drdark

@jesao: That looks great! I'm checking it out now. Where'd you get it? eBay?

I think the main problem here is people assuming 7/10 is a bad score...

7/10 sounds about right. Apart from the leaderboards being removed, I thought the other main criticisms were: lack of music/sound effects, price and a rather "slim" experience overall. If so, the score is very fair. The depth of KuBoS's mechanics or the bonus content (music) in PictoBits aren't really replicated here.

That said, again, 7/10 is a very good score and it's a nice game. Wife loves it on her iPod Touch.

You know something's dodgy in a press release when the phrase "technological forensics" pops up .
Do they just mean "we logged onto ***hunt, and typed 'Mario' in?"

Anyway, other sources have estimated the ratio of pirated download to actual lost sales to be around 1000:1, so 30,000 downloads would actually mean 30 copies. So maybe he could have afforded that after all... but then if that was all he was fined in court it wouldn't send the strong "message" Nintendo wanted.

I do agree piracy is a problem in certain cases, but proof that it dents sales significantly just isn't there. In facts, I'd say if a game /isn't/ pirated it's most likely crap and not selling very well either... success can almost be measured in "piracy"... now wouldn't that be a shocker?!?!

Here's a bit more clarity on the matter:

See, NOW I want to get this... sigh.
Also, given the reasonably good reviews it's been getting I wouldn't say Rabbids was "aimed at kids", I think the phrase should be "family friendly". In any case I've seen more adult jokes in Ice Age 3...

It was hardly a rumour it was coming. Their 'temp' page since the Internet Channel was updated has always said "a dedicated iplayer for wii is coming later this year". They just didn't mentioned the word "channel"; was it so hard to work out? In any case, having a date is nice, now I can watch Mock the Week in my living room again. I'm guessing the quality will now be closer to the Nintendo Channel rather than the previous iPlayer or YouTube pages were/are.

@Machu: You don't need a TV Licence to use the iPlayer. On a PC or otherwise. The rule is literally "you need a TV Licence to watch LIVE TV".
But yes, you have to be UK-based .

I just thought I'd drop in to comment on game length, since some people assume rail-shooters are short: IGN's Modern Warfare 2 reviews states the single-player portion would take about 4.5 hours... and yes, you can't compare with deadspace on that front, but wasn't MoH:H2 at least 6-7 hours?
I don't expect a major studio's game to be less than 10 hours no matter how many multiplayer modes it boasts.

You know, that disc label is so cool, it almost made me buy the game now. But I think I'll wait. Got too much else to play. The Wii has sooo many good games on it (and no I'm not being sarcastic).

@odd69: You've contradicted yourself by saying on-rails games don't interest you, then proceeding to make a bold statement that "compared to the original it's a laugh". Since you're in no position to compare the two, I don't think it's wise to make such statements.

Also, you seem to think it was EA's decision to make it on-rails, rather than the design team. If something is forced, it usually doesn't turn out very well. Yet this is very highly reviewed (everywhere) and they clearly put a tonne of effort into it since it's frequently claimed to have the best graphics on the Wii of any game.

I'm not saying you should buy it of course if you're not into on-rails titles. But you seem to have made the decision for everyone else not to buy it at the same time.

How long's Dead Space been out in the US? It was end of last month in the UK and no one had a chance to buy it! I wish these companies would stop looking at first-month-sales. It's bloody stupid, and if that means they drop publicity after the first month, then it's their own fault.

@gii:
1) MOH:Heroes 2 had 32-player online if I remember correctly.
2) Dead Space is one of the most highly reviewed games on the Wii, so dismissing it based on "genre" is just bloody stupid.
3) Let's not make things personal -- Sean

I could be proven wrong, but I didn't think it'd be economically sound to make yet another DS redesign. I also haven't seen that many old people complaining about DSi size, but maybe it's different in Japan.

I also find some of the various website reports confusing as apart from the "bigger screens for older people" argument some list "web browsing" and "music playing" as other advantages in the DSi LL.
Really?! Usually the smaller the music player, the better (unless this has a built in radio?) and I'm guessing still no MP3 support?
As for web browsing, while I'm perfectly happy just checking Facebook's mobile page on my DSi, I can't see it being taken seriously unless they've at least doubled the RAM yet again.

I can't help feeling they're somehow hoping to compete with netbooks (yes I know, blue ocean strategy doesn't compete, blah blah blah, whatever), but in that regard it still falls short.

Plus of course the screen res issue which everyone's talking about.

@Betagam7: I agree Nintendolife should report it. I haven't denied that at all. I'm just saying the headline blew things out of proportion as far as I can see (I'd love to be proven wrong).

This site has recently become one of the most popular for Nintendo-related news and reviews. And this'd be the perfect moment to quote that Spiderman line about power and responsibility. So, errr there you go.

Not trying to attack Nintendolife or any users, just trying to keep the peace so to speak.

~all the best.

@wanderlustwarrior: thanks for amusing me for all of 20 seconds.

@Betagam7: there is a warning message displayed just before you proceed with the update, although I can't remember whether it specifically mentions internet disconnections though (it does however mention unofficial software I do recall).
Also, regarding said Eurogamer "myth" quote - I don't see anything wrong with the statement. They didn't say "none", they say "usually" and "very small number". So far I haven't seen anything to prove otherwise. If you look at the comments on this thread and several other sites, I've seen plenty of comments saying nothing happened to their Wii rather than the opposite.

Thus I stand by my statement. This story has been overblown, and the title of this news piece didn't help at all.

@citizen_zane: I can't remember the source of the story, but I believe some people have had their Wii repaired and got it back with downloads and saves intact. I hope you are eventually one of them .

@wanderlustwarrior: So you would like them to go around to each individual Wii owner and just ask them whether they're using the Homebrew channel to pirate games, would you?

Get some sense; are you 8 or something?

@Shiryu: Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that anyone was lying about having a bricked "non-modified" Wii, only that the headline to this story is exaggerating. It would give the impression that a majority rather than minority of Wii owners are having this problem.

As for those who are claiming Nintendo is intentionally trying to punish pirates by bricking their Wiis: AFAIK most have just reported that the Homebrew channel was removed, and in any case you get warned more than once that the update will disable any illegal software on the system. I can't ask more than that.

"Left, Right and Centre"? Why does the headline get more sensational every time this news is posted?

Ah... whoops. Better grab all the cutlery before I'm banned then! whoosh

Well, I still don't agree with the KuBoS review. It's neck and neck with GTA for my fave DS game of '09. I'd give it a 9/10 and only loses as point due to the lack of some built in way to compare scores online (my highest stands at 1.4mil for the 10-floor mode).

Anyways, guess I'd better check out townsmen then!

Hmmm, I may check it out on mobile, but I don't put much stock in PocketGamer reviews, since they gave KuBoS a '6'. And skimming through the Townsmen review, they claim it's a match for a PC game... which seems a rather lofty claim.
Not that I have a way to deny these claims at present. Has anyone here played Townsmen though?

I like this game, but I have one major niggle.
I remember in Contra III, 2-Player Mode, if one of the players lost all their lives, there was some button to press so they could "borrow" an extra life from their partner. There doesn't seem to be a way to do this in Contra Rebirth, so the player who lost all their lives has to hang about for ages till the other player loses all their lives and "continues" before they can play again.

I love this game! Probably the best puzzler I've played in years. I'd give it 9/10 and it only loses a point for having no leaderboard. This is such a "chase that high score" game that it's ridiculous to have left such a thing out.
P.S. I noticed your score in the screenshots goes up to 18160, Darren. What's your record?! Mine's 276270 .