S.C.G

I know, this year I feel like I've really let myself down in terms of games actually played and completed. This year however I'm hoping to significantly Switch it up.

Here we go! 2016 activity log 3DS Play Time 37 titles / 279:16 Monster Hunter Generations 126:56 Nintendo Badge Arcade 41:02 Dragon Quest VII 19:21 Pokémon Yellow Version 15:36 Kirby: Planet Robobot 12:27 Miiverse 11:40 Pokémon Sun 9:38 Unspecified title 8:25 Nintendo eShop 6:56 SEGA 3D Classics Collection 4:35 Swapdoodle 2:47 Notifications 2:15 YouTube 2:13 Friend List 2:01 Monster Hunter Generations Demo 1:37 3D Sonic The Hedgehog 2 1:28 Pokémon Sun and Moon Special Demo Version 1:27 Radiohammer 1:18 Rhythm Paradise Megamix 0:57 Super Mario World 0:51 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 0:50 Sonic Colours 0:44 Internet Browser 0:43 Flipnote Studio 3D 0:39 Fire Emblem Awakening 0:37 System Settings 0:34 Streetpass Mii Plaza 0:30 Activity Log 0:16 Pokémon Alpha Sapphire 0:15 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS 0:14 Other(?) 0:24 Wii U Play Time 21 titles / 104:13 1080° Snowboarding 2:04 Drill Dozer 1:10 FAST Racing NEO 1:37 Futuridium EPD 0:57 Kirby Power Paintbrush 0:51 Mario Kart 8 31:31 Mario Kart 64 1:55 Mii Maker 0:11 Miiverse 11:01 Nintendo eShop 3:29 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: EoS 12:42 Pokkén Tournament 1:33 R-TYPE 3:14 Splatoon 0:24 Star Fox 64 0:27 Star Fox Zero 7:19 Super Smash Bros. 8:39 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD 4:32 Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE 6:57 Wave Race 64 0:28 Wii Fit U 3:12 Verdict: Aside from Monster Hunter Generations which has been the saviour of my Nintendo gaming year and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, I clearly need to play more where possible.

Happy n-ew Year : peace:

R.I.P. Carrie Fisher

Merry Christmas N-E!

... I paid full price for that only weeks ago. Ah well, it is The Last Guardian, still though I'm going to try and buy less games just as they come out in 2017 I think, I've already got loads to play. : peace: But yeah, £25?!? Snap it up!

I would say... 60fps vs 30fps Battery life Voicechat & Online Connectivity 1080 vs 720 Get that framerate locked for smooth gameplay, then worry about the battery life which will dictate how long you can enjoy your games for on the go, having those online options should then naturally follow assuming that we're getting games which will attempt to have a comparable set of features which have been standard for a long time on other machines and only then worry about whether the handheld mode is 1080p or 720p... the latter should really be fine for portable play while the higher resolution is a more natural fit for the big screen. : peace:

For me, most of the Tales of... series has been about the battle system and the surrounding world. The games which have the best characters and stories for me are Symphonia, Vesperia and Phantasia. All the rest, I own but I've never really played.

It is indeed 25% off the sale price, as far as I know, it should stack.

Actually I'm kind of, sort of, a little bit busy... ...but there's always time for a once-weekly Monster Hunter session! See you at 8pm. Yay for dlc!

Oh right, so this is a co-op mode against CPU enemies. This is more like my kind of mode, I can't promise when but I'll try and make an effort to play this one, it looks fantastic.

I'd argue that it was meant to be... You must have JavaScript enabled on your device to view Miiverse posts that have been embedded in a website. View post in Miiverse Anyway, congratulations! I'm about nine hours in and still on the first island...

See, I'm the other way around with Bioshock as I started playing the games when they first came out (bought an HDMI Elite Xbox 360 to upgrade to as it came out on the same day) played the first game, was completely absorbed by it, loved every moment. Bioshock 2 came out which I enjoyed almost as much as the original plus I liked the few things that they changed, the multiplayer was fun as well and I loved that they tried to give it context too (that hub area!) but ultimately the single-player campaign was the best part because it added even more to the engrossing tale told by the series while giving players more of what they... didn't really ask for but got anyway; I love it for that reason because it's the sequel we didn't really ask for but partly assumed would/could happen at some point so it was gratefully received. Then along came Bioshock Infinite... oh my, such a grand scope for a game which essentially takes the best gameplay elements from the previous two titles, cranks it up to eleven in a brand new setting which ties into the series while adding so much more to it, that extra sense of freedom and exploration is glorious as well in addition to the location with some really nice weapons and setpieces... ...yet I never finished it! I wanted to as well, something must have prevented me from doing so at the time, I feel like I didn't have enough time to just sit down quietly for a few hours to dedicate to it which is a sad thing because I must have gotten at least 64% of the way in to it. These days I feel like I can dedicate time to games, even though there's more of them... the timing just needs to be right so when that time comes, hopefully soon I'll be starting the collection in the lofty heights of Columbia with Bioshock Infinite and then continuing my journey into the depths of Rapture once more at a later date. : peace: It's really heartening to see @Fierce_LiNk enjoying this series so much I had a feeling that you'd like these games, I'll erm... attempt to repay you by finally playing The Witcher III and both of it's dlc's in 2017... I know I said this year but alas so I'll try to make ammends there, after I finish Bioshock Infinite but before that I have Mass Effect 3 to finish but even before that I have titles to review but then, hopefully by Q2 2017 I'll be ready with the dlc installed and raring to go. Anyway, enjoy Bioshock Infinite, the game which takes the series to new heights for it is such a great game belonging to a fantastic series by an exceptional developer who are sadly no more as they originally were but are apparently due to make a comeback with a new game at some point with a smaller team. Oh... so they are! I just took a closer look at mine (still sealed) I kind of thought it was one big case... oh well, not a deal-breaker for the amount of content you get.

It's nothing personal, I've just become burnt out on playing Mario Kart 8 every week, I know it's only once a week but I've just had other games to play and review to catch up with. Each time I've raced with you all has been a joy, even if at times I've cursed at being hit by five items in a row, it's hilarious in its own way. :p I think I'm also conscious of the Switch being on the horizon now, especially with that potential Mario Kart 8 Switch release, I also feel that is that happens then it would be cool to have a farewell mini-league to send it off, I might just join randomly next week or the Thursday before Christmas if you're all still playing but I just wanted to let you know that I just decided to take a break again for a bit as I get like this with games sometimes. The N-E community is great though, it's nice to see such continued dedication to the game after all the time as well, plus yourself BowserBasher for hosting and indeed Wii for still playing and supporting N-Europe. : peace:

Well, I will say this... I got the game a day early on the Thursday and I did play a solid three hours on it before then playing other games and what I got to play of it I did enjoy... a lot! Indeed today I watched the above video in full, the over three hours version as it was interesting seeing how the Easy Allies came to that conclusion about the game, I have to say I agree with them as well because the title really is an achievement in itself. Is it bad that I've now watched more Easy Allies videos in the past week than I've played of the game? I'm going to go with yes... at least a little bit, though in fairness I tend to watch them at times when I wouldn't be normally gaming on my PS4 and in fact today I was watching that video while piecing together reviews for the site so it wasn't all just time I could have been devoting to The Last Guardian; or at least that's how I'm going to rationalise it. :p Hmm, perhaps I'll play another three hours tomorrow though, make it a weekly thing? We shall see... I fully intend to play through the game all the way to the end though.

Just Cause 3 has that? I didn't even know... another game I got for cheap around release but haven't played yet, tempted to just sell it now. :p Yeah, stuff like this is really scummy practice from the developers, I'm glad to hear that it isn't just us more experienced gamers who are getting up in arms about these kind of things and longing for how games used to be, back in the day... *cough* but erm yeah... this new-fangled Snowboarding game, perhaps I'll buy it when the price isn't so... steep. :awesome:

Oh right I see, I wasn't aware of these limitations and differences... I really don't keep up with mobile phone technology and Operating Systems at all so I hadn't considered that. Hmm, putting aside the fact that Nintendo say it's not on the cards at the moment for the Switch... if the game didn't require you to be connected to the internet, then it would work surely? I'm still trying to figure out why you need to be persistently connected with it, surely if you get a high-score offline, then go online when you can, bam! score uploaded... that's what a lot of console and handheld games have done for years. It's probably something really obvious I'm missing... but I mean if it was ported to something which isn't a phone, the always connected thing wouldn't be needed for the game to function is what I'm curious about. But then I suppose that just negates the whole point of these portable experiences I suppose, made for phones, to raise brand awareness for the consoles.

Wow, I didn't realise they were using that model for other games as well. Coming soon... Beyond Good and Evil 2! The highly-anticipated, in development for a decade sequel/re-telling to the acclaimed single-player game which defined a generation.* *Only playable when connected to Ubisoft central servers, available 40%-50% of the times, reliability may vary, micro-transactions applicable, buy the season-pass for unlimited access. It could be interesting to see if the game does make its way to the Switch as I don't think Nintendo would stand for those kind of requirements, surely? :wink: Anyway yeah, Steep... maybe it should have just been Free to Play? With optional purchases, that model might have garnered more interest, especially taking into account that always online mechanic... I really can't get past that.

I'm not to fussed about it personally, but then I don't have a phone which will play any modern games, so I know this isn't for me. I do feel bad for you though Hero as you have a phone which is at least on the same platform, it seems like the company want you to upgrade your phone even when you don't need to, I don't know much about the particular brand of phone but I'm sure it would be technically possible to run it on your older model; it's probably just a conscious decision to see how many people will upgrade. It does pose an interesting question though, will we perhaps see some of Nintendo's mobile games make the Switch? Assuming that the machine does have a touch-screen, they could port it... add some extras, polish it, add some retro skins (Super Mario Maker style) and sell it for the same price or less. Even if it did happen, I still probably wouldn't have time on it because of the amount of more fleshed out console games which will be on it but still, the option is there I reckon, just a thought. : peace:

I was potentially, partially interested in playing it at some point. But online required to play? Even single player? Patch in offline support and we'll talk. :wink: Honestly though, nothing will top the 1080° Snowboarding games for me. So I'm happy to wait it out for either a Switch entry or the inevitable GC Virtual Console version. 1080° in 1080P That's the dream! While I can appreciate that Steep is trying to do something different, basing it on real mountain ranges, focusing on realism, being able to go anywhere you can see... ...I prefer to see what developers can do by making their own courses from scratch, for that reason I have a lot of love for Snowboarding games which lean less towards realism and more towards fun; SSX is another series I've enjoyed on and off for that reason. This wasn't meant to be a thread de-railer or me being down on a game I've never played but judging by the lack of posts in the other thread, I thought it best to at least post my initial reaction to Steep rather than nothing. I'm not a monster though, if Steep was free on Plus further down the line then I'd give it a try... probably. :p

n-europe Presents VC Weekly #392 The Legend of the Mystical Ninja A classic Konami game... ...remember those? Check inside for the verdict. Enjoy! : peace:

For me the best thing to come out of all this is the ToyBox demo being updated on Steam... ...because it finally works for me now! I spent around a good hour playing the Yooka-Laylee ToyBox demo to full completion including all Feathers, Ghost Writer and Pagie plus the couple of secrets which are in there. Yeah, it may be nearly six months on from when it came out but it was really nice to experience it for myself, I really like the weight of the characters along with the moveset which even here in its most basic form feels just right as there were no ill-timed jumps because it all worked well; quite simply it's glorious! Now onto the recent revelations regarding its eventual release... are they really revelations though? It seems that we were almost half-expecting it but from the viewpoint of people having backed the game with the promise of a Wii U version - even though there aren't really such things as promises with Kickstarter ultimately as it relies on funding and faith - I can see why some might be a little bit dismayed. Personally I'm not, though as a backer who would have chosen the Wii U version it does make me slightly uneasy about how it will all be shipped... I'm pretty committed to the Kickstarter as I went for the limited 64-Bit edition, plus added the physical PC release and the download code for the Wii U version which apparently will be upgradable to a physical release nearer the time but I'm guessing that will now be the option of a physical Switch release. Hopefully it will just mean that I'll get the 64-bit edition on release along with the physical PC release so at least one way or another I'll be able to play it at launch then it will just be a case of PlayTonic sending out the Switch game at a later date assuming it won't be coming out the same time as the other versions... yeah, I'm going to go with that! Either way I still could not be more hyped for this game right now. Also I've just realised, by the time the game comes out I will have pledged cash for it two years before its release date.

I would go with waiting until the evening personally if it was me. I work from around midday to 9:30PM on Friday so it wouldn't be good for me to get less sleep and be dead on my feet (even more than usual) :p for that kind of shift. I'm still looking forward to learning new information though, or in the words of Brandon Jones on Easy Allies... Oh I, just cannnn't wait, for the Swiiiittttttccch!

So 4am on Friday 13th of January 2017... Quality timing there but I can only assume that it's because it's a worldwide presentation and if it's hosted Live in Japan then that would make it 2PM over there? (At a guess, I haven't bothered to check) Either way, I'll catch it a few hours later thanks.

Ah right, no worries... I thought something must be up as neither of you were online there for a while but yeah at least we made some progress. I hope all of your electrical equipment is OK over there @Dcubed. I'm going to be playing for a bit again probably as I promised Dave (Plague Dog) that I'd help him through the low levels but I'm sure we'll get to play some more hunts soon.