S.C.G

You heard it here first, N-E is so hot right now!

Worth watching just for that Android Wilson quote. But seriously, how long can these companies really push for Social Networking in games? It's something that's clearly not needed or at least not in the way they are intending it to be. If they spent more time pumping out decent, engrossing single-player games rather than wasting time on trying to manipulate their audience it would be better for them long-term. I know... the "AAA" games industry doesn't work like that any more for the most part, it's a damn shame though because I find myself caring about certain games less and less. There are only a handful of decent, top-tier developers that I really have enough respect for that I'll actually buy their games on release now.

Gunpowder on the Teeth: Arcade is releasing on the Switch eShop on July 25th priced at £4.49 It looks like a monochromatic Metal Slug type game to me, hopefully it'll live up to that hyperbolic statement. Check the article for the info and a trailer.

Forza Horizon 4 (One of the best) Gears of War 4 (It's Gears) Halo 5: Guardians (It's Halo) Ori and the Blind Forest (Charming and challenging platformer) Panzer Dragoon Orta (Backwards Compatible) Phantom Dust (Digital Xbox Original Re-Release, Free) Phantasy Star Online 2 (Early 2020) Rare Replay (30 games from Rare's back-catalogue, a must have) ReCore (deserves more love than it gets, not amazing but good) Sunset Overdrive (another underrated launch title)

It is tempting but I just can't do it, to me Game Pass is Microsofts first step towards becoming totally digital so I can't support it. If I did that, then played the campaign then I almost certainly wouldn't have any need to pick up the retail version cheap at a later date. I know a lot of other people will go for the Game Pass around when Gears 5 comes out and I wouldn't try to fault anyone for doing so either because it is a fantastic deal. I'm in the minority over this one and it's fine but it will certainly be interesting to see the long-term impact Game Pass has over a big game like Gears 5. I think the price of the retail version will plummet within weeks and will be sub £15 by the end of the year. In the meantime though, I could do a lot worse than actually play Gears 4 to completion I suppose, I may do that soon.

I'll probably pick this up cheap at a later date, Gears just doesn't have the same draw for me that it used to. I most get it for the single player campaign so... it's not really worth full price to me and now that Microsoft have gone all out with Game Pass, I think that's going to devalue things further. I mean, with this offer and assuming a lot of people have gone for it, renewed their subscriptions and are subbed up to Game Pass for years then is there any point to anyone buying physical games on the platform any more? It just made me think is all... I don't have that many boxed games for the platform, I still have Gears 4 which I need to complete whereas Gears used to be games I would play day one. There's part of me which is still looking forward to Gears 5 but it's not really top of the list, I don't know if that will change nearer release day but I have to really ask the question at this point... is the single player campaign really going to feel like it's worth £40?

Madlittlepixel with a video on Selling Retro Games which I found interesting as that's what I'm doing currently, obviously not everything but the stuff I know I won't play. Yes, I know... I've still got to make that thread on Game Collecting, becoming addicted etc but I thought this was an interesting point as I start thinking about it. Is anyone else selling stuff from their collections at the moment? Or are you already really, really selective about what you purchase?

There's an interesting interview over on Nintendo Everything... https://nintendoeverything.com/super-monkey-ball-banana-blitz-hd-interview-remake/ It's got Toshihiro Nagoshi (supervisory role) and Masao Shirosaki (producer and director) answering loads of questions about it. From the depth that they go into, it does sound like they are actively trying to improve the game across the board, so maybe there's hope? I'd like to think so, even if I'm wrong come on though... with these two on board, I refuse to believe that this remake will be complete trash, it's got to be good. Although I must admit, I'm kind of longing for any decent(ish) Super Monkey Ball game that I'm not too familiar with at this point. Also, the whole thing about "why not the original Super Monkey Ball 1&2?" this leads me to believe that we may get a range of HD Remastered GC games at some point.

Oh snap! That's just reminded me that I actually voted for my games early this time (for a change) so I'm not on "the list" on this occasion. However, I shouldn't get too excited, I've just remembered that I've still got a Top Ten Wii Banner template to finish. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the results for this one, as if the previous entries are anything to go by, it could be quite an interesting top ten indeed.

And with Samus vanquishing Mega Man in the ring, there couldn't be a more perfect way to end the evening. (I wouldn't have had it any other way, and I was Mega Man!) Good games all round everyone!

A New Challenger Appears!

Fallout 76, trying to sell you "convenience" at a premium? Surely not.

I ended up unsealing the rest of my general release physical Switch games, around nine titles later I ended up with about four pounds in points plus another pound I had already. I spent £4.01 on Alex Kidd in Miracle World as it's almost the last Sega Ages title I need, just Gain Ground to go so I'll wait until that's on sale next and then that's all of them to date.

Just the standard edition for me, trying to save where I can.

I did wonder a bit when I saw that SolSeraph was being sold as "the spiritual successor to ActRaiser" and is published by Sega. This might be good... oh... nope! Oh well, back to the original then. It's a shame though as a spirital successor to ActRaiser would have been nice.

Sega Lord X looks at some awesome "New" Saturn and Dreamcast games, plus some aftermarket published games.

Pretty sickening stuff, it's currently being discussed in this thread as well but thought it best to post the video in here too.

Alright, after seeing in a different light after the story was featured in the latest Jim Stirling video, it does seem to be the case that in the instances used in the article, there was no way that the parents could have known about the microtransactions and the excessive spending until it was too late. Damnit though, how does it really get to such an unchecked level that companies are able to do this? The example of the hidden object game was pretty bad, I mean... it's a hidden object game, I'm amazed that the company managed to put so many microtransactions into such a game in the first place, I can remember there being loads of hidden object games on the DS which you can pick up for pretty cheap but at least all the content was there. So it looks like the BBC article was a case of them actually doing some reasonably good journalism (which makes a bloody change) because the fact that we're talking about vulnerable adults here just makes it even worse, they probably didn't even have any comprehension of what they were doing at the time, as far as they were concerned, they were just playing a game. *sigh* This has gotten to a really sickening point, at least it's being highlighted but why do I get the feeling that there isn't much which is going to change? At least it's a warning to others I suppose who then might read it and might be able to prevent it happening in their own households, so it's something.

I don't think my memory of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is serving me well, I can't have played it for very long back in the day. I do remember Super Monkey Ball Adventure though... I can't forget that one. I always thought it was Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll that was the one to avoid.

Up on the front page. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD published by Sega available on 29th October for £34.99 While it's good to have Super Monkey Ball back on a Nintendo platform again, let's hope the changes are significant. Hopefully the changes to the controls will make it more playable, though I can't see them changing the stages much. The minigames are now down to just ten so let's hope they kept the best ones.

Here is the final article for our Top Ten DS Games. Thanks to @RedShell for the Delightfully Slick banner/side graphics. and @Glen-i plus @Dcubed once again for keeping the spirit train rolling, there are some passionate and enoyable write-ups with some good humour in there. Also thanks to the N-E community for contributing, there's clearly a lot of love for certain DS games which deserve their place but that I still have yet to play, I may change that. (my contribution was making the game banners in the article and getting it uploaded) I kept it simple for the DS banner, I think it worked out OK so I just left it at that. (also... I did add in one very small paragraph for a game which didn't have a single quote but deserved one, it was for the good of the article) Enjoy! And here's to the next one.

There's definitely blame on both sides, I can understand that parents might not have a clue when it comes to this sort of stuff (though sometimes I think they really shoudn't be giving their kids smartphones but that's another issue) but the game companies on the other hand know exactly what they are doing, they're even bargaining on these things happening in the first place I'd bet, but because these parental features are there on the devices, it often gives certain companies who are perpetuating the situation a get out clause or an opportunity to pass the buck. Also, while it's good to see that the mainstream media appear to be reporting on this sort of thing, where the BBC is concerned, I have to ask what agenda are they trying to push ultimately, they might look like they're trying to get the stories of people who have been affected by these situations across and while the "gateway to gambling" point is a valid one, it just makes me wonder is all... I think that if there is further regulation then it's just going to mean that the government wants more of the revenue or something along those lines, I don't think anyone will stop all of these microtransactions, loot boxes or surprise mechanics and asking the government to step in never really ends well where anything is concerned. But I do think that there is a simple answer... don't buy the games in the first place, yes I'm aware that this is easy for me to say, I don't have a family of my own so I can't imagine what it must be like to have a kid asking you to buy or install the latest Fifa, CoD or whatever "free to play" game is popular but if there is no access to these games in the first place then that should cut off access to the microtransactions as well and if no one buys the games, maybe the developers and publishers will see this and consider not persuing microtransactions in those games any more. Or more likely, they'll probably just shut down the studio, cut their "losses" and move onto devouring the next "AAA" money making scheme but there isn't an easy answer to this at this point.

Great minds Grazza, great minds. But yes, essentially I think it's more or less agiven that Nintendo will keep the Switch as their business model for the forseeable future. I certainly hope so, after building up a substantial physical Switch collection.

Aren't you missing one key possibility here? What's to say that the true Switch successor wouldn't be fully compatible with all original Switch games? I don't think you'll have to miss out on anything as I think Nintendo is probably set on the path of the Switch now, it likely wouldn't make sense for them to try anything too different. Yes I know, this is Nintendo we're talking about but I don't think we'll see anything more than interations on the Switch hardware for many years to come now, including a successor.

I think so, I seem to remember it being good on the Wii, certainly better than Step and Roll in any case. It's probably the best Super Monkey Ball game before the series lost its way. So not as good as Super Monkey Ball 1&2 or DX but better than Step & Roll and... anything made after that point.