miffy495

I'm with you. The component cables arrived today, so next priority is to pay them (assuming that "them" is Nintendo) to play it.

They are a lot more reliable. They worked in GH1 and everything, but you had to be much more precise. Now you can just jam and it gives you the same amount of give-or-take that it does on normal notes. Still, as one who's now beaten both games on Expert, I gotta say keep at it. The day that you finally beat Bark at the Moon on Expert will leave you with such an amazing feeling of triumph. Especially given the fact that with the solo at the end of the song, the first time you beat BatM will probably come right after three or four attempts where you failed at 99%. It did for me. Scared the hell out of my roommate's dog with my whoop of joy. Texas Flood on Hard is the first time the game really shows that it's going to get tough. It's one of the few big spikes in difficulty. Get through it, and the rest of the top tier, and you'll be able to work your way through Expert at your own pace. Damn is it worth it, too.

True. I do realize that it's only going into sleep mode, but the heat is still unsettling. I'd have glady accepted a bit of noise if it meant that the thing would run cooler. Oh well. I guess I'll just stop worrying about it and go back to the games. To Rodi: RE-HIJACKED! Also, tough break. Take some solace in the fact that you're one of the few in Europe that has one, whether it works or not. Good luck with the new converter, or whatever you're doing to get it running.

That it is, but I've beaten it already. It really could stand to be a bit longer, but it's a launch game so I'll go easy. Wholehearted at any rate. Y'know, when they were choosing games to have you do twice, did they really need to make one of them "Bunnies are Heartless With Pigs?" That is the only minigame in the entire set that really wasn't fun. That said, the little rhythm game in each set of 5 is always appreciated. So fun. They need to make a dedicated Wii drum game. That, or Sega could ressurect Samba De Amigo. Whatever. I needs my motion sensitive rhythm gaming, and I needs it bad.

Agreed. That is a quality piece of writing. Must... wait for... component cables...

Secret of Mana is an amazing game, with stellar co-op. Children of Mana, I am avoiding at the moment because of this forum's reaction to it.

Brkl, were you referring to the GCN pad or the Classic Controller? Anyway, I'm in agreement with Vimes and Kolzig on this one. I always loved my GCN controller (wavebird FTW) and really liked the original Xbox one (the newer S pad was just a MS branded GCN pad anyway, so it's comfy but doesn't count) whereas the PS2 controller functioned just fine but really started to cramp up your hands after a while. I have no problem playing VC games with a 'cube pad, though it'd be nice to have the Classic. It's still Mario 64 dammit.

I bought Mario 64 and Zelda from it. Zelda is great, although the rounded back of the controller takes some getting used to when you're using it like an NES pad. Once you get over that, it's the same game it always was. I actually never owned Mario 64 before, and the first time I played it was on the DS, so this was one I'd been wanting to buy since they announced the VC. It's damned solid, although I do kinda wish the store hadn't been sold out of the classic controller. The 'cube pad works fine, but I'd like to use the pad the game was optimized for. Aside from that quibble, Virtual Console is very slickly designed and intuitive. I'd say it's comparable if not more intuitive than Live Arcade. Being able to just point and click is nice, and it just feels like you're browsing an online store on your computer. The muzak on the menu screens can be a bit off-putting, but you learn to ignore it. It'd be nice if there was a bit more selection, but it just launched so I'm willing to wait a while.

Downloading, will be playing soon. Good job getting the thing live, man.

Mine works ok, but the speed is shit. It may just be that it's time to put my ancient router out to pasture, or perhaps the floor that's between it and the Wii. Still, it recognizes that it's there, and I've gotten a couple of Virtual Console games using it, so it does function. Took bloody forever though. My hope is that Ninty's networks are just really flooded at the moment and it'll get better once the rush has died down, but I have nothing to compare it to. Is it really slow for others right now, or is it just me?

Yeah, love love LOVE Monkey Ball, but then I always have. I'm also really digging Rayman, but at the rate I'm speeding through it, I'll be done tomorrow night already. I keep on going back and playing the different versions of that rhythm based minigame though. That is the most fun I've had with a console in a while. I get way too into it and start to feel like I'm beating the hell out of some drums. When the double hits show up, I get my whole body into it and just slam down on the air in front of me. It's great. As I'll be done Rayman soon, (and get paid on Friday) any elaboration on Excite Truck would be cool, Loonyboi. I was kind of looking at that one but unsure as to whether or not to purchase. Mostly, how's the multiplay, as that's what I'm most interested in it for?

As do I. My Future Shop got 72 in, and I got number 72. I stood in line for 5 hours for the damned thing, (and I feel awful for the very nice people behind me who stood in line for 4 and a half and got nothing) but it really is a lot of fun. They were sold out of most games and had no more controllers by the time I got there, but I managed to grab Monkey Ball and Rayman, both of which I was very interested in anyway. Rayman is a hell of a lot of fun, and I love the bunnies to death. Monkey Ball is pretty damned good as well, though I haven't played as much of it. The tilting of the world is going to take some getting used to, but I think I'll be able to get the hang of it. Really, the whole system is going to take some getting used to. When the next shipment of games comes I'll probably grab Zelda. Honestly, thank god it was picked clean before I hit the shelves, as I'll now have a paycheque arriving before I can get more stuff for the Wii, thus keeping me from spending money that I really don't have.

Meh, everywhere has fucked up ways of saying things. It has always struck me as a somewhat odd expression, but the fact that in North America it's become "I could care less" means that as someone raised in North America, I use it. It's a lot less irritating to drop a "n't" off a word than to constantly throw in things like "innit" as many of your citizens do. Maybe that's just me though.

Yeah, the combat sucks. The fact that it can make you feel like that is why it's so great though. It's what that team does. You can't tell me that you didn't hate yourself a little bit every time you downed a colossus in Shadow, and it's the same sort of thing. They don't make happy games. Who said they had to?

Heh. The guy at the future shop had me laughing quite a bit when I called up to ask about how many Wiis they were getting and what time he'd recommend I show up in the morning. He had the most tired and broken voice imaginable, as though he were only a few more stupid questions away from turning a gun on himself. Those employees must really be sick of this nonsense. Pity the poor bastards.

I would absolutely love to see all these auctions go nowhere and have these opportunistic wankers be stuck with a $600 machine that none of them really want. Plus games!

He's got a point, man. Earlier today I actually found myself defending Sony because of this. Even with my current hate on for them. I felt kinda dirty afterwards, but the point stands. There are many ways that Sony has fucked up recently. This isn't one of them.

Dunno. If you're hard up for an arcade racer, Excite Truck could be cool. The vids I've seen make it look like some good fun, particularly with another player. Nothing deep or engrosing, but for the launch window you could do worse. I'm less sure about Rayman after watching Gamespot's weekly thing earlier today. They played Rayman during the show and the minigames shown were all identical to things that were in Monkey Ball's party games section when they showed it last week. Only for 1 player. I'll need to see some reviews on this one...

In an effort to cover my ass, I will now direct you to Gamespot's "We've got a Wii!" video. Skip to about the 1 hour mark in the vid. At that point, they play about 45 minutes of Monkey Ball party games, of which there are 50. (Monkey Ball 2 had 12, so this is a pretty big step up) Should give you a decent taste. Here it is: the vid. It's the 11/10/06 video. I watched the not-boring bits last night. This meant Monkey Ball and Zelda. There's also some Excite Truck, Madden, and a bunch of set up stuff in there.

Ok, so I just got Lumines Live off of the 360 marketplace. Fucking brilliant, as is to be expected of Lumines. Some of the new skins (Ariba? The hell?) made me smile quite a bit while I was playing, and I was suddenly reminded why I bought a PSP last summer. Still a fantastic game, but that staggered payment thing does kinda piss me off. Regardless, as it's up there with Geometry Wars for my "favorite thing off Xbox Marketplace" award, I'm willing to say that it's worth the money. This despite the fact that compared to other Live games, you're getting it through the pants. I know at least one other person on the forums has this, and figured I may as well throw up a topic. So: Lumines and the weird pricing format they've developed for it. Discuss. Also, do the controls feel not-as-good to anyone else? Maybe it's trying to use the 360's shitty d-pad with a game that requires precision, but after a couple of round of 360 Lumines, I'm nowhere near the scores I'd routinely get on the PSP. Seems easier to be off by a row, which is death in a game like this. I haven't played much yet, and maybe I'll get a feel for it, but there you have it.

All I really want with regards to Wii backwards compatability is to be able to run GCN games (that already could) in 480p through the Wii's component cable. My GCN is one of the first run ones, meaning it actually has the capacity to run 480p games. Unfortunately, by the time I got a TV that worked with component cables, they'd discontinued the damn things. This is my last hope to see things like Metroid Prime running in Progressive Scan. Ninty, don't let me down.

Monkey Ball 2 kicks all kinds of ass. MB1 was great for it's time, but MB2 took pretty much everything that was in MB1 and then added a bunch more awesome to it. If you have an Xbox or PS2 though, you can get some special Monkey Ball Deluxe pack that has both games on one disk. Haven't tried that one, so I'm not sure of the quality. My assumption would be that the Xbox is quality whereas the PS2 is also quality but has a lot of distracting jaggies. In a game so focused on platforms, a lot of jaggies would really suck. Actually, I think there's a Monkey Ball double pack for 'cube as well at this point which retails for the same (or less) than most stand alone games, so that may be the way to go. *ahem* I love Monkey Ball, so I've said way too much now, but there you have it. If you're just getting one game, get MB2. If you were just curious and not interested in trying the games, sorry for the rambling. Although from Gamespot's videos and IGN's review, Banana Blitz is the shit. (50 Minigames! Ultimate party time! ) So if you're getting a Wii, maybe go with that. From your post, I'm assuming you're a fan of party games, and Monkey Ball has never dissappointed in being one of the best party games available. I'll be buying it immediately anyway. My GCN came home with MB1, and my Wii will come home with MB3.

Well, I'm grabbing Monkey Ball, Zelda, and Metal Slug on day 1, with probably a couple of TBD games when my next paycheque comes in. Monkey Ball has yet to let me down, (well, OK. Adventure was shit, but that was a different dev studio, so it doesn't count) I've been wanting to catch up on my Metal Slug play, and you can never really miss with Zelda. Plus there's Wii Sports right in there and apparently my second controller will come bundled with Wii Play, which I would've gotten anyway so it just means I save a few bucks. There's my line up for you. Trauma Center looks great too, but as it's a remake of the DS one, I'm less enthusiastic than I otherwise would have been, and thus will probably wait a while before picking it up.

Chillingly Banal? Killed all the fun-a? Fuck, this one is hard...

I recognized most of the thumb faces, but couldn't put a name to 'em. Oh well. Happy birthday, Spaff!