mikeszekely

Yeah, I downloaded it and played with it a bit. It has some ideas I really like, but not enough to switch from Firefox. Which is okay... I get the impression that Google was more interested in pushing others to innovate than to actually achieve market dominance with it. So maybe Firefox 4 will have some of Chrome's features, and everybody will win.

Obligatory link to the old thread, now in the Hall of Supertopics. Anyway, Michael Bay's dream has come true, and Transformers hit on Blu-ray today. It took so long to load on my PS3 that I had to check Google to see if that was normal. I'm not sure if it was, since I do need to do a System Update, but it did eventually load. Anyway, visually I didn't notice a difference from the HD-DVD. Some people online seem to think it is better, and hey, maybe it is. My TV only does 720p/1080i, so maybe those of you with a 1080p TV will see a difference I don't. The audio is greatly improved, however. I dare say it is to the HD-DVD what the HD-DVD was to the DVD, although I am sorry to report that it's just Dolby TrueHD. The bassy blast from Blackout's EMP still seemed a bit bigger in the theater, but it's a huge improvement vs. the HD-DVD. Depending on how much you like the movie, you're mileage may vary. Aside from the audio, it's still basically the HD-DVD package. For me, though, I decided the improved audio and the fact that I can now stuff my 360's HD-DVD player in a closet and forget about it (Transformers was my last HD-DVD) was worth going Blue for.

I gotta wonder... where's all the discussion been? The demo came out a few days ago, and I just played it. You know a game is good when killing people with a lightsaber or Force lightning are the boring ways. It's all about the Force Grip. Learning to use it well takes a little practice, but the demo mission starts you in a hallway with tons of stuff to grab and nothing more threatening than a few gonk and astromech droids. As you start to get used to it, the fun starts. Grab a guy, throw him at his friends. Grab a box, throw it at a guy. Grab a guy, launch him off the platform. Grab a guy, throw him at a TIE. Grab a TIE, throw it at a guy. There's enough different things in the environments, people, crates, equipment, hunks of the wall, metal supports, people, etc, that it never really felt old. At one point, you encounter an AT-ST. My first reaction was, "Oh crap." After playing a ton of Battlefront, I was instinctively leery of going up against an AT-ST without rockets or vehicle of my own, but hey, Starkiller's tougher than that. I threw a few Stormtroopers at it, then ran up to it while it was reeling from the blows. A God of War style button-press sequence came up that had Starkiller slice the AT-ST in half. Star Wars games have been pretty hit or miss. For every Battlefront or KOTOR we get we also get a Masters of Teras Kasi or an Episode III, so I'd been pretty indifferent about Force Unleashed before. But after playing the demo, the game's gone straight to the top of my Must Buy list. Oh, and I heard the game's canon. And not EU canon, but Lucas-blessed movie canon. Can anyone confirm that?

Roy, SDFM. Yeah, yeah... Guld went squishy. Big whoop. Roy was critically injured, but still had the decency to bring his plane home and visit his girlfriend before he finally kicked it.

Unless you're worried about scale, hold out for the Deluxe version. Heck, I'm still holding out a tiny hope that down the line we'll get a Classics Universe Jazz in the Deluxe size.

I'm not saying that a laptop couldn't work for OmegaD3K. I'm personally of the opinion, though, that desktop replacement style notebooks aren't really worth it. They're more expensive than similarly fitted desktops, they're bigger and heavier than more run-of-the-mill laptops, they're more difficult to do DIY repairs to, and upgrade options in the future tend to be limited to RAM and hard drives. Take for example a friend of mine, who received a $3000 HP desktop replacement laptop as a gift from his parents. It was big enough to sport a 17" screen, but it was also about 3" thick with the lid closed, and weighed something like 11 pounds. It certainly stretched the definition of "portable." The thing gave off enough heat to keep my apartment warm in the winter. Within probably two years, it wasn't good for much more than playing two-year old games, because both the processor and the graphics were completely dated. On the other hand, you can build a powerful desktop for $1000-$1500. Yeah, but might not be sticking a quad-core Extreme and a GTX 280 in there, but you can still use a fast dual or quad core processor, and a Radeon HD 4850 or a GeForce 9800GTX+, with the option to upgrade both later (albeit not the Core i7, which will require a new socket). Depending on how many parts you can recycle, you can build an equally upgradeable computer with more mid-range parts for $600. Again, this is really my opinion, but the advice I'd give is to go with a beefy desktop for your main computer. Pretty much any non-Celeron dual core paired with 2-3GB of RAM and either an GeForce 8800, 9800, GTX 2, Radeon 3800, or Radeon 4800 series card can play any game on the market, and likely most of the new ones coming out, and again you can always upgrade your graphics card later if you want/need to in a desktop. Laptops are best for when you're traveling (or if you're like me, and you're so sick you can't get out of bed but can't stand not to check Kotaku/Engadget/some other blog at least three times a day) and you really just want to browse the net, do some office work, watch some videos, look at the pictures you just took earlier, or play the most UNdemanding games that you can tolerate playing with a trackpad (most modern Intel graphics can play Puzzle Quest, which not only fits suck a description but is honesty quite entertaining as well).

Skip the 8600. Yeah, it's cheaper, but you shouldn't have anything less than an 8800GT for gaming these days. If you're box is big enough, spring for a 9800GTX+. If not, go for the Radeon HD 4850. The Q6600 is a good deal for a quad-core, or for dual core the E8500 is under $200 now. I'd tossed around the idea myself for awhile. Nehalem, or the Core i7 as they're formally called now, looks to be a significant step up from the Core 2 family, and naturally that means a different socket so you can't just upgrade the processor, you gotta start from scratch. Ultimately, I went with the E8400. All of the Wolfdale series Core 2 Duos offer a good amount of bang for your buck. Realistically, we're still 9 months to a year away from the Core i7s being commercially available, and longer before you have them reasonably priced with a decent selection of compatible mobos. And if I could wring 5 years out of a 2.6GHz Pentium 4, you can expect a few years from Intel's current crop.

Man, I'm just the opposite. I still haven't gotten around to Lockdown, Oilslick, Snarlag, or Lugnut, and of those four I'm maybe considering Lugnut and Snarlag. Meanwhile, I've collected all of the Universe toys that aren't Voyager repaints of Cybertron toys, except Acid Storm. I'll pick up Acid Storm when I can find two of him. Screw BotCon, screw Henkei, I'll paint my own Thundercracker.

Don't feel bad, I made the same mistake. But in that case, sorry David. I'm not collecting G1 toys or G1 reissues. They toys were awesome to me when I was 4-7, but next to the modern TF toys they're cars that turn into bricks that seemed amazingly articulate if they could bend their freaking knees. Closest thing I have to a G1 toy is Pepsi Prime, and that's only because, despite my lack of interest in G1 toys, I do collect random Primes. Oh, and given the chance, I might be persuaded to buy Sideswipe, but only because he was the first TF I ever owned. EDIT: Yeah, they are making an Omega Supreme toy. I'm pretty sure that, appropriately enough, it's going to be a Supreme Class, like the big Optimus Prime.

Sorry, David. I just want Thundercracker too. I'm thinking about just buying two Acid Storms, though, and painting one myself.

Everyone but Verizon and Sprint are GSM. And the most logical choice to carry the iPhone is every carrier possible. Look what it did for the RAZR. The phone was crap, but everyone owned one. AT&T might be glad to be the only carrier so they can take us for all we're worth on iPhone plans, but from Apple's point of view, the more people with iPhones (and the more people buying apps from the App Store) the better. More carriers will lead to more competitive iPhone plans and a larger pool of potential customers.

Oh, I'm definitely waiting that long. I've decided that I'd rather Apple works out the kinks on the iPhone 3G, and it really isn't worth breaking my contract with Verizon. Contract's up in March, so it'll be at least that long. I actually wanted to wait and see if another carrier would get the iPhone, since it seems logical that Apple would want to sell as many as possible, but I'm hearing that AT&T locked it up for a few more years (I guess that's why the plans are so damn expensive). Storage honestly isn't an issue with me, though. I got the 16GB iPod touch the day Apple first started selling them, and it's currently half full or so. If you take out videos, which honestly are easier to just sync a few, watch them, then dump them from the iPod, my music library is about 5.5GB. As someone who grew up listening to 80's music only to realize how dated it is, and who hated the grunge movement of the 90's, I've found that I've had to recently start a new music collection from scratch. And since I only buy a few CDs a year, it'll honestly be awhile before I have to worry about filling 16GB. On the other hand, if they do have a 32GB phone later...

The elevators, yes. The texture pop-in, probably not. Like I said, it's not as bad on the PC, but it's definitely there.

The need for special adapters to connect headphones (this is true of even the first gen iPhones), poor software for syncing songs to the phone (this is especially true of Verizon), limited storage (the KRZR didn't support larger than 2GB Micros SD cards, and at least the first-gen Chocolate was limited to 4GB), poor interface on the phone for calling up your music (again, this is especially a problem with Verizon), etc. I suppose that some of those issues are true of dedicated mp3 players, though. My brother used to have a little Rio that sucked horrendously. But hey, like I said, that's my impression of most music phones. If you've got one that works well for you, more power to you. Personally, I liked my 5G iPod, and I like my iPod touch, so I'm inclined to consider getting an iPhone. But like I said, if everyone had an iPhone, it'd lose its cool. That's true for everything, really... variety is cool.

Which is fine. Seriously, if everyone had an iPhone, they just wouldn't be cool anymore (not to mention there'd be no push for innovation). Personally, I like the idea of having a the internet in my pocket. Mobile Safari blows away pretty much every other mobile browser out there. And if my phone can double as my music player, great, but I think most "music phones" including LG's Chocolate have been garbage. And I could honestly care less about GPS or camera or anything else like that. Basically, I have an iPod touch. An iPod touch that I can make and receive calls on, and can access the internet on a data network when there's no wi-fi around? Sounds like a good idea to me. I just wish it wasn't AT&T only. Not that I mind switching carriers, but AT&T's iPhone plans are nuts. $30 for data, and texting's not even included? If carriers were competing to have the most attractive iPhone plans, the consumer wins.

A part of me really wants to get him and stick him with my "Miscellaneous Primes" collection. But the rational part of me (which may not get to make any purchasing decisions, but still...) has to ask, why Prime? Nissan alt-mode, silver paint, door wings, hood for chest... seriously, swap the head and call him Bluestreak/Silverstreak already.

The texture pop-in doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as the 360 version, but yeah, it's there. I'm definitely liking it better on PC.

I don't mind. I've got a 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo E8400 (Wolfdale) (Stock cooler) 3GB Kingston Hyper X PC2-6400 BFG GeForce 9800 GTX+ OC DFI P35 Lanparty Dark mobo Antec TruPower Trio 650w PSU Antec P182 case The only time, and I mean ONLY time, my system chugged at all was late in Crysis, which I'd been running at 4xAA and a mixture of High and Very High settings, when I got to some kind of snow level. The particle effects were a strain. Everything else (Heroes of Might & Magic V, Portal, Mass Effect, Hellgate: London, F.E.A.R, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Bioshock) that I've been playing I've set at the absolute maximum settings and I haven't had even a hint of slowdown. If you get a 9800 GTX+, though, I can't stress enough: make sure you can fit it in your case. I'm not sure how big the 8600s were, but the 8500 I used to have was maybe a third the size of the 9800 GTX+. In fact, the 9800 GTX+ is bigger than the 8800GT or the Radeon 3850. My case is huge, and I still had to remove a hard drive bay. EDIT: Sorry, I don't play Supreme Commander. I've heard it's really good and one of my friends really wants it, but his computer won't run it. I'm lousy at strategy games, though. I guess you can see from my list that I prefer FPSs and RPGs.

You left out the excellent Republic Commando novels by Karen Traviss.

I can't say that I disagree with any of your points, but Blu-ray hasn't exactly become a runaway success, either, even with the PS3 to help it along. Enthusiasts want the quality that Blu-ray offers, but it seems like Joe Wal-Mart isn't as interested. In any case, the early reviews I've read on the XDE have been pretty favorable, but I'm not sure that it has a market. Videophiles are building Blu-ray libraries and likely own an upconverting DVD player already. I for one don't feel the need to shell out another $150 just to get better upconverting than my PS3 will already do. Meanwhile, the Joe Wal-Marts that are avoiding Blu-ray are more likely to spring for little $30 Emerson unit than a $150 unit with bells and whistles that they might not even want.

Because most carriers will pretty much give you a new one at that point just for renewing your contract. And hey, having an extra "perfectly good" phone around is handy. My wife lost her last phone (and we never did find it). It was a little too early to renew the contract and get the freebies, but close enough that we didn't feel like shelling out for a new phone. We got Verizon to reactivate her old phone for free. Although, that assumes you have a CDMA carrier. If you've got a GSM carrier, I guess you lose your SIM card with the phone, and you're just screwed. In any case, working or not, I can't hardly stand to put up with the same phone for two years. My contract is up in March, and I'm already counting the days.

Right, but that just reinforced the fact that what you were watching wasn't supposed to be a movie. In a way, you've just summed up what's wrong with Clone Wars. And it's not that it's not an "epic to end all epics," it's that it's really not that epic at all. As a pilot for a TV series, it's fine. Had I watched it as a three-parter on TV, I would said "hey, this is one of the better shows on!" But, even though it's pretty obvious that Clone Wars was meant for TV, Lucas chose to shove the pilot into theaters. And the disappointment comes from the fact that it's just not theater-worthy Star Wars.

Only two years old? Isn't that when you're supposed to replace it?

It wasn't just that the "Snips" nickname was lame, it was that he used it so often that the dialog became unnatural. "C'mon, Snips. We've got to shut down the shield, Snips. Stop screwing around, Snips."

Was it the fact that, despite being CGI, that it sorta looked like Claymation at times? Or the fact that the CGI just wasn't that good in the first place? Here's my take... had it been broken up into a three-part episode and shown on TV (which was probably the original plan), it would have been good, and the little things about it that were off, like spoken narration instead of the classic scrolling text and the modified theme music would have been more easily forgiven. But as a Star Wars movie that you pay money to see in the theater, it was kind of disappointing.