Grazza

Apparently it's on the ITV website too.

Yes, but as far as I recall, they don't actually replenish anything. Restore Points are fantastic to make when you're "on the up".

Anyone going to watch the two debates between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage? The first is scheduled for tonight, the coverage of which being on 6-9pm on Sky News. Apparently the second is on next Wednesday on BBC2. Nigel Farage is always good to listen to, and it'll be interesting to see what arguments either can come up with for/against the EU.

Thanks, I'll remember that. Reminds me of the time I was walking home and a charming lady said to me: "Excuse me, will you go in that shop and buy me some beer? I'm banned because my other half beat up the owner." All I could think to do was say: "Sorry, I'm underage," and run off up the hill. Woman (calling after me): "You ain't underage, you liar!"

Yeah, I've completed this on the 3DS. Not a bad game, and not a great one, but perfectly playable on Virtual Console. My tip is to create an actual Restore Point (not just an automatic save state) every time you're on top of a Save Point and have full health and missiles. It's quite a strange game as there are no real bosses (apart from the main one), just the Alpha/Omega/whatever Metroids. And as obscure/forgotten as it is, it actually sets up one of the most popular story points in the series. My main problem was the lack of a map. People say it's small enough not to need a map, but I still wanted one.

The difference between VR and other gimmicks is that people have always wanted it, rather than a company trying to use it as a differentiating factor and just hoping people like it. VR was the dream of gamers in the Sega/Nintendo-dominated '90s, the Nintendo ON made people more hopeful/excited than I've ever seen about hardware, and now we're pushing the frontiers again with the Oculus Rift and Morpheus. I'm not saying they'll actually be good, or that the technology is there yet, but VR is something that has always fundamentally excited people across all "sides".

Absolutely stunning, although the thing that gives it away is that it plays DVDs!

Yeah, I was in tears at that last night. I think she's also the one who says "Ooh, lovely!"

I didn't know whether to keep my copy sealed, in case it becomes valuable, or to play it. In the end I succumbed to temptation and had a blast. Three hours in the Dressing Room later - money well spent! @RedShell has described the game perfectly. Basically, it's a traditional brawler/beat 'em up with actual depth to the play area. However, let's be honest, this is not going to be held up there with greats like Double Dragon or Final Fight! Frame rate is poor, enemy design is terrible (in my opinion). It just doesn't have those great moments like in DD or FF when you have to fight a tougher (but non-boss) enemy that breaks through the wall and tries to clobber you. The actual gameplay is not bad, but I'm pretty sure it will become repetitive. Fighting in the Yang style, the gameplay is about juggling combos and watching out for the green circle that lets you keep enemies in the air - fun, but I can see this getting on my mind in the same way puzzle games tend to (I had to give up playing Tetris for this reason). The Yin style, on the other hand, makes you ridiculously powerful and you can just bash through the enemies. At least this early on, it seems to strip the game of its strategy. But what I really like about it is that it's just so Japanese. The story scenes actually remind me of the Phoenix Wright series, funnily enough. Now personally, I love the true Japanese feel. We're so used to Hollywood's version of storytelling, it's very refreshing to see something in another style. Yes, I do find some of it baffling; and no, I don't understand the appeal of all the conventions, but that's all part of the charm. After all, I don't understand everything Western either. For all the criticism this game has received for pandering to the male audience, it's actually quite girly! There are stories about teenage romance, for example, and if someone in real life catches you changing the girls' fashion accessories, you might want to pretend you were just looking at the boobs. All in all, I don't think this is going to be a great game, but it's a piece of Japanese software that has aspects of greatness. It's funny, cheeky, has some great music here and there (I like the track 'Girl Talk')... I basically enjoy it for the story and tone. And if none of that appeals to you, you can always go in the Dressing Room and, er, move the character models up and down.

Mine are probably... Online-only I suppose this relates to games not having single player campaigns, but when I see a game like Titanfall that doesn't have an offline mode I just think "forget it". Whilst I understand the appeal of multiplayer, it's important to me that I can relax with my games at any time, regardless of whether there's an internet connection. Prudishness As games get more and more violent, we're seeing ridiculous amounts of prudishness at the merest hint of sexuality (in certain types of game), like how we couldn't see the proper Bravo Bikini in Bravely Default. Ridiculous. No one plays a whole game for erotic purposes; I just think they should be free to include all the themes they want. RPGs Becoming Crap OK, maybe that's not the most poetic way to put it, and there are exceptions - the Etrian Odyssey series just keeps getting better and better, but that's the only one. The two things that bother me most are: Real-time combat replacing turn-based - as in Xenoblade Chronicles etc. Ever since Final Fantasy XII, most RPGs have featured ridiculous 'target lines' emitting from every character, and they just bash away at the enemy doing whatever moves you've programmed them to. I wouldn't mind, but I still haven't figured out if it matters where you stand! I like action games (they're logical in the way they use 3D space and time) and I like turn-based RPGs, but real-time combat seems an uncomfortable middle ground to me. Incorrect scale - this might seem a strange one, but the best thing an RPG can do is actually put you in the game world. Trouble is, I haven't found one that could do this perfectly since Dragon Quest VIII. In that game, the overworld is to exactly the same scale as the towns, which cannot be said even for the much-acclaimed Ni no Kuni. You can go in all the buildings and you know that each door will lead somewhere that makes sense. Compare that to the false scale of something like Bravely Default and you'll see the drop in immersion. Even when you look at correct-scale games like (modern) Final Fantasy or Xenoblade, the towns are just shells - only there to be dotted with NPCs and 'Quests'. Oh, one more... 2.5D Replacing 2D It's great that 2D gameplay is back, but such games using polygons just don't have the charm of those with sprites. 3D is great, but only for 3D games. Sprite games could just get better and better, and yet they're mostly kept to NES level.

I do think prices are a big deal. The Wii U has actually got a good line-up now, but it would cost a fortune to buy all the good games. A Player's Choice range would be welcome, as £20 is a good price for something you want, but are not desperate for.

Wii and Wii U. And SNES.

Out of interest, what controller would you be using? I have it on the Wii, so use the GameCube pad, which is not ideal. I would definitely re-buy it if it appeared on 3DS. So, taking your concerns one by one... Looks? It still looks great. The sprites are actually larger and more impressive than the other 2D games. After all, the SNES is still higher-res than the GBA. Age? Well, there are a few things that aren't as slick as future entries made them. Like how Diagonal Up and Diagonal Down are actually separate buttons. Or how you have to select secondary items from a menu. Or how there's a run button instead of you automatically going faster. It's even a bit odd how you can combine beams, in my opinion, rather than the newest one being able to do everything previous ones could. Gameplay and feel? The truth is I can't remember it that well now. Do Save Rooms reload missiles? I don't think they do, so that's one aspect you might miss from Fusion (which had Reload Rooms next to the Save Rooms). I also remember having an awful lot of trouble with Wall Jump. Basically, Rez, it's a great game and I don't think there's any reason not to buy it. I'm not trying to say it's not a classic, I'm just trying to be honest with you that there are a few aspects you might find rough around the edges compared to the GBA titles (like I did). Not enough that should stop anyone from buying it (on VC, right? It's definitely cheap enough), but I'm not going to tow the line and pretend it's this perfect classic just because, to be honest, some people get a bit defensive about it.

Very much agree. There are a great many hidden rooms, tunnels and passageways in Fusion - the individual sectors are all linked up, even if it seems they're not. If you want to explore, you can. If you need guidance, it's there for you.

Yeah, nice, enjoyable game. Not as good as Fusion/Zero Mission, but I didn't expect that. All in all, I think I felt more "at home" playing this than any other Wii game. If you play it, beware of the glitch. There is a save room you mustn't go back to:

Not bad, no, but you might not find it as amazing as some. It's still a very solid entry in the series and up there with Fusion and Zero Mission as the three best, really.

Yes!! The best! Well, this or Zero Mission - I've never been able to decide. Fusion probably has the more fluid game structure and amazing in-game storytelling, but I prefer the colours and tone of Zero Mission. Between them, they're definitely the two best GBA games though. It's absolutely crazy that Nintendo seems not to see this. And that Spider boss was where I first got stuck too! It's not frustrating like the Spider Guardian in Metroid Prime 2 (that really is frustrating - at least in the Cube original), but it's a real "learning curve" moment. When you learn how to dodge it and fire the missiles back, it's one of the most satisfying moments in 2D gaming. Nintendo, bring this amazing series back!

I do agree with @King_V in principle, actually. If something's worth doing, it's worth doing every generation. I think the only reason there's a 'but' with Pikmin is because the Wii itself was so little a technical leap from the GameCube, so it couldn't offer an obvious improvement for so many series - F-Zero, WaveRace, Pikmin... (although as you say, online would have been significant for those who like it). Now Zelda is something I want to see as much of as possible, personally, so it all comes down to preference I suppose. Generally, I think it's best to lay a foundation for each series per generation (Ocarina of Time, Mario Galaxy, Phantom Hourglass) and then utilise that for a relatively quick sequel when there's the demand for it (Majora's Mask, Mario Galaxy 2, Spirit Tracks).

I agree, he's an amazing head of Nintendo's European branch, with a great sense of humour and he's helped bring some really niche titles over here. As long as the streaming lets us see it, Shibata's section is always the best bit of Nintendo Direct!

To be honest, I think it was just easy for them to make Pikmin 2 so soon after the first as they could use the same engine and it was for exactly the same console. Plus, there was something specific that they needed to address (the original's time limit/game structure). Although the first game has its fans, Pikmin 2 is really "This is how we should have done it". I can understand them skipping the Wii, as after Pikmin 2, the next thing the series needed was the jump to HD (arguably). All this talk of Pikmin is reminding me of a conversation I had with a Halo fan when I was playing (and enjoying) Pikmin 2: Halo fan: "What are you playing at the moment?" Me: "Pikmin 2." Halo fan: "What's that?" Me: "Well, you have control of all these little creatures. The yellow ones can't go through water, so you'd send the blue ones across, for example, and they'd build a bridge which would allow the yellow ones to cross." Halo fan: (baffled) "How is that fun?"

That'd odd, the concept art looked hand-drawn, but this video looks standard 2.5D (polygon).

I like it. Regarding price, I think the point is that people already perceive the PS4 to be acceptable value. If Sony had made the PS4 barely more powerful than the PS3 and they were forcing everyone to pay for the VR tech (which they might not want), it would be a flop, but they're not. It's now Sony's job to make this VR tech exciting enough in its own right for people to pay the asking amount. Whether they can achieve that or not, we'll see, but they've got the principle right.

Anyone watching Musketeers? It's absolutely brilliant - best thing I've seen in years. Lighting and staging are sublime. Sunday's episode (with Vinnie Jones) was so exciting my beard honestly grew several day's worth overnight!

Wii Sports was a revolution. And I enjoyed it as much as the royals enjoyed the French Revolution.

LMAO! Brilliant.