Dcubed

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!

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 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!)

I still play it every now and again. There's still a good amount of people playing it online (though it seems that everyone is godly at this game now! - Everyone seems to be able to do that BS long shot straight into the goal except for me ) I can't stop myself from doing this. Way too much fun!

Alright! I've finally finished the game! And I really enjoyed it You can tell that the game was designed with the story/characters/world in mind first and the gameplay second, but that doesn't mean that the gameplay is lacking. Really, the highlights of the gameplay are the bosses and the tower navigation/exploration (especially the 11th & 12th towers. Very cleverly designed!), though it is a shame that the tower types are recycled once each - it does lead to a feeling of repetition. That's a feeling that does end up prevailing throughout the game unfortunately. The combat doesn't really evolve much from the start and it is rather basic, while the enemies are all kind of samey and don't present much in the way of challenge or excitement (they're just obstacles really) The visual repetition doesn't help much in that respect either (and nor does the fact that every tower uses the same music) It's a bit of a shame that the time limit & day night cycle wasn't exploited fully. I wasn't expecting a fully blown Majora's Mask type experience, but with the time limit being used solely as a means to drag you back to Elena to avoid a game over and the day night cycle only affecting enemy difficulty and item placement, it does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity. Still, it was clearly designed for a story/emphatic reason and it works well in that respect. The bosses are really good though. While it can feel like a bit of a slog at times when that feeling of repetition gets to you, the bosses definitely make up for it. Clearly taking inspiration from Zelda, like its forebearer, the bosses are elaborate puzzles that require quick thinking and dexterity. They're tough and a lot of fun to fight. A worthy reward for sure! (Shame there's no boss rush mode though ) Aside from the repetitive nature of the visual design (which does however come with the added benefit of practically zero loading times!), it is a good looking game and the arrangements of classical music are very nice. It's a polished experience for the most part (few bouts of slowdown here and there), which is really nice after the mess that was The Last Story! Speaking of story... I'd say it's one of the few examples in gaming of a love story that was actually really well done. You do end up feeling for Elena (as well as others...), the plot is genuinely interesting, the writing is well done (as is the localisation!) and the characters are great (especially Mavda! HE-HE-HE ) There's a real sense of cohesiveness about the world, which is really impressive considering that you don't ever really get to see any of it! Also, without spoiling anything, the endings are really cleverly done. I first finished the game with Ending A (the 2nd best one, I was so close to S!) then quickly finished it again to get Ending S (the best one). The endings change MASSIVELY! It's not just a matter of a few extra bits here and there, but rather they change almost completely. The cool thing about them though is that they actually give you different information; while Ending S is obviously the best ending and the one that is intended to be canon, you wont actually fully understand the story unless you see Ending A as well! (It's a clever way of encouraging you to see all the different endings since they tie together!) Overall, a really good game and a fun ride. It gets to feel samey and repetitive at times, but the payoff is more than worth it. I'd say it's better than The Last Story (yeah yeah, different genre blah blah blah, I still enjoyed it more). It's like a 3D Castlevania game with polish, really fun boss battles and a lot of heart

Soooo, basically a re-badged and tattooed Ice White 3DS? (Honestly, I'd be stunned if it didn't happen!)

TBH, this game is actually closer to Mario Kart 7 than DKR in how it handles the different vehicles. I'm not expecting a Mario Kart/DKR beating game here, but the original was a good game. With them actually bringing something new to the table this time around (Yeah, MK7 did the transforming vehicle thing as well, but this one features actual water/flight handling like DKR, which makes it stand alone) I'm much more interested in this than I was in the original. Rather than compare it to MK/DKR (which it will never beat honestly), why not just appreciate it for what it is? It's not just a poor man's Mario Kart this time around.

The original's DS and Wii versions were excellent (The former being the only version that ran at 60FPS!) I expect just as good a job done on this new game for the 3DS!

I think that the Flame Red's title of Best Looking 3DS Model has finally been usurped! WANT!

Day one. The first game was really good, but this alone makes it a must buy for me! Nice to see them doing something different this time around (with the boating/flying mechanics being very different from MK7 and DKR). The lack of a Wii version is a dead giveaway of a Wii U version incoming (there's your 60FPS console gameplay )

So it's a multiplayer game with a tacked on single player mode... Fair play to them for finally giving the series the shakeup it needed, but still... not sure if want... It's good to see them take the series in a different direction (and the multiplayer does have potential if it follows the kind of Monster Hunter style of progression rather than COD), but it seems so cynically designed; just the words "focus tested" make me cringe in disgust (yes I know that Sony extensively use focus testing in designing almost all of their games, it's the proud mention of it here that bothers me) I guess we'll have to wait and see if it is just another COD alike (in that the game is designed around abusing operant conditioning to strongarm people into not selling their game) I do like the shift in art direction though. Nice to finally have some bright colours!

Oh BTW, just spotted a trailer for Castlevania The Adventure (GB VC) on the Wii's Nintendo Channel. Looks like we'll be getting it pretty soon (going to the game's title info page brings up Brunswick Pro Bowling for some bizarre reason, so it was obviously not meant to be put up yet!)

Yay! VC is back at last! http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/04/nintendo_download_3rd_may_2012_europe 3DS gets Game & Watch Gallery 2, while Wii gets Super Hang-on (Yeah only almost 2 years after its Japanese VC release, but it got there in the end!)

Woah! That came out of nowhere! Super Hang-on is coming out this week! (Yeah only almost 2 years after its Japanese VC release, but it got there in the end!) Also, 3DS gets Game & Watch Gallery 2 this week

Come on Ghostlight/Atlus!

Seems like it's closer to the N64 game than the GCN one. TBH, that's probably a good thing. I was hoping that we'd see more special modes like Super Mario Tennis though. Power Tennis was very good in that regard, while the N64 title was very bare bones. Sounds like it lies somewhere in between (both in terms of gameplay and content!)