daftada

The lack of orchestrated music was one of my biggest disappointments with SS, along with the day/night cycle disappearing. The few orchestrated tunes were welcome additions but like you say Ronnie, they weren't particularly memorable like, for instance, mario galaxy's inspirational tracks. The only one I remember is the skylift tune, partly because I heard it so often but also because for some reason the latter, quieter half reminded me of John William's superman score. I liked the game more as it went on, with imo some of the best-designed (but not necessarily most memorable) dungeons in the series, and some amazing bosses.

FFXIII didn't do anything for me so I wasn't expecting much from this demo, but it's actually quite fun. The battle system seems a bit manic but I thought the same about Xenoblade when I first played it and it soon became second nature so I'm surre I'll get used to this. I'm also loving the monster-raising. One of the reasons I loved Disgaea, La Pucelle and ToS DotNW was because I could raise and battle with my own army of monsters. Can you have more than one monster fighting alongside you in the final game?

If they can marry the epic scale of the worlds and bosses of God of War, with tight dungeon design (i thought SS's dungeons were one of its best features personally), an involving and fun central gameplay mechanic, MM-standard character development, and an engaging story then I'll be happy! Whatever Nintendo come up with I'm sure an equal number of fans will love & hate it - the fan base is so diverse and passionate about what the series needs to keep/change that Nintendo will never, ever satisfy everyone.

Mine arrived from play yesterday - i've got about an hour into it and enjoying so far. I also have a spare copy on its way from zavvi too if anyone wants it, £36 inc postage.

Ordered from Play.com, cheers for the heads up! Can't wait to play this

Hope Zavvi will get some stock, they've had my order since November...

I've added evryone listed in the 3DS Friend Code thread so I can send/recieve loads more random pics, polls and messages from you all, please do the same and help feed my addiction to this awesome app! My FC is 2793-0578-5004!

But there's one MASSIVE difference: Nintendo, unlike 99% of game devs aren't in the delicate position of having one game's performance making or breaking them. They have enough big-sellers to fund the development of smaller, quirky titles like these and if they turn a profit or birth a franchise, all the better. If this is a pet-project from Sakamoto, and one that helps refresh his lust for game development then I don't see the problem.

I second that, I wanted to add more characters to the 'Draw the Characters you want in the next Smash Bros' thread, and not just Lloyd Irving! Still, this is incredibly good fun! Enjoying everyone's pics, keep them coming!!

What are the edit options like? Are they the same as the Wii 2012?

Spotted Xenoblade for £19.99 in my local Game and Gamestation, at that price no-one has an excuse not to buy this amazing game!

So has anyone played this yet?

Hands up all those that think Valak mountain would make an awesome bonus course in the next 1080?

I haven't yet but it's definitely on my radar! I've got £20 gift card for GAME so as soon as I complete Inazuma Eleven and Solatorobo I'll probably pick it up. Cheers for the impressions too - keep the screenshots coming!

As much as I'd love to have some awesome tat that somehow qualifies my love of the Zelda series, just having a seat right at the front of the performance is enough for me. The seats the VIPs are getting ARE USUALLY £100 at top-class performances at the Apollo, so it's not really THAT surprising that we don't get hundreds of pounds worth of goodies on top of that is it? And a free copy of Skyward Sword? Seriously? Who would ever honestly expect Nintendo to do something like that?

Disaster: Day of Crisis HD. With HD graphics this would be utterly amazing.

Can the 3DS do DLC? I'd love to see the weekly challenges make a return (and extra tracks via download, but that's probably wishful thinking!)

Classic! It looks like they're trying something a little different to normal tower defense games, when you collide with an enemy on the battlefield you switch to a separate battle screen. I haven't seen any footage of how it controls yet, maybe gyro for steering left and right? Oh, and the more I watch the new video the more I'm convinced this is from the DS Zelda team, that music is straight from Spirit Tracks and the presentation just screams Zelda!

A thought popped into my head while playing this last night: How awesome would it be to have some Xenoblade love in the next Smash Bros? If you could have JUST ONE character from Xenoblade in the next Smash Bros who would you choose and what moveset would you give them? Also, which location would you choose to act as a stage? Spoiler tags at the ready!

Mario 64 with HD graphics and 3D tv support...now there's a tasty prospect!

Hell no! Xenoblade is eating up most of my Wii play time at the mo but I'm still playing through Kirby Epic Yarn, Sonic Colors, Mario RPG and Super Metroid on VC, a second playthrough of Twilight Princess, and occasional sessions of Wii SPorts, Smash Bros and Pro Evo 2010.

I eventually updated my iPhone (after about 7 attempts), and now I've lost all my apps off the phone. I synced to my laptop before updating and they're still sitting on there, but I can't transfer them back to my phone...Any suggestions??? (please tell me I can do it - I can't bear the thought of losing my 100-floor Tiny Tower....)

I have one spare VIP ticket if anyone still wants to go?

If they revisited some of their 'fringe' franchises and developed true sequels and not, as someone else mentioned, mere tech demos then I'd be very happy with no Zelda or Mario. Actually, thinking about it, I'd prefer some of them get a chance to shine in the early months of the Wii U life. I hope they give F-Zero another chance, along with a brand new Starfox and, dare I say it, another Warioware. Oh and Pikmin 3 is surely a guaranteed launch title.

It's pretty much guaranteed that Nintendo won't have a genuine sequel to the Mario or Zelda series ready in time to launch with the Wii U. Development time on each new entry in both series is typically around 3-4 years so even if Nintendo had finalised dev kits ready a year ago we're still looking at both coming out in the second (or even third) year of the console. Not to mention Miyamoto and Aonuma have been busy finishing Skyward Sword so wouldn't have been able to spend any decent amount of time putting some firm ideas together. After the 3DS launch nintendo came under fire from gamers and the press for not having a Mario or Zelda game available at launch, and while I could go on for ages about the reasons behind this I'll just say that Nintendo must surely be eager to have some kind of presence from its two biggest (core) franchises when Wii U hits the shops. That leaves me wondering what they could and should do for the next console. Personally I don't mind Nintendo taking their time with both franchises as I would rather they create something amazing and polished (Mario Galaxy, Mario 64, Zelda OoT), than cutting corners to meet a deadline (Wind Waker, Sunshine - I love both btw but they were obviously rushed out). So the only other option Nintendo have is to bring out some kind of stop-gap, like a HD re-release or a spin off. As a necessary compromise, bringing out a Galaxy HD double pack or a redux of Four Swords (come on that pad is just MADE for a FSA sequel!) could satiate gamers' appetites but would undoubtedly piss off others who choose the 'nintendo are just being lazy' argument (despite the obvious huge time frames involved in bringing full sequels for both franchises...). I can think of a few possible releases they could go with: Mario Galaxy 3 - I'd be happy with another bundle of ideas they disn't get to fit in the last two. SMG 2 felt like Miyamoto and co had plugged their brains directly into dev kits and flushed out all the crazy ideas they'd had sitting in their collective noggins for the last decade. I'd be up for more of the same New Mario Bros Wii 2 - Ok if they go with Mii support, as the tech demo suggests, I wouldn't be too unhappy with that. But in keeping with the multiplayer/shared experience theme might I suggest this would be the perfect opportnity to give us a level editor so we can have our own LBP style community? Four Swords Adventures 2 - As I said above, the Wii U controller is just perfect for Four Swords, and it would be an excellent way to kick off Wii U's online. Wind Waker HD - As beautiful as WW is, I can't go back to the cube version after playing through it on my pc in 1080p. This is a game that DESERVES to be shown in full HD with all of its minute details, and vibrant worlds and characters brought to life on a HDTV. It also deserves to be finished properly and have its two missing dungeons reinstated. Personally, I'd love to see any one of these launched with Wii U, but what do you think about having Mario & Zelda games at launch? Are you even bothered about having anything Mario or Zelda related? Do you think Nintendo should bend time and space to get proper sequels to both out in time? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and disussions!