Noyhauser

Actually oihan, its clear that the xbox 360 will not have as powerful CPU as the PS3. IBM will produce chips for both systems, and they have stated that Microsoft's chip is a less advanced version of the PS3's chip. Also its not a cell chip either, which really is that revolutionary in its design. The Toshiba/IBM/Sony chip will actually suprass Moore's law when introduced.

What's innovative about the PS3?  The fact that it can use more expensive Blu-Ray discs, which may or may not replace DVD movies, despite the fact that games don't even fill a dual-layer DVD?

PS3 uses a 8 cpu core, so that's plenty of revolution for ya.

Back on the topic, buy a bigass PC, if you whant a console that's gonna have loads of good games, go with the PS3

ACtually its more than that, Its one of the first real cell processors available on the market (I think the Mac G5 uses a similar architecture). PS-3s when they come out will actually be faster than the slowest 500 supercomputers currently available (I think they run at 800+ gigaflops, while the new IBM/Toshiba/Sony cell architecture will be at 1.3 terraflops). The xbox will use a less powerful IBM chip instead. Really its ironic because last time around the PS-2 came earlier but was less powerful than the xbox, now its completely reversed.

However these are just matters of minor importance beside A-1's blinding presence

I think it must be this, i.e., the genericized rules from DP9's games, which have been extracted from the various backgrounds. So now, to play Heavy Gear, you need the core rules plus a background book; to play Jovian Chronicles as well, you add a Jovian Chronicles book.

Looks like interesting stuff...

It was a good idea in concept, but in implementation it was very poor. I mean Silcore is a good system, still better than most others... but when you compare it to the simplicity of Heavy Gear Second Ed. it doesn't hold a flame. If you wanted to run a Macross system, I'd use the old Jovian Chronicles system... and redesign it using the Companion to make a new setting. Jovian chronicles is essentially a gundamesque system (even has rules for transformations) so its not a far leap at all. And if you were keen enough you could use the lightning strike rules (a tactical derivative of the older Sillouette V2 rules) to create a massive fleet based tactical game. I'd like to create rules for Legend of Galactic Heroes Tactical game.

The exception to my dislike of general rulesets is Dream Pod 9's Silhouette system, which I think is a really elegant system. It's definately geared towards mecha-based games, but between the scaleability and simplicity of it, I prefer it to other mecha-based rulesets. Lots of games featuring complicated stuff like robots tends to get bogged down in numbers, which really hampers the game-playing experience.

I was a huge fan of the Sillouette system, I was a major supporter of the system from aroung 1995 to 2003... Although I didn't contribute to it I knew several that did very well. I will say it WAS maybe the best system I have ever encountered... It was perfect for RPG AND tactical gaming. It was a simple, yet brilliantly effective system for decribing and operationalizing any phenomena for gaming purposes.

however when they tried to consolidate the line under the Silouette core line, it was a disaster of sorts. Poorly done and full of holes, it really brought the down the line. As it stands if you can find the Heavy gear 2nd edition or Jovian Chronicals books you should pick it up (rather than the newer silcore books circa 2004 and after). I think Jovian Chronicals can be easily adapted to game macross... and some work has been done on it.

wow, I used to post there as well morpheus (as usual with rambling technical posts). I was just about to post photos of my growing YS Warship collection.

I doubt it was anybody who actually posted on the forum that did this... all of the crowd seemed to be pretty chill diehard LOGH fans like myself. Its a shame really.

no, its a battroid only conversion

What exactly is this thing for ?

I even notice it on the cars(of macross city) and the jump suits of Hikaru and Misa.

on the VF-1 its a tiedown point... so stuff doesn't float away in zero gravity situations... I would assume its the same for cars as well.

Oh I don't doubt that the Iranian Airforce won't try to contest. I just think you are overestimating the combat effectiveness of their forces. The AWG-9 is a good piece of equipment, maybe from the 1970, and even the 1980s. How do you think it would go up against the Raytheon AESA AN/APG 79 arrays on F-15s and F/A-18E/Fs... Do you think this radar which is 30 years its junior is actually worse than the AWG-9? How do you think the AWG will operate with heavy ECM from Prowlers, or with an E-3 circling behind them. Sure you point out that the Iranians used F-14s as cheap Awacs, but the fact is that its a poor substitute for a real E-2/3. And if they did go into Iran, they would likely use F-22s... which would be overkill in its own right.

I don't deny that the US will lose a plane, two or even five. Against those numbers it would be foolish to say that no losses will be incurred. We lost fighters to the iraqis too. But to be honest, if they tried to take on the US air forces, they would be quickly removed from the sky. I think the USAF would be happy if they did contest air superiority. It would make their lives a lot easier. Its easy to say from your vantage point "oh yeah I think they will have an effective defence"... a lot of people said this about operation enduring freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom...people thought Afghanistan would be as bad as it was for the Soviets but in truth the US quickly won both of those operations (well the actual combat side of it). I don't have blind faith in the US air capabilities, but I do realize where they are exceptional. And this is one area where I think they would shine in.

Your right that the IRaqi airforce didn't contest in 1991, But the US was waiting for them nonetheless . Thousands of CAP sorties occurred uneventfully, and if the Iraqis did show up it would have been a bloodbath then too, as pilots were itching for combat. The same would go for iran.

Also you say that Iranians have real combat experience. How many real veterans do you think are left 17 years after their last possible combat mission? Given that the Iranian airforce is not a prestigeous posting, I doubt many are left. I think American pilots have a far greater liklihood of being in combat than their iranian counterparts, and they do have red flag and innumerous other training missions to keep their skills on edge.

According to the military balance Iran has

4 Sqd. of 65 F-4D/E

4 Sqd with 60 F-5E

1 Sqd of 30 Su-24MK (including former Iraqi Aircraft)

7 Su-25 (inc iraqi)

24 F-1E (inc iraqi)

2 Sqd of 25 F-14

1 sqd of 24 F-7M

2 sqd of Mig 29UB (inc. Iraqi)

AEW- 1 IL-76 (iraqi)

Serviceability 60% for american aircraft, 80% for Russian and Chinese.

If you think they have any chance against a US AEF operating out of Qatar, with Aegis and Awacs support, you have got to be kidding. To emphasize Ewilien's numbers from global security, they can't put all those planes in the air at one time, except for a very quick burst operation (think Israel's Pre-emptive attack against Egypt and syria in the 67 war), because of maitenence down time, and the like. Really you are looking at 1/3 to 1/2 being available for a mission. The US however can easily outmatch them in the air. The Iranian airforce would be looking at a repeat of what happened to iraq in 1991. Maybe they may down one or two planes, but thats it.

Actually I think the best controller ever was the Nintendo Virtual Boy's controller. It held better than anything ever made before or since. too bad its platform was crap.

And I also say the Sony playstation controller is probably one of the best out there. I've played all three platforms out there for hours on end, and the playstation is the only one that is comfortable after like 4 hours of play, and the buttons are easily memorizable (not for me, but for new people). I rarely hit the wrong button using it. Even the Xbox small controller isn't as good as it. I think they could tweak it to make it better, but Its still a ubiquitous piece of design.

OK Now I'm pretty much convinced that the Iranians are more of a threat than most people think.   Here's a thread over at F-15Estrikeeagle.com where Tom Cooper (co-author of "Iranian Tomcats in Action") gives an assessment of the current capabilities of the IRIAF.  If he's even half right (and I take many of his claims with a grain of salt) it's still awfully scary.   Definetly a good argument for building more Raptors.

USAF playing cat and mouse game over Iran, !! page 2

So we should build 100 more raptors because of 25, 30 year old fighters...refurbished with solid state electronics.. in a country that has had anemic economic growth the last two decades, and doesn't look like its going to get any better anytime soon. yeah right.The International Institute of Strategic Studies reports that US AC servicability is at 50 to 60%. Sorry I don't think so.

Iraq in 1991 had more of a capability Iran today, and the US airforce is far more advanced than they were in 1991. The assertion boils down to wild speculation, where the USAF and USN would just blunder along waiting for the Iranians to shoot them down.

Edited because it was a little too political for these boards.

There is no VF-4 because VFX 2 did not have one. All the ones in the photo were in the game.

VF-1 -3 -11 -17 -19 -22

I don't think its a star crusader either. I might be wrong though

Here is a preproduction sketch of Robotech Invasion #5 by WildStorm Comics. Check out the YF-19 underneath the Alpha.

HG can't use Macross design for robotek without permission right? Didn't Big West say anything for this?.

Thats probably the reason why they end up not using it on the final cover.

It was never intended to be ont he cover as it was.

I think that sketch was sent in as sample work by a hopeful artist... it was not inhouse work for production....

sides, that Yf-19 is a trace job.

Uhhmm no. The Figure artist is Tak Miyazawa who works for marvel and does Mary Jane, Xmen ect. This was a preproduction sketch. He is one of the better new artists out there today. He didn't do the mechanical drawings on the page though... that was done by someone else.

It's been awhile since I've bought some anime dvds and I'm starting to get the itch. Any thoughts on good tv series and/or OVA's to check out? I'll mention some of what i have(it would take too long to list them all). Please, no comments on any on this list as again, these are ones I already have, so I'm I'm looking for suggestions outside of these. Thanks in advance.

I've said this before, and people who have watched it will agree, that Legend of Galactic Heroes is probably one of the best Japanese animes you can watch. Its not a mindless action oriented series (although the action is top notch) but its one of the most impressive series you can watch. I think its done by the same person who wrote the Legend of the Lodoss war (Yoshiki Tanaka), and its not adapted from a manga as many Japanese animes are, but full length novels.

Its a massive space opera, which tells the story of two empires at war.... full of engaging characters and likely one of the deepest plots out there. The battles pretty well look like texbook battles, using tactics derived from real battles. Its story is far superior to any Japanese or even American science fiction story (like babylon 5).

If you are looking for a non typical japanese anime, this is it. I'd suggest you look to download the first few episodes and check them out to see if you like it... and then if you do, buy the Hong Kong Boots (because it was never licenced in north america.)

The Isralies getting F-22s will have nothing to do with what they've sold the Chinese and everything with the fact that if we sell them (F-22s) to a Jewish State, wich many within the world belive we already over suppport (I disagree, but that's a differnet thread) while we're attempting to win the favor of the Arab world, and attempting to work out a peace between the Arabs and the Isralies. It's all polotics.

I think Israel's recent activities with the Chinese, in all honesty, has nixed its chances of getting a F-22. And the US would likely say no anyways because it does not need the fighter because nobody has anything remotely comparable to it. I think the Japanese, who does produce some of the F-22 components is probably the only country that may have a chance to buy the fighter, but given the Avionics rebuild that is required for a second flight of F-22s, I doubt that will happen either.

but I've never understood why India and the U.S. are so unfreindly? I mean we were never close to war, it was BRITAIN that colonized them not America, yet they seem to love Britain.

Several reasons. One of the largest was the US suspension of aid during the 1972 war with pakistan, and its hostile tone in that conflict. The US sent the Enterprise into the bay of bengal to warn the Indians not to go further. This was taken at great offence by the indians and has not been forgotten since. It was one of the main reasons that lead the Gandhi government to the final development of the nuclear option in 1974.

Moreover the US has always had better ties with Pakistan, India's arch rival than India. This goes back right to decolonization in 1948. It served as a base for U2 flights and for arms to afghanistan. We gave them the F-16s that are their prime delivery system for their nuclear weapons. India doesn't really have much to trust us about.

Moreover Colonial powers have always had better relationships with their colonies. They have close links, such as in education common perceptions and expatriat population. These are in some way quite positive. Colonialism is part of their history but it has many different effects that go far beyond simple animosity.

He's already on the list, but Bariaburu Faita did a wonderful job of finding and shipping me a set of Legend of Galactic Heroes ships. I can't recommend a better seller.

Truth to be told, this looks almost stock, so it's a bit disappointing... Hope you don't mind me saying that.

There is a reason for that... its missing GUNS... and LOTS of them. That was the allure of the Kampfer... two big Bazookas and a LOT of firepower

Funny thing is cap... that wasn't so true until several years ago. Procured weapons designs were propriatory information of the companies themselves. This changed several years ago because of the rate of electronic advancement made constant upgrades needed (especially in aircraft design) and the government could not allow compeditive bidding on upgrade programs, and were forced to accept the owner company's untendered upgrade.

Actually they will have 16 Mig 29Ms. These will be used to equip the CV Gorshkov, if and when they ever make a deal.

I'm pretty sure I have. They are excellent paints. A model shop I frequent sold me a bottle when I was building a Mosquito, and I bought a tamiya gray and this new stuff of gray. I also used a bit on a YF-19 I was building. since I use brushes, I asked what was the best, he pointed this stuff out for me and it was amazing. No streaks at all once I brush, without thinner.... I can't do that with tamiya. I haven't had a chance to buy more since I haven't been home to build any models.

Again I looked at the bottles and I'm not sure if they are the same, but if they are, then I would go for it.

That is some nice work. Love the dark gloss blue VF-21.

I am so copying it.

Putzing around on his site I found a link to this... I don't know if its been posted before:

http://www.warpfor.com/html/val_index.html

wicked idea... its a Shinden, reversed... with a FW 190 prop and rudder change.,.. took me a few seconds to recognize it

wicked...

Kenobi has always been my favorite Jedi... I mean he was played by one of the greatest actors of all time (in my mind at least), and I think Ewan McGregor may have been one of the best casting moves that George Lucas has ever made, with the exception of Han Solo, and BILLY DEE WILLIAMS (actually I had to throw that one in there because of the mad TV skit)

Here is my thoughts about the climactic battle.

Not really a spoiler

I'm curious how Obi kills (or almost kills) Vader. because in episode 4, Vader certainly has him beat though he is much older by that point. It makes me wonder, was he a very underrated Jedi? Thats the thing that pissed me off the most about metaclorines, they almost made it like who has the most metaclorines win... which ruined the ideas of jedis for me... (and for many other people) It would restore a lot of faith in the storyline if Lucas let Kenobi beat Anakin fair and square, not one of those cliche emotionally weak scenes where he beats him where Anakin is mentallly unbalanced and Obi takes advantage of that... that would ruin the film for me. It would also in my mind be fundamentally against what a jedi stands for... which is not to take advantage of your opponent.

IF Kenobi wins fair and square, the death star rematch in episode 4 would take on a whole different light in my eyes. I think you could make an argument that he simply gave up for luke's sake. OR maybe he was just old.

I just read your write up... and there is an EW pod on the bottom? Can we see pictures?