K-project

But the retailers won't suffer this. They'll pass this on to the consumer toot sweet. It's a dangerous game really. People's wages are freezing, many are losing their jobs. A £20 price rise might not sound so bad right now, but soon enough it could mean a great deal, and if everyone decides to stop spending money they simply can't afford because prices have risen uncontrollably, well it just makes things worse doesn't it, and the spiral goes down. I just think its a crazy attitude to defend this move. Especially when you factor in how much less Nintendo will be manufacturing the Wii for compared to when it was launched. To me, it has more to do with simple supply and demand, rather than global economics.

Hey, you know, I'm all for them making money. But profiteering? That's another thing entirely isn't it?

Hahahaha! Couldn't have put it better myself.

You know what? I think you're wrong, and Microsoft and Sony will seek to bolster their users with this news instead, by either keeping them the same or even lowering them. The truth is, Nintendo can do this because the console is phenomenally successful. Would they have done this if we were still on the GC? No, because no-one cared about it and weren't buying it anyway. Here's a console that's selling like wildfire. Upping the price can be sneakily justified because of the current media fears about the economy, and Nintendo can get away with it while seeming all altruistic at the same time. A price rise for the Xbox 360 wouldn't look so bad anyway as the console is reasonably priced, but a PS3 price rise would be disastrous for Sony. Nobody will even care that the Wii is now £200, and they'll buy them anyway. Nintendo know that. Supply and demand. We are what, two years into the Wii's lifespan and it still flies off the shelf. You can't even buy Wii Fit anywhere. It's nothing to do with the credit crunch, and everything to do with profiteering while the going's good.

What an absolute joke. Nintendo makes a phenomenal profit on everything they make. They cannot justify the price rise on any grounds. It's profiteering - don't even mention the so-called "credit crunch" and the media driven "state of the economy". What a con. On the plus side, the trade-in/eBay price of the Wii will rise, so every cloud and all that.

Cool! Not bothered about licensed teams so much, especially if there's a decent editor in the game. About £3. Seriously. Sell it on eBay, or just give it to a good friend.

Exactly. I love platformers, and I'm well up for this and Klonoa. More please!

That looks fantastic! Shades of Mario Galaxy, with a pinch of Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg and Kirby. A buy for sure.

Yep, that commentary's much the same. Bit disappointed myself overall. The graphics don't seem to have had any improvement whatsoever. I know it's the Wii and all that, but this looks no better than last years game, and that wasn't that great even for the Wii in the graphics department. The PS2 game looked better, so I was hoping for some real improvements visually. Still, it's PES and it's the game that counts. Hope this turns out well. If not, it's the last game I ever pre-order!

I actually cancelled my pre-order for this, sadly. Saw some video reviews and watched a few clips and thought it looked a bit lacking. Didn't much care for anime boobies as someone in their mid-thirties, and the extra long special move sequences just looked really indulgent and pointless. I didn't have an issue with the design of the characters (it's a beat 'em up after all), but the camera looks seriously broken. Even for £18 I couldn't come up with enough reasons to warrant a purchase. I picked up Guilty Gear XX Accent Core for about £8 instead and I reckon that'll prove a much better choice in the end. Sorry Konami. If it's any consolation I pre-ordered PES2009 and I'll definitely be getting that!

Not bothered about Classic control, but I certainly hope this turns out to be a decent racer for the Wii. It's a serious hole in the Wii catalogue for me. I adore Mario Kart and Excite Truck, but after those there's nothing. I'd much rather see a Burnout title, but if EA can put a bit of effort in we might be in for a surprise treat. Then again, after FIFA 09, best not get one's hopes up eh?

Cripes that looks absolutely fantastic. Cannot wait. It's another pre-order for me along with PES2009. Looking good early on for the Wii this year.

It's all in there, but you need a classic or GC controller for sure. I haven't even attempted it with the remote+nunchuck. I bought a pretty cheap third party Classic controller that is actually a GC controller in disguise, and it's bloody great. There's a lot of depth to Guilty Gear I'm finding. But it isn't harsh to newbies and is tremendous fun.

Amazingly, the new release could be headed for Europe after it's US bow. I've just picked up the first release, and though I have never played the series before, I'm finding it incredibly infectious and searingly addictive. I didn't expect a great deal from it - it was only £7.73 after all - but it's way better than that price would suggest. What has surprised me most is how after all these years it still manages to be original in a field of gameplay long presumed dead. In short, I'm utterly smitten with it. It slaps Soul Calibur about the head imho. If they can release the newer version with enough new content to warrant a purchase and at a decent price, then I have to say I would be very interested. If you're mourning the loss of Tatsunoko VS Capcom, or still holding out hope it'll arrive in the EU, then you could do a lot worse than to fill the time with Guilty Gear Accent Core.

Looks fantastic. I cannot wait. Still playing the last one pretty much every day. This is going to be even better. Pre-order for me for sure. I see there's a classic controller option. Will it be GC pad compatible too? I'll be using the Wii remote setup personally (it's better imho), but it'll be handy if a mate comes over who would rather use my GC pad. Thanks.

For those of you still interested in this it's available to pre-order at Play.com for £17.99. It's got to be worth a punt for that? I think it looks quite fun in a Power Stone kind of way, and despite the reviews I've ordered it myself.

Does anyone know where you could possibly download a high quality video of that lovely PS2 ending? I've been downloading the vids off YouTube, but the quality doesn't do it justice, and I'd like to be able to watch this properly when I clock the game. Cheers all.

It doesn't help that Nintendo still don't have a way of getting the magazines some demos on their covers. I don't know what's responsible for that, but I think it would be good if demo discs were easily available on magazines for the Wii.

Blimey. This is the first time I've even heard of the mag! Is that bad? What a lame excuse though. I do agree that mags still have a lot to offer. Hell, I prefer them over the net really, just don't expect any "scoops". But they have to improve a great deal. Edge is good, as is RetroGamer and GamesTM, but so many mags are a waste of good money, with nothing to offer to anyone over the age of chav. Movie mags still do well, in spite of the net. Why shouldn't games mags?

Absolutely, completely and utterly agree with this. GameCentral is currently going through the same thing Edge went through before I packed that in. It's disappearing up it's own arse. There I said it. I too am absolutely fed up of reading a snooty reply to a letter that, as you say, imposes their insular opinions on the broader gaming spectrum (if you like) generally. If elitism and snobbery exists within gaming, then surely both GameCentral and Edge are the main sources of perpetuating it. I don't understand it either; GameCentral used to be a good read and a good trusted reviews page, but now I find it just winds me up every morning. No thanks, I can do without that, so I might stop bothering with it. I thought, well, is it just because I'm a Wii owner, but the amount of letters they get from disgruntled PS3 and 360 owners would suggest not. I'm really glad you brought up GameCentral, because it has been preying on my mind lately. Thought it was just me!

Yeah you do. The poster has a list of games below Sonic showing the four games that are eligible for the trade in deal. So for anyone here interested, you have to trade in any one of four particular games to get Unleashed for £14.99. Sorry I can't remember the games. I'm sure one of them was Mario and Sonic Olympics.

And I'm like woah! And he's like, so what? So we like, thought about buying this game and so, like, y'know, like didn't, because it's not what we wanted y'know? So he's like, gutted, because like....(ad infinitum) Sheesh. Do people really talk like this?

Maybe so, but I think the Werehog stages look pretty good, and the character itself looks fun to control. I'm not against the thing anyway.

Have to say, I think this looks pretty good on the Wii. Looks to me as though some of the opinions I'm reading could be a bit harsh. I'm kinda glad of that though. Means I should be able to pick this up for a tenner before long! Funny how all the reviews seem to be complaining about the Werehog stages, saying they get in the way of the running stages. I can only imagine that if there were no Werehog stages, they'd be complaining about the running stages! As it is, I reckon by the looks of things this could be one for serious fans of platform games, as both the running and the Werehog stages look good fun to me. We seem to be a dwindling people, but I adore platform games and I would buy this for a good price if I could. Looking forward to hearing more opinions here of this.

Hmmm. The thing about that, and the whole problem I'm having with the discussion, is the needless attempts to pigeon-hole people and gamers into categories. The idea has already cost EA a whole department employed purely to develop "casual" games. To me, there are people who are fairly deeply interested in gaming and play games regularly, and there are other people who only have a fleeting interest. Either one or the other will comprise the audience of any gaming platform at any one time. But there I go now categorising people. I don't know what demographic I'm supposed to fit, but I'm mid thirties and love quality games on the Wii. The execs will just dismiss that I suppose. "He doesn't fit the 'casual' or 'hardcore' profile! Run!" It'd be great if popular platforms had whole catalogues that were entirely free from shit, but while ever there are people out there who think they can judge a game from the pictures on the back of the box, shit games will be prevalent. It's the same for the Wii as it was for the PS2, PS1, MD, etc, etc. Shit games made by chancers are a by product of a popular system sadly, but if we champion the good stuff (and buy it occasionally) we'll get to the end of the Wii lifespan and look back and say, "You know what? That was a bloody good set of games we had on that". I only buy the good stuff, and I'm sure you're the same. I can only hope that the people who make Burnout and GT etc can see that. If not, well I'm sure there'll be other developers who will fill their voids before long.