Dcubed

I think the most mindblowing thing seen in these previews is the fact that you can use the Steam Deck screen as a second monitor when you dock it! That's so awesome!!! This is gonna be fantastic for productivity when you dual boot Windows! A full PC that you just chuck in your pocket and get a dual monitor setup on whatever screen you plug it into!

Some new hands-on previews of the Steam Deck... God I want it now!!!

There’s a new trailer out but it apparently spoils some later game items, so I’m not watching it… Did spot this little tidbit nicked from the Japanese Dev Diary though… Metroid Zero Mission style sequence breaking you say!? Oh HELL yes!!!

Nintendo's Q1 2021 results are out! Despite the hype from Japan, YoY sales of hardware are down WW; so 2020 likely was the peak for Switch (as it should be, the platform is now in its 5th year FFS!). Still fantastic results all around though!

Yup. WWG is pure gold. It’s an excellent Best of collection that combines chunks of the previous games in such a way as to provide an all new experience. The fact that it combines multiple control types completely changes the game, as you never know what to expect. And the new modes (ESPECIALLY Split Screen!) offer an exhilarating new take on the series’ traditional gameplay

Expected delay is expected. I doubt it'll hurt Sony that much though. The usual yearly COD (which they will almost assuredly pay for some timed exclusive DLC) will likely be enough to carry them through this holiday season.

Might I suggest Kirby Power Paintbrush? It's available on the Wii U VC and it's one of the best action platformers on the DS! It's not that long, but it's A+ 2D gameplay all the way through

Just checked. Yup. Ghost Trick is up on the iOS store. From what I recall, the port is generally pretty solid overall.

I’ve picked it up, but ironically I’m actually still in the middle of a re-playthrough of Trials & Tribulations; so it’ll be a while before I get to dig into GAA1&2.

Decided to pick up the physical version for this one. Normally I’d get digital first and then physical later when it’s cheaper; but I figured that chances are that this game’s physical version will become rare very quickly, as S-E don’t seem particularly interested in giving this game much of a push (so I suspect a very low print run). So figured I might as well pick it up physically now while I can and I’ll nab the digital version on discount later

YES!! Got it!!!

I thought the same thing, but as it turns out, the Steam version has official support for the PS4/PS5 controllers; with full Playstation buttons showing when you connect those controllers. So most likely it just means that they couldn't be bothered to make another d-pad HUD icon for Xbox controller users. Supposedly they were done with his direct supervision, like what happened with FF1 & 2 Origins on Wonderswan/PS1/GBA.

Err... The 3DS version does have motion controls... Better yet, the Switch version has even better motion controls that mimic RE4 Wii's sublime setup! ... All the more ironic that RE4 Switch is the only RE game on Switch to have no form of motion controls at all It's dead simple. You just go through the 3DS Transfer process in the System Settings menu and it transfers everything over for you. The only catch is that you physically need both systems on your person to do the transfer (which everyone was moaning about because they all wanted to sell their old consoles and still have access to their games); but the actual transfer process is fairly easy & painless really.

Well here's a shocker... The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters are NOT just reusing the PS1/GBA/DS arrangements of the soundtracks and actually have brand new arrangements that... actually sound really good!

I would bloody hope that it's 60FPS! It would be embarassing if it wasn't! Motion controls are nice, but hopefully they're not actually using the gyro (but instead are using the accellerometer). Using the gyro would actually make the game unplayable as it starts drifting within seconds; so hopefully SEGA aren't dumb enough to use it instead of the accellerometer...

Looks like I was right... https://bunshun.jp/denshiban/articles/b1436 Nintendo DID bail on the Olympics opening ceremony. We were supposed to get an appearance from none other than Shigsy himself, alongside Zelda, Kirby, Mario & Pokemon music.

Honestly? A very large chunk of them require the R button... (You can blame Streetpass Plaza for normalising that). The majority of the 3DS' heavy hitters make copious use of the shoulder buttons. Ones that don't off the top of my head though, include Kid Icarus Uprising (unless you're left handed, in which case you're SOL), New Super Mario Bros 2, Virtue's Last Reward, Zero Time Dilemma, Hey! Pikmin, the Art Academy games, the Pokemon games, Shovel Knight, Shantae & The Pirate's Curse, Ultimate NES Remix, Mario Golf World Tour (fully playable with touch screen only) and Rhythm Heaven Megamix.

If you guys are gonna do a roguelike, I have one that I could recommend... (COUGH! shameless plug, COUGH!)

How about we pick an arcade game? We haven't done that before! Can also be a home console port of an arcade game, as long as it's close to arcade accurate! Not a fighting game though, a single player arcade game. Good ol' fashioned high score chasing fun!

Seasons/Mystical Seed of Power was originally the Zelda 1 remake (before they dumped the idea of making a trilogy in favour of a duology instead); Ages/Mystical Seed of Wisdom was an original title. That's why Seasons in particular ends up stealing SO MUCH from Zelda 1.

To be fair, Ages is notably more difficult than Seasons. I wouldn't personally recommend playing Ages first on your first-time playthrough (on a second one though? Sure, play Ages first and bask in the glory of the unlockable Roc's Cape & Hyper Slingshot!) Worth noting that all the staff that worked on both Oracles games (and eventually Four Swords & Minish Cap) ended up joining Nintendo EAD when Flagship was closed down; and now head the Zelda series proper (The rest of the Flagship staff joined HAL BTW). So it's not that far removed from the other titles in the series really (though I do agree that both games do have a "fan game" sort of feel to them; especially considering how much they outright steal from other Zelda titles).

BKGR is a pretty nice rendition of the series' trademark gameplay in 2D form; it's surprising just how close it actually does feel to the 3D games! Which kind of goes to show how the N64 games are more like 3D adventure games than pure platformers I suppose. That being said though? It's just not very ambitious outside of the basic premise of feeling like a 3D Banjo game. It doesn't really try to push the series forward in any way and it's all well worn territory. The levels are pretty ho-hum in terms of design, with not really much in the way of unique or creative mechanics or interesting traversal, the transformations aren't particularily interesting, the boss battles are pretty crappy to be honest, and even the mini games largely disappoint. It's pretty contempt with just being "a portable Banjo Kazooie game", as if that's enough on its own. It's decidedly inoffensive, but it doesn't really excel at anything either. They could've done so much more with the concept, but it ends up being a pretty typical handheld Rare game; a second rate, low budget affair that is perfectly competent, but doesn't try to push any boundaries. That being said, Mumbo's Pad is a sexy disco fueled bachelor pad in this game. Which is nice.

As someone who works within the medical/nursing field, and has written & published their own scientific papers? Scientific literacy is a very rare commodity; and it is very very common for data to be misused, manipulated and misunderstood. Even amongst healthcare professionals, scientific literacy is nowhere near as common as you would expect. If this pandemic has proven anything? It's that mainstream media outlets are almost just as bad at reporting scientific data as your dodgy cousin on Facebook. The reporting on the Astrazenica vaccine throughout Europe amongst the media in particular was beyond shambolic; and has done powerful & lasting damage that vaccine efforts will likely never fully recover from. If you really want to make yourself informed, start with the Cochrane Library (the gold-standard of systematic reviews within the medical field). There is a nice COVID-19 resources section that has links to some handy resources designed for the layperson; iHealthFacts is also a particularily nice & approchable resource for quick answers that is supported by Cochrane Ireland The WHO also have a nice repository of information designed for the public as well. You can view it here: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

On the plus side, Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis for GBA is what eventually enabled Sonic Mania to happen… as this absolute pile of Sonic shite lead to Stealth showing up SEGA with his own Homebrew port! … which eventually lead to the modern Sonic CD port, which eventually lead to Sonic Mania! So it’s not all bad. It actually left quite the legacy in the end!