The Tingler

The release rather sprang out the door, so it probably caught most places by surprise - either that or they're waiting for Part 2 to complete the game. Most of the improvements between the DS and PC versions are technological ones, but that massively improved the game. The controls are 100% better, the city looks like more alive and looks somewhere between Grim Fandango and Beyond Good & Evil in style, with a large dollop of Psychonauts... and of course, full voice acting and more cutscenes, which really makes the humour funnier and the story better told. There's a lot more to examine in the adventure sections and a few tweaks to the levels, but the level layout is mostly the same. I'm really enjoying it, and I've already played the DS version. Just don't get it on GamersGate. I've never known a more fiddly downloading scheme to navigate.

No, they just don't give a rat's ass. Admittedly all games companies are like this (here I go again, playing Sony Advocate - I hate the bastards!), and we've only just barely got the Wii for 2006. The Xbox 360 has already got quite a firm hold on the market - another year's wait might consolidate that.

Well, I live outside of the US/Canada, so I can't get it even if I wanted it. The Last Express is a true classic of the adventure series and is an absolute bastard to find nowadays (let alone run), so that's definitely a good choice. And Planescape: Torment is the finest, darkest and funniest Black Isle/Bioware RPG out there - and this is from the developers who between them made two Baldur's Gates and two Knights of the Old Republics, four already superb games. Most games I saw on it though were easily available on Emulation websites for Genesis/MegaDrive or SNES.

Okay, now I'm REALLY confused. Is this actually an adventure/platform game or a big minigame collection? On one side we've got CVG, the other Planet GameCube. One's played it, the other's got an interview with Michael Ancel about it. Both are a bit contradictory.

I guess it's just disappointment in that it's not what I wanted from this game. There's a Mario Galaxy-sized hole in the Wii launch, something non-serious that you can play about with yet still has a broad storyline. I don't mind games like this for most of the reasons you guys suggested (even though I prefer them on handheld), but as I suggested at the end, hasn't Wii already got plenty of minigame collections?

What... the... hell? So it's not going to be a cheekily-bizarre and humorous platform game? Which is what I expected and thought looked quite fun? Instead it's just a big Minigame Collection?!? Remember that Official Trailer? You know, the one with the strange spiky-haired girl in it? At no point in that trailer (which is playing in game stores up and down the country right now) does it suggest "minigame collection". It looks like a big adventure, not loads of little party games. I thought those minigame videos were, well, minigames! Fun additions to the main game, like Super Monkey Ball! Not the whole thing!! Dammit, this has just fallen off my wishlist. Michael Ancel, creator of Beyond Good & Evil, deciding that what the Wii didn't need was a fun and surreal platform game that redeems the Rayman series, and instead gives us another minigame collection for Wii. Just what it needed. Great, now I have to think of a new third launch title to get after Zelda and Red Steel.

It's usually with taxes that price. The GameCube ended up even cheaper than the announced price over here in the UK. $250 converts to about 195 Euros, or £130. We'll find out exactly what the European price is tomorrow.

Yeah, I don't get why the GameCube is coming out later, considering it's been finished for months (that's not guesswork on my part, Nintendo have admitted it - all the extra time has been fine-tuning for the Wii version). Maybe because they're worried a lot of people were going to be buying the GameCube version just to play it with the old-style control system. I know I was. Nah, don't call me a luddite, I just like being able to move the camera in third-person games! I'll get the Wii version (on day one, of course), and I'll play it until the GC version comes, then if I don't like the control system I'll swap them. Of course, I might not even be able to find the GameCube section. It's small enough now and places like GAME and GameStation, and I'm prepared to bet that with the PS3 and Wii coming out this year it'll disappear altogether...

You know, you can actually still find the toys in my local Toys R Us!

Interesting question. Most recently my response would be Batman Vengeance, which got slated (as all Batman games do), but I'm actually enjoying it because the story's quite interesting. And they've got the full Animated Series voice cast, too!

Fair enough. I wonder what TT will do with a Lego Batman game? Base it off comics or films? Maybe even one of the several Animated Series? Should be fun, though!

Not quite the same thing, though, is it?

With any luck I might be able to con my parents into getting me one this Xmas, and this'll be top of my list of games with it.

Why, thank you Tingler, I was waiting for someone to answer me.

It's being released in November.