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[Green Gibbon!]

Even when I bring up the home menu while playing, the cursor detection is fine. It's got to be some kind of programming quirk.

Also, not a technical problem, but - Koopa Jr. God dammit.

[Segaholic2]

I've had Peace Walker pre-ordered for months, but the US version became available early through certain venues, so I figured why should I wait another week when I have free time to play right now? My pre-ordered copy is still coming, I'm just an impatient man.

And it is awesome, and I am loving it. My only gripe is that I wish it were a PS3 game so I didn't have to cramp my hands up on the PSP. Very unfortunate. I hope the rumors of a PS3 PSN release are true because this might be the best MGS game from a purely gameplay content standpoint. There seems to be so much to do and I think I've barely scratched the surface a couple hours in. Plus it has co-op and versus play in a system that looks much less convoluted and tedious than MGS:O.

[Senbei]

My main gripe with Peace Walker since it was announced was that I felt it should have been a PS3 game. It just LOOKS like a PS3 game that has been dumbed down for the PSP. And I've never thought a game like MGS benefits from being portable; in fact, I couldn't stand Portable Ops.

I want to wait to see if the PS3 port is a reality, but I'll probably break down and buy the PSP game at some point.

[Ritz]

Bought Galaxy 2 four days ago, got all 242 stars after two all-nighters. It was a glorious experience, of course.

Now that I'm in a console gaming mood for the first time in quite a while, I'm wondering what game I should tackle next, as I seem to have amassed quite a backlog here with my nephew getting decent games as presents (and never playing them). Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is at the top of my list for sure- I kind of regret listening to others' impressions of the game at the time of its release, it really poisoned the well for me and I haven't been able to bring myself to even try it because I was so adamantly sure that it wouldn't stack up to the previous titles, and I demand nothing short of constant perfection from Monkey Ball.

And then there's Super Paper Mario, where I have absolutely no idea of what to expect because opinions of the game seems to be all over the place. What's everyone's beef with it? Then there's Bowser's Inside Story and Sonic Unleashed, which I never intended to play until Radrappy endorsed it. I'm sort of obligated to at least give it a sampling to justify my preemptive hatred for it. After all that, I still have the entirety of the Humble Indie Game Bundle to sink my teeth into, and I'm certainly going to acquire Peace Walker eventually.

This is all starting to sound like a chore to me. Why do I hate having fun?

[Esrever]

How is the quest for the second set of stars? I've only got the first three from the first level, and... well... they were just kind of lying around in random places and weren't terribly entertaining to find. Do any of the other stars actually take you to new or different parts of the stages? (Or at least challenge you to traverse previously-visited terrain in a new way?)

[G.Silver]

And then there's Super Paper Mario, where I have absolutely no idea of what to expect because opinions of the game seems to be all over the place. What's everyone's beef with it?

Krag on, buddy! I think Super Paper Mario is a blast. I can kind of see where some people might have complaints about it, but if you really like the spirit that the previous Paper Mario games had then you'll find it there in heaps and piles. What few issues I had with the game were well worth looking past because the things that I liked about it were just so good. I think I liked Thousand Year Door better, but it's still excellent in its own right.

[Ritz]

How is the quest for the second set of stars? I've only got the first three from the first level, and... well... they were just kind of lying around in random places and weren't terribly entertaining to find. Do any of the other stars actually take you to new or different parts of the stages? (Or at least challenge you to traverse previously-visited terrain in a new way?)

They're all hidden in places that were previously accessible, no new locations or anything. Their placement is generally a lot more deliberate in comparison to the first few stars, and a few of them certainly do require a radically different approach to reach- in some instances, it turns out that features of the environment that only served as eye candy before were actually made to house the stars, which was pretty cool. Still, you'll only have trouble locating two or three of them, and most of them only call for leaps of faith off the edge of a level to reach, which isn't terribly difficult or exciting.

Oh, and the Grandmaster Galaxy isn't going to blow your mind or anything. It's a cute little thing that left me satisfied, but if you aren't enjoying the hunt for the stars, you probably shouldn't bother!

[Kogen]

I have rage-quit Mario Galaxy 2 three times already. It is an out of this world experience!

More holes than a miscoloured rat on a space doughnut, I tell you what.

[Blount]

I've tried playing from different angles, but no matter how high I align myself, the cursor disappears a good 3 or 4 inches away from the top (this is on a 26" screen). It's even worse at the upper corners.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm pretty sure it was deliberately done, but for what purpose? If it's to warn the player that the cursor is about to go off-screen then it's arguably worse, since the stupid thing vanishes anyway. It's like they don't want you to turn the Remote away or something. It gets kind of annoying when you're trying to sweep Star Bits on the edge of the screen.

[Esrever]

It definitely isn't deliberate... I just checked, and I can move my cursor all the way to all four edges of the screen just fine in my copy.

I don't know why it is happening to you two. Are you playing on a 4:3 TV? I'm on a widescreen... does the 4:3 mode add additional viewing area above and below the widescreen viewing area and then not let you put your cursor in there? That's the only theory I've got...

[Green Gibbon!]

I haven't used a 4:3 TV in like six years.

I'm playing with the cursor bar below the TV. I wonder if it makes a difference if you set it above and then adjust the Wii options accordingly? I'll try that this weekend and see if it makes any difference, but nothing else I've tried does.

[Blount]

It's happened to me with both aspect ratios, so I don't think that's it either. I think the game is just picky with the alignment of the Remote, because the cursor tends to disappear on different edges of the screen depending on if I'm standing or sitting down. I can make it work fine if I sit down and raise my arm more than usual, since the remote is better aligned with the TV that way. But, y'know, it's just mildly annoying because I only need to do that with this game (and, apparently, I will with the sequel as well).

I'm playing with the cursor bar below the TV. I wonder if it makes a difference if you set it above and then adjust the Wii options accordingly?

I used to have mine on top of my old 4:3 TV with the appropriate settings, but the same thing happened.

[Blount]

Yep, this seems to be a common issue: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/960551-s ... 2/54933995

[Esrever]

Weird! I do play with the bar on top of my TV, for whatever that's worth. (I've also tweaked with the sensor bar sensitivity a bit in the system settings.)

[Green Gibbon!]

So I moved the bar to the top of the TV and adjusted the settings. I can reach the top portion just fine, but now the bottom is untouchable! I moved the sensor bar back beneath the TV but left the option set at "above the TV." It's a little better, but the bottom couple inches are still untouchable.

Seriously, how can anybody not be having a problem with this?!

[CM August]

Maybe you should try a different copy of the game. Barring that, try prayer or voodoo.

[Shadow Hog]

Check the sensitivity in the Wii menu. The thing that shows you the two dots, right? It's probably picking up something else as a third dot, which is screwing it up tremendously.

[Segaholic2]

Peace Walker totally rules. Just thought everyone should know that.

[Green Gibbon!]

I have that sitting unopened on my shelf. I'm sure it's years beyond my ability level to interpret, so I'll probably have to break down and import the English version if I want to play it properly.


Not related to any discussion going on here, but I thought it worth noting that lately I've had the intense desire to play through Bayonetta again. I haven't felt the need to return to a game I've already finished in years. Since the Saturn, I think. According to GameFAQs it's possible to unlock Jeanne through a secret code? I wonder if it works in the Japanese version?

[Green Gibbon!]

Finally accessed a few of the dreaded Itazura comet levels. And yeah, they were pretty awful. With the exception of the boss death matches, the comet levels in Galaxy 1 weren't too bad. Lazy of course, and never as interesting as the "real" star challenges, but rarely frustrating. I did them all with the exception of the Purple Coins, anyway.

I've played I guess about a dozen of the Galaxy 2 comets and I don't think I'll be doing another one. Most of the ones I've done are almost as bad as Sunshine's bullshit. I've always wondered why anyone would want to play a time attack. Seriously, who thinks those are fun? Ever? I'm waiting for blue coins to show up.

I'm pretty disappointed actually, I was hoping to brush Sunshine off as a misstep.

[Esrever]

I guess speed running has become a pretty big deal among certain groups of Mario players -- YouTube is full of them -- but I still think it was a mistake to actually work it into the game.

That said, I don't think there are any more speed run comets than there were in the first game. I couldn't remember the exact number off the top of my head, but according to GameFaqs, Galaxy 2 has 9 regular speed run comets and 5 daredevil comets. Only one or two of them were hard enough to make me HATE them, but the others were still boring and were certainly my least favourite part of the game.

There's also 10 purple coin comets (some of which are timed events), a couple of 'destroy all the enemy' comets, a couple of shadow clone comets, and a couple of double time comets. But I usually enjoyed those ones. Actually, it's probably because I DID enjoy them that I was always so disappointed when another stupid speed run or daredevil comet would come up. All the other comets alter or add to the level to create a new, unique challenge, but speed run and daredevil comets just make you do the same challenge you did before, only FASTER or WITHOUT GETTING HIT! Sucks!

[Crisis]

Speed running can be cool if it gets you to think about obstacles in a different way. I like finding clever ways of clearing a level that I might not have considered if I wasn't under time pressure. Sadly, they're usually just memorisation and/or reflex tests, and the same thing with the 1-HP comets.

The timed purple coin challenge on the disintegrating 8-bit Luigi was actually my favourite comet of the original Galaxy. No two attempts were ever the same as and there were lots of different ways to complete it. It was too easy to die and a little bit trial-and-error, but I thought it was nice that, even if you know the level by heart, there was an element of risk and you have to make decisions on the fly.

[FlashTHD]

Worthy hijack: Beyond Good & Evil 2 LIVEEEEEEEEES ...for the most part.

More than two years ago, Ubisoft released the first--and to date, last--trailer for Beyond Good & Evil 2. The silence surrounding the project has been so thorough, rumors spread last August that development of the game had been put on indefinite hold.

Eager fans of the series are receiving a bit of good news and a bit of bad news today, as Beyond Good & Evil creator Michel Ancel this week confirmed that the game is still in development, but isn't likely to see release any time soon. According to a Eurogamer translation of a Montpellier in Game conference session (viewable at Crisy.fr), Ancel said he is working on the sequel with a small team "to preserve creativity and so the game doesn't become a commercial product, so that is has soul."

Just as Ubisoft created a tool set that is allowing a team of five to make the 2D platformer Rayman Origins, the publisher has Ancel working on a new toolset that aims to make 3D games viable for small teams. Unfortunately, the process is time-consuming, as Ancel apologized and asked for patience from the audience.

"It takes a bit longer," Ancel said, "but we're very keen to use this system with this game, because it's an ambitious game and we want to create something exceptional."

Guess that's the only way he could sell it to the execs (after putting them in a chokehold for pulling the carpet out from under Rayman 4, no doubt). What he means by "preserving creativity" probably refers to the changes they made to the first one to make it more marketable, which he and his team didn't sit well with - I dunno, seemed worth it to me.

[Green Gibbon!]

I didn't know they made changes to the first one at marketing's behest. What kind of changes did they make?

[FlashTHD]

The game was first shown publicly at the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it received negative reception. Originally more "artistically ambitious" and resembling games like Ico, the game was substantially changed in order to make it more commercially appealing. Jade, originally a teenage girl, was redesigned to be more powerful and fitting of her job. The game was also shortened by removing long periods of exploration due to Ancel's dislike of this aspect of gameplay in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The development team was "demoralized" by the changes, with Ancel commenting that the finished game resembled a sequel more than a reworking.

So what this hopefully adds up to is the second game's world won't be as small, which I always thought off-putting.