mikeszekely

Well, I kind of gathered that the $2500 version wasn't aimed at general consumers, but $650 for CS3 Standard still seems high to me, as does $400 for Vista Ultimate, or $500 for Office Professional, or even $90 for Nero 8. If people charged what their software was actually worth, then maybe more people would buy it (compare Vista Ultimate's $400 price tag with Leopard's $130... even Vista Home Premium is around $240). I do tend to look for open source alternatives like OpenOffice.org, and while I'd heard of Gimp, I always thought it was Linux only. I checked the website, though, and sure enough, there's a Windows version. Maybe I'll check that out. Thanks for the info, everybody!

With a few exceptions like Halo and what not, games aren't actually street dated like movies. When you see a date online, that's the date the game ships to retail. In Gamestop/EB's case, you always add one day.

Positive. The old DVD player was hooked up via component and should have been cranking out a 480p signal, but couldn't go any higher. It wasn't even close to the 360. But aside from the fact that the color contrast looks higher on the 360, I'm not really noticing a difference between it and the new DVD player. I'm really curious to get to the bottom of this mystery, now. Do all DVDs have Macrovision protection? Or something on the TV's end?

Conclave & Mendoi is completely out of it, for me. I can't stand the mkv format. I don't give a crap what the container format's supposed advantages are, they're a pain to work with. When I've got 4GB worth of episodes, I want to burn a disc I can watch in my DVD player (a Panasonic with a Divx decoder). Guess I'll have to wait for episode 3 until Anonymous gets done with it.

So... my 360's a freak, then? I'll have to see if one of my friends' TVs displays the resolution... my DVD player will, but not my TV. And I know I'm not imagining the whole thing.

I think maybe I'll look into the PC version, then; maybe I can find an older version at a Half-Priced Books, and only the newest Mac version is a Universal Binary. Have you used different software versions? Are there big changes in CS3? OT rant, why do companies charge so much for software? People complain that the PS3 was too much when they were charging $600 for it, but I noticed that Photoshop CS3 Standard is $650, and the Creative Suite 3 Master Edition is $2500. I don't know about you, but if I'm paying more for software than for the hardware I'm running it on, it better cure cancer or something. Seriously, maybe people would pirate less software if the companies making it charged a fair price for it. That's one of the reasons my Windows computer is still running XP, but I plan picking up Leopard for my MacBook on Friday.

That'll be great, especially if you have uncolored lineart available for the fans to color. I know I'd like to try my hand at a few, but I don't know if I want to get Photoshop over it. Photoshop's kind of expensive, isn't it? BTW, do you do your work on a Mac or PC? I have both; if I decided to go for it, I'd want to go for the better one.

I got the flight stick for Ace Combat 5, and I kinda regretted it, so I'm passing on the 360 flight stick. The stick was extremely cool, but after playing Ace Combat since 2 with a controller, the stick just felt alien to me.

Are you absolutely sure about this? Is this for newer 360's only? Because my launch-unit 360 is connected to my Toshiba DLP TV, and the picture is most definitely upconverted. I wouldn't have even noticed it either, but my old DVD player (also component, but lacking upconversion) was skipping on my in the middle of a DVD, and lacking anything else at the time (well, a PS2 on S-Video, but like that was really an option), I took the disc out and stuffed in my 360. The difference was night and day. I later replaced that DVD player with an HDMI-out upconverting Panasonic unit with a Divx decoder, and a DVD played on either my 360, my DVD player, or my PS3 all look pretty much the same on each.

Man, I must have come to Macross World immediately after it got started. I missed Alt Fan Macross thing, but I was a freshman or sophomore in college when I started posting, and I graduated over 5 years ago. I remember you doing stuff like that, so you must have brought some of that to Macross World. I think we've all mellowed out since then... I think our souls are all a little crushed from all the childhood raping we've endured in the 21st century.

That's some really interesting info, thanks for posting sketchley! Sadly, it seems that the squadrons with the cool paint jobs and insignias don't get animated. Man, I really wish I had some of the TIAS books, but I just don't have the time/money/energy to track them down anymore.

I don't think Trash was considered canon, but please don't quote me on that. I do remember the one girl in it used to be a VF-4 pilot, but I don't know if she flew the VF-4 before or after joining the Macross 7 fleet. EDIT: The second chapter of the first volume begins with the character Mahara having a flashback to a time when she was training in a VF-4, and Milia ordered the trainees back before training was up. One of the VF-4s exploded, apparently due to sabotage. This may have taken place prior to the Macross 7 fleet's departure from Earth; there's nothing to indicate when the event took place aside from Milia's rank as Colonel. It's the only volume I have, so I don't know if it comes up again or not. Considering that we've seen black VA-14s, VF-17s, and at least one black VF-22 (although I don't think it's a stretch to assume that Gamlin's not the only member of Diamond Force with a black VF-22), I wouldn't call the idea of a squadron that used black VF-4s wild speculation, but definitely speculation. I've always conceded that, and I'm not trying to prove that there were by saying you can't disprove it. And as crazy as a pink Valkyrie with yellow polka dots is, we've already seen some pretty fugly VF-1s in Macross 7, as well as pink VF-11s. Pink VF-4s with yellow polka dots (go ahead and color that one!) are a possibility, sure. All I'm saying is that with so many canon VF-4s known to exist, without any details, saying that none of them are black is still in the realm of speculation. You can't state as a fact that VF-4's aren't black. To put it another way, you can't go to the mall, ask two people if they like tacos, have them both reply that they do, and then state as fact that everyone in the mall likes tacos.

I kinda see what you're saying, but what I'm saying is that we have a canon source that says that nearly 8500 VF-4s were produced. We've only see a handful in canon productions (two or three Skull Squadron in Flashback, a red and white one in the first VF-X, and red one and a blue one in M3). Even if we say some of the ones produced were replacements for Skull, the pilot in VF-X, Max, and Milia... even if we go to an extreme and say that covers 425, that still leaves 8000 VF-4s unaccounted for, with no canonical source for how they were colored, so we can speculate that some may have been black or none may have been black, but you can't definitively say that there were or weren't. With that in mind, when faced with what might be a black VF-4 in a canon production, you can say that the nacelles look more like a VA-14, you can say that the stabilizers are too angled, and you can say that the canards are too small to logically argue that it isn't a VF-4. But without a canonical source to say there were no black VF-4s, "It's not a VF-4 because it's black" isn't the strongest argument. I mean, you can argue that there are no red Jamming Birds, because the only canon Jamming Birds were on Macross 7, and they were all blue and gray. But with so many canon VF-4s unaccounted for, saying "there are no black VF-4s" is a much fan speculation as "there are black VF-4s." Zero black VF-4s isn't a necessary fan assumption, either when only a handful of a canon number have been seen; after all, they have to be some color, and there's no reason why some of them couldn't be black. In any case, I do feel like we're quibbling over a minor detail. The "excess baggage" and bringing up your website wasn't intended to be character assassination; I was just trying to make it clear that I have deep respect for you to separate you from your comment so that when I criticized the comment it wouldn't be personal. Unfortunately, doing so seemed to have the opposite effect, and for that, I am truly sorry. Please accept my apology; no offense was meant, and I will strive for greater clarity in the future. In any case, I do really like your black VF-4. The only suggestion I would make is that the red on the stabilizers should probably be a dull yellow if it's a squad leader, or gray-blue if it'd be Dick or Morry's (the same yellow and blue that's in the Diamond Force insignia, actually). Then again, the red does look good, and you did say that you were only using Diamond Force as a template. Hmm... that's an interesting notion, actually. We know that the Skull squadron remained even as members came and went, and we know they upgraded from VF-1s to VF-4s. Purely the stuff of fan speculation, but maybe Diamond Force predated the Macross 7 fleet. Personally, I doubt it; going from the sudden formation of Emerald Force when they started adding VF-19's to the fleet, mineral-themed squads seem like something they were cooking up within their little fleet. (Kinda makes you wonder what kind of porn-obsessed officer gave us the Pick Peckers). But if Diamond Force was an older squadron, that at one time flew VF-4s, that'd be my suggestion. The stabilizers would be trimmed with blue or yellow, and of course the Jolly Roger would be replaced with the Diamond Force triangles.

Well, I think the gameplay, aside from the painting, was pretty similar between Okami and Zelda. So, I know I'm definitely in the minority on the Zelda thing, but that might be why I seem to be a minority on Okami as well. But that just ges back to the whole "to each his own" thing. I'm not saying that recent Zeldas and Okami are bad games by any means. Just saying that I didn't care for the gameplay, so I didn't enjoy them as much as others.

I haven't lost any respect for you, nor am I making threats of that or any sort, my concessions are not faux, I don't care if they make you happy or not, I'm fine with your opinion that it could be a VF-14 or is more likely to be a VF-14 than a VF-4 even if you'd rather argue than respect my opinion that it looks like a badly drawn VF-4. I'm also not saying, as you seem to think, that there was or was not a black VF-4. And maybe I'm misunderstanding you somewhere, but I'm reading your comments to mean that it is canon that there is no black VF-4, and I still think that particular notion is absurd. You're absolutely correct to say that there's no canon black VF-4, but there is NO canonical information on the paintjobs of more than a handful of the nearly 8500 VF-4s produced. You can't say a black VF-4 doesn't exist, you can only say that we haven't seen one.

I'm not arguing that it IS a VF-4, I'm arguing that it looks like it COULD BE, but a poorly drawn one. I don't really see any resemblance to a VF-14 as it officially looks (M3). But, I do agree with Mr. March that the nacelle is pretty close to the VA-14/pre-M3 VF-14, but the cockpit doesn't match. And Chrono, while I agree that the canard is much too small for a VF-4's, it's still obviously a canard. If it was a poorly drawn VF-4, it would still be drawn better than if that was supposed to be a stabilizer. Yes... because I'm sure Kawamori told the animators exactly how to draw each one of those background planes instead of giving instructions along the lines of "Fill the background with some random planes." To put Kawamori's quote in another light, if that'll make Mr. March happy, the aircraft in the background are probably unidentified less because Kawamori decided what each one should be but still after how many years isn't ready to divulge what they are, and more because they were just random background and not worth identifying. They might not even be variable fighters, but x-planes, testbeds, and proof of concepts. Mr March, I respect the hell out of you, and I do enjoy your website and the work you're putting into it. But that's still an absurd statement. The Compendium says that 8425 VF-4s were produced; it doesn't say that none of them were black. The only reason to say that a black VF-4 doesn't exist is because none have been seen in any canon production; but we certainly haven't seen 8425 VF-4s in canon productions. Arguing that a black VF-4 doesn't exist because you didn't see one is like arguing that Hikaru doesn't poop because you never saw him on the john.

Wii? In the office? Uh... you wouldn't be looking for resumes, would you?

I guess a lot of that is a "to each his own" kind of thing. I'm VERY critical of gameplay. I love a lot of games that people hate because I like the way they play, and I hate some games that are nearly universally loved because I can't get into the gameplay. I really wanted to like Okami (maybe if it were an anime?), but like I said, I just couldn't get into the gameplay. For what it's worth, I haven't cared much for Zelda since it went 3D, either.

Nope, the kanji (and kana) say "Zelda no Densetsu" in big print, and the small print says "Kamigami no Triforce." That translates to something like "Legend of Zelda" and "Triforce of Gods."

I'd be more inclined to argue the weird perspective to justify the angle of the stabilizers than pretend the thing behind the cockpit isn't a canard. Draw a line continuing the angle, and you'll see it can't possibly be connected to the starboard nacelle. The starboard canard and nacelle would be obscured by Yang. I've explained that it does. But here's a the pic again cropped down, with a white line to show what I'm talking about, and I drew in red where the rest of the plane should be. Considering that it's mostly a black blob, I don't expect you would see such fine detail. The port ventral stabilizer would blend into whatever's behind it, and the starboard one, due to the weird perspective, could be obscured by landing gear. The cannons are the only thing that aren't easily explained, but considering the nature of New Edwards, it could be a trainer without the cannons, or a variant where the cannons aren't exposed. I'm sure not every VF-4 was painted the same as the one in Flashback. There's no reason a black VF-4 with the UNS kite painted on the nacelle couldn't exist. Without his exact quote, do we know he meant that every one of those aircraft were ones we've never seen before? Or that only some were? Or that, by unidentified, the animators were told to throw in some random planes, and that they could very well have added a poorly drawn VF-4, and that Kawamori wasn't going to bother to identify it as such? Doesn't matter much how Kawamori feels about the VF-4. He wasn't an animator, and he didn't draw that frame.

EDIT: Double post. Sorry.

I really don't see the Dinobots ever turning up in the movie franchise. A big, tough, dumb Autobot with the name Grilmock, sure, but no Transformers that turn into robot dinosaurs. It doesn't fit with Bay's style. Likewise, as someone else already mentioned, gestalts also don't fit his style, so I think Brawl is the closest we're going to get to Devastator. Oh, and Bonecrusher... G1 Bonecrusher was a Constructicon.

I found a copy of Metroid Prime 3 used the week it came out for $30, picked it up, and put it in my Wii once to make sure that it worked. After that, I forgot I even owned it. I really need to stress, I don't think that the Wii is a bad system at all... but I think the newness of it and the infatuation with the Wiimote waggle kinda wore off. Now, given a choice of the Wii's Gamecube graphics in 480p with Dolby Pro Logic and waggle controls, or the 360's HD visuals and Dolby Digital and a good old gamepad, I'm finding that I'll often take an average 360 game over a great Wii game 9 times out of 10.

We're talking about the black one under the helmet, right? The perspective is kind of weird, like the front is shortened and the back stretched, but ultimately I think it looks more like a VF-4 than a VF-14 or a VA-14. You can't see a lot of cockpit detail, but you can see the inward-canted vertical stabilizer off the port nacelle, the rest of the port wing coming off the nacelle, and if you look carefully, you can see that the other thing sticking out of the fuselage is too far port to be the starboard stabilizer, so it must be a port canard.

If they build them, I will come. With money. To buy toys. Seriously, when they finished the last wave of Classics, I couldn't help but think of characters I still wanted (Wheeljack, Jazz, Ratchet, Prowl, Hound, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Cyclonus, Blitzwing, Soundwave, Galvatron, and Shockwave, for starters). Not to mention characters I did want, but didn't feel like paying Botcon Exclusive pricing for (the rest of the Seekers). At least I'm getting Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Octane... a year from now...