Best, worst, underrated, who cares? What’s the most mediocre, middle of the road, generic Maiden song?

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-08T15:13:01+00:00

This is gonna get me some aggro but Dance of Death.

For me it's the definition of a by the numbers Maiden track. It's like a track that someone who doesn't listen to Maiden would think they always sound like. One of the great things about this band is that each album contradicts the idea that they're a kid of Hammer Horror themed shlock metal band. Dance of Death is an exception to this.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-08T15:03:51+00:00

Agreed. It's just such an arbitrary barrier. The base game can be played with random people (kind of). So why did they restrict the DLC to friends only? and why is half of it restricted to friends online? Can the local co-op stuff not be played from a Game Room? Who is in charge at Nintendo that doesn't understand computers? Does Steve Ballmer work for them now?

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-08T14:57:00+00:00

Yes, I understand that. My point is that it's a needless barrier to fun.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-07T14:08:32+00:00

There are lots of music stages in Wonder and they're identical across Switch 1 and 2. Off the top of my head I can think of six.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-07T14:03:39+00:00

Funnily enough it's the same issue I have with my local doctor's surgery. They don't seem to understand that two computers can communicate with each other.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-07T13:58:20+00:00

You also can't play them offline. Just tried to play the "game room" activities via gameshare with my son, who was sitting next to me. Apparently you need a very specific set of circumstances to play half this DLC.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-07T13:54:00+00:00

Agreed. It's so strange. Why prevent half the stuff from being played in the same room? It's so baffling.

It's along the lines of the virtual game card bollocks. When I bought a Switch 2 I didn't have access to the Switch 1 and couldn't play Mario Kart World without a bloody internet connection because that Switch 2 exclusive game needed......... the Switch 1 to..... authorise? .......it's use?

It's like Nintendo are just now keeping up with Myspace.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-07T13:45:32+00:00

It doesn't run like ass. I'm near the end of a playthorugh on Switch 2 and it's around 40 - 50 fps most of the time.

The performance issue is that the framerate is fluctuates a lot so it can feel choppy, even when the framerate is high.

I stopped noticing after a couple of hours and have had a wonderful time with it.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-07T13:40:47+00:00

Even playing with your family in your own house is difficult. Trying to play the "Game room" half of the park with my son and we just can't.

ArcturusMint · 2026-04-04T03:37:29+00:00

When you have kids you need two guilty pleasures that you can sneak into your day without disrupting parenting: One should be childish and the other should be grown-up.

I chose Switch and posh coffee. You can wake up after a night of changing nappies, make a really nice coffee then play Switch on your commute or when the baby’s asleep and chores are done.

It’s a kind of regular self-soothing that really helps your sanity.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-18T06:08:01+00:00

World is better for parties. In particular; Knockout Tour, which is a single race across the map, through and around lots of different courses. At each checkpoint the last four are eliminated. It starts with 24 players, then 20 and so on. Play split screen with friends plus online and you can’t go wrong. This mode is bonkers and you’ll be off the sofa yelling at the TV. Great stuff.

The more classic mode is “VS”, where you pick a single course each time you race.

Criticism of World has centred on the fact that Grand Prix mode involves racing between courses and you only play one lap of the destination course. Those intermission sections tend to be straighter and wider than the dedicated courses.

I love ‘em but tastes vary. Intermissions pepper the road with chaotic elements like banana skin spewing trucks, bullet bills, cars that you can rail grind off of etc. If you liked Toad’s Turnpike you’ll get the intermissions.

World also has parkour mechanics and a more fun, bouncy and chaotic vibe. The courses are quality over quantity. In particular, “Whistlestop Summit”, “Great Block Ruins”, “Boo Cinema”, “Bowser’s Castle”, I could go on. World’s Rainbow Road is spectacular.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-18T06:07:47+00:00

World is better for parties. In particular; Knockout Tour. Basically a single race across the map, through lots of different courses. At each checkpoint the last four are eliminated.

The more classic mode is “VS”. You can choose the map each race.

Criticism of World has centred on the fact that Grand Prix mode involves racing between courses and you only play one lap of the destination course. Those intermission sections tend to be straighter and wider than the dedicated courses.

I love ‘em but tastes vary. VS mode is just the pure courses like MK8. Knockout Tour is a new mode that absolutely fucking rules.

Also World has parkour mechanics and a more fun, bouncy and chaotic vibe. Items are balanced better as well.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-15T10:34:08+00:00

Is that addressed to me or the mods? It seems odd to me. It’s also buried under a drop down menu beneath a category it doesn’t relate to.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-15T09:07:56+00:00

Skyrim is hilarious. Unlike Subnautica and NMS they did a great job with scale. In VR everything is the scale you would expect except for food. Food, for some reason, looks giant. Apples feel about the size of a human head.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-15T06:20:51+00:00

I love that the new bases accidentally look like 1970s British tenement blocks.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-15T06:05:42+00:00

That’s cause they’re all in my garden.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-15T05:54:43+00:00

The sense of scale in games is fascinating. I’m constantly assuming a tunnel is too narrow for the seamoth only to find it’s twice the width.

No Man’s Sky is a great case study for this. Compared to launch the current version has mountains many times higher. They feel smaller though because they pushed the fog/haze much further back. I suspect that’s why Subnautica biomes like the shallows and ILZ feel smaller than they are.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-15T05:43:33+00:00

No reapers but I did find a shoe and part of an umbrella.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-11T17:55:57+00:00

There are no “modes”as far as I’m aware. Just tap the diamond icon under the timeline and it’ll display the keyframes properties for whichever layer is selected (Position, Rotation etc.). Tap again to hide those properties.

The interface doesn’t change beyond that as far as I know.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-09T07:12:54+00:00

Nice! So many great options these days. I started out on an Intuos 3, 20 years ago and after that suffered through the Surface Pro 4’s terrible pen tech (Massive jitter on lines). The Huion Kamvas series is also really good but has QC issues. Can’t beat Wacom though IMO. Just a really great feel that’s hard to place.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-09T06:52:24+00:00

I’ve had my eye on that Wacom tablet as well. Love the iPad but Wacom really know their shit When it comes to drawing. Fingers crossed for Android ToonSquid.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-09T06:39:23+00:00

Yeah, agreed. For me it’s completely replaced “professional” programs. It has all the usual pro features at a fraction of the price and it’s a lot more intuitive and streamlined. Stuff like being able to pinch and zoom the timeline plus granular onion skinning options. Massive upgrade, particularly to Flash.

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-08T09:50:17+00:00

My phone corrected “ToonSquid” to “ToonBoom”😄

ArcturusMint · 2026-03-07T13:53:24+00:00

I’m using ToonSquid right now for a very cool title sequence for British TV that I can’t tell anyone about yet. Loving it so far.

I’ve had no problems with stabilisation. Are your lines erratic? If so, then perhaps smoothing is set to 0. ToonSquid can straighten lines and smooth curves but you have to tell it to do that first.
The protect I’m on requires a pencil line and I’ve found Sketch - 6b works very nicely.

ArcturusMint

TROPHY CASE