But the good games it did get were pretty nice.

Read on and see our 5 winners!

New Super Mario Brothers Wii

A new Mario 2D platformer, which is pretty much a tribute to Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World… Is there anything bad to say about this? Not really. And the addition of a chaotic and incredibly fun 4-player mode just seals the deal. This is THE game to have this year on Wii.

Punch-Out!

I love Punch-Out!!. The simple gameplay might make it seem a bit meh, but make no mistake, learning every characters’ tactics and patterns and finding the way to beat them as fast as possible is really fun. Here the character selection is a bit weak, but the addition of upgraded versions of each character with new patterns and attacks definitely makes up for it.  The same fun gameplay as before, and it still doesn’t get old.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

This Metroidvania-style side-scrolling action RPG is one of the more unique games this year. Geaturing fast-paced gameplay, fun combat, lots of things to find and explore, multiple endings and 2 fun stories, this is a game Wii owners shouldn’t pass up on.

The House of the Dead: Overkill

This is the on-rail shooter in its best form.  It’s simple, replayable, and fun as hell. The humor is just way over-the-top and hilarious (especially the scene before the final boss), the visual and story-telling style being remeniscent of 70s grindhouse films, the gameplay is fast and furious, there’s some replay value with the various difficulties, gun upgrades and things to find in each level, this is one of the really fun games this year.

Contra ReBirth

I did mention before that Contra is awesome, right? Well, it still is. A great sequel to a great series, and at a low low price to boot.

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Finally. Nintendo doing something the “core” audience can care for. It’s been 15 years since a new Punch Out game came out, and 22 years since the NES classic was released, and 25 years since the original Arcade game came out(and 24 years since the sequel to that one came out). Let’s just say we were well overdue for a Punch Out sequel.

And ever since I saw the trailer for this, I knew it was gonna be awesome.

So read on and see if it’s really as awesome as I thought it would be.

Looks and sounds
What you see on the cover art is pretty much what you get in the game itself. It’s cartoony, slightly over-the-top, and it looks great. Each character looks awesome and faithful to their 2D incarnations. The one new character, Disco Kid, is pretty well done and feels right at home with other Punch Out characters. Each character is full of personality and are pretty humorous. The few still shots of the characters before each match look great too.

The animations are great. Of course, they’re the best in the series. The Wii’s capabilities are really shown of here. Not only are the models incredibly awesome, but their animations are just incredibly fluid and well done, and for the most part they represent the characters’ personalities really well. For example, Glass Joe’s punches look weak and stupid, while Disco Kid’s animations are slightly gay-looking. All of the characters move very well, and few of the animations look unnatural.

As for the sounds… Well, each character has a voice, which is cool. The voice you’ll hear most is Doc’s, and he’s hilarious. The lines he delivers are weird and nonsensical and usually about chocolate, but the voice actor for him just nails each and every line. The other voice actors… Well, it’s a bit hard to say since most of them speak in foreign languages, and there’s no subtitles. I can say that Glass Joe, who is french, speaks really weird(but his voice is still quite fitting), but the others I have no idea what they’re saying. They pretty much sound like they should, I guess, but adding subtitles during “cinematics” would’ve been nice.

The music is pretty good. Not as classic as the NES tunes, it still has that Punch Out feel to it. None of the music feels out of place and it’s great for that. There’s a few remade tunes too, and they obviously sound great.

I have no complaints whatsoever as to how the game looks and sounds like.

Gameplay
Remember Punch Out on the NES? Well, if you do, it plays the same. Almost exactly.

Controls
The controls are simple. Pressing Left and Right dodges in that direction. The 1 button punches with the left hand, the 2 button punches with the right hand. Pressing them while holding Up does a punch to the face, and pressing them alone does a punch to the body. Pressing and holding Up guards against jabs, and pressing down dodges downwards to pass beneath wide hooks. Pressing A does a Star Uppercut (if you have stars). The controls are the same as on the NES, and they STILL work great.

There’s also motion controls. Punching with the nunchuk is a left punch, with the wiimote is a right puch, and punching while holding A is a star uppercut. The rest of the controls are on the control still, the same as the normal controls. The motion controls… work. But that’s about it. They’re not as sensitive as they should be and they’re not really that easy to use.

There’s a controls scheme with the Wii Fit balance board, but I have yet to try it (I will report on it once I have tried it out though, my mom just bought the Wii Fit so why not?).

Overall the controls are infinitely better with the NES configuration, with the remote on it’s side.

The game itself
Well, what is there to say really? It’s just like the NES game. And for that, it’s awesome. There’s 13 boxers to go through, each with a distinct pattern and moveset. Going through each of them brings you closer to being the world champion.

Each of the 13 boxers come from previous Punch Out games, other than Disco Kid. Each of them is increasingly difficult, each with a special gimmick or certain ways of getting KOd. Multiple enemies have  certain animations where you can KO them in one hit. Some also have immunities to certain kids of hits. There’s really a lot of variety.

Glass Joe is weak, Von Kaiser is slightly stronger, Disco Kid is a weirdo with unconventional moves, King Hippo is a powerhouse but goes down fast with body hits, Piston Honda (I won’t call him Piston Hondo) has killer repeating jabs, Bear Hugger likes to hug you (but he lost his immunity to stomach hits), Great Tiger teleports and summons ghost versions of himself, Don Flamenco has multiple attacks with different timing (and he lost his “instant KO” strategy you could use on him before), Aran Ryan MUST be counter-punched, Soda Popinski(who sadly didn’t get back to his old name: Vodka Drunkenski) gets powerups from his soda and he’s quite powerful,  Bald Bull is strong and can charge at you (which is when you can do a 1 hit knockdown on him), Super Macho Man is manly and macho, but also pretty strong, and Mr Sandman is the world chapion who is super strong and super powerful. Every character is still recognizable from their original versions, but they all have minor changes that make them a bit different from before too.

Each of them have a weakness though, and when you find that out it’s easy enough to exploit. And the game is made well enough that there’s multiple ways to knock down your opponents. For example, instead of trying to avoid Mr Sandman’s attacks, I countered him each time he moved. It was safer that way, since I couldn’t screw up my timing to avoid his punches. It’s a bit slower though, so if you want to learn the proper timing for all his attacks, you can probably beat him faster than a 3rd round TKO.

Each boxer also has a few frames of animation that, if you hit them properly, gives you Star Power. The star system is a bit different from in the NES. Here, you get up to 3 stars. If you get hit, you lose them all. If you use your Star Uppercut, you ALSO lose them all. The more stars  you have, the stronger your Star Uppercut will be, but you have to be careful not to get hit before using them or you’ll lose them all and lose your chance to use the punch. This system is really awesome, with a lot more risk in taking time to use your powerful punch, but a lot of reward if you can avoid getting punched and get a punch in.

After becoming World Champion, you get to Title Defense mode, and each boxer is powered up. Some get items that protect them(Glass Joe gets headgear, King Hippo gets a garbage can lid on his stomach, for example), some are faster, some are stronger, and overall you have to work hard to defend your title. And after that, you get another hard mode where, if you lose 3 times, Mac retires(apparently preventing you from playing career anymore on that profile), but you can also get to fight a super-secret Nintendo character.

Overall
What more is there to say? Punch Out is a magnificent game. A great addition to any “core” gamer’s library. The gameplay is incredible and old-school.  The graphics are badass, the animations are great and the sound is really good.  This is pretty much the perfect game for an NES fanboy, and hardcore gamers in general. ALSO, this game is VERY replayable. The NES and SNES games are still being replayed a lot to this day, and this one should be no different.

If there was something I would say I’m disappointed in, I’d say it would be the low number of boxers. Another circuit would’ve been awesome. But at 14 boxers in total (including the super-secret Nintendo character everyone knows about by now), it’s a bit disappointing. But each boxer is so well done I don’t really mind.

Overall it’s a great game and a must-have for any Wii owner. But some people might want to wait for a price drop, as it’s a whopping 60$ in Canada (AKA the starting price for most PS3/Xbox 360 games), so 50$ in the US. A bit much.

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Instead, let’s get hyped for next month!

With a few interesting releases… Well, it could be a fun month, we’ll see. For now, let’s look at the releases for each system!

The multi-platform games are at the bottom of the list, and the japanese import games will have (JAPAN) written next to the titles.
And slightly bigger boxart sizes for the more interesting games O_O

Read on!!!

DS

Desktop Tower Defense
Originally a fun little flash game, now becomes a DS game. It was a fun little time-waster, so it’s probably gonna be no more than that on the DS either.

Puchi Puchi Virus

This game was supposed to come out a long time ago, sometime last year, but it never did(despite the ROM being leaked). Well, now it’s actually coming. A fun little puzzle game published by Nippon Ichi Software America. Souldn’t be too bad.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Stardust Accelerator: World Championship 2009

It’s Yu-Gi-Oh… Not much more to say. If you like children’s card games and don’t have a yu-gi-oh game on DS yet, this will be worth checking out.

Naruto Shippuuden: Ninja Council 4

I had it last month, but I guess it was pushed back. I don’t have very high expectations for this, but it’s probably gonna be a bit fun for Naruto fans.

Steal Princess

I don’t know… It’s published by Atlus so it’s pretty sure to be rare fast, and the trailer on youtube makes it look not too bad.

Gyakuten Kenji (JAPAN)

A must for Phoenix Wright fans. In this one you play as prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. But considering the type of game it is, it’s probably not gonna be possible to play if you don’t know japanese.

A Witch’s Tale (JAPAN)

This was supposed to come out some time last year in the US, but the developpers randomly decided to change the game’s genre(from an Action RPG to a normal RPG) and, of course, they pushed back the release. It’s now coming to japan, so the US release should be coming in not TOO long…

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (JAPAN)

It’s Kingdom Hearts… And the 3 seconds of gameplay I saw last year looked pretty good, so this should be interesting.

PSP

Patapon 2

Budget priced, and just now it was announced to POSSIBLY be downloadable only(despite them still shipping the game with boxes…). A bit random, but whatever. The first game was apparently really fun, so this one should be just as good.

Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (JAPAN)

A fighting game with Bleach characters, and the sixth in the series. I’ve only had… around 10 minutes of experience with that series, so I don’t know if it’s really good, but it must be doing something right if it went up to 6 games in the series (hopefully that “something right” isn’t just “being about Bleach”…)

PS2

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon

AKA game with uselessly long title. Not familiar with the “Devil Summoner” sub-series, but it should be interesting enough.

Secret Agent Clank
(yeah, it’s the PSP boxart, probably won’t change for the PS2 version)
Another PSP game gets ported on the PS2. A good option if playing it on the PSP isn’t possible…

Wii

New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
(japanese boxart, expect the same thing for the US boxart)
Another “New Play Control” game, this time it’s Donkey Kong taking center stage. Be ready for some random Wiimote Waggling! >_>

Klonoa

Klonoa was a fun game originally, and the remake should also be really fun.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus

More Guilty Gear! Another version of XX. This time, from what I’ve read, Kliff and Justice are back, and there’s a bunch of random balance fixes and tweaks.

Punch-Out!!

It’s Punch-Out, but this time with Multi-player and awesome graphics! Should be badass enough.

Boom Blox Bash Party

Didn’t play the first Boom Blox and frankly I have no interest, but this should be a pretty popular game…

Xbox 360

Raiden Fighters Aces

A compilation of Shoot ‘em ups. Seems pretty fun from the videos I checked. The only interesting 360-exclusive release for the month of May.

PS3

Cross Edge

Finally! Looks to be a really fun RPG with characters from Disgaea, Darkstalkers, Ar Tonelico, some other random stuff, and some new characters. The Battle mechanics look fun, so this could be worth looking into.

inFamous!

It was just announced that it was pushed up one month, coming near the end of May, and it looks really fun. If interviews about the game are to be believed, everything that LOOKS climbable is, and the lightning powers look cool. Should be a very interesting release!

PC

Crysis: Maximum Edition

It’s Crysis… Not much more to say.

Plants vs. Zombies

Zombies are quite overused recently, but whatever. Seems like a little tower defense game where you place various types of plants to kill zombies.

Multi-Platform Games

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (PS3/360/DS/PSP/PC/Wii/PS2)

This looks like it could be pretty fun. Expect much lamer version on PS2/PSP/DS/Wii, but it should be really good on PS3 and 360. The PC version is the “uncaged” edition, and I have no idea what’s different about it. If it’s well optimized (not like that lame PC version for the latest Spiderman game), it should at least be playable. Oh, and you can have the classic yellow-blue outfit, awesome

Bionic Commando (PS3/360)

The gameplay videos for this are really not convincing me, but this will at least be a rental. The ue of the robot arm might be good, and the gunplay looks… just about as good as in any third-person shooter.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (PS3/360)

Didn’t like the PC version much, but if you liked the first game, you should like this one too.

Left 4 Dead (Game of the Year Edition) (PC/360)

Not really a big release. All it includes is the game with all the patches up until now and the free DLC already on the disc. Nothing special… But if you don’t have L4D yet, it’s well worth checking out.

Terminator Salvation (PS3/360/DS/PSP/PC/Wii)

Well… the latest trailer was vastly unimpressive… Maybe it’s because so many games lately are third-person shooters that all play the same?

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I’ve compiled a list of the great games coming out next year, so check it out to see if it’s gonna be a good year for you.
Of course, some games are not confirmed for 2009, and there might be some games that haven’t been announced yet, so this is in no way a 100% complete list, but it should include enough to have interesting games for every gamer out there.
Well, without delay let’s jump into this!

 Arc Rise Fantasia
Looks like a “Tales of…” game, could be interesting. An interesting Wii game

Another Code / Trace Memory
The first on the DS was pretty interesting, the new Wii version could be good.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Lots of potential here. The atmosphere seems great, now we need to see some gameplay.

Bayonetta
This looks crazy. Disregarding the hot chick getting naked to do certain attacks… the gameplay could potentially be at a Devil May Cry level of awesomeness

The Beatles
Made by Harmonix… If you like The Beatles, why not?

Bionic Commando
Despite the lame looking main character, the game looks pretty fun.

The Conduit
A first-person shooter on the Wii, graphics look good, and if the controls are as good as Metroid Prime 3, it could be really good.

Cross Edge (X-Edge)
Darkstalkers+Disgaea+a bunch of other random franchises? There’s Prinnies, so I’m in, but the game actually looks good. Look forward to this on the PS3 in March.

Duke Nukem Trilogy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K00DCK1l98 Not much more to say, since I saw NO info on it, but if it does come out in 2009, I’ll be getting it for sure.

Dragon Quest 9
It’s Dragon Quest, nothing more to say. Changed from action RPG to turn-based during development, let’s see how the first numbered DQ game fares on a handheld.

Deadly Creatures
You control a spider or a snake througha huge desert. I’ll definitely rent this, lots of potential. Finally something on the Wii.

Dark Void
I remember seeing a trailer for this, looked pretty fun… Not much more to say since I know little about it.

Deus Ex 3
Haven’t played the previous games in the series (maybe i should…) but if this does come out in 2009, it should be well worth looking out.

Diablo 3
May not be a 2009 release for sure, but I’ve been anticipating this since the expansion to the second one came out. A 2009 release would definitely be awesome. The game looks awesome, and is probably gonna be as good as the first 2.

EyePet
This better fucking be free… If it is i’ll download it just to see how it works. Then delete it because it’s gonna suck despite being a fun little toy.

Fat Princess
Looks to be a fun little downloadable game. 

Fight Night Round 4
Really liked Round 3, so this one should be fun. And Mike Tyson is there! Ear-eating for illegal move would be awesome

Final Fantasy Dissidia
We should have a review for this soon, but until then those people who don’t know japanese like me will have to wait until the US version in 2009.

Final Fantasy XIII
Probably not a 2009 release in the US, but in Japan it should be out. Let’s hope that a current-gen FF is gonna be really good. I really can’t wait to see what they’ll do with it.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII
I have yet to see any gameplay, or know when it’s coming out, but it could be pretty nice, and a 2009 release would be good.

Final Fantasy Agito XIII
Not sure what this one is about, all I know is that it’s a cellphone game gone PSP. We’ll see.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
A Wii/DS game? How will that work? Well, we’ll see, it could potentially be really fun… As long as it’s better than the FF:CC on the Gamecube…

Forza Motorsport 3
The 360s response to Gran Turismo 5… oh wait… Well I didn’t play the previous games, but I did hear some good things. I’ll be sure to try this one out (now that I have a 360)

Ghostbusters: The Video Game
YES PLEASE. The trailer was so awesome, I’m sure to buy it. The game looks quite interesting other than the fact that it’s Ghostbusters.

God of War III
I hate God of War. Lame QTE-fest….. But it’s long awaited, and if it comes out in 2009 it’s gonna be one of the biggest PS3 games of the year. No matter what I think it’ll be big, and even I will give it a chance.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
GTA, on DS. Interesting idea, I’m curious about this.

Halo 3: ODST
It’s Halo 3, nothing more to say…

Halo Wars
Incredibly generic RTS that Halo fans are already trying to make lamer! “This button should shoot grenades!” WTF. Well, it’s potentially interesting, but we’ll see.

Heavy Rain
Great graphics… QTE-fest, but I think the main focus here is the story, which changes depending on what you do, and if you die the story actually goes on. Will definitely rent this. Not sure if it’s a 2009 release, but whatever.

The House of the Dead: Overkill
Killing zombies is always fun. So this should be fun too.

InFamous
An open world game using a guy with lightning-based super powers. Lots of potential, let’s hope they do it properly.

Indiana Jones
Not much info on it. If it comes out in 2009, I’ll check it out.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile
It’s a remake of the first Klonoa. Will be fun.

Killzone 2
Great graphics. That’s just about all I know. We’ll see if it’s gonna live up to the hype

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
KH on DS. The very short gameplay I’ve seen looked fast-paced and really good.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
KH on PSP. Looks great.

The King of Fighters XII
Proof that 2D should never die, even in current/net-gen consoles. It looks great and seems to play great.

MadWorld
Not sure about this. If the gameplay complements the over-the-top violence, should be good.

Mario & Luigi RPG 3
The first 2 were kinda fun.

Massive Action Game
256 players online. That’s basically all I know. No gameplay was seen but people are hyping this up like crazy. Let’s prepare to be disappointed right away.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade
2D beat-em up game I think? Made by Vanillaware, the guys behind Odin Sphere. Should be an interesting Wii title.

Ninja Blade
I lost all interest when Wintrale told me it was just a big QTE-fest, but it might still be interesting. The demo coming soon should help make a good decision on this.

Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (Wii)/
Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad (Xbox 360)
Japanese Schoolgirls killing zombies with katanas. On 2 consoles, so most likely you’ll be able to experience it. I’ll most likely be going for the 360 version though.

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?
You play as a Prinny, who wouldn’t want to get this? The demo was great, let’s hope the full game is just as good.

Prototype
Another game I know nothing about, but it’s really hyped. We might see what it’s all about in 11 days though (official website countdown)

Phantom Brave Wii
ORLY? Okay, I’ve already played a lot of Phantom Brave on the PS2, but if you didn’t, check it out. Really fun strategy RPG.

Punch-Out!!
HOLY SHIT! PUNCH OUT!! Though Nintendo seems hell bent on making lame games like Wii Music, it seems they got the right idea as to what to do for “core” audiences, and this looks awesome.

Resident Evil 5
It’s Resident Evil…yay! Rental only for me since I suck at RE games, but still potentially interesting.

Sin and Punishment 2
I have yet to get the N64 version on the Virtual Console, but I did play it once and it was fun, so the sequel should be nice.

Sonic and the Black Knight
Okay, after what sounds like a deception with Unleashed, I can’t really get excited for this. But there might be potential.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection
Now that’s Sonic at its best. And there’s a bunch of other games that aren’t Sonic too. You might already have all of those on other compilation discs, or emulators, but if not, and if the price is right, why not?

Splatterhouse
Remake of the first? That’s what I read. Could be good. Maybe.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Not exactly sure what to say about this one. It’s Star Ocean. The previous games in the series were fun. I’ll be sure to at least rent it.

StarCraft II
The first starcraft was and still is great, the sequel looks just as good. Check the 21 minute battle report, great stuff there.

Street Fighter IV
A sequel to SF2, fun. From various videos I’ve seen it looks really good, and the console versions have more characters than the arcade.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The first was fun, if the sequel improves on a couple elements it could be really good.

The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf
Didn’t play the PC version, but it seems interesting enough, especially since the console versions will apparently have more stuff in them.

White Knight Chronicles
Another game we’ll hear about relatively soon on here, with hopefully a review in January. Level 5 makes relatively good games most of the time, this could be nice.

Wolfenstein
Wolfenstein 3D was good for its time(though it didn’t age well) and Return to Castle Wolfenstein was really good. If it comes out in 2009, I’ll be playing it.

Yakuza 3
The first 2 were good, let’s see if the PS3 one is good as well.

 

So that’s it for now. Lots of great games coming on all systems, this sounds like it’s gonna be another great year in gaming, no matter which system you have. I did leave some games out, but I couldn’t find ALL the games coming out in 2009. And some are probably yet to be announced.

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During their Fall Press Conference today, Nintendo have – as expected – announced a new version of the Nintendo DS. Called the Nintendo DSi, it eschews the GBA slot (boo!) in favour of a slight downsizing (it’s a little thinner) and a range of improvements. The handheld’s screens have been enlarged, and will now be 17% bigger (at 3.25 inches) than those found on the DS Lite. As for the rumoured additions, both have proven to be correct, with “audio enhancements” made to the handheld, while it will also now include a .3 megapixel (640×480) camera. And that’s just the start of it.

The DSi also features an SD memory card slot, making it possible to take pictures with the DSi and then view them on the Nintendo Wii. The DSi features a built-in browser, and it’s possible to download games and keep them on the DSi.

For digital delivery purchases, there is a DSi Shop, from which users can download DSiWare from. Pricing categories for the DSiWare are: Free, 200 points, 500 points and “Premium” or 800 points. Customers will get 1000 free points to spend at the DSi Shop that are good until March 2010.

The DSi will be released in Japan on November 1. It will retail for ï¿¥18,900 (USD$180), and will be available in two colours, white and black.

Reports Kotaku.

Screenshot – and some other news in the full page

So here’s what it looks like:

The new DS model, will you buy one?

Personally, I’m still at the original boring grey model, huge ass DS.  It didn’t get much use in the last few months, and I see it as a Phoenix Wright machine mostly. I know there’s a lot of good games, but I can only have so many RPG games unfinished before starting new ones.

Now for more sour news, I suggest you take some antioxidants before watching, you might actually feel sick from this one. A Dragonball movie trailer as been leaked, and boy is it awful.  I mean, I’m not surprised, but this deserves /facepalm times 100.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1620698&w=425&h=350&fv=]

You can’t say I didn’t warned ya! *goes back to throw up in the toilet*

Now more seriously, making a Dragon Ball movie is an AUTO-fail deal. I mean, either they would have made it with a lot of CG to look like the real characters with funky hair, and look ridiculous for outsiders, or either they do what they just did.  Which, isn’t much Dragon Ball anymore.

Great job guys! You just ruined the series that inspired so many other series afterward, in the WORST way possible.

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update: Freshly-in, more news reported from Kotaku’s coverage of today’s Nintendo’s conference.  A new Punch-out game for the Wii. It’s been almost 15 years since a Punch-Out game was released. I think this calls for celebrations!

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