Wiper

GunValkyrie would make it for me, that's a game I never thought to see brought over. Still plenty more I'd like to see, but that was always near the top of my list.

Damned kids, filling up this forum! And don't worry SMD, I remember when I was one of the young ones. Oh, for the days when I was a teenager on here and everyone else seemed to be some variation of old...

Yeah as much as I don't think this will seriously impact Nintendo's Christmas sales, I am surprised at the combination of lateness and severity of the delay — I'd guess either it means something has gone very wrong in the development of the game (and wasn't properly reported back); that there's been a late demand for a significant change to the game; or that Nintendo has seen some kind of forecast (maybe distribution related, or maybe an upcoming issue for their 2022 releases) and decided on a significant change to their schedule. I wonder if we'll ever know which?

I'm not generally a Nintendo apologist, but I don't know that this isn't quite as dramatic an issue as you're painting it. For one, in the battle of the remakes, Pokemon is undoubtedly the bigger name than Advance Wars, so if Nintendo could choose which one to drop from their roster it'd be Advance Wars. For another, I'm not sure I'd classify a remake of this level as a 'AAA' game in the first place. And finally, I would generally consider October releases to count as part of the 'Christmas' window, and Metroid Dread was surely their big winter release! (of course, in reality the Switch-exclusive game to be excited for is Shin Megami Tensei V, even if that isn't a Nintendo game)

*cough*

Well who would have thought; it turns out that when you make a movie out of that game series whose entire schtick is applying the sincerest form of flattery to Indiana Jones,* you end up with something entirely bland and predictable! I don't know whether to be pleased that people evidently do possess the critical faculties to recognise it for what it is when its applied to the sphere of film [trailers], or depressed that those faculties seem to disappear when applied to video games. Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to seeing the same thing happen with I Can't Believe It's Not Children of Men Meets The Walking Dead: The TV Series. * other classic action adventure movie scenes may also be considered for such compliments

For what it's worth, the developers of Saturn Tribute did say they're working on fixing/reducing the input lag issues; but then again, the games in that are literally just running on a ported version of SSF, so I'm not sure how much I'd trust their ability to act on that. Still, hopefully it will get fixed, as having good versions of all games in the series available on modern consoles would be ideal. (Yes, even Rainbow Cotton, if only to satisfy my curiosity; I imagine its reputation plus the lack of an easy-to-port emulator for the developers to rip-off take inspiration from makes that somewhat unlikely to ever emerge, however)

I mean, a lot of it isn't just for games you don't like - it's for games you don't want to keep. There are plenty of games I've played to the end (or for a few tens of hours before stopping) and then sold on, and that's one reason I still favour physical copies when buying games, and won't buy digital unless it's significanctly cheaper/the only option.* Gamepass offers a partial solution to that problem for me — games that I would have bought and sold I've enjoyed on service, and games I would have bought and kept I've then gone off and bought outright. (Steam automatic refund limit is 2 hours, by the way, not 5. And is actually a bit shitty for very short games; at least with second-hand sales the dev/publisher gets the initial sale; Steam's system means that <2 hour game developers get to enjoy seeing people finish their game and then reclaim their money entirely) * the others being I still like to have a copy that isn't reliant on an online service being available to play — even if it is unpatched — and that I like having the games I love displayed.

Yep, and it's also a very pleasant motion - rotary controls are just inherently enjoyable for scrolling through things (see also the old iPod click wheel and, you know, ye olde paddle controllers), as it's easy to control and intuit acceleration across a very broad range in a way that linear motion isn't.

£30 as an absolute maximum for digital; £40 for AAA physical; up to £100 for physical releases of smaller studios' titles with accompanying nice, pointless knick-knacks.

debs gives those of us who have bad great taste a bad name with his drive-by outré opinions The tricky thing with metroidvanias as a category is that their appeal, by nature of their broad variety of gameplay elements, can come from a range of sources. So, despite not being true metroidvanias, games like Iconoclasts or Knytt can be good recommendations for a fan, depending on what they like about the genre (playing run 'n' guns with a gradually evolving toolset; or exploring sprawling 2D maps, respectively).

Yeah, the movable interface is an underused one in strategy games. Settlers 2 did a great line in movable windows, including the option to create little pop-up cameras that followed your citizens around (so e.g. you could keep an eye on your scout as he looked for minerals even as you built up your town); something I'm surprised more RTS's haven't done.

Inspired by the odd resurrection of that time some indie devs made sweeping generalisations about Japanese vs 'Western' developers, I thought it would be nice to celebrate actual high points of video game interfaces; whether overall "this game has a coherent, well-designed UI/UX", or simply "look at this great interface element/concept". Between us we've probably played, like, a couple of games at least, so we can probably come up with a few decent examples. (I have a feeling we've had a topic similar to this before, but I've struggled to find it. It probably doesn't help that UI and UX aren't easily searchable terms!) I'll start with some obvious examples; one spark of brilliance, and a set of comprehensively delightful interfaces: Beyond Good & Evil's spiral text-entry system Still, still, still the best joypad-based text entry system. It's embarrassing, really. (Prey did at least lift the concept for its weapon select, which was a great application of the design) Persona 3, 4 and 5 Great interface design can be designed to blend seamlessly with its game; sitting in the background and becoming part of the player's subconscious experience. Or it can be overt, adding to the noise and flavour of the game. The latter-day Persona games all take this approach, to glorious effect. It started with 3, contributing to the game's gloomy aesthetic and brash manga stylings by throwing large dialogue boxes, character portraits, and dynamic movement to menus: https://youtu.be/iRbw6s9zcl0?t=4438 Took things further with Persona 4 (particularly Golden)'s raucous interface, bursting with verve and vigour. Aside from expanding on the pop-up graphics: It even kept its most data-heavy screens loud and sunny; no shrinking violets here: And then, of course, there is Persona 5, whose moody, stylish interface is glorious in its every moment. It runs counter to so much 'ideal UI design': transitional animations slow down every player interaction, dynamic menus jump around in screen space, there's constant noise to distract the player from what's going on — no neatness, no minimalism here. And that's exactly what makes it so brilliant. I fervently believe that the Persona series' commitment to reinforcing its aesthetic through interface design is a key element in its success; it's eye-catching, and it acknowledges the truth that JRPGs are largely menu-driven experiences: so why not make those menus a pleasure to wade through? A shame that so many other games still choose to focus purely on functionality (and often not even that), and aiming for neutral and/or minimalist designs in the hope that the player can ignore them, rather than thinking about how to make said interfaces engaging and enjoyable in their own right. So, yes, two examples (or four, I suppose) of great interface design. What other examples can you come up with?

Dune (1984) Watched this with my mum and brother, who inexplicably hadn't seen it before. All of the flaws are still there: a solid first half doesn't so much segue as crash into an incredibly rushed second. The all-white cast is actually a little grotesque. The action sequences are... not Lynch's forte. Jessica in full 'damsel in distress' mode is jarring and undermines her character. The climactic downpour is too obvious a choice, made more frustrating by it being one of the (surprisingly few) outright divergences from the novel. Both relatives rated it a 7/10. Fortunately for me, I'm extremely shallow and love the sets, costumes, paintings, effects, ideas, actors and even the voiceovers enough to override any other concerns. 5/5

The developer's previous Sokoban-like is well worth trying as well — A Monster's Expedition is as charming (visually and narratively) as it is satisfying.