and Utopia is one of my favourites ever! I do admit though, that Season 3 was the first time I had my doubts about the quality of the programme. My personal low point was Season 6 (2011, Matt Smith's 2nd). I really, really didn't like that at all (or the Christmas special), but then Jenna Coleman joined the cast and I've continued to get more and more impressed ever since.

I do actually agree with @Blade regarding the graphics. Although they are perfectly good, I just don't see the point in going back that far; giving yourself that many limitations - other than nostalgia, of course. When I originally saw Shovel Knight on Kickstarter I was fairly interested in it because it looked like a good platformer, not because it was imitating the NES. And now, when I play it, my feelings are the same - I judge it on how good it is and don't get an extra thrill from it styling itself on a NES game.

I really love the way they've done Hyrule Castle in the Mario Kart 8 DLC: A massive castle with the walled town in front of it. I hope it's fairly similar in this game.

I've beaten all the knights now (as far as I'm aware) and just have what I presume is the final tower. Tinker Knight was my favourite so far - really loved up to my idea of what a good boss is like. Propeller Knight's stage had some tough platforming and the musical pages in Polar Knight's domain were hard to collect (I couldn't get one of them). Definitely a game that Mega Man fans will love.

The way I see it, these remakes are only a good thing. Hopefully, once Nintendo gets its "continuous system" started, the N64 originals will be available on Virtual Console, with exactly the same atmosphere they once had, except cleaned up to 1080p and 60fps. Until then, it's just great to have the 3DS remakes.

I thought it was very good for the most part, but eventually fell flat. Everything was set up well, the Cybermen attacking the plane was iconic and Michelle Gomez was outstanding as Missy. She made the character truly evil (and insane). It was all going well until the Doctor was reunited with the Tardis. With his "powers" back, he was surely going to do something really good, right? And then... He just stood about. Danny stood about talking for a long time and Missy handed him victory on a plate. I understand that this character has a complex relationship with the Doctor, but with such amazing actors present, it's a shame there wasn't more of a battle of wits. Still, it did offer a really interesting moral dilemma - think of all the good you could so with an army of Cybermen. I just think that, overall, it worked more as a concept than a full story.

He's talking about leaving things in standby, therefore wasting power/ruining the planet.

It's been a very interesting thread, with particular thanks to @Dcubed for explaining the difference between input lag and response rate. Although it's made me realise my TV is poor, at least I know what to look out for next time.

Yeah, it's like Mega Man, where every significant level is the domain of a boss.

So... I finally decided upon a version to get and have defeated the first six knights. Structurally, it's like Mega Man, with a lot of the combat and enemies from Zelda II. Needless to say, it's an absolute love letter to them both. I believe this style is known as 12-bit, and for good reason. Although the visuals are reminiscent of the NES, in reality it's more than an 8-bit console could manage. My personal preference is for pixel art games to try and better the 32-bit style - such as the Sega's Saturn and System 32 hardware - but this game is aimed at those nostalgic for the NES, and so in that regard it couldn't be any more perfect. Jake Kaufman's music is nice. Doesn't quite tingle my ears as much as Shantae: RR or Mighty Switch Force, but it's still a class act, and suits the slightly more "aggressive" (but noble!) protagonist. Shovel Knight is quite challenging. So far, though, nothing has taken me too long, and it's the type of challenge that always improves your gameplay skills. The jump is quite floaty and generous, and there are also various potions and sub-weapons that ease your way. I must confess I am not a massive fan of difficult games - instead preferring more exploration - but, again, for the audience they're going for, they seem to have judged it exactly right. There are also a satisfying number of upgrades and collectibles linked to the villages, so it's never just a case of going from A to B. OK, it's no RPG, but it's exactly right for a platformer. Overall then - intrigue, charm and a hint of romance. Shovel Knight is everything it could have been.

After about 2 hours of deciding, I went for the Wii U version, as the image on the GamePad looked better than both the 3DS and my TV. 3DS - Too compromised by the drop in resolution (in my opinion) TV - Unfortunately, comparing these videos confirmed my television has a very poor response time. The sprites were leaving behind little blurs. GamePad - Perfect. Looked "full" rez (even though it's more like medium, technically) and the motion blur is non-existant. @Dcubed - any idea what the response time on the GamePad actually is? I can't see any blur at all. This whole thing has made me appreciated how good the GamePad is. OK, it's not the brightest or sharpest, but the lack of motion blur makes up for it. It's amazing. Time to give my Wii U and GamePad a bit more attention, I think. Get more VC titles like I always intended.

I'm having 2nd thoughts about which version of Shovel Knight to get. Although I'd much rather play it on the 3DS, I just looked it up on the eShop and the screenshots looked low-res, with the sprites too small for the screen. Are they just compressed, or is it because it was designed as hi-res and is not a great fit for the 3DS's screen?