What can one say to this, except to wish him a speedy recovery?

People, please try to keep petty gaming politics out of this.

I'm not really contemplating buying a Wii U - not yet at least - but Moffitt did touch upon two interesting points.

First of all, his stance on used games didn't seem to be attempting to pander to or ride on the wave of consumer adversity to the anti-used game tech sentiment. His position was rooted in commercial reality, the fact that used games are an established part of the market. It's this perspective reality that EA et al.choose to replace with wishful thinking on their part.

Secondly, Nintendo is the only one of the three consolemakers that chooses to focus on the gameplay experience as opposed to raw power under the bonnet. And while I do believe that this tactic is more designed to avoid getting into a cock fight with Sony and MS on raw specs - a fight that Nintendo would inevitably lose - it is an aspect that will prove to be more of relevance in years to come.

The PS4 and Xbox 720 - assuming that's what they'll be called - will not be the quantum leap in tech that everyone is hoping for, and I do expect that the difference in visual quality between the PS4/720 and the Wii U will be much less pronounced this time around, especially as Nintendo has decided to embrace HD.

@GamerLegend10 So what do you do if you don't have a game in which you can decapitate someone?

@moonlightwolf01 I like that idea, being rewarded for non-lethal takedowns. It's not a new one - SWAT 3 and 4 penalised you for being overly trigger happy for example - but it's certainly one that adds a new dimension to a game.

Releasing on December 21st would be commercial suicide. If it were true, Nintendo obviously has no interest in business of the countless parents wanting to buy one for their kids.

@damodar_thade Indeed, which is why violence is a common narrative device in gaming, film and literature. It's how we portray it that makes the difference. Violence in a game should be nothing more than a necessary evil.

@arthurthe8th Seek professional help.

I found Scott Rohde's comment about violence for the sake of violence being wrong highly ironic coming from the company that gave us God of War. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed the earlier God of War games as a brief diversion, but the games are effectively celebrations of war and violence, and what I've seen of Ascension takes the whole thing too far.

Violence in a game can be an effective tool to tell a story. It's difficult to effectively portray fear of death in a game without violence. The Last of Us' battle for survival is only made interesting by the idea that you have to kill or be killed, and there is no other motivation for killing than to survive yourself. Kratos on the other hand kills for the sake of killing, and Ascension takes it too far.

This ultra-violence ironically is designed to designed to appeal to one core group: teenage boys. Most societies frown upon allowing children to play such games, and at the face of it the industry appears to claim that their games are directed at adults, but in reality their choice of marketing techniques clear shows their awareness that their greatest customers are going to be teenage boys.

Warren Spector as always pretty much nailed it on the head. If violence is used in games, it should be something unpleasant, a necessary evil as a solution to a problem and a greater good, not simply a means to satisfy a gore fetish.

@solidus2_1 So you tarnish an entire nation because you don't agree with one non-governmental body about Mass Effect. Yeah, way to go.

I challenge anyone to find me a truly mindblowing iOS or Android game. There are some good timewasters there, but everything worth playing on my phone or tablet feels just too much like a compromise. I do enjoy playing Riptide GP on my tablet, but the tilt controls feel like they're desperately trying to make up for a proper analogue stick or d-pad.

Of course, I'll now get all the apologists coming to claim that X middle-of-the-road game is the latest, greatest thing to happen to gaming on the go, but at the end of the day, my Vita and my PSP, and my future 3DS should I get one, are the true gaming machines if I want to sit down for half an hour on the road and actually play something properly. Touchscreen works fine for simple stuff like Angry Birds, but what if I want to play a top strategy game like Disgaea 3 or a great platformer like Mario Land 3D? You won't find games of that caliber on phones or tablets because the going prices on these platforms make investing in bigger projects unprofitable.

I can tell you with a brief anecdote what's wrong with the Vita. Whenever I'm away for longer periods, I always have it with me. Friends of mine - who may not be hardcore gamers but are gamers nonetheless - keep asking me what I've done with my PSP. Seriously - they did not know that the Vita existed. And to be honest, if I hadn't kept up with the press, I probably wouldn't either.