dartmonkey

Animal Crossing deserves its own tab next to Video Gaming. It's amazing how the 3DS has taken off - it gives you hope for Wii U. Apparently people like games to play on their consoles (take note, Vita). I bought the system at launch, knowing AC would come and noodling about with Zelda and the Ambassador Programme in the meantime (lack of games actually forced me to play retro things I'd never have got around to otherwise). But since late last year there's been so much great stuff, full retail and eshop, I've had trouble squeezing them in. In the EU Nintendo are running a So Many Games! Promotion (buy and 3 games from a list of 8 and get a 4th free) so I'm actually getting Animal Crossing for the competitive price of £zero. I got Mario 3D Land for nothing when I upgraded to an XL. The upgrade itself was an outlay, but there were decent incentives so I didn't feel I was being fleeced. Don't know what my point was here, apart from sucking off Nintendo. Just feels refreshing after years without promos of any kind (Mario Bros. shoelaces from Club Nintendo don't count). I've just made SD space for Animal Crossing which'll squeeze on to my 4gb card with 3D Land, Fire Emblem a half dozen eshop games and the Ambassador bunch. Unless you're downloading ALL your retail games, 4gb is enough to begin with.

I spunked through Bioshock Infinite over the weekend. It did a good job of replicating the pace of the original (I thought it dragged around the third quarter). I'm a player that has to search every single dead body and desk. I need every lockpick, every Voxophone, every stack of coins and I'm going to explore and retrace and hoover up all the resources I can. While playing I felt the narrative and the mechanics were pulling me in different directions. The way I play games (and the way I'm encouraged to play this game) undermines the story they're telling. The plight of the poor man waiting with his family on Finkton Docks loses any emotional impact when I compulsively rifle through his belongings and he just looks at me gormlessly. Sure, the scenario made me laugh but the collectathon ground me down. Half the time I'm not even seeing what I'm getting - I'm just listening for the cha-ching to signal I can move on. In offices I'd just run along a line of desks, head down, and ram the F key repeatedly. It was a real chore and felt like I was being punished with some archaic 'game' tropes just to get at the story 'meat'. Columbia was a beautiful place. This will sound douchey but the repetition of character models was off-putting. I didn't count but I swear there were Goldeneye levels of repetition. I'm really and willing to suspend disbelief but two guys in trunks on the beach sitting next to two idential guys sitting next to two... It was all a bit Twilight Zone and jars against the obsessive detail of the rest of the game. So yeah. It's definitely a mother-fucking video game, but I was really playing for the world and the story and felt the 'game' elements kinda spoiled it a little. In fact, It made me feel I was spoiling it myself with my OCD. But then I'd miss a tape. The Voxophones aren't just optional asides - they reveal the story, so missing one means the narrative is 'unfinished'. Fuck you Columbia! Everything has the veneer of sophistication but then I have to scour for hours to find some bullshit lockpick to open a door that leads to a safe that's actually only got fucking coins in it anyway. Come on, lockpicks?? I've got a fucking RPG! Stop being such a...game! Argh, what have I said?!... It does many things incredibly. It felt a lot like Half-Life 2 with Elizabeth and the tears, etc. There's a shit load of polish here but I don't feel that it does anything more than HL2 and that's nine years old now.

Banjo-Kazooie has a great cartoon-fairytale dynamic soundtrack. I still remember bounding through a tunnel into a forest and hearing the flutes fade up through the swampy bass theme for the first time. Hyrule Field's theme in Ocarina of Time was dynamic too, though I never realised until I read interviews about the 3DS version.

Bought a Bioshock Infinite download and had a choice of the first two Bioshocks, Xcom or Civ 5 as an extra. Bioshock key didn't work but this was fine. Never played a Civ before. I ended up doing 6 hours straight, although the last two were wasted. I got into a funk, attacking Florence with peashooters. Think I need to get my cities going before venturing too far afield - I had scouts hoovering up the fog all over the map for no reason other than the fog irritates me. Addictive though.

It has to be a combination of those things. Parents and teachers must face this all the time - how do you make learning fun? Intrinsic motivation is always best but how many kids want to learn history? It needs to be presented in a certain way. If they're interested in the medium you're halfway there. But generally children (hell, most adults) don't have the power to delay gratification - they're not going to plough through something that doesn't grab them immediately just for some historical perspective. The active concentration required to play games is as big a factor as the time investment. They might jump at the chance to watch Battleship Potemkin in class - it's a passive hour or so and they get to avoid 'work' - but spending 5, 10, 20+ hours playing a game they're not enjoying 99% of the time just won't happen. That nebulous word 'fun' is the problem, and it depends on context, disposition and ability. Throwing a stone at a stick can be fun. Is Snake better than throwing a stone at a stick? Not for me but I was always terrible at Snake. Is Super Mario Bros better than Snake? Is Portal better than throwing a stone at a stick? What is game again??? Games. Pokemon is a great call for RPG initiation. And Minecraft.

I agree that it would have to be tailored to the individual and kept short and sweet. I think this is something that parents must face often. How do you introduce something without forcing it down their throat and switching them off completely. My guess would be to make it available to them and see what they gravitate towards (or play the games yourself and try to pique their interest in that way). Regardless, banging on about it is the last thing to do.I wouldn't want to use anything that isn't fun to play now. Like with films, I think some things can be appreciated when you consider the context of their time, whereas others hold up fantastically without qualification. I think GB Tetris would be a good addition. Also I realised I didn't mention a Zelda, though Christ knows which one I'd go with.

File says 14 hrs 51 mins. Activity Log says 31hrs 28 mins... I wasn't expecting it but this has some of the best use of 3D I've seen as it actually aids the player in understanding the terrain. It's the only game I've played with it nudged on at all times. The character art and dialogue bubbles all pop out nicely, but the battlefields are enhanced no-end. Breakneck Pass looks incredible as the cliff falls away to the water below but the battle grid flies out over the edge.

I always wondered about this. A new colour isn't going to make me repurchase an expensive console but it must work because they keep doing it. I remember late in the N64's cycle they released all the clear color versions - surely everyone who wanted one already had one!? 3DS is a bit different seeing as lots of people will be upgrading to an XL.I'm eyeing a Wii U later this year and I'm hoping they're going to release a new colour. The gloss finish on the current models makes the whole thing look tacky and the fingerprints would drive me mad. Imagine a matte red or, even better, Gamecube purple... The transfer is painless, though you need a rock solid wifi connection. Also if the system you're transferring to has a preinstalled game on the SD card you'll have to redownload it.

No numbers. It's a reboot. It's The Amazing Xbox.

The Euro version is having Spotpass and DLC stuff rolled out at the same rate as NA did but starting now. Just married Sully. We're perfectly matched - she likes it quick and dirty, which is how I deliver it! Well, quick at least.

This launched in EU on Friday. I played Sacred Stones so I went for Hard mode (which is). Fantastic game. I'm quickly discovering the total playtime displayed on my file bears no resemblance to my actual playtime.

That Direct had everything but left me feeling a bit deflated. I've never played LttP. As far as I understand it's more or less Ocarina, in 2D. I've ploughed through a backlog of Spirit Tracks, the original NES game Four Swords and now I'm on Zelda II. Maybe I'm just Zelda-ed out. Then again, I was itching for the inevitable Majora's 3D to be announced. I was thinking yesterday about the intro to Ocarina with the moon and Link riding. It's a really surprising, understated opening and that's what I'm missing from all the installments I've played recently. They're all bombast and the main theme. Majora's was the antithesis of that - maybe that's why I'm hankering for it. I feel the franchise is teetering on the edge of Mario-style overkill (though that could be because I've recently caught up with so many past installments). I don't know who buys all these Mario Party games. Agree with miffy495 that Yoshi's Island looks like Yoshi's Story. It looks better in motion but still not great. Plus they already have Yoshi's Epic Yarn on Wii U - why not make that the new Yoshi's Island? Imagine if they did that and jacked in a couple of the Mario games to made something...new Wii U needs some serious trousers-down love in the run up to E3.

Ah, shit. I was geared up for the 100th episode, heard Infinite talk start so skipped ahead a bit. Bit more. Bit more. Oh. The podcast will be dangerous until I play it.

In the mid-90s my family had a PC powerful enough to run Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis and Rebel Assault. I never got far in Indy because I could never work out the puzzles. Rebel Assault was kinda fun because it was Star Wars and I was starved of anything else. For me Lucasarts has always been a symbol of disappointment. The best SW games were made by other studios anyway (Lego Star Wars, KotOR, Rogue Squadron.) Take the licence away from their SW output and nobody would have played any of them. Who would've put up with Kyle-fuckin'-Katarn if he didn't have a lightsaber?! I always felt they were dropping the ball. Why was it left to Lara Croft to do the tomb raiding? Why is Nathan Drake doing what Indy should have been doing decades ago?! I played Monkey Island 4, which I thought was great, but I get the feeling playing the original now would be a bit repetitive. I've had Grim Fandango on the shelf for years so maybe I'll play that as a salute. But in terms of the quality of SW/Indy games, this can only be a good thing.

Surprised it took Disney so long to sort out licenses and greenlight this. Never played it but Chip and Dale was great. The Sega games can't be far behind. Now there's some formative nostalgic sh*t!

I actually played this for 5 mins the other day while waiting for a friend to arrive and try the Pikmin 2 multiplayer (which as it turns out beats 2-player Mario Kart, hands-down). I played it originally on a standard-def TV. We've upgraded now and the first thing I noticed was huge jaggies. It's still pretty, but in my memory it was beautiful. I have a similar problem with the N64. I should really pick up a good old Sony Trinitron CRT for retro stuff, though it's a ballache when I don't often fire them up. My only real irritation with this game was aiming. Why did they not use the pointer? The Motionplus wheel thing worked well once I realised it WASN'T a pointer and realigning the sword once in a while was fine, but I was constantly re-centering the reticule when aiming. Why not use the infrared?

Hello thumbs and all other digits. I posted in a podcast thread without saying hello, so here it is! I found the podcast recently and am working back through the episodes. It's interesting to hear opinions regress, ending at the beginning. Anyway, I'm in Spain and my main gaming thingy at the moment is 3DS. Fire Emblem looks fantastic and Animal Crossing will erase the next couple of years from my calender.

Thanks for reading my mail. It gave me a buzz like getting a letter printed in N64 Mag years ago! Rayman feels like something I might have doodled in my school textbook. There's an interesting idea there, but he's charmless and his rad 90s parting winds me up. Rare have put googly-eyes on toilets and created characters with more charisma. Jake commented about babies being considered universally cute, and perhaps if Rayman was a miniature, big-eyed, limbless puppy he would appeal. I loved Sonic when he started out with a chubby little body and huge eyes. Then he grew gangly, became a bit of a dick and started hanging out with more of my doodle rejects. I find it incredible that Nintendo manage to tie together all the disparate elements of the Mushroom Kingdom into a charming and coherent whole, especially when Miyamoto constantly reminds us that story and character play second fiddle to mechanics in his games. Most of these characters evolved from the function they were required to perform in-game, exploiting the player's skill set. Let's face it, a goomba is a turd with a face and feet. Toad has a football on his head. Birdo is...well, who knows. On paper, these characters have less potential than the limbless Rayman, and yet they work and, in many cases, have become part of the iconography of video games.