Griddlelol

I'm not going to defend W101 to death because there's no point, but I feel like giving up on a game after 30 mins is equivalent to turning off a movie once the title sequence is over. Aesthetic choices I can understand, personally I loved W101's style, but it's not for everyone.

I'm totally going to get it tomorrow. It'll fill that niche of game I play while my partner watches TV. I don't think I want her to see the aesthetic anyway!

Nintendo News! Shantae and the Pirates's Curse is out in EU tomorrow!

I've noticed some stuff about a gender swapped Ghostbusters. Who the fuck cares? Ghostbusters is an awful movie. Why not gender swap something good?

I've honestly found Patrick's writing on Kotaku to be...too Kotaku for me. Generally off-topic and "hey look at this weird thing" kind of posts. Maybe he's still finding his feet (or maybe there's nothing interesting to talk about right now).

After moaning in another thread that I only listen to gaming podcasts, I had a cull. I left Idle Thumbs and Bombcast, introduced philosophy bites and resubscribed to skeptoid (critical thinking) and Battleship Pretension (movies). It's more diverse, but most update on Tuesday or Wednesday, and two are quite short in comparison to what I used to have, so I am without podcast material most of the week. Any good science podcasts? I used to listen to the guardian one, but I got a bit bored of it because the presenter always felt so lifeless.

I don't really think 30 minutes is enough to get that game at all. You won't have the dodge or the block (which is dumb, you should start with both) by that point. I started trying to draw the shapes by hand, but it's sooooo much more efficient to just use the analogue stick to make shapes. Not really sure how you can hate 50% of platinum games, they're basically all the same game, just with a vastly different aesthetic.

Yeah..."blood" stains...

You can always just use off-TV play. I bought my WiiU before I bought a TV. The game pad is pretty good!

Ah, I meant crisp. Same thing!

Man, I've got a decent amount of points on the EU one, but there aren't any good offerings like games. Just random junk like badges or sleeping masks. Fucking sleeping masks!

I wasn't trying to say that one must play OoT before MM for any reason relevant to experiencing the games, it was more that OoT is readily available, an an absolute classic, so why wouldn't Horza have played it? I personally think WW is the best place to start. Play the best, forget the rest.

I think I'm content with playing Super as the single 2D entry into the series. It is the Metroid game as far as many people are concerned. I might give Zero a go, but I'm much more interested in playing the Prime trilogy. I did play about 5 mins of Prime on Sunday (my nunchuck keeps disconnecting randomly, so I need to buy a new mote/chuck because I have no idea which one is at fault), and the movement felt weird. I hope it's something that's easy to get used to.

Super Metroid!

I'm not too worried if it's a slightly worse version of the game. I get to play it, I wouldn't if I tried to buy the trilogy (and it was essentially a £2.50 game). I really liked the Xray, yeah it's annoying to select, but it took away that annoying feeling of having absolutely no clue what to do when you're lost. I'd just pull it out if and scan things if I had no idea where to go.

The best part of the Russian robot, is that it's remotely controlled by a person off-cam.

So I beat Super Metroid over the weekend. Damn, the ending was fantastic. I've not had a smile on my face when finishing a game like I did with SM in a long time, it has this amazing ability to make you feel like a complete badass, but also make you feel totally helpless at times. Now for what I hated: After I beat Ridley, I had literally no idea where to go. I spent about 4 hours wandering around until finally I think the reason that irritated me so much was because how much fun I was having overall. I have no nostalgia for the SNES era, I never owned one, and any time I try to play a 16-bit game I go for about an hour before shrugging and getting bored. That didn't happen with Super Metroid, it's held up fantastically well, and seriously deserves its place in the gaming hall of fame. More excitingly, I now totally get why people love the Metroid series. I'm a convert. Now to play the Prime Trilogy...and buy a Samus amiibo.

Well that's just wrong! Hashbrowns are godly, and roast potatoes made with pig fat beat all others ways of cooking without even breaking a sweat.Fuck I even forgot potato wedges, which are superior to fries in every way.

Mashing potatoes is the easiest way to ruin a decent side. Mouthfeel is awful, and you lose any crunch.

I've been buying Nike and Karrimor trainers. They're both super comfortable, I think the main reason is that I use them as "all purpose trainers." I run, I train, I socialise and work, all wearing the same trainers. I can't buy shoes with cloth near the toes. I have an unintentional twitch in my big toe that causes wear to the fabric to nothing. It has to be leather (or whatever they use in trainers). I don't like having multiple shoes for different things, I can't carry shoes to work every day to change into after I go to the gym. So I use the same trainers. Never heard of Merell. Are they all purpose? On the term of emotions, I was under the impression that people are generally meant to feel...neutral. The neutrality is then spiked with moments of ups and downs of different intensities. There's no way for a person to be permanently happy, and why depression is a state of dysfunction. Not an expert on the subject, but I've read about it a little.

If you want to sit and play with you daughter, then a WiiU is the best option. I doubt the Xbox has any split screen multiplayer games (bar Rayman Legends which is also on WiiU) while the WiiU is full of split screen coop awesomeness. Yes, you can play Wii games on the WiiU. It's fantastic, I skipped out on the Wii, and now I'm able to get so many cheap, great games to play. Microsoft has practically stopped supporting the Kinect now anyway. It's not bundled with the system any more, and I believe they cut loose a bunch of kinect games because it was a major reason people weren't buying the system.

I'd say WiiU. You get far more child friendly games and there's a decent library for you also. The Xbone doesn't really cater towards a young crowd, focussing mostly on late teens. I might be wrong, but just like the PS4, the Xbone doesn't really have a library of games yet. Maybe a one or two good ones, but certainly nothing to make it stand out. The WiiU not only has a good library now, but you also have access to loads of great NES, SNES and GBA games too, plus you can play Wii games on it since it's the only console that's backwards compatible. It's technically possible to play GCN games, but a major pain in the ass to set it up. I think the WiiU is great for those getting into gaming too. There's a bunch of simple 2D platformers that range from easy to difficult within each game. As I said, there's that Wii library available, with all those games that non-gamers loved. Plus you get some real gems like Bayonetta (2) exclusive to the WiiU. Oh, and the Metroid Prime trilogy just relased today for $10 (soon to be $20), while trying to get a physical (not new, just physical) copy will set you back upwards of $80.

Update: I've successfully managed to change my pooping schedule from 7am to 10am. After weeks of failing, what did it was getting ill and not eating because I had no appetite. Once I was well enough to eat, I jumped on the opportunity to reset everything. Now I'm free from the shackles of needing to poop during my morning training.

While not "challenge" modes per se, I always end up playing as a "rogue" or "warrior" character in every game I play that gives me the option, even if they're sub-optimal, and make it significantly harder. I also tend to wear gear or use weapons I think look cool, rather than upgrading. I don't know if it's role playing, or whether it's just I've played so many games as those two types, that I know they fit my play style more often than not.