PixlBit

I also picked this one up and played through it. I'd say that I echo the exact sentiments put forth by Jason. The game looked and acted like a classic Sonic game, but it was missing some of the heart and soul.

The sense of speed wasn't quite there due to the enemy ladders, and the level themes felt a bit too analogous to the old games. I felt the music was criminally bad, which oddly put a damper on the experience for me.

Even worse is the length of the game, which weighs in at a paltry two hours. Given the ease of the game as a whole combined with the short length, there isn't much to enjoy here.

I was left asking the same question as Jason at the end, "Why should I play this over any of the original Genesis Sonic games?"

You know, that's exactly what I said in my head while playing both this and HAWX 2. I think it's largely a result of the semi-simulation nature of the games.

When you straddle the line of simulation and arcade flight game, you wind up with something that's not wholly enjoyable. Give me Rogue Squadron 1 or 2, or StarFox for the SNES or the N64 and I'll be infinitely happier.

More than likely we will be receiving a copy of the game and should have the review completed shortly after its release.

True enough, Caliban. I guess because I'm also playing Ace Combat: Joint Assault, it was in head that a flight stick isn't always necessary because the slider pad has been working surprisingly well for that game.

Actually, in general I feel like both Ace Combat games I played and The Sky Crawlers all had superior controls to HAWX 2, and though they aren't optimal, I still felt comfortable piloting the jets with the control sticks.

Yeah, Charles Martinet is a real cool guy - super nice. As Jason said, Chessa and I played NSMBWii with him on the show floor, and he signed a Wii Sports Resort frisbee for Chessa.

I also had the pleasure of hanging out with him and Cammie Dunaway at the Nintendo party last E3 as well. She was also very nice, and Martinet was fun to just hang out. Aaron Kaluszka from NWR seemed to know him pretty well, so he hung around with the whole NWR crew for quite a while.

Moving from the N64 to the GameCube was tough for me. At the time I really didn't like the idea of discs, regardless of their benefits because of the poor load times found in both the PlayStation 1 and 2. Having game saves on the game itself was also desirable because it meant I had no need to buy a swath of memory cards to save all of my games - then rummage through them every time I wanted to play a different game.

I'm glad the N64 went with cartridges, and I agree, I think that generation would've played out much differently, and I think the industry as a whole would be much different today if Nintendo didn't make that choice.

I still have hope that we'll move back to non disc-based media in the coming generation, but who knows. Flash memory is way faster and reasonably priced at this point, though I can't really say that I know what the manufacturing cost behind it is. Whatever happens, I just hope that we can continue to avoid full digital distribution. I love me my physical media.

What the hell, this isn't even real gameplay footage! Just looked it up, and it says here that this thing is just an idea that he put to animation. Capcom needs to pick this concept up and make it.

Well, this is totally kick ass and completely unexpected news. Beyond Good & Evil was such a fantastic game, it's great to see it get a second chance at grabbing the attention of the mass market, especially at the undoubted budget price of $15.

With enough interest, maybe Ubisoft will be pushed to make the sequel that has been in limbo for seemingly the entire generation.

Here's to hoping that this Super Monkey Ball brings the series back to its roots. I will say that it seems and sounds promising.

Looks like the 3DS has an induction charger. That's hotness.

Also, did I mention that I'm absurdly excited for this thing?