JsARCLIGHT

I could be wrong but don't future versions of things pretty much run the older versions of things? I mean, if you have Direct X 9 installed won't it automatically run everything beneath it like DX8 and back software? I mean, If my PC is running DX9 and for some weird reason the urge grabs me to install Half Life 1, which to my knowledge needed Direct X 7, it will work just fine without re-installing DX7... right?

[bill Lumbergh] Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhh... Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... Ok China I'm going to need you to come in on Sunday Mmmmmmmkaaaaaaay? [/bill Lumbergh] I highly doubt that format will get out of China. It sounds more like China saying "well, OK then western devils and your new formats with their new region coding and copy protection trying to make an example of us... well we have our OWN new format!... With Blackjack!... And Hookers!..."

Four words: The Mathew Broderick Godzilla.

Yeah but in RAH lore there IS an actual GI Joe who is just one guy (Joseph Colton), who's nickname became the name of the team. Also that "news" article is speaking to the traditional name and connotation of GI Joe and not the particular RAH iteration of the Hasbro GI Joe Toy/Show/Comic. "GI Joe" dates back decades and has been seen in hundreds of different forms... but the one form it always takes (which I believe was the thrust of the article) is that "GI Joe" is always American.

This is my surprised face. Seriously... it's Hollywood. Who didn't see this coming? Uuuuuuuuuuu Nnnnnnnnn Jooooooooooeeee! A completely ineffective heeeeeerooooooo! Sanctions will save the daaaaaaaaaaaay!

If this plane gets out of the hangar I'll be shocked. Lots of projects get greenlit for development... only a handful ever make it past that stage. Anyone remember all the press releases and stories in fan magazines about the WB and the Watchmen movie development back in the mid nineties that had Joel Silver to helm it with his pick of Arnold Schwarzenegger for Dr. Manhattan? That got really far.

That's my thinking as well. I'll take steps to "remedy" something but always in the realm of the benign... no case cracking. If I had no warranty and no other recourse I'd probably crack mine open and tinker with it but as it stands that 3 year warranty is quite a safety blanket.

And to that I say your idea of "watching" vastly differs from mine. The gross action and movement is not what I like to look at and you miss so much fine detail by reading subtitles. I had no clue how detailed and intricate the background matte paintings and things like the pod interiors in the Cowboy Bebop movie were until I rented the dubbed DVD a while back. Having only seen the subtitled bootleg DVD I realized how much detail I missed when constantly reading the bottom of the screen. If all you're doing is watching something to watch it, then subs are fine... but to really appreciate the intricacies and artwork of some of the greater animation movies you can't constrain yourself to the crutch of subtitles. The way I like to think of it is "could I watch a Pixar movie with subtitles?"... my answer is no. There is just so much to see on screen at any given time that having to split your attention between the action and reading the dialog causes you to miss so much nuance. Edit: another prime example for me is FLCL... there was just so much detail and fine minutia in that show. Even when watching the dub I felt like I missed so much. I can't even comprehend trying to watch that show subtitled.

I'm a very visual person by my nature. I went to school for design and run a design and animation company. That being said when I watch something for entertainment I prefer to watch what is happening on the screen rather than read subtitles. I have never liked subs. Yes it's "the original" and "the artist's vision" and all those great terms but you really can't appreciate a visual media like movies or animation of you are constantly having to glance down to the bottom of the screen and read tiny words. Your attention is focused in the wrong spot. Plus having these paragraphs of text taking up at times a third or more of the screen ruins the visual feel of the thing you are watching. If I was a hardcore dork I'd learn the language the show was in so I could take in the sights as well as the dialog without having to read subtitles. But I'm not a hardcore dork and I'm actually quite forgiving of bad dubs... heck bad dubs make things even better sometimes. The only complaints I have about dubs are when they totally re-write the dialog to make it more "American" or "Western". When the character says "You shame your family and bring dishonor to your ancestors!" that is what I want to hear the dub say, no matter how hokey it sounds... but rather they'll "Westernize" it and it becomes "You suck you stupid idiot!" and it sounds just as hokey, but now that 13 year old brain dead kid will "understand" it better. Then again I got "into" anime back in the early '90s when all you could get were fansubbed VHS tapes at shady comic shops and sci-fi conventions... after so many years spent squinting and reading the bottom of the screen I guess I just want to see the visual presentation of the show, dialog be damned. I'd rather hear a character with a goofy dubbed voice than have to read what that "talented original voice actor" just said.

I figure either way if left alone it's a crap design and its eventually going to burn up... and the worst that can happen if I add a fan stand to try to cool it down more is that it's a crap design and it will eventually burn up. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

From my feeble understanding of how the guts of the 360 are laid out and my equally feeble understanding of the whole "heat breaks its mind" problem I don't actually see any scientific proof to it sitting one way or the other affecting when or if the unit fails. About the only failure that might be attributed to how the system sits might possibly be DVD drive failure, which I have heard of with the 360 but not in any way as prevalent as the 3RROD failures. It seems to me the more appropriate question would be how long the unit is used with what regularity and what operating temperature it resides at. After all, excessive heat causing a warping (and resulting chip popping) of the circuit board seems to be the prime cause of the 3RROD issue rather than the boxes' orientation. That would lead me to believe that that heat warping is going to occur anyway given the right temperatures no matter what position the unit is in. The sad thing is box itself uses a really poor heat ducting system in which the rear fans "pull" heat away from the metal finned heatsink through a plastic duct and throw it out the back of the unit. The case has intake "breathing holes" in the top and bottom (or the sides of you lay it horizontal) which are pretty much ineffective for air circulation... mostly because the top holes are all but blocked from a smooth airflow pattern by the hard drive and the bulky DVD drive. That leaves really only the bottom holes for true "intake" air. And seeing as there is no "positive" air intake system like a fan, the unit really only passively "gasps" for outside air from that bottom vent. Standing it vertical or laying it horizontal would not affect it's ability to breathe at all really as it more or less is stagnant air. I myself figured that the "fan stand" accessory would be a good choice as it actively forces a circulation of air up into that bottom vent, thus theoretically creating more of a "flow" rather than more or less a cesspool of tepid air. Allowing the system more circulating air to get in and pushing that cooler air over the heatsink would present the potential for slightly cooler operating temperatures I'd assume.

I've had mine since around September of last year. For the first about 6 months it was horizontal with one of those Nyko intercoolers on it on top of my entertainment center with lots of room around it to breathe. After reading several threads online at various places badmouthing the Nyko intercooler, even blaming it for causing system failures, I replaced it with a "Fan Stand" that has it's own AC adapter and it now sits vertical on the hardwood floor next to an AC vent (my PS3 took it's spot of honor on top of the entertainment center... what can I say, the PS3's design is pure sex while the Xbox 360's design is like a pale fat kid in a white T shirt at the pool). I've never had any red rings or system failures (knock on wood). Drive noise has actually decreased having it vertical on the floor... or it seems that way.

They don't actually "fix" your unit, they send you a previously refurbished one. The Xbox replacement system is basically a daisy chain. As broken units come in they begin to repair and refurbish them. The ones that are "fixed" are put "into a pile" and when new broken units come in they pull from that "pile" of fixed units and send you one of those while yours goes into the "broken pile" and is fixed at a later date and sent to someone else when their broken unit is sent in. In other words you don't get your unit back, you get another similar one that was broken and repaired. Hence why they ask you to remove your faceplate and hard drive, because you are not getting yours back you are getting someone else's that has been reconditioned and later on down the line someone will be getting your old broken one. To answer your other question, yes... eventually your replacement will need to be replaced. All of the Xbox 360 units of that generation are "bad" and have the potential to fail from heat issues. Talk to most people and it's not a question of "if" but a question of "when". Personally I'm on my first unit and have never seen one sign of failure (knock on wood). When my unit does fail, as let's face it I have to accept the fact that it eventually will, I plan to send it in like everyone else. At some point when the newer Falcon units arrive with their HDMI outs I plan to replace my unit with one of those and give my old one to one of my friends.

If you are only in the medical pavilion then you don't have the research camera yet. You are required to get it to progress past Neptune's Bounty. Once you get it it is a "weapon" like your other weapons, you use it to photograph bad guys and when you do you get "experience" towards combat benefits. Most baddies have three to four "levels" of photo, once you max that out you do triple damage from weapons and gain other combat bonuses such as increased item drops. Did you enter the area of the medical pavilion that is frozen shut? If I remember right the key is in there. Edit: No I'm wrong. It took me a second to remember but SPOILER: The "blurry screen" that you are describing is the "Bouncer Shock". Watch the Bouncer, when you see him rack back his fist... JUMP! He slams his fist into the floor which causes your character to lose his balance, resulting in you not moving fast and having blurry vision. But if you jump into the air when he does that Bouncer Shock your feet are off the ground and you "dodge" the shockwave and keep moving at normal speed. The "Aiming" does indeed improve the weaponry's aiming... but the Thompson is still very inaccurate at long distances. If you watch it's hit pattern it's pretty much a cone of fire, even when aiming and even with the stability mod. The closer you are to the target, the more rounds hit as they don't fan out as much. The same is true for the shotgun, except the shotgun throws up a perfect circle of fire whereas the Thompson randomly blips rounds inside a circle. Both become far more accurate at closer distances. Also the game has an "auto aim" that defaults to "on", the auto aim causes your character to "track" people with his weapons after firing on them. If you notice when you fire on a baddie but don't touch your aim control stick your cross hair will automatically track the target, which means all you have to do is "line up the shot" and then don't move your aim and just keep pulling the trigger.

I've found the best weapons against the Big Daddies are: - Take tons of research photos of them to increase the damage you do to them. Big Daddies will totally ignore you if you don't fight them so run right up close and snap about 4 photos of both him and the Little Sister for every one you encounter, soon enough you'll get tons of combat bonuses against him that really help. - I never engage a Bouncer in tight quarters, and similarly never engage a Betty in open spaces. Bouncers run at you and you really need space to dodge them and conversely Bettys throw those grenades and snipe you with their bolt gun so it's best to have a nice bendy hallway you can juke around to dodge their weapons. - Use the electrocute plasimd to stun them if they get too close to you or you need a second to breathe or think - For long range I use the grenade launcher with either heat seekers or regular grenades. Keeping my distance I pound them until the ammo runs out. The grenade launcher takes forever to reload so I usually switch over to a close range weapon and close in for the kill at that point if the Big Daddy is still standing. - Up close I use the shotgun with electric buckshot, the electric buck stuns them (thus preventing them from attacking) plus it does damage to them. The shotgun is devastating at close range and I was able to take out Big Daddies in 6 to 8 shots of electric buck alone later on in the game with full research damage. - When my electric buckshot ran out I would switch over to the Thompson with armor piercing ammo. I've found that even with a fully modded Thompson your shot pattern is terrible and you only get about a 50% hit ratio so I use it as a weapon of "last resort" or only up close where I know I'll get higher hit percentages. - Dodge Dodge Dodge! Sidestep as soon as you see the Bouncer start a run at you then circle strafe him. - If possible in an big, open level use the "Hypnotize Big Daddy" plasmid on a roaming Big Daddy so when you encounter a Big Daddy with a Little Sister in tow you can snipe the Big Daddy and your "Hypnotized" Big Daddy ally will attack him. You then sit back and let them duke it out until one of them drops. I've also found those helicopter drones to be great decoys as well, let the Big Daddy focus on them which allow you a few more seconds to spare to line up shots on him.

Attempted spoiler free answer: 1. the only real good or evil choice the player has in the game is whether or not they "Rescue" or "Harvest" the little sisters. There are about twenty of them in the game (give or take, there are two to three per level). 2. How you choose to "deal with the Little Sisters" does indeed affect the ending. The game has two endings, you get one if you rescue them all and a different one if you harvest them all. None of your other choices or activities in the game affect the ending. 3. Worth it or not? This gets into potential spoilerish territory so I will block out parts I think may be spoilers. If you "Harvest" the Little Sisters you get . If you "Rescue" the Little Sisters you get . So in a nutshell if you harvest all the Little Sisters (in effect playing the game "evil") you have the potential to get something like as well as the "bad" ending. But if you rescue all the Little Sisters you have the potential to get something like as well as the "good" ending. All in all how you "deal" with the Little Sisters only affects how much Adam you immediately have in your cache, which affects how quickly and efficiently you can upgrade your character's plasmids and tonics as well as which of the two endings you will get. IMHO:

You don't actually "drop" plasmids, they go into your "storage". When you see one of the gene splicing machines you can re-arrange your plasmids and tonics and you'll see all of them you have available to you. If memory serves you can purchase your first extra slot at the first or second Gatherer's Garden machine and you can purchase additional ones at each machine afterwards as well as health and eve extensions. I myself restarted on hard last night and found three things: pickups are exactly the same. Items are always where they are in all difficulties. Your starting health and eve are 2/3rds that of normal. The damage enemies do is greater, the damage you do is less and you consume more eve to use your plasmids. I roared through the first level last night on hard and made it to the medical pavilion. Before that though I went back to get two missed "secret" achievements. The two secret achievements are (spoilers so only read if you have beat the game):

1-800-598-9671 They ask you for your last name and area code, then they whittle it down and tell you your "status". I called the number to check and were told mine were "shipped" that very day and they arrived about five days later.

If you want you can call the 1-800 number for the distributor in Texas, give them your info and they will tell you the status of your free movies. I'll have to look up that number again if anyone wants it... but from what I've seen depending on where you are in the US the offer is taking between four and five weeks to fully process and ship.

The '80s was the decade for what folks call Kidsploitation movies but going back and watching them today is painful. The only kid's movie from the '80s that I feel "still holds up" today is the Goonies, and that mostly has Richard Donner and Stephen Spielberg to thank. All the other movies just feel so... schlock. I saw Flight of the Navigator on cable a year or so after it came out (like 87 or 88 if I remember) and thought it was horrid. Then again I have this issue with Paul Reubens. That man's laugh is one giant fingernail on a chalkboard to me.

The talk in the trade magazines about HD Media focuses on two fronts, the thing the consumer cares about (picture and audio quality, features) and the thing the industry cares about (copy protection, media security). Since the DVD boom the industry has slowly come to realize that the vast lion's share of all bootlegs come out of China mostly due to China in general having a very... well... lax view of copyright law. There has been a lot of rumblings of the industry's attempts to isolate China and Russia (the two "big boys" of bootlegged media and lax copyright enforcement) from everywhere else in the sense of region coding in an attempt to "fence in" the bootleg industry in this coming generation. My guess is it's going to work just as well as the last generation... in other words you can't stop a thief. As sword technology improves so does the shield, which in turn causes someone to make a better sword and back and forth. There will be bootleg Blu Rays and HD DVDs soon... coming out of China (as usual) and all this industry buzz about region isolation and new copy protection and mastering techniques will be all for naught.

Quoting myself from page two of the thread re region codes.

I don't know about anyone else who may have jumped on the deal but I got my 5 free Blu Ray movies in the mail today... about four weeks from door to door, not bad. My Blu Ray movie collection just doubled overnight!

I bought it Tuesday evening when it came out, played it every evening for about an hour, hour and a half during the week (four days) and then had a marathon playing it Saturday night for about 5 hours or more. Front to back I'd say it took me 10 to 12 hours to beat it. I'm going to go back through again on hard and take more time this time around, I know for a fact I blew through some of the levels... it felt like you were pressured for time but in hindsight I rushed without real reason. Bioshock gave me 240 points for beating the game. The points breakdown was: (contains a spoiler so be warned)

That's what I mean... every game I own makes you jump through billions of hoops to get the achievements or perform near impossible stunts or feats to earn them. Bioshock has been the first game I've owned that just "gave" you achievement points for doing regular things. It's strange to me as I'm used to barely earning 100 points from most games I play.