sumo73

...'almost certainly', the truth is nothing is 100% any more. As I said before the point is 'when' will the SNP hold another referendum. The SNP supports a core view that an independent Scotland is in the best view for the country and for it's future. According to their 2016 manifesto - "In the next parliament, we will try to get the Scottish people to agree that being an independent country is the best option for our country. We will listen to the people who voted No in 2014 and we hope to change their minds". Regardless of the outcome of the EU vote, the SNP will continue to push for their core belief, don't think otherwise.

The question is when? When will it happen? If the UK votes to leave the European Union then Scotland will pull another referendum within the next few years. If the UK votes to stay in the European Union then Scotland will pull another referendum only a bit later. Regardless of what happens on the 23rd June, another Scottish referendum is on its way.

I knew about the Easter Uprising already but enjoyed the video, thanks. There were some points I could have discussed here (about the video) but it's St. Patrick's Day and I want to celebrate it so Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!! This video is not directly related but is worth watching if you have the time- And here is a short Irish film which you might like to watch-

With Virgin Media (50 Mbps) broadband only. Did a speed test and got 54 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. Got a letter back in the autumn telling me about a speed increase and yet another price hike but the speed has remained the same. I'm happy enough with the speed anyway especially as before broadband, and only a few years ago my internet speed was very limited and terrible. If Virgin increase their prices again (this year) I might look elsewhere however.

It sounds like you had to deal with a difficult customer, you have learnt from the experience and most importantly you still have your job. Of course you need to be professional but staff shouldn't be subjected to abuse. On a different point separate to this, I feel at times that if things are not sorted out 'some' staff will start to think that all customers are worthless complainers and stupid and that's a bad hill to travel down. If you are interested there are a few YT videos out there about dealing with difficult customers which might help.

Video games in general cost more and more to develop than they did in the past and companies need you to go out and buy the latest version and move away from the older versions so they can get a decent return on their investment. It makes little sense for a developer (or with a publisher breathing down their neck) to make a game that is really future proof. The single player campaign is moving towards becoming the training level (not all games) and the real game for some is online where developers can spend less time on making good A.I and get you to go out and buy extra DLC levels in order to get the most out of a game or being able to get 100% on all trophies/achievements. As far as the availability of WiiWare titles goes then I can see them being there for sometime (they are just titles on a server online rather than physical titles in a warehouse) especially as you don't need a Wii to play them on (ie Wii U) just as you can still download DSi titles on the 3DS. Whereas you can buy old Wii games second hand at a cheaper price, the price of WiiWare and other download titles generally keep their price and as long as Nintendo can make money on it, they will keep them available. The only thing I saw a while back was when Nintendo removed some old Hudson soft titles but they are back again now. Video games seem to be more temporary than they used to be and less future proof, the lack of offline multiplayer, lack of A.I bots, smaller single player campaign, DLC which at times cost almost the same as the game, bigger reliance on online servers which may or not be free and can be terminated within xx days notice it's not great news. Don't get me wrong there are some great games out there but I don't like what some publishers are doing now with video games. When the PS3 and Xbox 360 servers go just wait for the complaints. It will be just like 2014 all over again.

I just bought 'Scarface' on DVD and 'Scarface : The world is yours' for the Wii. Ordered them and both arrived today.

In Japan there's a TV programme called Game Center CX where someone called Shinya Arino has to complete retro video games in a short time. In this episode he is joined by Iwata. This video is in Japanese but it has English subtitles.

Yesterday was never gonna be a great day for me as it was the anniversary of my dad's death so with that in mind and hearing about Iwata's death was not great. It's strange how we all feel some connection with someone who we never met but yet we knew in some way. It's interesting looking back on what Iwata really did at Nintendo, something which I'm only really starting to find out but I could always tell he loved his job and put a lot of effort into it. Iwata's legacy of course will continue. Good to see the N-Europe community responding well here and of course the amazing live stream of 24 hours of Kirby. If you haven't been there please do and give if you can.

Shocked to hear about this news. My thoughts go towards his family and friends. R.I.P Iwata Satoru

Thanks for telling me as I didn't know. That channel gets according to BARB in June 2015 got 0.24% of the market viewing share in the UK. It's not a channel that everyone can get in the UK but I'm sure Nintendo did their market research. (source - http://www.barb.co.uk/whats-new/monthly-viewing-summary)

I watched the GT Time video, read the fortune article (http://fortune.com/2015/06/23/shigeru-miyamoto-wii-u/) and I agree with you. The blame for the current mess with the Wii U is Nintendo's fault. They make stuff and then completely flop at telling people what the system can do and the biggest mess is they are really bad at advertising/marketing. Maybe I'm a bit old fashioned but they need to focus on TV and press advertising. I really can't remember the last time I saw a Nintendo TV advert. Just focusing on getting the Nintendo faithful to buy the system and talk about it is really not enough. Nintendo can bang on about NX but they need the Wii U (and 3DS) to carry on for at least another year or so. Tell/show people what the system can do, drop the Wii U console price and stop going on about NX until this time next year at least otherwise the Wii U is Nintendo's Dreamcast. I'm not expecting much from Nintendo if they just carry on as they are and to be honest I'm just waiting for an obituary video about the console from Adam Koralik in about a years time.

The tenth anniversary of its release in Europe will be on 15th July this year.

AlphaOmegaSin explains the two versions at the start of this video- https://www.youtube.com/embed/duXXw5H4uYo

I came to start playing on Nintendo systems back in 2003 having played previous for many years on PC, 8 and 16 bit computer systems so I don't have that rose tinted view of Nintendo that some have. During the sixth gen I got a GameCube and then bought a PS2, during the seventh gen I first bought a Wii and then bought a PS3. I will do the same this gen. I remember watching a presentation from Nintendo a few years back with the coin sound from Mario and them saying something about nostalgia but that meant nothing to me. The sound of my tape recorder loading a ZX Spectrum game and sounding like its having a fit does however. A few years ago I bought myself an old Gameboy and played Super Mario Land which was a lot of fun so I get this feeling now. Nintendo still make good games but couldn't land in water if they fell out of a boat sometimes. I don't have a Wii U but have already bought a few games for it and it will be the next system that I intend to buy. They have however failed to really get 3rd parties involved which is hurting the system. 3DS is still doing ok however. I don't think there is anything wrong with playing games on another systems but what I do have a problem with is Nintendo failing to deal with the Wii U situation right now. Their views seems to be 'we've learnt from our mistakes and will get things right with the NX'. Personally, I think they need to give the Wii U one final big push rather than giving up and hoping that their next system will sort everything out. Hope solves everything. From what I can see from NX I'm not impressed with it at all. A company which still makes good games but can't shift their systems well reminds of an old ad from my gaming past 'To be this good takes AGES', and look what happened to them.

Great answer! The only thing I can add to that is the beta version of P.N.03 had Vanessa shooting with a gun plus some cover mechanics in it. Even Shinji Mikami said "There are a lot of things in Vanquish that I would have loved to do in P.N.03 but couldn't due to time or technical constraints".

Ever played Viewtiful Joe DS? (nearest to VJ3 I think) It's not a bad game but you can tell that with a bit more time it could have been better. Capcom wanted a quicker return on their investment so the game was rushed in places. Anyway, consider 'Vanquish' as the spiritual successor to P.N.03.

The infamous Capcom Five, I remember them well. There used to be some video footage of the event from Capcom telling everyone about these games with the GameCube logo in the background but I can't find it at the moment. I've got and played all the those games on the cube (not Dead Phoenix of course!) plus still own and played RE4 and Viewtiful Joe on the PS2 for the extras. Capcom + exclusive (timed?) + poor sales + underrated + poor communication = Mess The legacy of what happened is interesting too, Team Viewtiful went on to become Clover Studios who then either reverted back to Capcom or went on to form Platinum Games. Platinum Games went on to produce what I call the 'Platinum Four' in a similar vein to the Capcom Five (Bayonetta, Madworld, Vanquish and The Wonderful 101) only done better. Games like No More Heroes, Killer is dead, The Evil Within can also trace their roots back too. Nintendo's relationship with Capcom was damaged during the sixth generation and when the Wii came out a few so called exclusive games eventually came out on other systems too. Revelations came on the 3DS and then everywhere else but Revelations 2 won't appear on any Nintendo machine. The Capcom Five was an ambitious project started by Capcom and it would be easy to blame the failings of it solely on the company. However you would be mistaken if you thought that these five games would have saved the GameCube or that Nintendo were blameless in any of what happened back then. I just wonder if history is repeating with Capcom or did they learn from their past actions? Dead Rising 3 was supposed to be an exclusive which later on appeared on the PC and now with Street Fighter V being a PS4/PC exclusive does it make any sense? Not releasing SFV on other platforms doesn't make sense but then again I'm sure Capcom will release a Super/Arcade/Ultimate edition in the future as a multi-plat. Personally, I think the company is happy with its DLC practices, sequels, downloadable only options, poor Wii U support and 'timed' exclusive deals. I'm sure someone there is looking at either the Viewtiful Joe main series or Killer 7 or any of it's back catalogue and thinking about HDing it at some point for the fans (...shareholders)

I've not been watching a lot of British telly recently but did watch this today (I recorded it a few days ago) and it was ok. Not that original but I'd like to see how this develops. On a side note it's good to see something half decent come out of Channel 4 especially with all the rubbish they have churning out recently.

I think it's more useful for practising what you have learnt rather than using video games as a main study aid. If you're interested there's someone on YouTube under the name 'NihongoGamer' that you might want to check out.

Self learning Japanese at the moment because I can't afford to have any paid lessons right now. Currently, playing the first cube version of Animal Crossing in Japanese as it helps with my reading skills. Self learning most things requires time, motivation and practice. (...persistence helps too!)

Have you been referred to Moorfields yet?

This is good result but I hope that long afterwards things like hate crime against people who are different in whatever way decreases because this is still a very real problem. Hate crimes against gay and lesbians have increased in Northern Ireland year on year since 2006 and in the Republic of Ireland there are no figures about this because they don't collect this data on hate crime so no one knows the figures. The vote results are a move forward for Ireland but let's remember other places around the world where marriage equality or even being accepted as gay is a far, far distant dream.

If the UK wins then it will have to host the thing next year. I don't think it can with this governments plan to cut £12 billion from welfare but let's hope the UK doesn't come last place. (i.e. Jemini) (can't link it for some reason) - Electro Velvet - Still in Love With You - Potato Waffles Mashup

and a desoldering pump.