David Hingtgen

The jaggies are the fault of the Xbox's anti-aliasing limits, not the the photo.

Ok, characters yeah, but still think plot is too generic to really say is a copy. Heck, FF Tactics has that plot too. (But the best version of it)

Was at BB again today. They fixed the Samsung's problem, and I got a good look at the Sony S3000. But I can't make comparison judgments on a TV based on "how the people at BB set them up". I need to go on a day when there's few people there, and I can fiddle with the settings myself for a while and get them looking decent. Contrast=100, Temp=cool, is NOT going to sell me a TV... I love it when I mess with the settings on a "poor-looking" TV at BestBuy (every setting at 100 like usual), then someone stops and goes "wow" when they see what a decently-calibrated screen playing HD looks like. Maybe I should go mess with their BluRay demo set... Annoyingly, my current top two TV's (both Sony), are not available at any store TOGETHER. One or the other. I really want to compare side by side to see if the extra money's worth it. On that note--so, 120hz. Noticeable? Worth it? Not many 32in sets do it, but the latest Sony XBR and Panny do. And Sony wants a nice chunk of change for that feature. But if it makes the image clarity notably better during rapid panning/object movement (like the 90% of the time mine will be on playing video games) it'd be well worth the money.

Which is the exact opposite of what happens in the Midwest. It's WAY too friggin hot and humid to go outside. 30 secs and you're sweating. I stay indoors 24/7 if I can in July and August here--I need games! Spring and Fall are the only times to stay outdoors here.

Well, I was clearing out space in my DVD towers for future purchases, and decided to get rid of a few games. Bought GC Zelda:TP with most of it, and had some credit left and wanted to get rid of it. Saw they had DOA X2 even cheaper than Target, so decided to buy it. I give it a meh. I do think the original was better. Let's just say the physics have gone from "improbable" to "it completely pulls you out of any possibly immersive environment/suspension of disbelief". Plus the character models are flat-out shiny. It's like their skin is flesh-colored chrome. Finally, I liked the suits in the first one better. None of Ayane's are good, and I've only found 1 from someone else to give to here. Plus it's fairly well-known that getting ANY achievement is very long and boring to do. Will probably end up with 0/1000 like everyone else. The last 6 months have been very money-wasting for me, last two 360 games I've bought I've been disappointed in. Sigh--summer always sucks. New games always come out in November, and only November. Aren't the manufacturers aware YET that most gamers are older than 12, and get more than 2 games a year? (B-day and Xmas). Yeesh. Assassin's Creed, Halo 3, Ace Combat 6, Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey---all will come out fairly close together. I'm getting really sick of "time of plenty" followed by "severe drought" for games every year.

Yes, but that was the X-32 vs X-35. It was Nova, and it was really good. But it wasn't about the F-22. (If only, a YF-22 vs YF-23 documentary would have been wonderful).

Could you be more specific? I played Lunar 2 (remake) and Grandia 2 right when they came out, and don't recall noticing anything specific. I mean, most JRPG's tend to have a lot of reused plot elements.

Ironically, even after MP-03---I think they still can't get "shades of grey" right. He's too pale. Personally, I use the movie as my main "G1 animated" color reference, as it is much more consistent and higher quality than any episode. And while I haven't seen an actual G1 SS toy in years, I don't recall it being that pale. He was clearly grey, though lighter than the animated version. The new G1-style repaint is almost white. I do have a G2 SS, don't know if the grey's the same color (I'd suspect not, as G2 Prime blue is quite different from G1 Prime blue)

I don't recall if it was here or TBDX, but the guy even found pencil marks and lines all over it where they marked off where to cut and paint the parts...

I'd probably try NATO black too. The next-darkest black, 36076/Panzer/Engine grey, seems just a bit too "grey" for him. But if Nato black looks too black, go for 36076/Panzer/Engine grey.

You went from sanding it down, to having both main colors applied of pattern that complex, in a couple hours?!?!

Water slide decals are the only thing that can achieve the painted-on look. Aftermarket stickers are thinner and better than Yamato's, but still won't beat decal. The surface the decals are applied on is a huge factor, clearcoating is recommended. Though I'm sort of a renegade and usually apply it to whatever surface it is---unless it's really rough. I depend more on TIME and decal solution, while others go for a glass-smooth surface to apply the decal to. (of course, it's also party a model vs toy thing---models tend to not have moving parts and you can paint/decal/clearcoat in sequence as needed, while toys have parts that can scrape together, are already painted, etc---affects what you can do/how easily you can do it) Here's some work our resident "decaling expert" did: http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...c=2463&st=0 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=1582

If the PS3 is the main reason for Blu-Ray "winning the format war" (and assuming it does) it will have been well worth it for Sony.

You can fill out the support form online and MS will email you a case number, then they'll want you to call. It might actually save time to just call first, as you'll still have to go through all their generic "help" questions first. Note that MS's automated help is the most annoying I have ever encountered. To get right to a person, keep saying "agent" until it recognizes the word. Try to emphasize the T, it kept hearing "main" when I tried. I despise voice-recognition software for stuff like that. Plus they hired someone to sound "cool" which is truly obnoxious. Trust me, you'll learn to hate "Max" pretty quickly. It'll probably save some time/effort if your personal info is at xbox.com already. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/contact/

Well by now a refurbished replacement would almost certainly have the extra heat sink. But it'll be a long time before refurbs start having HDMI/65nm. Personally I'd send it in right away. (I still don't get how so many people on other forums buy new 360's to replace the old---do they know somewhere to sell old ones for a very large chunk of what it cost to buy in the first place or what?)

I wish there was more news on the Ben-Q drives. What was it, a 1-week production run that they were used?

Any noise/heat reports from people with a 65nm one? (of course, I want a quieter DISC DRIVE more than anything--fan noise doesn't bug me at all)

Grandia II did seem to go on too long at the end. Liked the music and character designs though. Skies of Arcadia was really good overall, but thought the final villain plot kinda sucked---he was pretty generic, everything involving the silver moon etc was RPG cliche and predicatable. Also, WAY too high enemy encounter rate, especially the map. And fights overall took too long, especially bosses. Even "fire against ice" could take a while. Basically the characters and story overcame the battles. And I just loved customizing the ship and the ship battles. Code Veronica is one of my fave RE games, always wondered why it didn't "get a number"---it's better than some numbered ones, and shouldn't be grouped in with the many poor numberless off-shoots. I believe it's also going to be the basis for the next movie.

I think I've seen every Alternator ever at various local stores (definitely saw Swerve--I thought "ANOTHER vette???"). But I "got tired of them" after Tracks. Same 2 basic transformations basically. Considered Mirage, but never picked him up. Haven't seen any Alts for a while though.

I'm saying, out of all the good DC games, there were far fewer available in the US than Japan. Sure, we got all the locally-produced games, but a LOT of good Japanese stuff (read: 2D fighters and shmups) never came over. Sega of America pretty much declared 2D was dead for US DC's it seems, even though 2D made up a HUGE percentage of DC games overall.

Sad that even reissues shoot up to $100+ instantly.

I had Twinsticks, but actually found many moves easier with the controller. The twinsticks basically allow a "slight variation" in moving at an angle that experts use--but make many other moves much more difficult. I sold my twinsticks having not used them much. Plus they take up a ton of space. PS--Saturn is the best 2D system ever. Even the DC can't do a 2D fighting game as well. X-Men vs Street Fighter is probably my all-time fave, along with Darkstalkers 2. Could play them forever.

The Dreamcast had few good *US* games. If you imported, there's tons of cool stuff. If you like SNK/Capcom 2D fighters, it's the best console ever for sheer number. (Though I'd argue the Staturn was better for quality). My import DC games outnumber my entire GC and 360 libraries combined. And Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram is still sheer bliss and will never be equaled. (Though so complicated that when you pick it up again after not playing for months and months, you really, really suck and can't remember any of the moves). I still leave my DC in my room by my TV, though it's not hooked up often. (It swaps cables with the DVD player when needed)

360's basically read/write to the save file all the time, so it's always one of their first steps to ask you to remove the HD. Also, Soul Calibur 3 is known for corrupting its save BIG time. Many threads about it.

I think all current production Elites get the new heatsink. But from looking at it, I really don't see how it can help that much. It's just a small additional set of fins attached to a heatpipe, connected to the standard GPU heatsink. It's tucked way in the corner, above the capacitors, with little air flow----and what airflow it gets goes right past the CPU's heat sink. IHMO it may radiate a small amount of heat piped to it from the GPU, but it's sure not actively cooling it any better or anything. Perhaps it's simply piping some GPU heat to the CPU sink area? That's almost how it looks to be designed. 65nm and 45nm will make much more difference I think. But 45's pretty far in the future.