Grazza

I think he said with a mobile phone (how that's simpler than using the remote, I don't know).

Maybe I'm getting old, but technology is becoming too complicated for me. When did we become too lazy to turn things on physically, change channels with buttons, or look at a TV guide (and since when did we want to do so many things at once)? I quite like some television programmes, but what does Xbox have to do with it? It won't change what programmes are available to me, will it? Sports... yawn. But, it wasn't actually that bad a show (the pacing was good, at least) and I was surprised at how much I was impressed with Call of Duty: Ghosts. I won't buy it, I'm just saying. Overall, I just get the feeling that the wider games industry has become something that isn't for me. Bring back Sega vs. Nintendo!

Nah, it's not butch enough. I'm hoping to use one from Project X Zone. Can't wait for that game.

Even gaining access to it is one of the most baffling bits of the game.

What a brilliant animation! It just goes to show, you can get so much character and charm out of just a few pixels.

Thought the Swedish Smorgasbord thing was really good. Worth it just for: "In all the big cities The men don't have titties"

I watched the semi-finals and all I'm going to say is... Greece to win!

Personally, I think the PS4 and Xbox 3 are going to sell just fine. Talking to gamers I know, everyone's waiting for them. As long as they're not too far north of £300, they'll sell. The problem with the Wii U is that Nintendo never asked themselves why people would want one. None of the main aspects - power, controller, games, price - matches up with the others to make a winning strategy. For example, if it had been £300 with a GameCube pad, it could have been extremely close to what the PS4 will offer. I'm talking about £300's worth of processing power, minus the cost of the GameCube pad (Nintendo's best-ever controller, in my opinion). You may say that wouldn't have worked, but gamers would have to have taken notice of that. It still wouldn't have sold with just New Super Mario Bros and various ports, but of course that's another area where the strategy was wrong - software. Nintendo misunderstood the type of software (and processing power) they needed to sell an expensive piece of hardware. They also misunderstood how excited and eager anyone would be for NSMB and Nintendo Land. That sort of thing can sell, but only if the price is right. The Wii was a trend. Wii Sports was a trend. There is not an audience waiting to enjoy any "innovation" Nintendo can come up with. There is an audience, however, eager to see how they can develop their better franchises, especially if the overall package is correct (ie. hardware and controller). I still think Wii U can be a good console just with Nintendo's own games, but darn, they've got an uphill struggle.

I'm going to side with the inexperienced gamers on this! Super Metroid is good, but obscure. In terms of action, I think it's the easiest one (I've completed all apart from Hunters), but the controls are a total mystery until you're told, especially some of the more complicated moves. I had trouble with Wall Jumping, Speed Boost and the move where you can boost vertically (whatever it's called). I think it's great that newcomers have got a resource like Miiverse where they can (hopefully) get the explanations they need. Then, bring on Metroid V with loads of awesome sprite-scaling and animation!

Yeah, no more bickering please chaps...

It sounds to me like they're striking the right balance between the unforgiving original and the very relaxed sequel. I understand that the time limit gave it character, but it was so harsh. Now, you can just do each day more efficiently, rather than having to restart the whole game.

Oh well, hopefully this will prove that a console can still succeed without EA, and that Nintendo can stay in the console business just fine.

It's of note, I think, that Sega has been interested in spherical game worlds at least since Sonic 3 (ie. that game's Bonus Stage). I wonder if you'll be able to traverse the entire game world in this without turning round?

I'm still getting it (mainly to go towards the free game promotion), but... if only they'd toned down some of the graphical detail and got it running at 60fps.

Moved the post about Super Metroid on the assumption that it was a mistake. If it really is on the 3DS though... fantastic!

LOL, I might have to buy Summer Scramble to support the decision, even though I don't like/agree with DLC! But yeah, I don't know why they censored the Tharja conversation. This little gem made me laugh out loud last night:

Have you tried Gaius with Maribelle? I haven't married them yet, but I thought their backstory was amazing.

Yeah, I didn't think Miyamoto would call it "cel-shading", or say it had better cel-shading when what we've so far isn't cel-shaded.

If Miyamoto said that, it's interesting, because (to me) what we've seen so far doesn't look cel-shaded. Looks fantastic though.

The 3DS is certainly one of my favourite systems. To me, a great system is not just about the games - it's about how the inherent strengths of the machine enable great games. The N64 hosted a handful of masterpieces - I'm thinking Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask in particular - but to me it was not the most enjoyable console to own. Even though the concept of the hardware led directly to games featuring large, explorable worlds (a good thing), I still think there were a lot of drawbacks - mainly the blurry graphics. I just couldn't get away from that, personally. Thankfully, OOT and MM proved masterpieces could be crafted with the utmost care and a heavy dose of genius, but I think those games were the exception rather than the rule. My favourite home console is without doubt the GameCube. It had a perfect controller (Nintendo's best to date) and the excellent graphics/processing power of the machine meant that most games you put in had a hgh chance of being decent. Add to that the true, brilliant classics like Wind Waker, Metroid Prime and (in my opinion) Super Mario Sunshine, and it's a hard system to beat. Which brings me to the 3DS. I do think it could be my favourite system overall. Ever since I loaded up Pilotwings Resort, I was wowed at the high-polygon environments compared to the DS (nice-textured polygons too). Thanks to the decent PPI of the original model, Nintendo games had also never looked so sharp. Like the GameCube, it feels like the hardware is built so that everything has a chance of being good. Then there are the eShop games, the internet features and all the fun I had StreetPassing. This is all part of the overall system, and something which older consoles couldn't offer. I spend ages just fiddling about with the photos and in-built software. Whilst I understood its critics' reasoning that they weren't going to buy the 3DS for ports and remakes, I enjoyed those ports and remakes very much, personally. Ocarina of Time looks a lot nicer than the N64 version and is just a darn good title for the handheld to have. And maybe it's just me, but I downloaded Lylat Wars from the Wii Virtual Console and never got into it... then bought the 3DS remake and loved it. But as I say, I do understand that the 3DS was never going to reach full popularity until it had more brand new games. Step forward Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros 2 (much more fun than it sounds) and Fire Emblem: Awakening, which I consider the best game on the handheld. The only question for me is whether the 3DS will host games truly as good as Wind Waker, Metroid Fusion etc. At the moment, I don't see it. I think Nintendo is going in a slightly different direction for now, but there's no doubt about it - the potential is there.

Yeah, it's a very good game. There is not quite as much control over Arthur as in Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (no upward or downward fire, if I recall correctly), but there are loads of weapons/armour upgrades to make up for it. I haven't completed it properly, because in the Ghouls 'n' Ghosts series you have to go through all the levels twice. The last time I played it was on Capcom Classics Collection (Xbox) and it was actually a little bit easier than I remembered on SNES! Still very difficult, admittedly, but a lot of the challenge is about memorising things. If this has Restore Points, that should help a great deal.

Congratulations bob. Glad it all went well.

You know that bit I was stuck on? Lyon. Well, I beat him. Then got stuck on the next bit.

Newcomer mode is a must, in my opinion, if you're not used to the series. No need to lose units.

Must have been some sort of mistake, unfortunately. The prices have gone back up now.