dartmonkey

The upside down? I avoided HHA but I'm looking forward to the New Leaf update. I finished Bayonetta and Sword of Vermilion (Mega Drive). The former was ridiculous and fun. The latter was a personal white whale from childhood that gave me a certain nostalgic pleasure in defeating. I wouldn't recommend it unless you've got a personal connection/vendetta. Corking music, though.

I would have to pump up my ram to a whopping 8gb which would be cheap enough, though my CPU is well below par and the motherboard is also limiting. I actually bought FW and it wouldn't start so I got it refunded.

With the release of The Witness and now Firewatch on Xbox One, and also the new smaller S version, I'm starting to think that maybe, maybe I should get one. I couldn't find an Xbone thread - do we even have one? I was thinking originally that I'd forgo this generation and just pump up my PC. Problem is, I really don't like playing games at my desk and upgrading EVERYTHING in my PC (the best component is a second hand GTX 960, everything else is from 2008!) would be a grand, minimum. Not worth it for me atm. A few months ago I drew up a list of games I fancy for both PS4 and Xbone, but now the Sony exclusives I'm interested in have dwindled to The Last Guardian. I'm not bothered about 4K but the smaller console would be nice. The real pull is backwards compatibility because I got rid of my 360 but kept the games. I was hoping MS would one day put out a 360 app for Windows but that's probably never going to happen. Am I going to play those old games? Am I just paying for the comforting knowledge that I could play them? I'm feeling like The Orange Box and a decent Black Friday deal could make me pull the trigger. The only 'new' games I want are pretty much The Witness and Firewatch! I wouldn't mind a Forza as I loved 2. Rocket League and MGS V might be interesting. Has anybody played IDARB? And Cuphead looks BEAootiful. Bah. I'll be getting an NX too - do I really need xbones? I'd have to box up my PS3 (which I never use but keep out JUST IN CASE we ever want to get some 7-player JSJ going at the myriad sexy parties we throw en mi casa ...which has happened...twice ever?). I guess I could lose my bluray player, though? Somebody talk me out of it. Definitely don't link me to amazing Rare Replay/Forza Horizon 3 bundles.

Okay, with NX announcement fever buzzing all over the place, why not indulge in some in some witless speculation about launch games? (Or launch 'window' games - damn I hate that term!) - The Mario Maker and Zelda ports should be filler for day one. - I'm thinking something Pokemon to capitalise on Go, and my best idea is a 3D remake of Red/Blue. The devs have a (basic) blueprint to work from, new players from Go would recognise the first 151 'mons and oldtimers FINALLY get the home console Pokemon people have been wanting for 20 years (without sacrificing portability) and get their nostalgia massaged seeing all those old locations in 3D HD. - NX versions of all Nintendo mobile games. - Bayonetta 3????? I know the second didn't sell but it's got critical and 'core cache. Would tick a box. - Ubisoft bring it with Just Dance 2018, Assassin's Creed the Sixth and Beyond Good & Evil 2 (hmm, perhaps not). - Pikmin 4. Supposed to be in the can, unless Miyamoto is referring to the 3DS side-scroller... - A couple of 'remasters' from big companies (your Activistions, EAs) putting their toes in the water. - A Yoshi/Kirby game that looks pleasant enough but you'll hold off for the drought. - Spla2n. - Some Streetpassy Mii game to show off the portability angle. Hopefully called MiiNX. - Amiibo Menagerie game thing. Vague I know, but they've got to capitalise on all the plastic out there and if parents see they can use all those figures with the new console, that's another box easily ticked. Scattershot but fun. I was thinking Kojima could maybe get involved but we won't be seeing anything from him until 2019. Mind you, would Konami consider MGS5 on NX?

Metroid Prime FF seems from the outside to be very much a Triforce Heroes-type game. Thoroughly competent, great fun with some friends, otherwise inessential but solid if you've got the time. The Direct was good, although I've already got Mario Maker and Woolly World. The Animal Crossibg update is where it's really at!

If you've bought it, it should be redownloadable at any time. Strangely, it seems it's being delisted on Live Arcade and made Xbone backwards compatible in the same week.

Aw shit. I've got into that cycle where the sequel reminds me I still haven't got round to the previous game. Got the Wii U game just sitting on my shelf. Suppose I should get Pikmin 3 done before too long, too. Damn you, games and time!

Not really a deal but the Castle of Illusion remake is getting yanked from Steam and PSN. I've got a feeling Disney/Sega might put out the original again. It's got music by Grant Kirkhope and for that alone it's worth nabbing before it gets blade runnered.

I saw a more recent episode a few months ago with flashbacks to Homer being in a grunge band at school. My feeling at the time was 'this isn't MY Simpsons' but thinking back now, of course it's not. The show is pretty unique in that the characters haven't aged in 30 years so their backgrounds are constantly rewritten. It doesn't gel with modern ideas of character progression and canon because animation doesn't have too, I guess. It's MY problem if I can't watch Homer in his Nivana phase without balking. They should do an episode where the characters have aged chronologically since the 80s. Homer would be, what, 60ish? It could talk about not noticing the passing of time, always feeling 30 in your head, your kids always being your kids, etc (in a far less trite way than that, but you get me). Hell, it could be a nice way to end the series.

It's definitely not ideal but it would still be a good box to tick. Maybe the carts will be DS sized and they might update with backwards compatibility once they've got the emulation on the new chips watertight. Or maybe the controller won't even have the right buttons to do it. I keep forgetting about the non-square screen tech it might use. I hope they nail the design first time. A DSphat will not work in 2016.

It'll be great to get all you're Nintendo games in one place. As someone who would most likely jump onboard ahead of Average J, I'm game for anything that Nintendo is developing for. If they're angling for Wii-style mass-market, cross-generational appeal, I really think 3DS backwards compatibility is a selling point too attractive to refuse.

Other than Link Between Worlds, I find myself wishing all the 2D ones were at least 2 dungeons shorter than they are. The constant pause screen item juggling in the GB ones also gets old fast.

Rumours rumours rumours! It seems carts will be the medium and, if so, they've GOT to make it (3)DS back compatible. As an extra selling point to parents, that would be a MONSTER. Probably not with 3D screens, but certainly some single screen 2DS style solution. Imagine if the screen could have controller blades docked into the side in either landscape OR portrait mode, for 2 screen DS games, or anything that devs want to put out in that orientation (*cough/hint* Downwell, and mobile apps)... Shit guys. It's just clicked. NX IS a phone.

After polishing off Oracle of Seasons last night, I am now one game away from having completed every Zelda game! No, not the CDi ones.

As fun as connective tissue can be, I was looking forward to the 'future'. Post-Nemesis, new worlds, new civilisations, etc. And re. the ship, it isn't clicking with me yet, it feels too unbalanced. I remember seeing the McQuarrie concept it's based on and thinking it was weird.

So, this mini thing is a clone micro console done proper? Like all those Atari/Mega Drive plug&play efforts, but hdmi and Nintendo build quality? I have a Retron5 and an actual NES. This isn't for me but I can see it working for 30-somethings who left games but still have happy memories of their brother's/cousin's NES. @Sno What's your Starfox list? For me it's one game. 64 was my first N64 game and it's amazing. Everything else I've touched is disappointing (including the original just recently - I guess you needed to be there for that one.) I'm intrigued by Zero.

I want to 'like' so many of these posts! Some great stuff here - you peeps are definitely in San Francisco. Celery bitters? Tamarind drinking vinegar?? Spain is behind the times I used to knock up something that was essentially a Cosmopolitan with Bombay Saphire substituting vodka, plus a twist of burnt orange rind. I'm not in the position to experiment at the mo, but I hereby trademark 'The Babywall'.

*can't stop thinking about the referendum* Nice Zelda day! Yesterday, as a micro tribute to her 20th birthday (and in an effort to stop thinking about the referendum), I cracked out my trusty N64. Man, I think it might be peak video games. LOVE that console. It's a really pleasing, beautiful, chunky object. The slight screech of the springs as the dust protectors fold and the clunk of the heavy cart slotting in...ah, it's so satisfying. The pads, all colourful; the weight of a rumble pak clicking in. Everything being 'Something 64'... Going through an HDTV, there's some weird screen stuff going on, mainly with expansion pak games, but it's SO good. I played Bob-omb's Battlefield, a load of Rogue Squadron (still fantastic), a little Episode 1 Racer and Mumbo's Mountain. Going to play some more today. I love the Gamecube, I love the modcons of current consoles, but N64 is toppermost of the poppermost. ...*returns to end of days referendum thinking*

Wow, it's been a year! Today I finally updated a bit of my PC! I've been running Windows 10 for a couple of months. Of course installing it was a ballache (although, happily, I don't actually regret it yet.) After balking at the price of half-decent GPUs, I put off upgrading until now. My PC continued to flake away and would generally crash after a minute or so of playing any video content, windowed or fullscreen. On Monday I spotted a GTX 960 secondhand for 160 euros and got it today. The 8800s came out, the 960 went in. Some new drivers and a handful of restarts later and I'm now at 54% of a Titan according to some benchmark or other (up from 7%!!). More importantly, I can watch shitty facebook videos without crashes. I can also play all the games I already own that were giving me gyp (like Sonic All-Stars Racing - man that's fun!). Plus it'll keep me in Humble bundles for the time being. I may do some research and invest in some RAM as that seems dirt cheap, but in a year or two the motherboard and the CPU will need overhauling. In the meantime, games! Thanks to all. Any specific RAM recommendations?

On Zelda's art style, it's essentially Skyward Sword HD, no? Perhaps a little more painterly, but still Twilight proportions with a lick of Wind Waker paint.

The Earl Grey podcast did a really great imagining of a TNG episode involving Barclay, Ro and Worf going to the Mirror universe. Well worth a listen - baddass interrogator Troi would fit in very nicely. http://trek.fm/earl-grey/135 Re. Lwaxana, I really liked how Dark Page gave some background to the OTT facade and her obsession with Deanna settling down. It fleshed out a character who had only really been comic relief (Half A Life notwithstanding).

Okay, that Star Trek Bridge VR co-op game could be amazing. Meets-Meets= FTL+L4D+Star Trek. That opportunity to interact impresses me more than anything else I've seen for VR.

When did 30/60fps become a thing? I mean in the minds of the player. I try and play Ocarina on N64 now and it's painfully chuggy but at no point when I played first time round did it even occur to me. Perhaps Perfect Dark was the first time I noticed slowdown, but even then it felt like 'this game is so awesome the TV can't keep up!!' When did old games become unplayable because I'm a 30fps-minimum baby?

If NX is a PS4ish power-wise, I hope it's super slim & dinky. I've got so much shit under the TV. I turned down a PS4 because I can't justify 5 consoles in my Besta. 2 Bluray cases-worth of console plus Wii U backwards compatiblity would be just dandy. Edit. Though the lack of optical discs would nix backwards compatibility unless there was some download/transfer solution...

Erm, I think you'll find that the PRIME Directive is already an offshoot from OUR timeline where it's just a plain old Directive.