Dear Future Gamer

A couple of months ago I popped out and bought a memory upgrade for my N64. "Top one," I thought, "better graphics, more levels and extra gubbins, great!" And it was... for a while.

One of the most anticipated games of the year, Donkey Kong 64, is released this Christmas and I for one no longer have any intention of buying it. £60 for a game bundled with a memory pak I already own is something I'm not going to swallow.

I think THE Games have misjudged this one. After the lack of quality games for the N64 (Zelda - which, controversially, I didn't like, GoldenEye, Banjo Kazooie and, um, well, not many others), to then price the next Rare release so high with no choice about the memory pak is an insult to those who have supported this undervalued system.

When you take into account that by then the Dreamcast will be sitting happily under my TV with a copy of Soul Calibur glued in the disk tray, do you think I'll be lamenting the lack of DK64? Probably, but not enough to swallow the 60 quid slap in the face from THE/Nintendo.

Stef Goodchild

FG: It's a fair point and you're not the first to moan about it, Stef. Many people have already bought the memory pak and are certainly looking forward to playing DK64 (which will only work with the memory pak) but don't want to have another pak and would much rather be able to buy the game without one for less. I think they're going to have to re-think their marketing strategy for DK64 if they're going to realise the game's potential at retail.