BardicKnowledge

These are incredibly badass -- nice work!

Seph, very well done! I enjoyed this just as much or more than I enjoy Yahtzee's weekly reviews, so you're definitely on the right track. If you haven't taken a look at this book, give it a read sometime -- I'm sure you'd enjoy it given the presentation (and official sounding sources are always good).

^That video isn't quite clear -- Olimar seems to be able to throw extra Pikmin to hit someone off of the edge in advance. Would the Ice Climbers or ZSS have that advantage as well?

Gecko, you're made of awesome. In any case, the original game looks well put together -- the comment about extra polish is really what makes me not bother to look at it any further. Give me 16-bit music!!

The real issue with items in tourney play is that items make whoever gets them artificially better -- no matter who you're playing against, if you get a beam sword and he doesn't, you now have an advantage. Similarly, if you're in the middle of an attack that gets canceled out by an exploding item capsule spawning right in front of you, it's not your fault that you died -- it's just random chance. Tourneys have to eliminate BOTH of these situations in order to ensure fair play.

Rama, I just noticed that my request (StarTropics dungeon) wasn't used. No hard feelings for sure, but is there a specific reason why?

Rama, there's enough material in mine to work with -- lock me in! I've never played Brandish though -- maybe the first thing I'll do tomorrow is grab a ROM...

Well, I'm past the early game and completely stuck on that hard-to-find puzzle, #12. The link I posted doesn't have it, and I've been working on and off for about an hour on it. Does anyone here know the answer? FYI: At the very beginning of Chapter 5, talk with the fat guy to get it.

Here's a couple judging questions for you: What percentage of submissions are asked to resubmit after fixing a few things? And as a followup: How many of those actually follow through, tweak what's been asked, and resub?

I might be interested in late June if you're still up for it -- for now, I need to wait until after my wedding.

For anyone who finds themselves horribly stuck: http://professorlaytonwalkthrough.blogspot.com/ Too bad it doesn't have puzzle 41 yet! Grrr....

The latest Penny-Arcade comic is about Layton. Awesome stuff! Oh, and the game is sweet -- does it eventually pick up the difficulty? I'm on puzzle 20 or so right now...

Brilliant! Makes me want a Square-Enix cart racer game...

Holy cow -- is that an assist trophy effect? Definitely cool if it is.

Man, he really hates on Societies -- makes me want to see it in person. His reviews are always harsh, but usually fair...is it really as bad as he says, anyone?

^Thanks for the reminder, Atma! By the way, it's a big pain in the ass to add everyone -- I wish that Nintendo's idea of online gameplay didn't completely suck.

I'm currently having a blast playing Mythos -- the game designed by Flagship Studios to test the netcode for Hellgate London. It's great, and has that Diabloesque spark of just playing for one more dungeon floor. The classes are redesigned to further blur the lines between warrior, rogue, and mage also...check the website for more info. In any case, I don't know enough people to give my invitations to, and I have 2 invites. If anyone would like to join the Mythos community (there's about 1,000 players total right now) please PM me -- the first two people to do so will get my invites. Include your e-mail address that you would like the invitation sent to! I realize that I sound like one of those lame spammers that we rave about, but it's an honest offer -- mods feel free to remove this topic if it's deemed inappropriate for some reason.

I have the same question -- will we have to check the wiki, will we get a PM? What's the planned delivery method, Rama?

The electronic music club at ISU built one, and while it's fun to play around with, it is pretty gimmicky -- still, it's a neat attempt to create a new musical instrument!

If anyone needs a game to satisfy their Wii gaming needs until Smash comes out, try Kororinpa Marble Mania as a fun budget title. The easiest way to describe it is the next generation Marble Madness -- and it's amazing. Some of the music is remakes of old arcade game titles! In any case, it's the best $30 game for the Wii right now IMO (unless you prefer Endless Ocean, which I also have thanks to MiamiGuy's recommendation).

Actually, Miyamoto has said that with regard to the Zelda series. The reason for so little development of Link's character is that he wants the player's personality to embody the Link character. I don't have a source with me, but I'd imagine that it came from this book.

I really like the idea of putting this in the hands of a complete non-gamer and watching the learning process. It would definitely make for an interesting video...

For those of you who haven't seen it, here's Averaging Gradius also.

^Yeah, that video makes Snake look quite good, AND he has a different play-style. Brawl keeps looking better and better...damn release dates! And Atma, is your only complaint about the CC that the sticks are reversed? I'm mostly a PS2 gamer (except for Smash, obviously) and the CC feels more natural to me. Or does the weight / lack of vibration come into play also?

Anyone that has it -- what's the preferred control method? My guess is the classic controller or GC, but I could be wrong...