After watching the gameplay video, I can see why people would be confused, especially if you've never played the game before. This new footage seems to be missing something important, which would be the HUD.

For those of you who never played it:

The basic premise of NiGHTS is to do things fast while getting a high score. In the original, each dream world asa number ofstages as well as a boss. You start as a human, and then walk into a pillar to turn into NiGHTS. From there, you fly around a course. The first thing you need to do is collect 20 orbs and place them into a container by flying into it. The faster you do it, the higher the score you get. At this point, you now keep going around the course, trying to collect as many more orbs as possible. Flying through hoops gets you points. Doing aerial tricks gets you points. Whatever you do to get points, you have to go back to the pillar before time runs out. If you don't, you turn back into a human. Turning into a human is the last thing you want to do, especially if you haven't placed the first 20 orbs. Once you're a human, any orbs you have are dropped, and you have to walk around to collect them. That wouldn't be so bad, except there's this alarm clock that chases you around. If it touches you, you wake up and the game is over.

Each time you clear a stage, you are given a letter grade, from E to A. You are graded based on your score, your speed, and your tricks. You are also given a letter grade for the boss stage. You get a final letter grade for the whole world, and if you don't get at least a C, you can't go to the next world. Turning into a human at any point guarantees you an E on that stage, which makes it hard to get that elusive C average. Each world gets progressively harder to complete, and to really beat the game, you need to play as both the boy and the girl.

The cool thing about NiGHTS was that it had this "A-life" system. Basically, there are little creatures that live in the dream worlds, and you interact with them. Depending on how you interact with them, it actually changes the music based on their mood.Happy Nightopeans means happy music. Mad Nightopeans changes the sound entirely. Because of this, there are literally hundreds of variations for each song. That, my friends, is the beauty of MIDI. It allowed the music to be very dynamic.

There is actually a lot more to the fine details of the game, but that is NiGHTS in a nutshell. So far it looks like the new game is very faithful to the original. I can't wait. :)

If you never played thefirst onethen it's not really surprising why you wouldn't get it.Find yourself a cheap Saturn and play the original. It might make your eyes bleed if you're a graphic whore, but at least it will give you some sort of context.

As for me, it's Day One Buy... Provided I have the dinero. :)

I live in SW Michigan but I'm at my Grandpa's now in Huntsville, AL.Bungholio55

You live in SW Michigan? Me too!

In any case, I got mine on April 22 at Best Buy. My advice is to get up on Sunday morning early enough to check the sales flyers before the stores open. I happened to be awake on a Sunday and checked their website to see the latest ads. When I got there, there were only7 Wiis left (they were doing tickets) but I still got mine. That was about an hour before the store opened.

It's pretty crazy how you still can't find one unless you're in the right place at the right time.

Sheep, this is beginning to get rediculous. Is the Wii in competition with the 360 and PS3 or not? Whenever bad games/poor graphics are brought into question "no no that's just because nintendo are going for a whole new market with the Wii." Whenever the Wii gets some decent sales figures "ZOMG Wii is pwning the ps3!" and all of a sudden it turns out they ARE the same things and they ARE in competition.

Which is it, guys?

Ninja-Vox

I donno... Sales matter. They always have. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only fooling themselves. The difference between this generation and last is that there are three distinct paths that console makers are heading down. Sony is targeting a/v enthusiasts who have that kind of money. Microsoft is targeting males 14-35 or the "hardcore" gamer. Nintendo is targeting non-gamers anddisenfranchised gamers (people who used to play but gave up for whatever reason) while trying to appeal to the core gamers (Zelda, Mario, etc.).

As for the Wii killing gaming, I don't understand where the logic for that notion comes from. If you don't expand the market, you can't expect the industry to grow. If you make gaming an expensive hobby, like Sony is trying to do, fewer people are going to enjoy it. Less sales = less games = DYING INDUSTRY. Why do you want that? Back when video game consoles were created, there was no hardcore. There were just gamers. That's the way it should be. So what's your problem? Do you just hate the Wii and the Wii games because they don't suit your taste? That's fine, and that why there is a place for ALL consoles this generation.

I swear, if some of you were in charge of the industry, there would be no industry.

The original video game crash, which was more or less an American phenomenon, happened not so much because of the games but because everybody and their brother decided to cash in on a potential money maker. Atari had so many clones it was silly. There were just too many consoles and not enough interest at the time. Money on game development was spread too thin, and as a result the games suffered. Yeah.. They pretty much sucked. The bottom fell out, leaving Atari the only one standing at the end and the industry in ruins. It wasn't until Nintendo decided to sell the NES to the NA market that the industry began to stablize.

Nintendo is actually helping the industry. When you market your product to only a certain group of people, you can't expect anything in the way of growth. There is a huge, untapped revenue stream by marketing video games towards under-represented groups like women and senior citizens. Wanting to cater to these people is not wrong. There is a place for both new gamers and current gamers and it's not like Nintendo has given up the ship on all the traditional franchises that the "core" gamers enjoy (Zelda, Metroid, Mario). Unlike some of you want to believe, market expansion is GOOD for the industry. You shouldn't have to be a business major to see that.

I swear, if some of you were running the industry, there would be no industry.

I can't think of anything nice to say to or about the TC. So all I'm going to say is... Long Live the Mullet! ;)

"Production problems have now ceased, we're in full production as far as Playstation 3 is concerned and there's a steady chain of supply in North America, Japan and Europe," said a spokesperson for the Computer Entertainment division of the Japanese corporation.

Production problems? Sorry Sony, but your biggest problem is demand, not supply.

I don't care what any of you say... :PIf Ninjabread Man makes it to NA I*am* going to get it. It may look like crap, but there is something about the concept of a ninja gingerbread man wielding a candy cane katana that appeals to me on levels I can't adequately describe.

My biggest issue with using "casual" or "hardcore" is that these are labels that are used to segregate and in some cases discriminate. You might not think about it in such terms, but that's what it does. Do you find yourself thinking you're a better person than a casual gamer? Will you ignore a game because it could possibly be "casual trash" even though it could be the best game in the world? I'm pretty sure some of you feel that way, andI'm sorry if you can't see how horribly sad and pathetic that is.

*gets on soapbox* We are all gamers, whether we play The Sims for a few minutes a day or play Halo 2 for 24 straight hours. The enjoyment of playing video games should unite us, not divide us, and as gamers we should be happy that the youngest of children and the oldest of adults are now sharing in something some of us have been enjoying for over 25 years.

OK, I'm done. :P

When it comes to consumer electronics, I never buy anything that I think I might regret later. That being said, I am totally in love with my Wii and my DSLite, Saturn, and Dreamcast are getting jealous. ;)