mikeszekely

I don't care what his alt mode is, I just prefer the buffer renditions of him in IDW books (like Spotlight: Galvatron) to the lankier Galvatron in the cartoon. I'm not sure what criteria they use to decide, but if I were picking I'd go pretty much solely on how awesome an MP toy of the character would be. So, yeah, Galvatron, Shockwave, Cylconus, a Megatron that doesn't suck, they'd be near the top of my list. Meanwhile, even though I love characters like Jazz and Wheeljack, I'm not really interested in detailed robots that turn into detailed cars... I got enough of that from Alternators/Binaltech, I guess. I'd prefer lesser characters that could still make an awesome MP toy, like maybe Razorclaw.

You say that like it's a bad thing. Personally, I think Grimlock was my favorite MP to date, with Prime being a close second, the Seekers taking third, and Megatron not just in last place, but almost certainly stuck there if they release a 100 more MP molds. Rodimus isn't on my list as I have no first hand experience with him. I'm just hoping that after the Hasbro version is released that, even if only through Hasbrotoyshop.com, they make the trailer available. Hot Rod's had enough toys, and I really want a Space Winnebago. But yeah, while I wouldn't say no to an MP Soundwave, there are other characters I want a lot more. Mostly Decepticons.

Quick question for the Linux users out there... what distro do you prefer? And which desktop environment? I'd tried a few in my time, including Mepis, Xandros, Knoppix, and SUSE, but since about version 6.06 I had a strong preference for Kubuntu. By extension, I'd also preferred KDE, which seemed easier to navigate than GNOME. All that changed with the release of KDE 4. I'd considered quitting Linux entirely at that point, since I'm content to run Windows as my main OS, but a friend of mine gave me an old PC he wasn't using and I had a few happy months with Xandros 4, before giving that computer to another friend. When next I had enough leftover parts to build a Linux box, I gave Kubuntu another shot, still hated KDE 4, and then figured that all those Ubuntu users must be on to something. I think that was around Ubuntu 9.04, and I've had a Linux box running Ubuntu ever since. I'm no fan of the new Unity interface, though. I go with the "Ubuntu Classic" GNOME desktop, although I did delete the panel at the bottom and install Docky to replace it. Content as I've been with Ubuntu, it seems like there's a lot going on in Linux land. There's a ton of desktops to choose from now (I guess there always were, but it seemed like KDE, GNOME, and maybe XFCE were the only serious choices)... this is reflected in the fact that there are a ton of Ubuntu-derivatives out there now. What's more, it seems that Ubuntu (although still the top Linux distro according to DistroWatch.com) has been falling out of favor with the community, with Mint being cited as a better alternative. As luck would have it, my wife recently got a new laptop, so I went ahead and installed Ubuntu 11.04 on it, but that still leaves me with my old Linux box to experiment with. If any of you think I'd like something better than Ubuntu/GNOME, let me know, and I'll give it a try.

Looks like I've finally got a reason to get a 3DS now. Ace Combat (and some other stuff) coming to 3DS.

Yes. A buff one, like the one in the IDW comics.

I'll buy one if it turns up at a reasonable price in the States, since I wouldn't mind having one more in-scale with the other MPs (not including Megatron, of course). But if I don't get him ever, I won't lose sleep over it.

I'm with Keith. I loved the '80s as much as the next guy who spent his formative years in them, but there's a reason we don't use those things anymore.

That's funny, I've had almost the opposite experience. I've never had a problem with Nvidia (aside from one driver update that had the card's fans running at full blast all the time). All told, I've had four Nvidia cards over the last eight years in three different computers, plus a laptop with a GTX 260M and a desktop with integrated Nvidia graphics, and I always figured I'd keep buying Nvidia for that reason. Only thing that's had me tempted to go with an ATI card lately is that they've been consistently offering better performance for less money since about the HD 4000 series. And the one thing that's had me going Nvidia anyway is that ATI's Catalyst software seems like junk. The only time I'd ever used an ATI card was on a computer that didn't have an AGP or PCIe x16 slot, just a lonely PCIe x1. Worked fine with the pnp drivers in Windows Vista and whatever came down through Windows Updates, but when I installed the Catalyst software it reduced my screen's brightness by at least 50%.

Ha ha... not exactly. I just meant that if I was going to spend that kind of money, I'd rather get a new phone, or a tablet. Something that does more than look cool and collect dust on my shelf. Most I've paid for a Transformer was $99 for MP Megatron, and I kind of regret it. He's such a PITA to transform, and his skinny little legs barely seem to support him, that I don't think I've touched him since I got him out of the box.

Sure, but at a price that still higher than I'm willing to pay. I've decided that if I'm going to pay $200 for a toy, it'd better come with an app store.

Well, that's actually different. It's a hardware revision, and features added or removed during a hardware revision should be a known quantity before you make your purchase. Removing features in a software update means you already bought it, you expected it to do certain things, and now it doesn't. It's shady the way Amazon deleting (ironically) purchased copies of 1984 off people's Kindles was... like once you bought it, they shouldn't be messing with it. They may have legitimate reasons behind their logic (security in Sony's case, and the fact that the publisher of the 1984 ebook didn't actually have the legal rights to publish an ebook of 1984), and it's reasonable to take some steps (not including Other OS in future hardware revisions, or removing 1984 from the Kindle store). They just went too far, is all.

So if Sony up and decided that, with the next firmware update, MGS4 would no longer be playable, you'd be ok with that? I mean, it's software, right?

I don't specifically recall if it was or was not. Loop said it was, no one refuted him, so I'm taking it at face value. But it was a feature. And as Renato and Loop pointed out, there were uses for that feature. Honestly, I'm not even arguing that it's a useless feature for most users. I know when I want Linux that my Ubuntu box runs faster (for most things). But I don't think you should just roll over and accept it when companies start removing features from hardware you already bought with software "updates", no matter how useless said features might be, because it sets a bad precedent.

Yeah. I have a friend who's a pretty big Sony fanboy, and I've already had this discussion with him. I'm even willing to concede a few points, like the idea that if you hacked your PS3 it's reasonable that Sony would want to keep you off PSN just in case you grand purpose was to cheat your way to the top of the Modern Warfare 2 leader boards. But Sony was crossing a line when they removed Other OS. It would have been one thing if they stopped advertising it, and if they opted not to include it as a feature in future hardware revisions. But instead the decided to patch it out of existence on, as has been pointed out, consoles that had the feature advertised on the box. And no, the argument that "if you wanted to keep Linux, just don't update" doesn't really hold water, as new game releases require newer firmware. We're talking about a console that was advertised as being able to play games and run Linux, and then having to chose between one feature or the other. I mean, suppose you bought an iPod touch. It's advertised as being able to play music and video, as well as games from the Apple App Store. Suppose, at some point, Apple decided that if you want to keep getting new versions of Angry Birds Seasons, you had to consent to an update that removes it's ability to play back music. Would you take that lying down? And if not, why do you think it's ok for Sony to remove Other OS? Sony crossed another line when they started suing Holtz and this graf fellow. While I do recall their being a EULA to get onto the PSN, I don't recall any contracting stating that I was licensing hardware from Sony when I bought my PS3. I believe I should be able to do what I want with my PS3, and believe they had a right to do the same. I believe they had a right to post info on how they did it same as they'd have a right to post info on how to replace the stock exhaust on an '05 Honda Civic (and I don't see Honda suing anyone for the truly fugly Civics I've seen cruising the area). Again, I think Sony is right to keep hacked consoles off PSN, but especially given the recent legal ruling that jailbreaking the iPhone is ok, I really feel that they were going to far when they said it was illegal to do it at all. But, aside from both being labeled with the blanket term "hackers," I don't think the hackers who jailbroke the PS3 and the current PSN security breach are at all related. Sony needs to take responsibility for being asleep at the wheel on this one, but the perpetrators should be tracked down and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

I thought Black Ops was pretty meh, and I'm not really interested in Activision bilking me on a couple of maps. If I want to kill zombies, I'll fire up Left 4 Dead. On Steam, no less, where the DLC's been free.

Does anyone know of any custom/open firmwares that work on older Netgear routers? I've got an ancient MR814v2 wireless B router laying around that I'd replaced with a newer Netgear WNR3500L. My plan was to throw a custom firmware like DD-WRT onto the older router and set it up as a wireless bridge for those rare occasions when I want to move my 360 out of the entertainment center and into the bedroom, but it's not listed as a compatible model. EDIT: Nevermind. Hooking up the router to mess with the Netgear firmware's settings reminded me why I replaced it in the first place. I could log into it, but it would hang and stop responding instead of saving any changes I made. Can't complain, since it lasted from the time I first got cable internet until late 2010 (maybe 7 years, give or take), but I don't think it's going to work for re-purposing. I'll probably just take it to Staples and have them recycle it.

That's a nice-looking interior, but I don't think you could get me to drive a V-dub if you gave it to me. Too many people I know have had too many bad experiences with them.

Nope. My next is probably going to be Mortal Kombat, since I decided early on to wait for a Steam sale before I get Portal 2. Then The Witcher 2 and F.E.A.R. 3.

Ok, I finished Dragon Age II. If I can finish Bulletstorm, then I won't feel too guilty if I buy a new game.

I ran into a pretty major bug near the end of the game. Basically, my Nano Catalyst counter reset to 0, and no matter how much I collected it wouldn't go back up. I was a little miffed, since I'd only bought four or five of the twelve available upgrades, but on the other hand aside from the first one in armor and the the stealth upgrades they didn't seem particularly useful.

Finished Crysis 2 after work today. That's one game off the pile! So

I almost never do multiplayer, so it's not a big deal. As for single player, I haven't had too many issues. The enemy AI has a tendency to run into walls or focus on a random point (the easier to pick them off, then), and once I had to reload a save because the game wouldn't let me go through a door. May main beef with Crysis 2 is that it's just not as good as the original or Warhead. That does seem to be partly because they developed it for consoles and ported it, and partly because they were going for the more cinematic and linear Call of Duty school of level design instead of the open island made popular with Far Cry. Yeah, I actually couldn't get into Half Life 2 at all (tried on the Xbox and the 360, may try again on PC though), and never played the original. Portal was the first Valve game I played and liked (you can add both the Left 4 Deads to that list, although I seem to be a minority that believes the first one was better). But a lot of what made Portal so good was that it wasn't trying to be a big-budget title. It was an Orange Box extra, or something like $10 by itself on Steam. And that got you a few hours of interesting physics puzzles and a story mostly inferred though a psychotic computer. I think that's where Portal 2 is tripping up. The first one was short, and shorter if you know the solutions (I ran through the first 17 test chambers in about an hour just to kill a little time and unwind before bed). It got a pass because it was cheap and charming. Portal 2 already had the challenge of not simply being more of the same, but now Valve's charging $50-$60 for it. Suddenly it's not just competing with games like Amnesia or Castle Crashers for a ten-spot, but games like Dragon Age II, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, and the like for a good bit more. Portal 2 could be good without being worth what Valve is asking. Or, put another way, I've decided to hold off on it until there's a good Steam sale.

That looks hella sweet!

No doubt. This time last year, I was bored out of my mind trying to find something to play. Right now, I've yet to finish Crysis 2, Dragon Age 2, Shift 2, Homefront, or Bulletstorm. Plus I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to get the money to buy Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection, and Lego Star Wars III. And that's to say nothing of the many games I'm still anticipating in this year.

Is the game any good? I liked the last couple Mortal Kombat games up to and including Armageddon, but have yet to play a Mortal Kombat game this console generation. Also not sure, if I get it, which version to get. PS3 has Kratos, sure, but I have more friends on Xbox Live. Not to mention I'd rather rack up Achievements than Trophies.