Fierce_LiNk

Have you tried going to a butcher and comparing prices? I used to buy all of my chicken from Asda, but I've recently switched to a butcher and the portions seem to be bigger and a fair bit cheaper. Plus, you know it's fresher, too.

Does this mean we're going to see lots of In Rodgers We Trust banners? :p

Whoa, Liverpool beat a Top 10 team.

Nintendo had plenty of stuff left over from the development of Galaxy. If they were going to go for more than one flagship for the Wii, it may as well be one of the best games of its generation. It doesn't really work as simple as that. Again, you're putting all of Mario's games under one umbrella. You can't do that, each series that they produce under Mario is completely different to the next and has its own audience. I don't really think you're understanding that simple fact, because you can't just blanket it as 17 in 3 years when those games transcend various genres and are aimed at entirely different people. The Halo series only has one audience, whereas if you hate Mario Kart you still might like Mario Galaxy, or if you dislike that, you might like Mario Sports Mix, or something. Watch the sales drop as soon as they attach a different face that isn't Mario. It's a simple fact, brands sell. Look at Final Fantasy. I don't really see what you're getting at here. Because Mario can appeal to pretty much everyone and because these games he has appeared in have turned into franchises of their own. He's important because people immediately know (I'm talking everyone, not just the fans) that this is a Nintendo game. It's brand recognition. Why doesn't Sony drop the Playstation name? Because of the branding associated with it. You're severely underestimating the importance of this. No, you asked for IPs and I gave you 3 which have appealed to many different audiences worldwide. You won't find 3 more important brands in the last decade. Sony had to go out and create a lot more because they've been behind for the majority of this generation, partly in thanks to those 3 franchises that I mentioned.

Because the majority of those are flagship games. Like I said in the second part of my post, it is on a par with Nintendo doing a flagship Mario every other year, when really it's one per console. Plus, what you're not taking into account is the diversity between each of those Mario games. 4 Halos and 4 Marios are two entirely different things. No, it wouldn't be better because you would be losing the likes of Paper Mario, Mario Kart, Mario and Luigi and so on, which are ENTIRELY different breeds of games compared to Galaxy and Sunshine. That is the part you don't seem to be getting. Each Mario franchise has its own different audience. Mario Kart doesn't really appeal to me, but it appeals to many. Paper Mario appeals to much fewer, but those seem to be the hardcore. WiiSports, WiiFit and the Big Brain series are probably three of the most popular IPs anyone has created in the last decade.

Seriously, are you going there? Since 2001, we have seen: - Halo - Halo 2 - Halo 3 - Halo Wars - Halo 3: ODST - Halo Reach - Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - Halo 4 Majority of those are in the FPS genre. Uncharted has seen 4 games since 2007, too. That's almost a yearly release. If Nintendo were releasing a "main" Mario every year, you can bet there would be people bitching about it. This is almost/pretty much the same as Nintendo releasing a flagship Mario. Super Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi are Mario games, but they're a different brand entirely. The flagship games will always be the likes of Galaxy, Sunshine, 64, World, etc. The beauty of Mario is that he is quite diverse and there are many different varieties to his name.

How old were you at the time? The problem is that as gamers get older, they get more cynical, too. You play more games, therefore less and less stuff "seems new". You get the feeling that you've seen it all before. As for the other part of your bolded section, it's not really the case at all. GameCube didn't have WiiSports/Resort, it didn't have ExciteTruck, no Endless Ocean, no Punchout, no Disaster (I liked it :p), no Sin and Punishment, no Epic Yarn, no PROPER DK platformer, no Return to Dreamland, no Other M (a platforming Metroid). Plus, this isn't counting the Rainfall RPGS, because I can't tell exactly which were created by Nintendo, as that situation was confusing. Simply put, there was more than enough games on the Wii that were not Mario orientated. My GC collection is but one quarter of my Wii lot. It's a complete blanket statement to say that the Wii was purely focused on Mario, when it really, really wasn't. I didn't even bother with Mario Kart this generation.

What weight are you hoping to get down to? I'm gradually feeling a bit better. I'm earmarking tomorrow as my first workout. Cmaaaan.

As great as this game looks, I do hope that it isn't as linear and repetitive as the original.

:p We had this exact same situation in the GameCube's lifetime. "Nintendo are too heavily reliant on Mario." People just have short term memories or were feeling slightly "burned" by the Wii for whatever reason that they care to ignore the issue on the Cube. Personally, in itself, it's not really too terrible having many Mario games as long as they are different enough in gameplay and offer something unique each time. Imo, the Wii got it probably just right. Mario Strikers was an excellent football game with a twist, The Galaxy Games are classics, you had Super Paper Mario which offered something different, too. If the games are unique enough, its not a problem. The issue is starting to get slightly worse with the addition of New Super Mario Bros. Having two of those in short succession doesn't help, not counting the fact that both games look seemingly identical and don't offer anything really new. He is the face of Nintendo, so he is going to used a lot, because he's part of the branding and he does sell. Personally, I'd like to see more new characters from Nintendo, but it's not all that easy to introduce a new character and have them accepted by everyone and expect them to sell in such great numbers.

I've been useless at starting games and then finishing them in the last year or so. I started No More Heroes 2 ages ago but only sat down properly last night and finished it. Next one...Red Steel 2. I've forgotten just how beautiful NMH2 is. The humour is fantastic, too. Sequel on WiiU please.

It's not aggressive at all. I'd be even more pissed if it were my team.

I was watching that game and said, "wouldn't it be amazing if the keeper scored?" So close. Great goal, though.

Good for you, but not everyone does. Include the online and make everyone happy.

Just for the record, I agree with everything you're saying. I'm just giving an insight as to why he's done it. The "finishing in the top 4 is a trophy" remark from Wenger is ridiculous. I'm not sure how good he is as a motivator. He's an excellent talent scout, but I'm not sure if he can get teams fired up on a weekly basis. Also, again from a neutral perspective, you can only win big things if you can keep your big players. He's let too many players leave over the years, so it's no wonder the club is in a constant state of transition. It's coming up to a decade since he last won anything and it'll only keep going with his current mentality.

You're lucky that we share the _Link name, otherwise...goddaaammmn.

You'd expect that the reason he didn't play them was because he'd be resting them for the Bayern Munich match. From a neutral perspective, there's still enough quality there to be beating Blackburn at home. Gervinho has been missing, but there's still Giroud in that team. Defensively, you still had Chesney, Vermaelen and Koscielny, so that's pretty solid. From my view, looking at that line-up, I wouldn't class it as a bad one, I would still have expected Arsenal to go out and win that game. I would have started Podolski ahead of Gervinho (don't understand how he still gets into this team...he'd be dropped at United) and maybe play Walcott. He's the man in form, it doesn't make much sense to drop players when they're hot. It's funny, but Messi and Ronaldo play almost every minute of every game, yet in this league we tend to rotate our teams more often. I often wonder if its to our detriment when that happens.

Exactly. The West isn't like Japan. You will not be able to go outside and meet up with other Monster Hunter players. Having no online play in Japan is fine, but in the West it's effectively sending out the game to die. It makes ZERO sense to not include online play in the 3DS version. Give me one reason why it shouldn't be included. Just because it works in one region does not make it instantly great for another. If 4 doesn't include online play, I'm not going anywhere near it. I trust Capcom enough that they'll have it, because it would be stupid not to.

The team selection wasn't terrible, tbh. Arsenal: Szczesny, Coquelin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Monreal, Diaby, Rosicky, Arteta, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud. Subs: Mannone, Sagna, Podolski, Wilshere, Walcott, Ramsey, Cazorla. That's a strong bench, and there should still be enough in that first team to win it. I didn't see the game, but from what I heard Gervinho didn't play well, again. As for Bayern, they've scored 57 goals in the league and...conceded 7. I wouldn't really fancy playing them, at the moment. Not in their form. Can see them winning, even at the Emirates.

3DS version is the most pointless thing of all time. Chocolate toothpaste is more useful than it. The online is the most important aspect of the game, it's almost empty without it.

Not sure about your definition of the word "hype" right there. Not exactly people hugely anticipating the second coming now, is it? :p

Somebody needs to attach "Haters gonna hate" to this gif.

Still would've been out quicker than this.