Strange announcement, slot loading drives that support vertical orientation have been around for years now. Along with the PS3 models mentioned in the article, the Wii, DVD/Blu-Ray players built into flat screen tvs and even certain stereo systems have slot loading drives and support vertical orientation. I don't know much about the manufacturing of these, but considering how long it's been around and how widespread it is, I would have thought that it should be simple enough to implement it into the Xbox One as well. It's only really going to be an issue though if some of the people who do buy one don't see this warning and manage to break it by playing it while it's standing vertically.

@snaketus @Prime_28 Yeah, the stand isn't actually necessary, it will stay upright without it, but it does provide a slightly wider base so that the console is less likely to fall over if it's knocked. I think to be honest though, if you're worried about the console falling over, having it horizontal would be a better decision than buying that stand.

I haven't played New Super Mario Bros. U yet, so to me this would be a completely new game...well, as new as a Mario game based on an old formula can be. I love the idea of Luigi being the main character, but mostly the apparently increased difficulty curve. If I ever do get a Wii U, this game will definitely go onto the list of games to get for it. Admittedly I would be more excited if this Luigi game was actually a Wii U Luigi's Mansion, hopefully that will exist at some point.

Glad they've backtracked on the policies they had for the Xbox One. It never looks good when companies have to go back on what they say, particularly after defending them so adamantly, but considering the harm the policies would have done to Microsoft and the Xbox brand had they stayed, it was most likely for the best. It does open up the next gen competition now though, it will unlikely be a PS4 landslide victory now, which can only be good for the future. More competition equals more drive for companies to push forwards.

Great episode of Feedbackula, I love it when the internet starts frothing at the mouth over something so small. I also watched the review, Tom justified his score of 8, I'm sure the other reviewers can also justify their scores of 10, differences of opinion happen. I think it might be slightly interesting if the Gamespot crew did a feature with a bunch of micro reviews for the game, just to show that even in the same company opinions can vary!

Have we really not got past this irrelevant graphics comparison? Surely we've established by now that when it comes to graphics, the PS3 is better than the 360 at some things (I forget what now), the 360 is better than the PS3 at other things and the PC is better than both of them in just about all aspects of graphics.

Unusually I agree with all of your points there. Truthfully though, I enjoyed how MGS4 ended, and I'd have been perfectly happy if they never released another Metal Gear Solid game. Seeing as how it seems there will be an MGS5 announcement at some point in the near future though, I do have a couple of idea of what I'd like to see story wise for it.

Obviously the prequel idea which a few people have mentioned would probably be the most sensible, seeing as how Solid Snake decided to live out the remainder of his life in peace.

The other suggestion I have is a half sequel half prequel. If Hideo Kojima feels Solid Snake still has some ends to tie off, then I personally think it makes more sense to have the vast majority of the game set in the past, with Solid recounting the parts of his life relevant to the story of MGS5. Each chapter could be set during a different part of Snake's timeline, coming forwards through time, until the final chapter where Solid Snake can finally stop fighting. Off the top of my head though, I can't think of any antagonists left that could trigger a game like this.

I definitely don't see Microsoft or Sony dropping out, they're both doing far too well in the market now to do that. Nintendo though, after all these years, I'd hate to see them drop out of the home console market, for them it might depend on the success of the Wii-U. If the console fails to sell then Nintendo could follow in the footsteps of Sega and just become a software and maybe handheld console company. If that does happen, it'll take an awful long time to get used to playing Mario on the Playstation or Zelda on the Xbox, even more than it took to play Sonic on the Gamecube, they've been staple Nintendo for so long.

I'll be honest, 2011 was a pretty thin year for me in terms of games I bought, I only actually bought a few of the years new releases, not even enough to make a full top 10 so me making a full list would be pointless but I'll rank the games I did buy for the sake of it. 1. Portal 2 2. Uncharted 3 3. Resistance 3 4. Sonic Generations 5. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 6. Killzone 3 7. Infamous 2 Hopefully 2012 will be a more packed gaming year for me so my list will be better next year, as long as I don't spend too long catching up on 2011's releases.