Graham

That statement is generalizing too much. It's only the best selling genre in the US market. Here in Asia (and probably Europe as well) American football console games are about as popular as poo under a pillow (except with expat Americans that is) . Graham

We've all been assuming that the rebuilt Freedom when it shows up will still be fitted with an N-Jammer Canceller and nuclear reactor. I'm thinking here that perhaps whoever rebuilt Freedom might have instead refitted it with a similar system to the Impulse Gundam's energy transfer system in order to get around the treaty banning N-Jammer Cancellers. While we still don't have enough information on how efficient is the rate of energy being beamed from mother ship to MS using this new system, or even the effective range that energy transfer can be maintained, in theory given a high enough transference rate, the Freedom could possibly still use all it's weapons with impunity. Of course this asumes a high efficency system, which may not be the case. Also, I'm wondering did Kira's super coordinator ability actually have anything to do with was Freedom's ability to lock onto and accurately engage multiple targets or was it just a case of Freedom having excellent targetting sensors and software? If the latter, why don't all MS have this ability? Cost? Graham

Usually 1 or 2 eps a night before I go to sleep. Not into marathons, I have too much stuff going on to spend a whole day on an anime series, no matter how good it is.. Graham

"Doggie style" Uh huh...is this Sentai or Hentai? Graham

I'll have to go back an rewatch ep #1 again, but wouldn't Shin's family still have been killed in the blast from Freedom even if his sister hadn't gone back for her phone? And how come Shin gets the newest Gundam when he's the worst of Minerva's MS pilots (except for perhaps Lunamaria)? As the Strike Rouge with ISWP appears in the opening, I'm hoping that Bandai will release a Rouge recolor version of the MMM Strike toy with ISWP or at least an MSiA with ISWP Graham

Heh, I was already an adult when the original Doom game came out, so I can't complain about this movie raping my childhood . But I think even with a good director, the original premise of the game, i.e. a lone Marine on Mars running around a maze, fighting monsters from hell is a little too skimpy really to lend itself to much of a movie. With this bare outline, you could get some good action scenes sure, but do you really want to sit through 90 minutes+ of pure FPS action with no additional story or character development? If your answer is yes, then just plug in your console/power up your PC and play the damn game as you sure don't need to see a movie . So yes, certain parts of the game need to be changed and additional elements would need to be added to make a watchable movie, but I do agree that adding the virus plotline and changing the Marine to SWAT type guys is a little too cliched. Graham

I've been sitting on the sidelines here so far, as I'm not a fan of Zeta, so this doesn't really affect me. However, I've been trying to figure out how I would feel if Bandai released an official R1 version of one of my favorite animes (let's say Macross 7 for example) and replaced the opening and ending songs with instrumental tracks. While initially I would be pretty pissed, I think in the end it wouldn't bother me too much after I'd calmed down. I mean let's be honest here, when watching an anime TV series on DVD how many of you actually watch and listen to the ending/openings for every single episode? I don't know about you all, but I probably only listen to & watch the opening/endings once or twice anyway and then just fast forward through them for the rest of the series anyway. Listening to the same songs 50+ times gets old pretty fast IMO. Yes, it was bad form on Bandai's part not to announce this change prior to release. I think Bandai should have realised that their main customer base for the Zeta DVDs (I'm guessing) is the more hard core older UC fans who have probably seen some (or all) of Zeta already one way or another and so would want the show in it's totally original form. But as others have mentioned, if you like Zeta, chances are you probably own the songs anyway (not that that is an excuse for what Bandai did). Graham

Yeah, DH released 4 mags about a week or so apart during the mid-Nov to Mid-Dec period. A bloody rip off if you just want the magazine like I do for new toy/model info but are not interested in the crappy AoZ models. And the mag that came with each kit had only like a third the number of pages as normal . I sold the kits for like HK$10 each. No interest in them, I find the AoZ designs pretty uninspiring. Graham

Friday night (17th Dec) would probably be a good time for me. I was planning to hook up with a friend and go to the Gundam expo anyway on hat night. Graham

16th to 28th Dec is also the HK Gundam Expo, which is being held this year in Hollywood Plaza (near Diamond Hill MTR station). Graham

Well, I liked it, but then I'm a big fan of 80s anime . I'm pretty anti-CG anime. While I don't mind cell anime having some minor CG effects or enhancements, I'm not into totally CG amime. Traditional Japanese cell animation has a very distinctive and attractive style and IMO much of this is lost in the transition to CG. The anime in effect changes to look just like a typical Hollywood blockbuster SFX movie. About the only thing I don't mind seeling in CG is Valks, as IMO CG Valk dogfights can look amazing if done correctly, e.g. Macross Zero. Graham

I'll see if I can make it for the summer one as well. What's the exact date? I'll need several months to get my wife to accept the idea Be nice to finally meet Monkey-N and Bariaburu Faita in person. And of course it's always fun getting together with Noel. Perhaps we can persuade Shawn to go as well if his schedule is less hectic by then. Graham

Watched the new Appleseed over the weekend. Bleh.......didnt like it. It did nothing for me. Give me the original 80s anime anyday. Traditional cell anime = good . CG anime = bad . Graham

The HK bootleg DVD of Destiny eps # 5-8 came out last week. Watched half of it so far (up to ep # 6). Gotta say both the vol.1 and vol.2 HK DVDs have had excellent English subs so far. Not perfect, but pretty damn close. And all the names are pretty accurate and consistent from episode to episode, which is a good thing. One of the things that really pissed me off about my HK SEED box set (and a lot of other HK anime DVDs as well) is that the characters names keep changing from episode to episode. And just to echo what a lot of others here have said, it was very cool seeing the ZAKUs kick ass . Just a pity poor Lunamaria Hawke doesn't seem to be doing very well in combat so far, which is a pity as she is my favorite (and cutest IMO) female character in Destiny. I'm definitely enjoying Destiny much more than SEED so far. As Destiny seems to be taking a lot of cues from Zeta, much like SEED followed MSG to some extent, I'm betting Shin's mid series upgrade MS will be variable, just like in Zeta, Camile started with the non-variable RX-178 MKII and upgraded to the variable Zeta. Graham

What is it with Lucas and hands??? I am guessing you have never been in a sword fight. What do you think is most at risk... your ass? I do full contact sparring with padded swords, and I can testify that hands and forearms are the most commonly hit areas. Graham

While not a band, my favorite J-rock/J-pop singer is Nanase Aikawa. Graham

Well Raww is a famous ace so unless his group is some covert unit then he's probably been paraded every once in a while as a hero in PLANT. Mwu wouldn't have to see him face to face, but just see his face on a monitor or something. OK good point. Yeah, that makes sense. Graham

Good point. Could be. But I wonder whether it offers improved protection over regular Phase Shift? Graham

Getting back on topic, as this is supposed to be the SEED Destiny thread, not a PC spec comparison thread . I've just noticed that in the latest MAHQ update, they list the Impulse Gundam as having 'Variable Phase Shift' (VPS) armor. I wonder how this differs from regular Phase Shift armor? Graham

Ditto. Bought the individual disks, that's enough for me. Graham

I'll be getting myself a Konig Monster or two, that is assuming it's actually out in time for Christmas. Also going to buy myself the MMM GQ Force Impulse Toy, which should be out around the middle of the month. I've asked my wife to buy me some CDs. Graham

I actually have the original of 'Macross Since 1983'. Sorry, not for sale though. Graham

Wow, the MMMGQ Sword Impulse is looking really nice. Yay it comes with the beam rifle unlike the MSiA version (shame on you Bandai). I like how the screws on the legs and arms are now covered up, unlike on earlier prototype photos where they were still visible. Graham

Eh, why the mask if he doesnt have some mean ass scarring or something? Very dissapointed . Thanks for posting it though. I'm suspecting the mask is to hide from Mwu. Nah, personally, I don't see that as the reason. I mean just how many times does Le Creuset actually personally encounter Mwu? I mean actually face to face encounter, not fighting in MS or MA? I'm no expert on SEED and I'm still only up to about episode 38 or 39, but I only recall one time in the series so far where Mwu and Rau Le Creuset were actually close enough to see each other (a gunfight in some old colony or something). As Rau Le Creuset hides on his ship for most of the first three quarters of the series, why bother wearing a mask at all times just to hide is face from Mwu as he wouldn't have any chance to encouter Mwu anyway unless he left the ship or submarine or whatever it was he was skulking about on? And just who comes up with names like Mwu La Flaga anyway? Sunrise/Bandai, at least give your characters plausible realistic sounding names (apologies in advance if Mwu La Flaga is actually a common name in your country ). Names like Kira Yamato I can live with, it's real sounding. Heck even 'Lunamaria Hawke' sounds cool, but if somebody walked up to me and introduced themselves as 'Mwu La Flaga' I think I would be very hard pressed not to burst out laughing. Graham

I think that will be a long time (if ever) in happening. Call me old fashioned, a dinosaur or whatever, but I still prefer the experience of browsing and buying in an actual physical shop rather than buying something online. A great many people I know feel the same as wall. Shopping and searching for stuff in real shops is fun ya know . Although I of course buy stuff online, I only do when it's things that I can't easily buy here in HK, like some English language books, US or UK version console games etc. And getting back on topic, Half Life.....nah, never played it. Took one look at the nerdy looking main character and decided I didn't want to play as some dorky looking, glasses wearing, bearded scientist geek (apologies to all MWers who have beards and wear glasses or are scientist geeks ). Graham