mikeszekely

A bigger toy, or a smaller MSRP?

There's a rumor going around that backs up your line of thinking. I just don't know how Nintendo's marketing this. If it's a DS that plays DS carts and downloaded crap instead of GBA games, then I'm really not interested. If it is a more powerful console that plays DS carts and its own line of DSi carts, then I might be more interested.

I'm going to reserve final judgment until I see what kind of downloadable stuff Nintendo releases for it, but for the most part it doesn't seem like a huge upgrade over the DS Lite. In fact, since I do have several GBA games, it's kind of an expensive downgrade.

Man, I really hope not. That's my Christmas gift.

So, basically you want them to build the original Xbox again? I mean, we already know that one is bulletproof.

You didn't like it? I didn't think it was great or anything... a touch on the weird side, but better than other "masterpieces" like Kairo (Pulse).

Picked up the new DS Castlevania. JB0, you'll be pleased to hear that it's definitely one of the harder ones. I'm a little disappointed to note that it's also the most linear of the Metroidvania-style games.

From Kotaku's coverage of the reveal:

I swore I'd never play an MMO. I managed to stay away from Everquest when that's all my friends did. Avoided Galaxies both when people were looking forward to it and when people were hating it. Turned a blind eye to City of Heroes. Closest I came to playing WoW was when a friend created a character on his wife's account for me to try to get me into the game... a character I played for all of five minutes before looking for something else to do. And despite their plaintive cries of "it's different, you'll like it" I managed not to go with pretty much everyone I hang out with to pick up Warhammer Online. ...but I must play Old Republic. It's just that simple.

Actually, if Wikipedia's right, that's the one that Jessica Biel and friends flew, not the AI.

It's F/A-37 Talon from the wonderfully craptastic movie Stealth.

Because, as best I can tell, I finished EVERY side quest in the game, including the minerals, medals, Prothean relics and what not.

I'm missing that one too. I think it's Gepernitch. Not sure how to unlock him. I have a question mark between the Queadluun-Rea the RVF-25. That should be the VF-27. I also have a question mark between Klan's Queadluun-Rea and the Small Vajra that should be Battle Frontier. Those are the only three I'm missing, but I don't have the Vajra queen. Keith, where's it on your list?

Okay, I mentioned before that the Takara Henkei Thundercracker wasn't really any better of a deal in my mind than the Botcon one, and that it was my intention to paint my own. I managed to snag an extra Acid Storm, and I started painting him this weekend. Bear with me here, guys... aside from doing little touch-ups with a black Testors paint marker and a Gundam model I painted (which looks awful, BTW), I don't have any experience painting toys, so we're not going to get anything of Jin Saotome quality. Matter of fact, all I've done so far is to paint Acid Storm blue. In a few spots, the blue paint bled through the masking tape I was using on the parts I didn't want painted, so I did have to touch those up, but it left the texture a little uneven.

I don't think it's that I don't have anything negative to say. The animation was inconsistent, the earlier parts of the series tended to be action-packed episode followed by talking followed by fanservice. The ending was rushed. Character development was lacking for anyone not either a singer or a member of Skull Squadron. Little details bothered me, too, like how Kawamori tossed his own established canon that the VF-19 was to be the new UN forces main fighter on something of a whim, and how when the VF-27 was introduced the engineers on the Frontier fleet seemed baffled by it, then later there were more VF-27s and it was implied that they'd been in use on the Galaxy fleet. Speaking of Galaxy, why was an entire fleet built around a chemical plant? Why not have a chemical plant ship as part of a regular colony fleet with a Cities or Islands? Despite its flaws, Macross Frontier was entertaining, the characters that were developed were likable, the mechanical designs were good, it dropped Macross 7's silliness (and I don't mean just Valkyries that shoot speakers... I'm talking about pyramid-shaped ships with "E=MC²" emblazoned on the side" while retaining plenty of nods to the original series, Plus, and 7 (and a whole episode for Zero) for long-time Macross fans to enjoy. So, Frontier might not be perfect, but I'd say better than average. And the best anime today seems to range from average to craptastic, which leaves Macross Frontier on top even if it doesn't achieve true excellence.

I'm planning on it, since I've bought and played every 2D Castlevania since SotN.

I'm sorry for your loss. I don't think people who have formed that kind of bond with a pet really understand how devastating such a loss can be. When I was a kid, maybe four or five, my parents got a kitten. We named him Barney, and Barney took a liking to myself and my mom, hated my brother, and seemed to take a perverse joy in agitating my dad. For the next 18 years, that cat slept on the foot of my bed every night (which was less enjoyable when he was sick and yacked on my feet, but I digress), and he was always at the door to greet me when I got home from school. In his older years, he got a little senile, and scared of being left alone in the dark. Eventually, his health started failing, and he stopped eating. We took him to the vet, and they gave him some medicine that seemed to help for a few weeks. But cats go off to be alone to die, and when my mom found him lying behind the toilet (the bathroom being the room farthest from the rest of the house), my mom realized that trying to keep him alive was just prolonging his suffering. On the day that I was moving out of my parents' house, my mom decided to take him to be put down. I held him for a bit, rubbing his head just behind his ears, and said my goodbyes. Then I set out for my new apartment, and my mom set out with Barney for the vet. Saying goodbye to that cat was harder on my than any other death I'd experienced until my cousin's suicide. And six years later, I still miss him, and my eyes still get misty thinking about him. You're in my prayers.

It's confusing, but Hot Rod is Hot Rodimus in Japan, and Hot Shot is Hot Rod.

Seconded.

If you mean gnerl (green, big blue cockpit, not much more than said cockpit with thrusters and a gun on the front), then no.

Alternity Megatron Blue and Alternity Megatron Silver. Model A-02, Nissan blurry kanji.

Kotaku likes Macross Ace Frontier.

Not sure about pilots. I used the one I created at the beginning through the whole campaign.

For starters, you can't use VFs from any era until you finish all four eras. Afterward, you can replay any mission with any VF, or if you later start a new campaign all but the starting mecha will be locked, but the era restriction won't be, and all your tuning will carry over. What pushing down on the analog nub will do is show you what your best rank is on a particular mission with the fighter you've currently selected. That is, if you've finished a lot of missions with the VF-25F, then you switch to the VF-25S, when you press down on the analog stick you'll see all your mission ranks disappear.

I've managed to get two of them (one's destined to be repainted as Thundercracker). Both are in good shape... tight joints, both feet, null rays fit snugly. But yeah, both of them have paint on the windscreen.