Roderick

I remember when Prince of Persia 3D was really pushed marketingwise, on the back of the classic's renown. I believe it's utter crap, yesno?

What SiN refers to (I don't know if it is with the correct terminology) is that you can change the focal point of the camera to the opposite of the 'fish eye' (where everything is extremely distorted), which then makes it seem like everything is 'flat', giving that isometric feeling of there being no proper perspective. Most 3D software use this mode for modelling, but I can't remember the terms. It's been too long ago!

Interesting questions I must admit that a year after its release [in Europe] it would appear so that it is once again Nintendo itself that dominates the scene qua games. A pity, actually. I couldn't easily conjure up an impressive list of third-party titles with the same status as a good Nintendo one. RE4 and Umbrella Chronicles. Raving Rabbids. And that's about it. I'm sure there are a few more, but the times seem eerily reminiscent of the Gamecube. Which is strange, because there should be huge third party support for one of the most popular machines. It can't really be compared with the DS, because the Nintendo handhelds have always been supported quite well by third party stuff. The Castlevanias and the Phoenix Wrights; that sort of thing has always gone strong. Personally, the Wii Remote has become a normal, functional, controller for me, but that was to be expected. I actually prefer it if a game makes subtle and light use of the moving and pointing tech nowadays than if it tries to be wild and Wario Ware-like. That was nice when we were all still excited about moving on our sofas, but now I like it if it's used as in Galaxy; verrrry subtle and verrry precise, and only tiny movements necessary. Something like Battalion Wars 2 is already far too involved; you really have to swing the Nunchuk left and right and up for the movement to be registered, and playing with those features is actually a pain in the ass, so I avoid jumping and rolling around. Technologywise, I do think Nintendo made a wise move with the level. This way they could keep it cheap, and Galaxy easily proves you can do some brilliantly beautiful stuff with it. Just because most developers go for Gamecube-level graphics doesn't take away the fact that the Wii is capable of (what was it?) 5, 6 times that quality. What will happen in the future is that the other consoles will drop in price and there will be an equilibrium, basically. I do hope third party support for the Wii blooms in the future, and by all means it's not so bad as I painted above because I just remembered a host of decent games like Trauma Center, Kororinpa, Zack & Wiki, etc. So the Wii will survive and it'll remain a perfectly valid console. Maybe not with the graphical longevity as the others, but I shouldn't worry for the next 3 years or so.

Yeah, Nintendo's on the overall pretty low-key if you look at how Microsoft and Sony shower the audience and press with trips and goodies.

I'm disillusioned with the whole Wii points thing. In Europe, there has just been an overhaul of the Nintendo site, which is now very user-unfriendly and crap. There finally is the long-awaited 'trade in your star points for Wii points' scheme; but they've made the exchange rate 4:1, which is expensive (you get 250 points per 50 Euro game, so before you'd be able to buy a dinosaur from the NES age you've spent 400 Euros -err, that seems a bit much). The most weirdly monopolizing thing is that they've put an artificial cap on how many (virtual!) points they're willing to hand out. So virtual goods become scarce... blast them. After suffering through years of the joke that was the star catalogue, which would be uploaded with a few dozen units of games every quarter or so -obviously gone within minutes of their appearance-, it's a pity to see Nintendo still seem intent on being stuck-up corporate penny-pullers in Europe.

I think this forum's apex has been reached. We might as well call it quits now; there's no topping this.

In death and servitude!

I know, my attitude is beyond repair =(

I am considering it, but I kind of lack the proper supplies to make something great =(

The above backlog for my Gamecube is actually why I decided to eliminate this trend and stop buying games that I wouldn't play. Now I've got an easy system: I only buy games I want to play immediately, and only buy games I know are absolute great ones or will give me a high level of enjoyment. This means I do a lot of research for every purchase and don't buy any of the mediocre fluff that is released on every system. Lordy knows I play enough fluff for my reviewing job Lucky Luke for the Wii... err?? Currently I'm testing Batallion Wars 2. Not really my game, but it's nice.

For the Gamecube I've got: Never even started: -Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes -Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2 -Resident Evil REmake -Goblin Commander -Starfox Adventures Never finished: -Majora's Mask -Viewtiful Joe 2 -Prince of Persia For the DS the list goes: -Project Rub -RE: Deadly Silence -Pokemon Diamond -Drawn to Life Seeing as how I've got 20 games on the DS easily, that list is actually pretty short.

There's a documentary coming out about this topic. I don't know the name, but it features a mock-reverend preaching the coming of the 'Shopocalypse', trying to get people to come to their senses and not buy outrageous amounts of stuff anymore during Christmas and thanksgiving etc. That aside, I do like Christmas and the december month because of the spirit of giving. Religious stuff aside, I think that's very important for human kind, to have a ritualized point somewhere that is dedicated to altruism, love and friendship. The religious meanings are complete bullcrap; the birth of Jesus is a politically orchestrated event meant to pacify the many-coloured inhabitants of the Roman empire. Christmas is actually the pagan celebration of the winter solstice wrapped in Christian mythology. But, you know, whatever. As I said, I like the event because it's meaningful to the inner spirit.

I just finished the storyline with about 89 stars. Absolutely awesome ending battle with Bowser. I completely love how they've managed to make it exhilirating and tense without making it too difficult like so many other [lesser] games do. There's so much to love. Except for -and this is my one big gripe with the game- the hub. That stupid, extremely boring planetarium. This is of course highly ironic, because the only redeeming feature of Mario Sunshine was exactly that: it's gorgeous hub in the form of Delfino Plaza. What a beautiful, exciting place to be! And therefore, such a disappointment that Galaxy has a boring hub that is no more than a menu to select a new level from. It's tedious to traverse, it has nothing going for it... I really just can't get over this. The levels are so amazingly fantastic, so why skimp out on the hub? There could have been a million ways to make it awesome; to make of it some sort of its own cluster of small planets with little houses and fun stuff, and secrets and even stars to collect. Now what happens is I just select another level after exiting the last and immediately blast off again in one of those boring little chambers. Goddammit, with an interesting hub I'd have loved this game without bounds, but now it's a stupid flaw I'd sooner forget. Fortunately, the levels make up for it, but why this huge oversight? I just don't get. Could've been awesome. Why not put even a smidgeon of the creativity from the levels into the stinkin' hub? That said, wow. Those prankster comets can be bitches. Haven't done many of the purple stars yet, but the daredevil comets are hard too, especially in frantic lava worlds where you'll often just get hit randomly by some chance flying stream or whatever. I must stress though, it's absolutely excellent that they've saved these punishing bits for the extras, keeping them away from the stressfree storyline progression. Also, I think it speaks HUGELY for this game that the underwater levels, which in 100% of all games are the most frustrating and tedious bits, are incredibly fun here. The inclusion of those shells is brilliant.

Second episode is up, with some quite interesting reviews. I loved the bit where they show us what happened to the folks presenting the second season of Videogaiden; all washed up and drunken, haha. Now that's closure.

I've been writing for two Dutch gaming magazines for years now ([N]Gamer and GMR). Both feature plenty of advertisements (which is the only way to make it feasible), but I've never, ever heard a beep of pressure from my editors. Or a rebuttal. Granted, there has never really been a lot of controversy, but we've been pretty strict before, and that has never put us into problems. In general, the problem is of course that there is an inescapable tug-of-war between the publisher and the editor. Most gaming press simply can't exist without sponsoring, so it's a necessary evil. In the best case scenario, publisher will stay their hand and take any fair critique as motivation and a lesson. Of course, power brings temptation...

This is excellent.

Windows? Vista's a huge step back in my opinon But it's good to hear they're chipping away at the little deficiencies of the 360. Very soon it'll be my first anniversary of telling myself I was going to buy an Xbox in a few weeks. Here's hoping it won't see its second

It isn't quite like that. Consolevania is still their 'main brand'. They were really revving up for CV3 when they suddenly got the deal to make a gigantic Videogaiden series, so they had to halt CV.

I can't remember the last Activision game I played. Pheeewww... Can't remember a whole lot, anyway. It's all been Ubisoft, Vivendi, Capcom and Nintendo.

I don't actually know the chronology, but I believe they put out a new CD every year or so? It's really quite interesting to see the amount of blasphemy and bestiality they manage to squeeze into one evening

I just came back from a Tiger Lillies concert; which was supremely excellent. They're endlessly entertaining live. Some of their songs are a bit bland on MP3, but their showmanship elevates the whole thing. The band's quite old, and British, but if you have no idea who they are, here's a taste:

Yesterday evening at a housewarming party I played my first round of Guitar Hero III. I was shit. Easy was pretty doable, but as soon as I hit Medium with the extra blue button added, I got lost hopelessly, heh.

Instead of booting up NOLF2, I simply bought UR MR GAY and have been playing ever since

Well, that was elaborate, and of course a gross misrepresentation of what Tourette's actually is. But actually, I'm not that fond of gags anyway. Situational comedy is much more preferable.

Hey, now I really feel like playing NOLF2 again. I had been wondering what game to play. Maybe this is it!