Dcubed

EU update this week: 3DS VC: Sonic Labyrinth (Game Gear) eShop: VVVVVV DSiWare: Curling Super Championship Wii VC: Wonder Boy in Monster Land (VCA), Monster World IV (MD) That's a fucking awesome update. 3 VC games in one week AND VVVVVV!?! Granted, Sonic Labyrinth is a pile of turd, but that's still one bloody amazing update (I'm getting both Monster World games and VVVVVV ) Bloody Nicalis actually came through. I never thought I'd see the day...

It's really hard to pull off well though. It's hard enough to get into a good enough position to use your mega strike and if you get anything worse than at least a green on the speed meter, you're not scoring anything (in which case you'll still be lucky to score more than one goal) The stars have to really align to get 6x goals at the fastest possible speed, but the payoff that usually nets you at least 5 goals is so good!

Hey, random update! Just noticed one other minor other change from this update that I don't think has been reported anywhere else. Ocarina of Time 3D no longer blocks the 3DS from using Streetpass/Spotpass like it did before! (it was seemingly an experiment done with OoT3d and SF643D to disable wireless stuff while playing to improve battery life - they thankfully ditched the idea) Strangely enough, it still prevents you from appearing online though (it'll only connect to the internet once you check your friends list or open the web browser - just as before), but at least Streetpass/Spotpass works with OoT3D (and presumably SF643D) now

Why not? I'd love to be able to play my PS360 games in HD!

While the game was in development, a big focus was placed on a gameplay mechanic that involved destroying light sources and a contrast between light and dark. When David Doak and various others left the company to found Free Radical (who made Timesplitters), that part of the gameplay was abandoned (though while they kept the breakable lights in the game and they do still have an effect, it's no longer THE central game mechanic). The name "Perfect Dark" was chosen to reflect this game mechanic (as well as it being the "perfect" sequel to Goldeneye) Up until a few months before its Japanese release, it was actually originally going to be called Red and Black, in order to tie in with another N64 game that was coming out at around the same time (Sin & Punishment) and to honour the original game concept. This name was abandoned however in favour of the English name. This is also why the Japanese ads featured red and black imagery, as you can see below... They talk a bit about this in the Iwata Asks interview for Sin & Punishment 2 (since the original S&P itself had a name change near release!), but there are various interviews with PD staff out there with more info. Nance own the rights to Xenosaga, not Nintendo. I think Namco also own BK as well, but I'm not completely certain.

With Banjo Kazooie they fucked up the note collection system (making it the same as Banjo Tooie - resulting in a game breaking glitch involving Bottles Bonus Fun and ruining the point of both Rusty Bucket Bay and Click Clock Wood), bollocked up the camera controls (getting rid of the preset angle movement and allowing free horizontal camera controls makes the camera much more difficult to control, and the 1st person look camera is inexplicably and awkwardly mapped to the 2nd stick!) and broke the cutscenes (it looks a mess now that nothing matches the music timing!) - also the new HUD was terrible (those Jinjo 360 faces... the stuff of nightmares!) Banjo Tooie wasn't as bad, but there were two crippling flaws with the port. Firstly, they utterly ruined the FPS section controls by making the cursor snap back to the default position when you let go of the stick (OH GOD WHY!!?!?!?), when in the original it would just stay where you last had it - this makes the final boss battle an utter fucking nightmare as you're constantly fighting with the controls to get the cursor to move onto Grunty. Secondly, they disabled saving when you use the cheats. Now I can understand disabling achievements when you use them, but for the love of god WHY THE HELL DID YOU DISABLE SAVING ALTOGETHER!?! It makes the cheats utterly useless now! Otherwise it was a good port, just ruined by these two unfortunate design decisions. Perfect Dark XBLA is a real oddity. Now obviously, the slowdown being fixed is the most important thing but there were a ton of changes that I really wish they didn't make. For the controls, of course nothing is going to really replicate the N64 experience on the 360 controller, but why the hell couldn't we have just one control scheme that allowed the weapon menu to be accessed by holding A and choosing with the left stick like in the N64 one? (Hell, why not make it customisable?) The visual upgrade is a mixed bag for me. Some models were quite well done (Johanna and Carrington spring to mind instantly) but then you've got Elvis who was fucked up to high heaven. If you're gonna do this kind of enhanced port, why not give me an option to choose the original N64 graphics? (ALA Halo Anniversary) What really urks me about the port though is the game balance. They showed no respect to the original game at all and started fucking around with the weapon balance (Laptop gun was nerfed, N-Bombs Grenades were rendered useless, Combat Knifes no longer always kill with one hit, explosions are smaller and don't produce as much fog now etc), with no option to just play the damn original game. Same goes for beloved glitches like the motion blur respawns (I know a lot of people hated them and it wasn't supposed to happen, but it made the game more fun for me) and the poison knife dead body glitch. Adding the GE Classic weapons into multiplayer was a nice touch but the port as a whole just wasn't treated with any kind of love, care or respect for the original game. I just wanted to play the original PD without any slowdown, not some modernised and "re-balanced" version.

Same thing happened to Mario Golf. They criticized the N64 original for not having enough Mario elements and then criticized the GCN one for having too many. You just can't please them. Hell, most reviewers didn't even mention that you could turn off the power shots in Mario Power Tennis!

Didn't they say it was up to 8 weeks?

Why bother with a HD collection port? They're gonna be releasing GCN games, emulated in HD (going by the N64 VC) on the Virtual Console anyway. Far easier, far less effort involved and a better overall result (with no stupid fuckups or alterations that ruin the game - I'm looking at you Silent Hill HD, Prince of Persia HD collection, Perfect Dark XBLA and Banjo Kazooie/Tooie XBLA!)

Going by the emulation quality of past 360 retro titles (and the Sega Vintage Collection), I'd stay far away from the 360 version. Buyer beware, until we hear impressions at least.

Me too, I ordered them on KIU's release date and they're still not here yet. The wait is just ridiculous!

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229222 As can be seen in the pic below, EA will be disabling the game completely on May 31 for no apparent reason. Fucking scum, now they're resorting to stealing people's single player games from them!? Oh and best thing is that they're still happily selling the game (as well as DLC) with no indication that it's about to get nuked on the iTunes page! STOP BUYING EA GAMES!

I know that it isn't completely relevant here, but considering that this topic is way more popular than the Wii Channels forum in its entirety, I'm gonna post it here anyway. The day has finally come! SEGA have posted US release dates for Monster World Arcade and Monster World 4 on the Wii VC! Both are coming on May 10th, that's next week!!!! (I'm sure the EU release will be on the same day, if not a week after, going by Super Hang On) 2 VC games in one day!? Have I died and gone to heaven!? (Evidently I have, because VVVVVV comes out that day as well! THAT'S 3 GAMES TO BUY NEXT WEEK!!!! ) See Nintendo, see now THIS is the kind of release schedule that you SHOULD be having all the time!

http://blogs.sega.com/2012/05/03/more-sega-classics-for-virtual-console/ The day has finally come! SEGA have posted US release dates for Monster World Arcade and Monster World 4 on VC! Both are coming on May 10th, that's next week!!!! (I'm sure the EU release will be on the same day, if not a week after, going by Super Hang On) 2 VC games in one day!? Have I died and gone to heaven!? (Evidently I have, because VVVVVV comes out that day as well! THAT'S 3 GAMES TO BUY NEXT WEEK!!!! ) See Nintendo, see now THIS is the kind of release schedule that you SHOULD be having all the time!

Kirby's Pinball Land just got rated by the OFLC. I have the game on cartridge, but this is one game that will benefit massively from those temporary save states and eternal presence on my commute; I can't resist a double dip here! BTW, if you've never played it before, it's a must have! Game is God tier!

YES! Super Hang On is coming to the US Wii VC this week! Finally! Something new on the Wii VC for me to buy!

Me too. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it because I thought it was a late Toad 3DS win! Too bad it was just the set of coins that I already knew I had

Wow! I didn't think they'd go so far as to outright lie to their customers like this. What a bunch of bullshitters! Yeah, I bet you're sorry, sorry that you had to face that backlash. Watch them try this again down the line, again and again until finally they get their own way (Hopefully not before the company goes bust ) Their strategy is one of carefully managed malaise, slowly getting people to accept more and more draconian policies (it's worked with project $10 and their online server shutdowns, this is just another level down the slippery slope) Actually, this could come even sooner if they tie this scheme into a potential Xbox 3 subscription model (going by what they're doing with the 360 next week in the US as a test for their next console...)

That's not the same as this though. They're completely nuking the game and making it inoperable to people who have already bought it. At least when a game is delisted you can still play it if you've purchased it (and Eliminate would still be playable in single player for what it's worth) There cannot be a licensing agreement that necessitates turning people's purchases into ( virtual) doorstops - the licencee would just ask for it to be removed from sale. It's an EA decision and not that of the licencee, pure and simple (and it's probably being done to force people to buy the inevitable iOS version of Rock Band Blitz) Stop buying their games?

I'm not interested in Kingdom Hearts (never liked any of the games in the series) and Heroes or Ruin, while it looks to have potential and is being made with a lot of heart, I'm still very unsure about. The framerate still looks low and the design, while an interesting take on the dungeon crawler, looks like it might get boring fast. If there was any game that desperately needed an eShop demo, it's Heroes of Ruin. Mostly, I'm just pissed off about the lack of a Monster Hunter 3G EU/US announcement. That's my most wanted 3DS game right now by far and it looks like it might not make it over here

Just these for me (and I'm not exactly very excited about NSMB2 either). The lineup is looking a bit thin IMO. Right now, more than anything else, I just want Monster Hunter 3G Oh and fuck Iwata's "western" support. With the exception of stuff from small devs like Renegade Kid, Shinen and Wayforward, they're just gonna be second hand table scraps that they wouldn't even wipe iOS' arse with Fuck them, work on getting more games localised for the 3DS instead!

I meant in the first game. They didn't do enough to ease long time PES fans into the new control scheme. So many people I know tried it out and gave up after 5 mins because it was too alien and different for them. Of course the newer games are much better in that respect (and the ability to play against CC Pro players VS Wiimote/Nunchuck gives a great incentive to learn the new controls once the CC Pro players get annialated!), problem is that they won't give it a chance now and those in the media and other positions of influence have already dismissed it. It's just like those people who keep saying that dual analog controls are better than pointer controls for FPS games because Red Steel's controls were shit (the Goldeneye Wii reviews being the most obvious example of this, with it being painfully obvious that these people had not played a Wii FPS before and did not give the pointer controls the time of day) Maybe the Wii U will finally get people to give the Wiimote controls a chance (especially in FPS games when one person uses the tablet's dual analogs and the others use Wiimotes and Nunchucks!)

It's a tragedy just how much Konami screwed the pooch with PES. Never mind the fact that they fucked up the PS360 games and lost the crown to Fifa, but they bungled the release of the Wii games at every turn. Late releases, no online play at the start, lack of (good quality) marketing, poor learning curve for transitioning experienced players onto the Wii controls, etc. Of course, Konami has fallen to pieces anyway now - so I guess they got what they deserved (and their final pillar of Metal Gear will probably fully crumble away soon, given how much they fucked up that franchise too!)

Yeah no doubt. It's probably my favourite online multiplayer console game (aside from Monster Hunter Tri) and easily one of the most underrated games of this generation! Just a shame that the online play is region locked ( I have the US version), would love to organise a few games with you guys! (maybe I should go ahead and pick up the UK version now that I have a UK Wii as well, it's dirt cheap now!)