S.C.G

Day 3 - Local Multiplayer Goldene... *taken* Perfect Dar... *taken* ... TimeSplitters 2 It has to be TimeSplitters 2 because nothing else comes close to taking the immense amount of enjoyment obtained from both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Indeed, the team at Free Radical took some of the best elements from those games, but then improved things significantly by offering such a unique and varied character roster, as because the main game is centered around time travel, this opens up a myriad of selectable characters ranging from a Spy, Gingerbread Man, Robot, Monkey... Robot Monkey and many more possibilities. Not only that, the selection of modes on offer was nothing short of impressive, going far beyond the standard Deathmatch options, adding in plenty of new twists on old favourites, entirely new modes and fully customisable rule sets in addition to a plethora of different weapons which were fun to use. Loads of different arenas to choose from and if you didn't like them that much, or preferred the maps of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark, you could attempt to recreate them with the map editor, which worked well, so long as you play-tested it a lot and were prepared for a few crashes. I know the PS2 version has online, and the Xbox version is probably technically superior but it was the GameCube version which my brothers and I played for many hours in local multiplayer. There really hasn't been another FPS which has topped it since either, at least not in the same way as recreating that classic feeling which is present in all of the main FPS' titles which were made by mostly the same team or variations of over the years. Let's hope that reboot/remake/new game from THQ Nordic comes to fruition, as TimeSplitters definitely deserves to come back, at least one last time.

Thanks for the games everyone, Min Min for the win win!

Out of interest, when did you send the game and how long did the person who had bought it wait to inform you that it was apparently lost? If it was a week or two, it probably did go missing, presumably they had already waited the alotted amount of days? Plenty of items have gone missing recently I'd wager, but a lot more have just got delayed, so if it was just a few days, there's always the chance it could have still turned up. It's hard to know without tracking though, and even then, things can go wrong even with tracking, so it's not a completely safe system and even if something does go missing when tracked, there's a who process you need to go through with whoever you posted it with, to even get a chance of a refund. As a general rule though, I'd go with... £5 - £10 or so, if it can go Large Letter, stick a stamp on it, £20 +, probably best to track it, £40, definitely track it, £50 - £100+ fully insured postage.

I've had something similar happen, sold a sealed game, put it in the post via Large Letter, it got there but... somehow the game got damaged in transit, as in... there was a hole which went through the seal of the game and into the plastic of the case, never had that happen before. The person ordered it because they wanted to keep it as a sealed game, so I just let them have a full refund and keep the game. Now if I send a game just in the post and it's in new condition, I'd tend to wrap it in thin card AND a bubble wrap envelope just in case, or if it's over a certain amount, just wrap it well and let it go as a small parcel, I've never really had anything go missing before or get damaged, that was the first and hopefully the last time. I have lost money on eBay before as well, but again, just the once and looking back, it was one of those deals which seemed too good to be true, lesson learned there. If it's a cheap game though, for £5 - £10 I'd probably still send that in the post, as the difference in price can be as much as double, but yeah, it is a bit annoying if it goes wrong.

Go on then, I'll be default. I'd best get the dlc bought and downloaded though. I don't think my brother is buying the dlc (he's only recently got into SSBU, so he's got plenty of content already) but I'm sure he'd probably like to join us again.

Day 2 - Opening Section of a Game. Metroid Prime If you've played it, then you'll know why, the above video seems to outline everything about it pretty well, but if you've not played it, it's something which should be experienced. I can still remember playing the opening section on a GameCube set up in a retail store, which led to me purchasing the game straight after. The rest is history, as I've loved the Metroid series ever since.

Day 1 - Earliest Video Game Memory. Burnin' Rubber Price: N/A (Pack-in title) Developer: Ocean Released: 1990 System: Amstrad 6128+ It was Christmas 1990, that was when I had my first real experience of a videogame on our brand new Amstrad 6128+ computer. The machine itself had Basic loaded onto a cartridge, in addition to having a disc drive which was how you would play and program most games. Though there was another piece of built-in software on that EEPROM cartridge, a lesser-known racing games by the name of Burnin' Rubber, developed by Ocean Software, who were a pretty big company back then. (incidentally, Ocean were bought out by Infogrames Entertainment SA in 1998, who then went on to become Atari SA in 2009, before having to file for bankruptcy in 2013) The best way to describe this title, is that it's a bit like Outrun but with less scenery, crossed with Top Gear as you are taking part in a race and you just see how far you can get. There is only one piece of music in the entire game, the title screen theme which is actually pretty memorable, but once you get into the main game, it's all engines revving through the gears, tyres screeching and the all too familiar sound of your car hitting a barrier, crashing and flipping multiple times. You'll likely only get a little way in on your first try before the time runs out, but the more you play it, the further on you'll get and you'll notice the palette change slightly as you get through more laps of the course. There are also tunnel sections to drive through, which do break up the gameplay a bit but in practice, it just means that you have to be even more careful not to crash into the sides, or get battered by the rival racers. Get ready, for the race of your life... or at least a rather charming racing game, with some nice presentation for its time. I'm probably making it sound more exciting than it actually is, you can see what the game is like from the image above, in motion it holds a steady enough framerate but for its time, it really was there just to showcase what the Amstrad 6128+ could do, as it was a very capable machine. These days, if you can find a way to play it on a modern PC, then it's worth a go, or even if you happen to own either an Amstrad PC which can play it, or the GX4000 which will play just the cartridge, as there are ways to hook these machines up with a modern scart cable; but even then, don't go expecting much more than a nice crisp image of what is quite a basic racing game. Personally, I can only remember good things about it, this is a game which my brothers and I would play a fair amount, never really getting that far into the game until weeks or months later, inbetween playing other games from the disc which were programmed on the machine from lines of code printed in books and magazines, in addition to some other officially licensed software. Burnin' Rubber was always there though, on the machine and it really made for a fantastic first impression, in addition to being the first proper videogame I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Verdict: Burnin' Rubber is a brilliant example of an early racing game, which really took advantage of the power the Amstrad 6128+ offered at the time.

Remembering... Perfect Dark Today marks the twentieth anniversary of Perfect Dark being released on the Nintendo 64 in Europe, on June 30th, 2000 Rare released what is one of its most ambitious, original and most fondly remembered titles in the history of the company. It's a game which I can recall looking forward to, purchasing the game on release and it's still a game which is well worth playing today. Check inside for N-Europe's celebratory article of a truly great N64 game and a title with a lasting legacy. OK, technically yesterday... but I started writing this the day before and I definitely started uploading the article on the day in the afternoon, so it still counts. Thanks again to @RedShell for supplying the perfect graphics and to @Jonnas for the much appreciated proofread. (both of which were done at short notice, so I'm extra grateful that this all came together) I'm not too sure what kind of feature it ended up being in the end, but hopefully it will prove to be an enjoyable read and if not then... I want to play some Perfect Dark now...

I messaged Adam a couple of weeks ago, around the time of his birthday, though I haven't had a reply yet as I don't think he has been on at all since the end of April. @Julius was asking after him as well, as we exchanged PM's and I explained that I haven't heard anything, I really do hope he's OK though. If you're reading this Adam, you can see that we're worried about you, even though I know that you have been away from the forum for a while before and if you're going through stuff, maybe you just didn't want to be on the forum for whatever reason, which is fine, we respect that and what with how this year is going generally, we definitely understand. Now watch @Hero-of-Time come back tomorrow, from playing a marathon session of every game in his possession, with a huge updated in the 2020 Gaming Diary thread saying 'I've finished them ALL!' Or at least that's what I'd like to think... Wishing you all the best Hero, whatever you're up to and if you ever need us, we're here.

I think that's similar to the point I was at in the game originally on the Wii when I stopped playing it for a decade. You're probably at around the halfway point, or just past it... Yep, @Glen-i confirmed!

Thanks for the games @Glen-i @RedShell @BowserBasher and @L.J.G. (Yes, I'm mentioning you, even though you're not an active forum member) Those were some great matches I thought, I was surprised seeing my brother play better than I ever have with Dragon Quest's Hero. Whatever happened at the end of Red's Bayonetta stage was... unprecedented and amusing. Next week should be interesting.

Thanks, I've let him know. He should be joining in a couple of matches, hopefully.

We might have a new challenger approaching this evening. (assuming that's cool?) My brother has been talking about us playing Smash online for a while now, so I mentioned that we're usually playing Smash from 9PM. If he needs the password, is is still the same as Monster Hunter? He might not have all characters unlocked yet, but I made sure that he has the first set of DLC characters when I finally set him up with his Switch last year.

Ha, that reminds me of a certain boss battle at the end of Metroid: Other M... except I guess that one at least made a bit more sense, or was more plausible chronologically but it was still one of those "what the heck?!" moments, I thought it made for an interesting boss battle though.

I'm still very much interested in getting this, to me, it looks like the game which I wanted Sekiro to be, except this has the potential to be better. After watching that short video clip a few times over, while reading the interview with the developer on the article, the gameplay mechanics seem very promising. Everything about this game, from the setting, general theme, visuals and sound design just seems like it resonates with me, and I have enjoyed Sucker Punch games a lot. Ghost of Tsushima might well be a day one purchase.

Pokémon Presents 24.06.2020 Roundup Here's the N-Europe Roundup of Pokémon Presents 24.06.2020 Pokémon Unite. Full press release and video embed in the article.

*sigh* I had zero expectations for this and somehow I'm still disappointed. Oh well, it exists, it's not for me, it's good for those who are interested in it and we still have New Pokémon Snap to look forward to.

Mr. Sakurai presents a fighter from ARMS Roundup And here's the N-Europe roundup article for the latest character reveal. Full press release, video embed of the presentation and an excuse to use that lovely piece of promotional artwork. I thought it was a fantastic presentation, Sakurai did really well with the presentation and Min Min is an excellent addition. I'm planning on buying that second fighters pass for certain, ready for next week.

I think a lot of it (for me) is just down to which games I enjoy playing the most, while I enjoyed the original The Last of Us a lot at the time, I'm not sure the sequel would be quite so enjoyable to me now. I'm not saying that it won't be a fun game to play, I'm sure it will be mechanically solid and that the environments will be amazingly detailed. I just don't think the story or the seemingly excessive amount of violence are elements which I'm that eager to experience. It's not like I'm boycotting the game for myself either, or not wanting to play it right now, I'm just going to wait it out a bit perhaps and pick it up when it's a bit cheaper maybe. Then again, I could change my mind and decide that, sod it... I really need to play this right now afterall, but I'm just not feeling it at the moment.

Three and a half years later... (since this game was announced) a lot has changed, I might play this someday but I'm nowhere near as enthused for this as I was. I can see that it still has good points from what people are saying, it sounds like the world-building is still solid and I'm sure the soundtrack must be spectacular. But if the story doesn't stack up to the original and if a lot of the violence is just there for the sake of it, then I don't think this is a game I'd enjoy that much any more. I really do hope that anyone who has bought the game already though, is enjoying it, as I'm sure there must still be plenty of detail in it to appreciate. I'm definitely interested to hear more of everyone's thoughts on it.

Going back and editing/improving some of my old articles is on the list of things to do, it might take some time though. I might have to edit that one though, as that is quite a mistake on the name of the developer... I don't know why I thought there was an extra "o" in the name.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate spirits event titled 'Throw Up Them Horns' is now live The latest spirit event for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is live, titled 'Throw Up Them Horns' the event focuses on characters which have horns. This event will run until 22nd June, 2020, giving you a bit of time to add any number of these horned heroes or heathens to your spirits collection. (after which time they will appear in regular rotation) I'm sure there's some kind of obvious joke I could make about this spirit event... but eh, what's the point?

I may have mentioned Mole Mania to subvert expectations but, if there ever was to be a Game Boy mini, then I would certainly want that game included as well. I'm definitely a fan of the game... The review is from way before we had any official proofreading, so there are probably mistakes in there, hopefully made up for by including plenty of passion for the game.

It does look good but, I couldn't even watch all of that barely five minute trailer once I learned that the entire game is all purely cockpit view. Ah well, there will always be the original Rogue Squadron games, I really do think that those are enough for me, but it's cool that this new game exists.

Thanks for the games @Glen-i @RedShell & @BowserBasher We had some fantastic battles there, some really good random matchups with the characters as well, I feel more practiced with the Fire Emblem cast now. For some reason, when it's down to Glen and I at the end, we usually end up getting some perfectly picked characters, not as perfect as Ryu & Ken on Suzaku Castle Stage mind, but Toon Link vs Ganondorf on Paper Mario stage and double Banjo & Kazooie on the New Super Mario Bros. stage were certainly highlights. I totally botched that Meta Knight v Pacman stage... I did the classic, not really paying attention at the character select screen and thought I was Meta Knight. It's good to have you back with us Glen, hopefully every Thursday from now on, if that's the case, then you can count me in for more Smash.