wholehole

Fuck yes! A 2D Dizzy in the style of Rayman Origins would be fucking gravy Fantasy World Dizzy remains as my favourite game from my Spectrum days, plus it was the only game I actually managed to complete without cheating on that format.

This was awesome, just the way it was done, very ominous and sinister and possibly my favourite moment in the game so far. Clearing up the Thieves Guild stuff atm, but really looking forward to getting into that questline. I found i'd contracted Ataxia and didn't even know, despite the woman in one of the shops saying I looked pale and to get it checked out. I just thought it was ambient flavour speech, but it wasn't which was pretty cool. I'll be paying attention to that stuff in future.

I think the game looks fucking amazing, especially when there's weather effects involved. Travelling in the mountains or tundra whilst there's a snowstorm is just incredible. I know the 360 version suffers from a caching issue if it's installed, where it will only ever load the low-res textures for a object, so maybe the PS3 is suffering from a similar sort of problem. Once i'd deleted the installed data and ran it from the disc it looked loads better. They are patching all these problems very soon though. Apparently if you get married you can move in to your wife's house, which bascially means free storage whilst you go off adventuring and she wait's with your stuff feeling all neglected and shit.

Inorite?! Fucking tease! I bet she's pulled that shit on every dude in Skyloft. Finally figured out the reason she's always getting kidnapped! Also, i'd totally have a unabrow if I could grow it like Zelda's father. It's like an awesome pair of face-horns! Anyways... Graphics are lovely, sound is a joy, it's just so goddamn charming through and through. This is my first Motion+ game also and I was pleasantly surprised. Never been a fan of the whole Wiimote + sensor bar setup - I've always felt it was a jittery, inaccurate mess of a control system - but this is excellent. It's still a little on the slow side as a menu cursor, but it does what you want it to do when you want, no more repeating gestures to get them to work, at least in my experience so far anyway. Aside from that, it's still Zelda. If you're a fan of the series (who isn't, right??), you know what you're getting pretty much.

I think I just found my new favourite podcast. It's not a gaming podcast as such, but they do talk about games from time to time and all three are writers for Joystiq, so thread topic observed. Kind of http://www.maximumfun.org/shows/my-brother-my-brother-and-me The latest episode has some Skyrim talk at around 35 minutes in, more specifically they answer a question from a girl who's boyfriend can't stop playing Skyrim. It's fucking priceless

I really don't rate Darabont anyway, not after The Mist. That film was unforgiveable. You want to see some stupid decisions made in a crisis, watch that. It also includes a few of the cast from Walking Dead (Carol, Dale, Andrea), so maybe they're still suffering from the stupid they served up in that film.

If i'm on my own it's single player all the way for me. I love the story, characters and expansive worlds to get involved in. I don't hate multiplayer like I used to as I've dabbled in Gears 3 and Uncharted's MP modes recently. I just don't feel like i'm getting anything out of it despite the leveling and reward systems most MP games have now. I really enjoy co-op though, it's always alot of fun no matter what you're playing and i'll happily play deathmatch or something if I've got a buddy to chat to whilst it's going on.

Should be getting this in the mail later on today. I kind of expected the Wiimote to look horrible, anything painted gold is going to. I'd have been surprised if you'd have said it looked good. If it was just a normal Wiimote I wouldn't have bothered but it's worth it as it's a plus version. Really looking forward to getting into this, will post up some impressions later this evening.

I'm getting this feeling also I'll keep going with it but it feels as though they've lost their way a bit, possibly from not following the subject material close enough. Very slow paced compared to the comics. The whole Sophia storyline is just a total farce at this point, they really should have cleared it up the very next episode and moved on. I just hope they start speeding things up a bit and get back to the actual story this is based on as there's far more exciting stuff to come than this.

I've never been very good at focusing on one specific game when there's multiple great titles out at once. I'm buried deep in Skyrim atm, but now I have Assassin's Creed, and Saint's Row and Skyward Sword are due to turn up by the end of the week. There's also Rayman on the horizon that I don't think i'll be able to resist. Skyrim could theoretically take until the new year and beyond to finish completely, so i'm thinking that once I hit the 40 hour mark i'll give it a rest and move on to something else for a while, i'm just worried that i'll lose momentum and never finish the main story like I did with Oblivion. So, how do you guys deal with having multiple games to play at once? Do you flit between games on a whim or focus solely on one game to completion, then move on to the next?

I said I was going to wait until next year to get this, but after playing the demo some more I think I need to pick this up as soon as I can.

You don't have to at all if you don't want to. It helps though, especially the crafting and enchanting. I don't think it'll be worth putting points into the perks until much later on though. The alchemy you could take or leave really. I just find it a bit useless tbh as the potions are actually quite weighty if you're carrying alot of them. I only use it now to keep a stock of health, magic and stam potions, just in case. I've been trying desperately to get my hands on the Collector's Edition hardback guide for a reasonable price but i'm not sure what happened with them over here. It seems as though they were never even on sale. Amazon have a couple listed as a "collectible" which of course gives them license to ask for silly money for it (£129 ) Same on ebay. There's a few on there from the UK but most are around the £100 mark. May have to look into getting it imported or something, just seems like an awful lot of hassle for a bloody book though

I fucking hate those minstrel bastards from AC. Always getting right up in your grill with their lutes and shit . I never have the heart to kill them outright but I always grab them and throw them into the nearest breakable object. Cunts

It'd be interesting to see a breakdown of how many of us are playing each game. I'd wager that there's fewer playing Skyrim but putting more hours in.

I'll be picking this up early next year for sure. The artwork and animation are just

I haven't been this in awe at the scope of a game since Oblivion. It's just incredible. Sunk nearly 25 hours into it this weekend and feels like i've barely even scratched the surface. Currently level 19 as a Dark Elf Ranger type character. Being as sneaky as possible mostly, but can back it up with a sword n' board combo or flaming hands of death if needs be. Done a few of the story missions but the side missions (and even some of the misc objectives) are of such a high quality that it's actually quite difficult to tell them apart. I found one dungeon purely by chance that had it's own story and turned out to be pretty epic by the end. Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Saints Row The Third and Skyward Sword are all coming out this week but all I can think about is getting stuck back into Skyrim! [EDIT] DM, What did you mean by this? I've done this but didn't notice anything at the end. Is it something cool?

Yeah, no. Just... no Bad move, especially as the pricing is all over the place. Just be easier to hold on to your PSP, not like they're actually worth anything anymore.

I'd rather a fan of the genre review a game because that person is more likely to forgive any faults, the same as I would when I'm playing it. Regardless of that though, knowledge shines through and makes for easier comparison to other games within the genre. Objectivity sucks. I'd much rather read something where the reviewer has given their honest opinion on the game, and then backed it up with evidence and comparison than a bunch of bullet points or a pro/con list. Surely their opinion is what they get paid for, whether it's agreed with or not? Scores. I have a love/hate relationship with review scores. I like them in order to get a general feel for the review, but the way they're generally interpreted by alot of people rankles. Half of the total achievable score is average, eg 5/10, that means it does no more and no less of what you expect in that genre. A 7/10 is not a shit game, it's probably something the fans will appreciate more than others, and 10/10 is not PERFECT above everything else, it's just the best example in that particular genre. I read a lot of reviews from various sources if i'm interested in a game. It's more for information gathering purposes, rather than actually wanting someone to tell me if I should buy a game or not. I love watching the Quick Looks that Giant Bomb do as it gives a great overall impression of what a game is like without having all the guff that goes into a review. Saying that though, i'd much rather just play a demo myself in order to make a decision.

The campaign challenges are tough. It's not the modifiers that make it difficult surprisingly, it's that you have to get the three medals in one play through (including the limited retries). You can't repeat the campaign just to clear up that one last medal on the third map without repeatedly achieving three medals on the previous maps. It's a nightmare considering how long the predator-combat-predator campaigns can take. I've managed to do one I think, but some of them are just infuriating, espeicially if you get to the last map and royally fuck it up I've also resolved to 100% this same as I did with AA. I've started NG+, cleared up the rest of the Riddler trophies and still trawling through the challenges. Will be taking a break for now though whilst there's other stuff to play.

Yeah, that was a nice touch. Made those fights a bit more tactical. Shame there weren't a few more restrictions placed on some of the fights, similar to the campaign challenge rooms.

That's what I thought when I heard him doing the VO on the adverts! He was also an Eastenders villain for a bit if memory serves. Not tempted by this at all. No intention of playing the multiplayer so I don't really see the point for a 4-5 hour single player campaign. I'll probably just borrow it off a mate once he's done with it. Not even sure why they bother making the campaign any more. i suspect if they announced the next game was multiplayer only, no one would even bat an eyelid.

Bloody excellent, but to echo DM, not as good as the 2nd. Aside from them showing all of their set pieces in trailers and previews, Uncharted 2 was just incredible after the first game, literally mind-blowing. I guess I just expected them to one-up themselves again somehow, but I kinda knew at the back of my mind that it was never going to happen.

There were some improvements, but only small things like the line launcher (being able to switch direction and use it as a tightrope). The combat animations were also much improved, likewise being able to counter two or three foes at once, but it's just a bit too busy with all the moves you gain by the end. Most of them get ignored and you just fall back on one or two moves to see you through. As great as it was I just don't think it was as good as the first game, it didn't feel anywhere near as tight or have as good a sense of place due to the open world.

Not been around these parts long but glad the site's back up. Ta for doing things to make it work again

As cool as the Catwoman stuff looks I really wish they hadn't bothered with all this season pass stuff, a game like this really doesn't need it and it ends up just looking a bit forced. I'm finding it truly difficult to feel anything even approaching annoyance about this, mainly because it's the sequel to one of my all time favourite games. I can imagine if I was waiting and buying this second hand i'd be rather pissed though. [EDIT] Thanks Hendo, was waiting for that. Really enjoy the quick looks they do.