mikeszekely

What? I didn't think Squall was whiny. To tell the truth, I don't remember him having much personality at all... and Rinoa was annoying? No way! She was the coolest girl in Final Fantasy since Rydia, and super hot to boot! Oh wait... you must have VIII confused with X. Tidus and Yuna... now there's a whiny hero and an annoying female lead!

Actually, I never cared for Final Fantasy, and it's kind of annoying that Sephiroth or Cloud end up being voted the best videogame character of all time by a bunch of kids who's first videogame was probably Final Fantasy VII... instead of truly classic characters like Mario or Megaman. But I digress. I picked VIII, just so it would get some loving, but I'm actually very partial to both VIII and IX.

Not too suprising, I thought like three out of four people were Harry Potter Fans.

Not really. That's how I got Metroid Fusion long before it was released. Unfortunately I haven't seen any of those kits (and I don't mean the e-reader like some may think) on the market anymore. Did Nintendo make some kind of injunction against them? Lan Kwei even took them off his site. It's also how I've been playing Rockman Zero 2 while I wait for the US release. But, what I meant was that there are emulator programs out there for the GBA, too, and I'm not talking about the kind that let you play GBA games on the PC. I mean the kind that let you play NES and what not on the GBA. Nintendo sued Lik Sang. Lik Sang stopped selling the kits for the time being, but filed a counter suit. Their arguement is that the kits are legitimate development tools, very similar to the ones Nintendo uses themselves, and that the kits themselves are not illegal. They argued that it's unfair to punish them because other people flash GBA roms to them, which is illegal. Kind of like needles aren't illegal, just using them for illegal drugs, and when you have a problem with junkies, you don't sue the needle makers. Anyway, that's the last I heard of it. There are still places out there that sell them, though. Since this forum really isn't the place to be discussing things like that, I'd say to just to a search for it on Google.

You are kidding, right?

Little know secret: you can do emulation on the GBA. I made one GBA "game" that was Megaman 1-6. Good times. Naturally, I went GBA SP. You get all the games of the Gameboy/GB Pocket/GB Color days (minus Kirby's Tilt and Tumble, which I can live without). Then you get all the great GBA games like the Castlevanias, Megaman Zero, Megaman and Bass, and the rest. To top it off, you get a nice folding design, front lit screen, and a rechargable lithium ion battery. Good deal!

It's Optimus Prime! The real one! None of this crappy Armada/Beast Wars/Beast Machines/Robots In Disguise/whatever the hell other crappy remakes they've done! That's the one from my youth!!!

Yes, but like I said, I think SW-AG is a new idea Kawamori had to explain things like why Battroids don't break when the crash into buildings. You know, the stuff we previously had to explain by saying "anime magic" or "well, that's hypercarbons for you." Then, most likely, SW-AG will become a retroactive addition to all the other variable fighters. And it's a simple fact that the SW-AG cannot be a reference to the pinpoint barrier used in the VF-19, VF-22, and YF-21, because the pinpoint barrier system was developed on board the SDF-1 in 2009. We see that clearly in Macross TV. The ones used on the AVFs are just scaled down versions of that. They'd go with whatever worked. If the problems with the VF-1's engines left it unsuitable, they would go back to what did work, and refit it for combat. Like I said, probably to test the transformation system. You'd still need a variable fighter that can fly and manouever properly to test that, and if the fusion engines aren't reliable, causing loss of control, crashing, and the like, that'd make the VF-1 more or less unsuitable. Build a few specials that are basically VF-1s designed for conventional engines, and you're back on track for testing. Cut for budgetary reasons. The technology was too expensive to use at the time. The technology for it becomes cheaper, it shows up again in the VF-19, which was developed by Shinsei. Shinsei, as we know, is the result of mergers between the companies that originally developed the VF-0 and VF-1. Also, you're assuming that the VF-0 was built to test them just before the show. In fact, it seems more likely that their was a YF-0 earlier than that for testing the technologies, and the VF-0 is a limited production version of it for actual combat. I see your point... there was no reason to build so many. In fact, probably just 1-3 YF-0's. The design probably went into limited production, as I said, because it used conventional engines, and the reaction engines in the VF-1 weren't reliable enough for combat yet. Easy. The YF-0 probably didn't. But to get it ready for combat, the controls in the VF-0 would be updated to allow for it. Remember, it's really about control. The transformation system itself allowed for it. No. Sure looks like it to me. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't, and it was, engines aside, technologically superior to the VF-1, why bother fielding the VF-1 at all? Why not refit it for reaction engines and adopt it as the main variable fighter for the UN forces instead?

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/news/news_6076338.html Current estimates are putting it around $1000. I'd say it's worth it, except that I already have cable TV, and a Sony VAIO PC with a DVD+RW/DVD-RW drive, and Giga Pocket software to record TV on the PC. And since I'm burning DVDs on the PC, I can use different software to copy my friends' DVDs or make copies of mine for them (not as simple as you might think). Sure, my PC only has an 80GB hard drive, but I'm willing to bet that the hard drive of the PS2 can't be used for game saves... probably just recording shows and storing video information for the DVD burner. So... yeah, I guess it's really not worth it.

actually, i meant the "G" thingy and the big yellow thingy Well, you know how a satellite reciever has that big dish for collecting signals, and then that other part that directs the signals collected by the dish into... um, wherever it goes after that? Like your TV, if you have DirecTV or something? I think that "G" thing and the yellow thing are that part, that sends the singal to your TV. Or, in this case, the monitors in the bridge.

While the first VF-1A flew in 2006 (although the Compendium has it listed as the VF-X-1's first flight as 2007, with the first VF-1A's not actually going into production until December of 2008) it seems they had problems with the engines right up until 2009. It's possible that the VF-0 was originally built, perhaps in smaller numbers, as a sort of re-designed VF-1 to use conventional engines BUT to test other areas of the VF-X development. Like say, transformation. I'd assume that they'd want more reliable engines for testing something like that. Then, when they got word that the Anti-UN had a working variable fighter, they retooled the design to get it combat ready, maybe built a few more, then sent it off to war. During it's role in the VF-X program, it might have been considered a YF or VF-X plane. But, having fulfilled whatever test duties it had, and now being used for actual combat, it might then be reclassified as VF-0. The Compendium doesn't say anything about the VF-0 being a test bed for technology beyond the VF-1. It says that it's a testbed and trial production model for advanced jet engines and Overtechnology designed for future variable fighters. If the VF-0 is a page from the same VF-X program that gave us the VF-1, then any technology tested could indeed apply to the VF-1. Overtechnology is a broad term... it could refer to the SW-AG, the cyclops radar, or even the transformation system itself. Simple fact is, we don't know enough about the VF-0. We don't know if it was built from scratch long into VF-1 development, or if it was part of the VF-X program, or what. We know that when the VF-0 is deployed, the VF-1 is just about finished, but we don't know how old the VF-0 is by that time, either. If it was built to be a testbed, then adopted for combat later, it could still be older than the VF-1. I'm still inclined to believe that the VF-0 and the VF-1 have common roots, and that the VF-0 is either older than the VF-1, or a production model of something older than the VF-1. Although the Compendium doesn't explicity say that other VFs incorporate SW-AG technology, I don't think that Egan cares to go back and add it to to all the variable fighter entries, and I think that Kawamori implied it. It explains things like why all Hikaru's crashing into buildings at the beginning of Macross TV didn't do any damage to his Battroid. I don't think it's a reference to the pin-point barriers used on the AVFs, because they're clearly scaled-down versions of the pin-point barrier they accidentally discovered on the Macross much later.

Are you kidding? The secondary fire modes, plus some imaginative new weapons, made Pefect Dark twice as fun as GoldenEye for multiplayer. GoldenEye was great for running around huge multi-player levels demanding more thought and skill for killing than simple run-and-shoot games like Unreal, but in the end, you were still shooting at each other. Perfect Dark, with weapons like Proximity Mines and the Laptop Gun, took that to another level by allowing more clever traps. The multi-player in PD was actually so good, it took me a long time to get into Halo (I had my Xbox for almost a year before I bought it). As much as I'm looking forward to Halo 2, I can honestly say that I'd rather Perfect Dark Zero came out first. Well, I didn't play much multiplayer with Perfect Dark. My gaming friends (whom the majority turned out to be chauvanistic males that didn't like being consistently beaten by a girl) had developed the habit of joining forces/ganging up on me and killing me and/or doing whatever possible to put me in last place. Although one time I had an incredible comeback and managed to finish 1st over the 2nd place player with 5 more kills, I had basically stopped playing multiplayer with them. So I played PD mostly on 1 player mode or with my sisters which bored me. I have always found FPS to be too easy since I first played one online in 95 and why I do not like them. Anyways, I'll give it another whirl with your recommendation. My new co-workers make better gaming buddies than my friends back in Boston. Then again who's to say in a couple years they won't stop ganing up on me too. Oh yeah, Perfect Dark was only so-so for single player. And it all goes downhill when Elvis shows up. For single player, Halo beats the hell out of. Halo's multiplayer is fun, especially when you have a bunch of people, a big enough TV, and a 5.1 set up. As fun as it is, strategy is limited pretty much to where to ambush your opponent, and with what weapon. But Pefect Dark was a masterpiece for multiplayer. The levels were big and interesting enough, the weapon variety was good, and the secondary fire modes on weapons, plus remote weapons like proximity mines and the laptop gun, made for some great strategy. I remember, in fact, when my friend, my brother, and myself were playing a free for all... I saw my friend go into a room with only one exit, so I put a laptop gun in front of the door. If my friend tried to open the door, the laptop would shoot at him, leaving me free to hunt my brother. My poor friend was pretty limited in his choices... try to shoot the laptop gun before it shot him, or get killed by it, and hope to respawn somwhere else. He went for the first choice, by the way, but it ended up working as the second. Ah... good times.

Exactly. And like I said, it's not that there aren't any games from that era that I still enjoy... but I love the new stuff, and I love to think about what's down the pipe.

Here's a theory you guys can try... Not only do the mounds NOT contain Khyron's ship, the SDF-2, or the ruins of Macross City, they don't contain the SDF-1, either. Not even part of it. My reasoning here is very simple... 1. The SDF-2 was in construction, but not back to back with the SDF-1... it was actually being built on the moon! 2. The SDF-1 was not destroyed during Khyron's suicide attack. After the attack, the SDF-1 was repaired and refit, the wreckage of Khyron's ship was cleaned up, and Macross City continued to prosper. 3. The setting of "the Robotech Masters" saga is actually not even earth. So even if the SDF-1 had been destroyed, and buried with Khyron's ship and the SDF-2, they would be nowhere near the mounds seen in "the Robotech Masters." Mechamaniac's right. I have nothing against Robotech, as if it weren't for RT, I might not have discovered Macross. This Matt fellow is trying to explain why two parts of RT don't quite fit as if he genuinely thought that Robotech is an original creation, and had no idea that Macross and Southern Cross are actually two seperate entities. If something from the Macross saga doesn't seen to fit the RT Masters saga, it's because they're actually unrelated. If the explaination given seems weak, it's because it's trying to cover for the fact that Macross and Southern Cross are two totally different shows. It'd be like taking the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and the Drew Carey Show, and combining them into one show, and then telling everyone that Drew Carey and Philip Banks are the same character, but the reason why he was black before and white now is because of a genetic mutation. Of course it's lame, but it you want to believe that it's really one show, you have to buy it as is. If you want the real story, you have to... well, accept reality, watch Macross, and then go to Macross Plus when you want a sequel, not Southern Cross.

Amen! Though I did like Shanghai Noon and The One, I rather see Police Story or Fist of Legend before it. Martial Arts will never fade away. Believe that. And I liked Kiss of the Dragon! But my favorite Jet Li was High Risk. I think there's an R1 floating around under the name "Meltdown," but I have a Chinese DVD, so I'm not sure.

Taratino + stereotypes that further confuse Americans who think Chinese and Japanese are the same thing = monumentally bad movie.

If you are going to base your judgement on a system based on the majority of its games..... you might as well just make the PSX the worst console ever. The system had a 1 good game every 20 bad games.... thats a pretty ugly curve. Not only that... but in a few years every single PSX game is going to look ugly, simply because low res 3D games don't age gracefully. Many members have posted lists of games that not only hold up well against recent games, but many are being ported to current consoles. If you want a complete list of SNES games that are either comparable to PSX/PS2 games or surpass them.... I will gladly take the time to write a full list. We are not saying PSX games are not original... we are simply saying that, even being original... doesn't mean they stand the test of time well. And you consider this to be something good? BTW.... SNES RPGs were already there... without the need for the graphics Halo had a story? You are kidding right? Did your brain fry because of the repeated rooms? Half Life had a much better story then Halo. Jedi Knights had a much better story then Halo. Those games were either 2 or more years older then Halo, those 2 were the real revolution. Halos story, IMO, doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of Half Life. And Halo being fun is debatable. So you are saying that, this little turd was better then most SNES games? MGS 2 is a turd because you watched more then you played. Those early GB games had more game play and revolution then MSG2 in its entirety. AC04 will not be remembered by its story... it will be remembered because it was a fun and extremely well executed game. For a gamer.... your views are extremely messed up. You are putting originality over execution. It doesn't matter if a game has the most amazing story of all time.... if it doesn't play well... its not a good game. Its all about playing a game, not watching it. You are making yourself sound like a casual gamers.... who values flash over substance. I look like a casual gamer? How about you guys who went NES or SNES look like the "games are for kids, I played mine back in the day, but now I'm an adult and I don't do that anymore" crowd! Now of course I don't believe that's true of all of you, and you should give me more credit, too. If there wasn't something to what I'm saying, then the PS2 wouldn't be dead tied with the SNES. Sadly, it seems that I'm the only one who's not afraid to stand up and defend my choice, while the rest of the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube crowd is afraid that the NES/SNES crew will beat them up and steal their lunch money. Never once did I argue against the fact that there's a ton of crap on the current consoles. And I never argued against the fact that, down the road, most of the games on the current consoles won't hold up. What I am arguing is that most of the games on the NES and SNES didn't hold up, either. And what I did say is that I pick the current consoles because they are current, knowing full well that 10 years from now, I'll be picking whatever is current then. As a gamer, I respect the systems of the past, but embrace what's current, and will continue to embrace what's new in the future. How is that messed up? That's how the industry was able to evolve! Do I see that evolution as a good thing? Damn right I do! If playing everything and looking forward to the next new thing instead of stagnating on an almost 15 year old console is casual, I'm proud to be casual. And yes, I do value originality... originality is what made the games you guys keep bring up from the NES and SNES eras memorable. You've named maybe 20 SNES games, not all of which I think stood up well with time, from a library of over 500 games, many of which were so-so shooters or lackluster beat 'em ups. Do I think Enter the Matrix, bad as it was, was better than Super Mario World? Hell no. Do I think it was better than the majority of the SNES library? Most definately yes. And while EtM definately needed a lot of improvement, it was still an ambitious project and I'd still like to see another developer try something like that again, hopefully to better results. Do I value originality over execution? I don't think so. I think games like PaRappa, Samba de Amigo, and Viewtiful Joe have been executed quite well, thank you.

Are you kidding? The secondary fire modes, plus some imaginative new weapons, made Pefect Dark twice as fun as GoldenEye for multiplayer. GoldenEye was great for running around huge multi-player levels demanding more thought and skill for killing than simple run-and-shoot games like Unreal, but in the end, you were still shooting at each other. Perfect Dark, with weapons like Proximity Mines and the Laptop Gun, took that to another level by allowing more clever traps. The multi-player in PD was actually so good, it took me a long time to get into Halo (I had my Xbox for almost a year before I bought it). As much as I'm looking forward to Halo 2, I can honestly say that I'd rather Perfect Dark Zero came out first.

I never contested games today have no magic anymore. All I am saying is most of the games you just dismiss as not being fun anymore are still fun. Maybe Abombz was close when she said new knowledge has ruined it for you. God knows, I work with new graphics every day as an animation coordinator using Maya Unlimited. Yet, somehow despite that I'm able to enjoy an old game like Ninja Gaiden just as I'm able to enjoy Tenchu 3. Yes, Ninja Gaiden is a far cry from Tenchu and can be looked down as VERY inferior but the fact it's now inferior still doesn't take away the enjoyment of just playing for me. I'm not talking about how in retrospect how a game was in technical power, speed, visuals, and it's processing engine. Just simply the amount of fun, originality and great gameplay they had which I have many fond memories of. I'm not doubting if you ever once enjoyed the games of old but it sounds more to me that much of your interest of those games had to do with the THEN new graphics. You also said this: So I still can't understand how you can claim it's not the graphics that interest you when it seems they are a big part that made a game special for you when you FIRST played them. BTW I never cared for Perfect Dark because there was not much variation from the gameplay from GoldenEye. For me anyways. I'm not saying there are no games from the SNES or NES era that are still fun to this day. As I said, I LOVE the classic NES Megaman games. I'm just saying that the simple majority did not hold up as well with time. And certainly, the NES games that I still going to be different that the ones that other people pick. A lot of people think Megaman is lame now. And for me, while Ninja Gaiden III was one of my favorite NES games, I really can't get into it now. Because graphics aren't the draw for me. Example: The Bouncer looks gorgeous, but it doesn't mean that it's more fun than the classic Konami beat 'em ups from back in the day, especially the Ninja Turtle games. It's true that I crave the next new thing, but to simply say that each new console brings better graphics totally demeens the evolution of the industry, not to mention that it's not even true. As a matter of fact, a lot of Dreamcast games look way better than a lot of PS2 games. What makes new games on new consoles more and more exciting for me are the innovations in gameplay and storytelling. The PSX and the Dreamcast were great for innovations is gameplay, with games like Jumping Flash, PaRappa, Bushido Blade, home versions of Dance Dance Revolution, Soul Calibur (possibly Soul Blade, although I didn't play it), Sea Man, Samba de Amigo, etc. The newer consoles haven't offered a lot in the way of new gameplay (although I get a big kick out of games like Dynasty Warriors), but they have seen gaming become a medium for storytelling right on the level with Hollywood movies. And not just for RPGs, either. Halo is remembered not just for being a blast to play all night with your friends, but for having a plot instead of just being a frag fest. Enter the Matrix, despite being a so-so game at best, was designed from the get go to tell a story that compliments the movies. Metal Gear Solid 2 surpassed the original in terms of cinematics, even if the story fell through. Heck, even Ace Combat 4 had an overly dramatic, War in the Pocket kind of story. In some cases, it's not so much the story itself, but how the story is told, ala Viewtiful Joe. Even if you didn't like the movie Memento, you had to give it credit for its artistry. Games like Viewtiful Joe are the same.

Ah... I didn't tell you guys... our company had a trade show in Dallas last two weeks ago, and we got an N-Gage... and let me tell you, in sucks in every way possible. First off, you don't have to sign up for a cellular service to play it, just to play it online. And since you look like a retard holding the top of the device to you hear, ridiculous vertical screen facing in the same direction you are, you'd look like a gimp if you decided to use it for your cell phone. Myself and the majority of us probably already have a cell phone we like. Even if you didn't, T-Mobile and AT&T are the carriers so far. If you were thinking about getting Verizon (since they seem to be the popular company today), you're not going to be getting it on N-Gage. Second, the games fit underneath the battery. If you want to change games, you have to remove the back of the N-Gage, pop out the battery, switch games, put the battery back in, and put the cover back on. And remember how the N-Gage is going to be an mp3 player, too? Well, it uses proprietary memory cards, $70 for a 64mb card... and the mem cards go where the game goes. Meaning, if you were playing a game, and want to listen to mp3s, you have to go through the same process as changing games. The N-Gage itself is ridiculously complicated. After you turn it on, it's a bitch to get it to do what you want it to. The graphics are below PSX level, and the control is way off, at least for Tomb Raider. And sadly, Tomb Raider is one of the better N-Gage games out there. Even the Sega games, which Nokia was so proud to have, are BAD ports of GBA titles (Sonic Advance, Super Monkey Ball Jr, and Virtua Tennis). Slap a $300 price tag on the turd, and you're practically telling people to buy a GBA. I can't reccomend this thing to anyone, not even the most hardcore gamers. I do plan to get one, but I'm waiting for it to flop so I can get everything on clearance. A more interesting new handheld might be the Helix from Tapwave. Like the N-Gage, it's too pricey to consider too seriously, and the fact that Tapwave is only selling them online, at least until Spring of '04, makes me a little more leary... but so far, it seems to do everything that the N-Gage does, except act as a cell phone, and it seems to do it better. Two hot swapable SD media slots allow you do to more things at a time, plus you can wait until Best Buy has a good sale on SD memory cards before you get a big one. The games, from what I've seen, look like PSX games, but the library isn't so huge yet. Oh, yeah, and to replace the cell phone feature and justify the price tag, the Helix runs on Palm OS, and doubles as a Palm Pilot, totally compatible with any Palm application or game out there. If they can line up some better games, start selling it in stores, and bring the price down by the time it starts selling in stores, I might bite.

In other words, you ARE clouded by the graphics! I've never ever ever considered putting away my SNES and I never will. I'll be 80 years old and still playing old games like Super Metroid when my grand kids will be telling me how lame the graphics are when they are teleported into the TV screen or whatever new technology will allow by then. If only it were that simple. Actually, I was one of the big "gameplay over graphics" people, and I stood up for the SNES for two years after the PlayStation's launch. What it comes down to is gameplay. I'm not saying there's NO SNES or NES games still worth playing. Actually, I get picked on at work, because I'm the only that still plays the original NES Megaman games. But compare the number of Final Fantasies, Megamans, and Super Metroids to the ridiculous number of simple shooters and beat 'em ups, and you'll see what I'm talking about. And even at that, a lot of the games I played on the NES or SNES that I remember loving back in the day just don't seem to hold up with age. Point in case, when Maximum Carnage came out on the Genesis, I loved that game! Today, I see it's just another beat 'em up, and a pretty mediocre one at that. Sure, there were those moments of "magic" back on the old systems... the first time I ever played Megaman, playing the original home version of Street Fighter II with my friend (and I'd only play as Ken), staying up until 2:00 playing a demo of VF-X2 to see who could get the better score, the wrestling league my brother, myself, and about six friends created on WWF No Mercy, the time two of my friends stayed at my house for two days while my parents were away so we could do nothing but play Perfect Dark... but you can't honestly tell me there's no magic in todays games! Onimusha captivated me like no other game since Megaman, and my weekend Perfect Dark games have become weekend Halo games. I had as much fun with Soul Calibur II as I ever did with Street Fighter. And while I'll always have a special place in my heart for Final Fantasy IV, I have to admit it was a lot of fun going through Final Fantasy X with the wife.

Then... as a gamer... theres something terribly wrong with you. I might not be that old, and only been around since the NES... but the SNES games are still a blast to play and much more fun then most PS2 and Xbox games. Well, either that, or as a gamer and tech nut, I just crave the next new thing.

Actually, you guys might not have heard this, but there might not be a Phantom. Apparently, the guy in charge at Infinium Labs has been the head of 7 or 8 companies in the past 5 years that have gone bankrupt after taking a ton of money from investors. Add that to the fact that the Phantom is supposed to start selling in October, but no one has actually seen it... all those pictures of the Phantom are still CGI mock-ups... and the speculation is that at some point, Infinium Labs will declare bankruptcy, not a single Phantom will have been delivered, and the guy behind Infinium will go on to steal more investor money and put another company out of business.

HA! Speak for yourself, Jr. Actually, I remember very well what I enjoyed during my entire 22 year gaming history. Including a strange weekend in 1989 with my NES when my younger sister (who turned 21 this Sat) had a tough time with SMB 2. I think you are just clouded by new graphics and limited memory. Jr? You only wish. I'm not saying the people that picked the NES or the SNES don't remember that it was fun. Back in the day, it was fun. Hell, I remember having a blast playing a Galaga knock off back on the Odyssey. I remember loving the NES, and I remember loving the SNES. In fact, I remember not wanting a PlayStation for two years after its release because I was having so much fun with the SNES. What I am saying is that while those games were great in their time, they're just not that fun anymore. I remember games like Super Contra being fun back in the day, but I recently dusted off my old consoles and tried playing some of those games again. After a few minutes, I was bored. Hell, I can't even play GoldenEye or Perfect Dark anymore, because they look and feel old and dated compared to more recent shooters like Halo. And I'm willing to bet that, 10 years from now, I'll remember games like Onimusha or Halo or Super Smash Bros Melee very fondly, but if I dust off their respective consoles and fire the games up I'll get bored with them and rank whatever consoles are current as better.

Leave it to the resident Megaman guru to identify everyone.