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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    Strongly disagree. IDW's Transformers series was great, until Chris Ryall forced Furman to rush the ending of the Dead Universe plot and let Shane McCarthy crap all over the place with All Hail Megatron. It's only recently that Transformers has started to get any good again.
  2. mikeszekely
    I never read them. I'll find them for the Kobo ereader I purchased from the corpse of Borders today. What I have read, and enjoyed, were most of Peter David's New Frontier series.
  3. mikeszekely
    While I think my criticism of newer Final Fantasy games can be extrapolated to a good amount of modern JRPGs, I was specifically addressing Final Fantasy. I'm not either. Yes, regular turn-based mechanics work fine. But yes, trying to spruce it up (I loved Xenogears point system, for example) can work too. But speaking of Final Fantasy, every time they've tried to do something different, like Final Fantasy XIII, it's been crap. For what its worth, my favorite JRPG from the PlayStation 2 era on has been Shin Megami Tensei 3. Simple turn-based battle system that relied heavily on elemental attacks, gorgeous look, fairly original (at least by JRPG standards) plot, and very little hand-holding. My biggest complaint with it was that it was actually too hard. I confess I had to use a Code Breaker to beat the final boss, and even then, it was a two hour affair with him healing more damage than I was afflicting some rounds.
  4. mikeszekely
    Well, back in the day, even with minimalist dialogue and graphics, they had compelling stories and characters with unique abilties you'd get attached to, with a simple turn-based mechanic (that, like most RPGs of the day, was mostly copped from Dungeons and Dragons), and whole worlds to explore. They newer ones, perhaps in some misguided attempt to reinvent the wheel, have battle systems that range from overly-complicated to flat out broken, irritating characters who have become cliches of the genre and are mechanically interchangeable from each other, and incomprehensible stories that are crammed into a linear sequence of linear dungeons.
  5. mikeszekely
    Oh, I don't mean it like, "WTF, you got a Dell?" In the race to keep costs down, a lot of PC makers buy their parts from the same sources, and reliability among most of the major brands is pretty similar (that is, about 1 out of 5 has problems within three years). I just think it's sad that I can recognize a Dell by its dock.
  6. mikeszekely
    You got a Dell?
  7. mikeszekely
    *shrugs* I liked Generations. But yeah, you guys want to hate on Braga, be my guests.
  8. mikeszekely
    DS9 did start off slow, but ultimately I thought it was better than TNG. And like I said, I wound up liking Enterprise (I was fully prepared to hate it). You gotta give them credit for at least trying a new direction, there. Voyager was awful, I think we can all agree on that. But Berman himself said that it was too much Trek too soon, and that Paramount pushed him into it. There's only so much you can do when you're burned out. And again, I still blame the cast/characters. TNG had a strong cast of interesting characters. DS9 had a strong cast of interesting characters, who (Worf and O'Brian aside) were interesting for being so different and, at times, dysfunctional compared to the crew of the Enterprise. Voyager was staffed by cardboard cutouts and cliches. It's only saving grace was the Emergency Medical Hologram, played brilliantly by Robert Picardo.
  9. mikeszekely
    Why all the Berman hate? TNG and DS9 are two of my all-time favorite shows (I'm currently re-watching TNG on Netflix, and I'm glad to note that it's held up well over the years). Enterprise was good too, if you gave it a chance. Voyager was the only Star Trek that I really didn't like, and honestly I blame the cast/characters, who were flat out boring most of the time. For the record, I'm not saying the Berman is necessary for Star Trek going forward, and I'm curious to see what David Foster has in mind. I just don't see any reason to want him excluded, either.
  10. mikeszekely
    The last time I wanted to emulate the original PlayStation I was using my old computer. Dead an obsolete it may be, but ePSXe worked, the other PlayStation emulator around at the time didn't. I'm perfectly willing to concede that better ones have likely come out in the interim. I'm less willing to concede this one. My current computer should be more than adequate to run bsnes. I haven't tried it on Windows, but I've been using the Mac version and enjoy it. I have high hopes for it, because I desperately want a good SNES emulator that doesn't look like it was developed for Windows 95. Because unless it's improved a lot since I last used it, SNES9x wasn't cutting it. (Again, maybe it has improved a bit and I should give it another look, but I remember trying to switch to it before and having issues with one or two games that played fine on ZSNES).
  11. mikeszekely
    That's a little harder to answer than the emulator question, because there's a TON of good PC games. Plus, I don't know if you're PC gaming in addition to console gaming, so I don't know if I should mention PC games that have come out on consoles as well (unless the PC version is clearly superior). My advice is download Steam and create a Steam account at your earliest convenience. Things have quieted down on Steam recently, but they do run daily deals, midweek deals, weekend deals, and seasonal deals. During the month of July, it seemed like I was picking up a game or two a week on Steam, and I think the most expensive one I bought was $17 (if I pay more than $20, I probably got a physical copy at a brick and mortar store). Some highlights from my recent PC gaming spurt include FEAR 3, Crysis 2, Civilization V, Amnesia, Portal 2, Magicka, and the Witcher 2. Other games I'd recommend that have been out for awhile would include the rest of the FEAR series, Torchlight, Left 4 Dead (I prefer the first one), the Puzzle Quest games, Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins, the Neverwinter Nights games, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and the Mass Effect series.
  12. mikeszekely
    The more powerful the console, the more powerful the CPU you need. This sound elementary, but most people don't get the scale of it. I'm not familiar with too many emulators that can make use of other PC components (like the GPU). So your CPU winds up having to emulate the processor, GPU, sound, and any on-cart chips for cartridge-based consoles. And most consoles use architecture that's pretty different from PC hardware, so it takes even more CPU power to emulate a console accurately. Many emulators are less "accurate" and more "close enough." That said, I've had some luck running Dolphin for Gamecube on a Core i7. As JB0 mentioned, it's supposed to do Wii too, but I don't have a Bluetooth adapter to sync a Wiimote with, and it seems less hassle to just play the handful of games I want on my wife's Wii. As far as 'Cube games, though, I was able to run Super Smash Bros Melee with only a little lag at the beginning of a match. As for PlayStation, try ePSXe. I didn't play around with it too much, but I was able to a couple of RPGs to run at full speed without much hassle (and I did that on my older Core 2 Duo). You will need a PlayStation BIOS file, though. Sorry, I haven't tried emulating Dreamcast. As long as we're on the subject of emulators, these are the other emulators I like on Windows. If you guys know any better ones, feel free to chime in. AppleWin - Apple IIe VisualBoy Advance-M - Gameboy and Gameboy Advance. I've also used Rew Project64 - N64 Nestopia - NES SSF - Sega Saturn Magic Engine - TurboGrafx/PC Engine. Not free, but the best TG16 emulator I've used. ZSNES - SNES. I'm hearing good stuff about bsnes, though. Kega Fusion - Sega Genesis/Megadrive, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, and Sega CD. I haven't had much luck emulating newer hardware. I've tried to find an emulator for PSP, but I haven't had a lot of luck. Closest I got with with jpcsp, but it was laggy and the sound was way off. I'd really like to find one for the DS, too. Xbox and PS2, maybe if I had more hard drive space.
  13. mikeszekely
    No argument there. But their PC division alone, if spun off into its own company, would be a Fortune 60 company. They make money. And you don't throw that away just because your current CEO has a hard on for the enterprise scene. Honestly, I think Leo's got ideas for the future. And they may be good ones. I just don't think they're the right ones for HP.
  14. mikeszekely
    You can expect no change for at least 12-18 months. Even then, HP is the number 1 PC manufacturer in the world. I think the shareholders will oust Leo Apotheker as CEO before HP actually stops making and selling consumer PCs.
  15. mikeszekely
    Are you in the US? I found a 1GB PC3200 DDR stick at Newegg for $25 and free shipping.
  16. mikeszekely
    How is the RAM currently configured? Is it 1GB and one (or more) empty slot(s), or two 512s and two empty slots, or two 512s and no empty slots? Because that'll make a difference it what you need to upgrade with. These days, that depends less on the size/resolution of the display and more on what kind of content. Even Intel's HD 3000 integrated graphics is quite capable of playing 1080p content on any size 1920x1080 display. If you want to do gaming, though, I've found the sweet spot where performance is good and the price doesn't get out of control to be the cards in the $200 or so price range.
  17. mikeszekely
    Time to build a new one.
  18. mikeszekely
    Processor? Hard drive? I'd add at least another gig of RAM, but if the other specs check, it's probably ok for a daily beater. Microsoft has a tool called Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor that will tell you if you'll have any driver issues or incompatible programs.
  19. mikeszekely
    Yep. That's how I scored a 32gb one for $150. I can sort of see why. HP is behind curve in a lot of respects hardware-wise, releasing a tablet with similar dimensions as the first iPad after the release of the slimmer and lighter iPad 2, and close to the lighter still Galaxy Tab. But the tablet is definitely worth more than I paid. That's the rub. webOS is fantastic, but it keeps winding up on sub-par hardware. I'm still holding out hope it will turn up as a quick boot option on HP's PCs.
  20. mikeszekely
    So, did anyone else score an HP TouchPad now that HP has abruptly slashed the price?
  21. mikeszekely
    I don't own a YF-21 or a VF-22. I don't own any Macross toys, as I regard them as far too expensive (for me personally to consider buying, please don't misconstrue this statement as a an opinion on the quality of Macross toys I've never owned). And jwasko, the video you linked just makes we want that damn trailer even more.
  22. mikeszekely
    Hey, I'm using that same wallpaper on my Windows box.
  23. mikeszekely
    Well I'm glad a fellow board member lives near me, jwasko. I found a quartet of them at the Greensburg TRU and bought one of them. EDIT: Played with him a bit, and I have to say, he's an interesting case. He look fantastic in bot mode. If everything lined up right, he'd look just as great as a car. He's on par with Grimlock for being the most animation-accurate mold in both modes (colors aside). His transformation is interesting, and it's quite a feat the way so much of the alt mode folds up into his backpack while maintaining a proportional and rather slim figure. But for every way he impresses you, he finds another way to disappoint. For one, unlike the Takara version, Hasbro couldn't seem to decide if it was going for toy colors or animation colors. We'll ignore his orangish-reddish-brickish color... sure, Hot Rod was kind of pinkish, but I remember Rodimus Prime being darker. He's got toy Hot Rod's red boots with the silver stripe and three triangles... but the cartoon's grey hands instead of orange. The vents on his shoulders are colored like the cartoon (unpainted on toy Hot Rod, blue on Rodimus), and the rest of his upper arm is bare like the cartoon (although stickers are included if you wanted to add the toy Hot Rod's silver and triangles). But his wrists, which should be orange in yellow in the cartoon, are bare like the toys'. His pelvis is also a solid color, which matches neither the animation nor the toys for either Hot Rod or Rodimus Prime, and seems to be the result of laziness more than anything else. And his transformation, though interesting at first and not particularly difficult, quickly becomes an exercise in frustration. No matter how much you fiddle, nothing wants to stay in place. The lower part of the hood doesn't want to stay lined up with the upper part. The ankle flap that helps give the illusion of a seamless transition from his arms to the rear of the car don't always want to stay down. His shin flaps will not stay pegged in place. The hinge on his ankle will try to block his fists from tucking in right. The pipes on his forearm do not seem to line up naturally with the peg or the pipes on the back of the car, and only do so if you turn his arm in a little further than it looks like it should go. If you get it lined up and pegged in, there's a good chance that it'll pop right back out (or cause the shin flaps to pop out). To top it all off, he feels a little floppy in alt mode, not at all as solid as the previous Masterpieces. (Yes, the other Masterpieces are a little floppy in bot mode... and so is Hot Rod.) This doesn't even touch on the fact that the Hasbro version doesn't have the trailer and can't do Rodimus Prime's space winnebago alt mode. Would it really have cost that much more? The trailer doesn't look particularly complex. I really wish that Hasbro would find some way to make it available, even if only as an online-only deal. (If anyone has an extra trailer from the Takara version they're willing to part with for a reasonable price, PM me) At the end of the day, I'd rate Hot Rod above Megatron, but below Grimlock, Prime, and the Seekers.
  24. mikeszekely
    Me too. Although I never really noticed it until I was watching those Youtube videos I linked, but Gabe Saporta looks kinda like Jamie Kennedy, except with dark hair and not a washed-up has-been.
  25. mikeszekely
    Extraordinarily similar. C is maybe a tick smaller, but is LED and has a slightly faster response rate. D is a little cheaper, LCD, and has a slightly slower response rate (but I haven't noticed a difference between 2ms and 5ms personally, even while gaming). Same resolution, same connections, both have built-in speakers. I guess I'd probably go with C.
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