Terpfen

That's a myth. If Gundam X ran against Evangelion, it was running against Eva reruns. Gundam X started 5 April 1996 and ran on Friday (until its timeslot change, which moved it to Saturday mornings). Evangelion ran on Wednesday and ended 27 March 1996. Not only were they not in the same timeslot, but they weren't even running at the same time.

Generally, when a show completes its run, it's at the height of its popularity, is it not?

Imagine trasitioning from Eva ep 26 to Gundam X episode 1. Quite a jarring experience, especially when Eva apparently hit all the chords anime fans like--underaged fanservice, animal mascots, Christian symbols, and a dash of super robot style in the mecha designs.

So, Gundam X had to compete with Eva--regardless of whether or not they were airing concurrently. This is kind of like how, when a video game does something perfectly, all successive games are compared to this one perfect video game. RPGs are judged by whether or not they're as good as Final Fantasy. Action games are judged by whether or not they're as good as Metal Gear Solid. FPS games are measured by whether or not they're as good as Half-life or Halo.

Point is, Eva is one of the reasons Gundam X didn't do well. Period.

Dude, unless YOU made any of the kits you linked to, then STFU, and stop bashing someone else for showing off their enthusiasm about a kit they are building. If you don't like the way his kit looks, then here's a thought.... don't watch this thread! . Wow, an epiphany!.

Next thing you know you'll be posting "Ugly baby" in the occasional birth announcement threads.

I wasn't watching his thread. I stumbled upon it and posted what I thought because apparently comments were welcome (but I guess that doesn't apply to those who don't like the kit.)

I actually have completed a mk.II. The problem is, I don't like it, so I'm not going to show it off. At the time, I was a noob, and I used a flat white in conjunction with a gloss black. The result is not pretty. I have more sense now.

I guess the lesson to be learned here is that honesty doesn't mean anything, but mindless praise does.

So what if it's original plastic with lil markings on it? It looks perfectly fine to me, I don't think it even looks cheesey, I'd spend triple digit and just BUILD the damn thing outta respect, I don't need to spray paint or air brush every single piece to make it perfect to the last detail....I enjoy it for what it is.

You're not thinking here.

Yes, the PG is larger. Yes, it has more parts. However, it's the same design. Painting its surface pieces would actually take less time than a HGUC or MG, because the parts don't need any seams filled, and they're broken down exactly by color. You group the parts together, you spray them, you let them dry, you assemble. Job done.

So let's say you want to save time. This is simple: you don't paint the internals that you'll never see. This could save you time on the arms in particular, and definitely time along the torso area.

Or you could take the third option: continue treating PGs as expensive toys, rather than the models that they are.

Gundam fans need to wake up from the "Bandai hates the UC and is out to screw us" delusion. It's got nothing to do with them "not liking" the UC and more that the UC had simply run it's course.

V being the last UC series isn't because they don't like the UC, it's because it was an *unmitigated failure*. It rated very poorly, it's merchandising bombed and to top it off Tomino loathes it and considers it the worst Gundam series there is.

After that they saw that change was needed, and began the alternate universes. It's also no shock that the most UC like of the AU's (Gundam X) was also an complete failure with the fans.

Bandai isn't out to screw UC. No one is saying that--at least, not that I've seen. What Bandai is out to do is make UC a sideshow to the main thrust of Gundam--the alternate universes. This is why UC has been restricted to side story manga like Lost War Chronicle and Blue Destiny. UC is still quite popular--Mobile Suit Gundam, not Wing or SEED, is Sunrise's flagship show (yes, after 25 years, MSG is still their most popular show.) Bandai continues to use the MSG theme in each of its new AU series--well, the exception now is SEED-D, which is using Zeta as its basis.

If UC wasn't popular, Zeta wouldn't be getting a movie re-release with new scenes and a new ending. If UC wasn't popular, the Master Grade and HGUC lines would've died five years ago. If UC wasn't popular, 08th Team wouldn't have taken three years to complete.

F-91 and V simply weren't appropriate to kickstart a new Gundam timeline, but not because they weren't good. F-91 was supposed to be a TV series, but instead the first 13 episodes were condensed into the movie we have now. In a form like that, there's no way F-91 could've done anything. As for V, the problem there was that the series was TOO complete, leaving no window for continuations and sequels. You have a point about Tomino not liking V Gundam, but you forget that Tomino thought MSG was the end of the Gundam series--he didn't want to make Zeta, ZZ, CCA, F-91, V, or Turn A. He definitely didn't conceive of Sunrise letting other directors in on his property and making 0080, 0083, or 08th Team. And he most definitely did not conceive of alternate universes like G, Wing, X, or SEED.

With that said, I agree that the UC series are mostly stale. Kid's colony gets attacked, kid steals Gundam, kid becomes amazing pilot and happens to be the most powerful Newtype around. The manga are equally formulaic--they all happen during the OYW, they all involve some secret Zeon project, they all have "only in anime" characters and plots.

But UC is hardly unpopular. MSG is still Sunrise's flaghship series, and Zeta is often cited as a fan-favorite series. CCA, 0080, and 0083 are still highly popular. F-91 had quite a bit of sequels and prequels, with one (Crossbone) even directed by Tomino himself. X didn't fail because it was UC-like. X failed because it took half the series for its plot to begin kicking in, and because it was the third Gundam series to air in a row, and it aired next to Evangelion. Bandai had exhausted Gundam fains in the first place, and then they put X up next to Eva. X is not a bad show, but with those kinds of circumstances, not even Tomino could've produced a winner.

One more point: the alternate universes were conceived very differently. G was originally going to be a remake of MSG, with what eventually became the Shining Gundam acting as a new RX-78.

They were saying as much even before SEED was released, and it's how it should be. The UC is a dead horse and should be laid to rest.

They were, but then they stopped. SEED's planned sequel was scrapped during the second half of the show. This is why SEED's ending is rushed. For months after SEED was completed, officials were asked about a sequel and said none was going to happen. SEED D's announcement was a complete surprise, and it's quite different from the originally planned sequel.

Yeah you're so right, it sucks and nobody likes it, they just buy it because they have to.

Yeah, kind of like those old early '80s Macross kits.

Unfortunately, id still used techniques that were patented by Creative.  Creative came after them for licensing fees. . . but I think they worked something out so that id promoted Creative sound cards for Doom3 and didn't have to give them any cash.

Linkage.

H

Yes, I'm well aware of that.

What you'll notice is that EAX is NOT in Doom 3. The deal was to implement EAX in the Doom 3 engine at a later date. Games which will license the Doom 3 engine will have EAX implemented. Doom 3 does not.

Difference.

Can't see how that's not good, it's better than what I can do with my Gundam kit....I like how he made it look from plastic to scratched up metal, looks like he used a silver marker or some dried paint and just lightly placed it in random spots.

Er... it's not good because it's an OOB job done without full painting, but rather done with the "only paint what "needs" to be done mentality.

Some examples of good mk.IIs:

Y2's HGUC mk.II.

Studio Slam's HGUC mk.II.

Mekomu-Delta's MG mk.II.

Gasdam's HGUC mk.II.

Suezou's HGUC mk.II.

Just building the kit straight out of the box and slapping some barely-visible scratching effects does not make a kit worth giving the thumbs up over. And these mk.IIs I've linked to aren't anything truly special--two modified the Titans themes, one has a custom color job, one is posed with the B-Club flying pack, and one is just built up as a regular old Titans unit. Some, like Y2's, are modded, but since we're talking about paintjob, the mods are irrelevant.

It does not take much effort to get a decently painted model out the door, and I think if you're going to spend a triple digit figure to buy something the size and cost of the PG mk.II, you really should do something with it besides show off its colored plastic.

I would think they would be well aware of the following who like the Hi-Nu design. Besides, it only makes sense to release the plastic kit after the resin conversion kits have run their course and are no longer available.

Problem is, the Hi nu has "a following." Stuff like SEED designs have "a market." The two are not the same. Just think of how many people wished for a large-scale GP03... and then proceeded not to buy it. Of course, Bandai made a 1/144 Meteor... which tells you just how popular SEED stuff is. I'm sure it's selling well, too, and you'll see a Meteor II in SEED-D. You won't see a Master Grade Hi nu for a long, looooooooong time, though. Maybe after the MG Aries.

That's... really not that great a job, nor very inspiring camera work.

the sound rendering is done on CPU is all, a lot of games will use the sound card's DSP to do that stuff but id moved it to the CPU for various reasons.

id doesn't like EAX, so they went with their own 3D sound system. Two benefits: one, it's tweaked perfectly for Doom 3. Anyone with a 5.1 speaker system will tell you that you practically NEED one. Two, since Doom 3 is also being ported to the Mac, Linux, and Xbox, you run into the issue of hardware compatibility.

With that said, the sound engine doesn't really suck up any precious CPU space--the game runs perfectly on any reasonable rig.

I don't know about an Advance of Zeon, but there is an Advance of Zeta, which deals with how the EF handled former Titans in the wake of the Gryps War. It's like Sentinel, only minus the quality.

I really really wish they'd return to the UC timeline, with a different storyline for once. Maybe a Zaku pilot story or something.

Given the sheer amount of OYW-related shows, this wouldn't exactly be "different."

Folks, Bandai does not like UC. Learn to accept this. We've had ONE whole new UC series after Bandai purchased Sunrise in 1993. AU Gundam is wholly a Bandai creation, for merchandising purposes. And people go out and buy this crap no matter how ugly it gets.

Folks, Gundam was lost the day the Master Grade line went retro.

Really? I could have sworn that Gumpei had left Nintendo prior to that, shortly after the Virtual Boy fiasco, and I'm fairly certain he was working for Bandai (I believe he deisgned, or at least did work for the Wonderswan) when he was killed in that car accident.

As far as I know, Yokoi's last job was designing the N64's controller. Maybe he did go to Bandai, but if he did, then I haven't heard about it.

fair enough, but I too think it's a gimmick.. it's a stop gap until nintendo launches their next gen GB device... and nintendo loves gimmicks.. just look at the GB... how many minor variations and improvements have their been?

A better way to phrase this is, "Nintendo's customers love minor variations and improvements." After all, if they didn't sell, Nintendo wouldn't keep making them.

DS might be a response to the PSP, but I doubt it's a stopgap. The second screen does hold plenty of possibilities, though I do agree that not every game will benefit. Plenty will, though. For example, if Konami develops a Metal Gear game for the DS, the primary screen could be used to control Snake, while the secondary screen could be used for everything from controlling guided rockets (while still being able to view the environment around Snake in the primary screen) to displaying a security camera's point of view when Snake gets appropriately close enough, thus helping the player to avoid detection.

Football games can use the second screen to show the gamer how his selected play is unfolding. You select the play, and after the hike, you can look at the second screen to see white lines snaking out in real time, marking the exact overhead position of all your receivers, blockers, etc.

A nice implementation for racers could be to use the second screen as a rear view mirror, to see just how far back the other guys really are. And if we're dealing with a Mario Kart game, you can put the mini-map of the track on the second screen as well, freeing up space in the first.

If we get a Gundam game on the DS, the second screen could be used as a gimmicked-up enemy tracker. Lay down green coordinate grids on a black background, and have a tracking pulse emit every three or so seconds, with returning blips marking the general location of a target. And of course, in keeping with Minovsky physics, the tracker's range would be extremely low, making sure that the player can't just cheese his way through levels by knowing exactly where that pesky Dom is.

If I can come up with ideas like these, I can't wait to see what professional companies can do.

BTW, I never had any freaky bathroom mirror experience (except for every morning when I wake up. . . bu-dum-dum). Can someone tell me what level and area this takes place in?

Early on in the game, when you return to Mars City, go to the bathroom near the entrance. Walk right up to the center of the mirror and look straight in it.

give the guy a little credit.  Okiwara's not doing all the design work, everything has his name on it because bandai always has him do the little tweaks that make a design animate easier and look a touch more familiar.  yes he does a few of the designs, but all the suck is not his.

Sorry, but SEED is an Okawara franchise through and through. There are two lone exceptions: Strike Gundam and the Blue Frame and Red Frame Astrays (and I'm not referring to the various add-on packs for the Astrays, nor the Blue Frame Second and Red Frame Second.) Strike Gundam and Astray were designed by Junichi Akutsu. Astray was left alone according to Akutsu's art, but Strike Gundam was "cleaned up" by Okawara. Everything else in SEED is a 100% pure Okawara design, and everything we've seen of SEED Destiny is a pure Okawara design as well.

Keep in mind that just because Fujioka and Ishigaki are on board for SEED Destiny doesn't mean they'll design anything significant. In Fujioka's case, this is his first time working on an animated Gundam series, and so he's the junior of the project. Expect him to design things like MS carriers, or to create a couple of "monster of the week" MS that pass through the Okawara filter, ala Strike Gundam. In Ishigaki's case, Bandai always makes him design the capital ships, and they usually keep him away from the mecha. After Gundam X, they refuse to give him top billing for anything.

The biggest travesty of the Virtual Boy was that Nintendo screwed it up, despite the complaints of designer Gumpei Yokoi, and then when they released the butchered design and it failed, he was pretty much forced to resign from Nintendo.

Gumpei Yokoi didn't resign, he was just reassigned. He designed the controller for the N64, IIRC. His career wasn't killed by the Virtual On, but rather by the car that hit and killed him one night.

The second screen is a gimmick, because while you and I might be able to think of a use for it, so far the only use developers seem to use for the second screen is as a map screen. And yeah, that can be handy (especially with a new Castlevania), but it's still gimmicky. Gimmicks aside, though, the DS seems to have a better design, better price, and better software.

Sorry, but I don't see it that way. This is like looking at the first-generation 3D games and saying, "This is all they can do with polygons. Let's go back to 2D. Street Fighter is a better game than Toshinden and Virtua Fighter."

These are launch titles, most of which don't even have final names, working on the first system ever to allow two displays at once. The only use of the second screen as a map screen I've seen comes from the Super Mario 64 port, and I really doubt that's going to be its only use.

All I'm saying is, instead of criticizing right out of the gate, wait until you see a representative sample.

The title "Destiny"..for some reason this sounds like a new secret weapon, that will kill or unite the 2 race.

Destiny is the name of the second-half main Gundam, as confirmed by Okawara in an interview.

Oh, and for those who are pondering the transformations--nearly every Gundam will transform.

Eh? No detail? What are you talking about? As anyone who owns an Astray here can tell u, its a bitch to panel line, so there's your detail for you. It may lack decals, but hey, don't most Gundams? It has to be MG/PG to have more decals and they aren't even decals depicted in anime or lineart.

To be fair, Sunrise's animation completely sucks. Their animators complained about how detailed Katoki's designs were in 0083, and that was an OVA. Since then, they haven't really improved their animation standards. The Astray specials really don't make the Astrays look that stunning.

And panel lines aren't the only measure of a kit's detail...

On this particular afternoon in August, the Nintendo DS is just looking better. Forget the dual screen gimmick, the games are there (New Super Mario Bros. looks awesome, and a new Castlevania was announced for it).

... How is the second screen a gimmick? True, not every game will make the second screen worthwhile--Super Mario 64 DS, for example, has a dinky 2D map on the second screen--but I can imagine plenty of games that could make proper use of that second screen. Imagine a remake of the original NES Zelda with the status screen on the second screen. Or a new Metroid with an area map on the second screen, complete with weapon/item icon placements.

The second screen can be quite helpful, and it's far more than just a gimmick... but, like with consoles, wait a couple of years before you buy a portable. Prices will lower, hardware quality will go up, and you'll know which one has the better games.

Okawara did SF91.

That Gran Turismo footage was FMV? It looked like real-time to me... if it is indeed real-time, those are incredible graphics for such a small system.

Oh yea, that cat game blew my mind! Nothing says "killer app" like a game with super deformed cats!

I believe the GT footage is real time. The FMV problem in question comes from the PSP's capability to do FMV at all. Some people have this obsession where all of their in-game events need to happen using the graphics engine, rather than special cutscenes that might do a better job.

LeYawn.. FMV, no supprise that's Sony's main focus - yet it's the ACTUAL play that makes a system good. Even the new GBA Kingdom Hearts is boasting PS2-quality FMV. So what?

Given that FMV is used as a medium to explain plot, the ability to play quality FMV scenes is just fine by me.

As far as Kingdom Hearts goes, that game has problems besides FMV.

actually i do not know why alot people seem down on and surprised by the Gp-03 dendrobium it is the centerpeice of my kits and is one of the nicest kits i have seen from Bandai. whether it sold as bad as people say i do not know, but it has always seemed like a must have kit among alot of the gundam fans i know and it is a incredible kit none the less. Even after that Bandai is willing to take chances still, look at the MG perfect Zeong i am still shocked on that one myself so you never know with Bandai there may be a chance still, if they are willing to do the occasional odd ball kits , perfect zeong Hizack, a nice design like the Hi-nu or even the Crossbone X-1 are still likely at some point so keep your fingers crossed.

I own the HGUC GP03, and it's a disappointing kit. That's not my point, though.

The point is that usually, when Bandai attempts some new and surprising direction, it bombs terribly. The GP03 had a low sales projection of 10,000 kits. It sold 2,000. The kit utterly bombed, and has scared Bandai away from similar-sized kits. The only exception is the 1/144 Meteor, which is smaller, cheaper, and from a series more popular than 0083.

Hi nu in MG form just isn't plausible at this point. Crossbone X-1 just got a full B-Club kit, with an upgrade set in the works and the X-2 coming out soon. And Hizack is not an oddball kit. MG Dra-C would be oddball--but there's a conversion kit out, so that won't happen.

I think there is some chance we will see a plastic Hi-Nu. The recent releases of the Wing Zero Ka and RX-78-4 and RX-78-5 show Bandai is willing to release designs that never showed up in anime form, so they make take a shot at a Hi-Nu...and after all, it IS a Gundam, so that alone would move some boxes.

I don't think it'll happen. It's got nothing to do with the Hi nu being a side-story design, but more to do with the way in which Bandai can market the design to achieve maximum profit. A B-Club conversion kit, such as the one released last year, gets the job done by forcing the customer to buy both the MG nu Gundam and the overpriced conversion kit. Bandai pockets more money, you get your Hi nu. As for the three designs you cited...

MG RX-78-4 and -5 are genuine surprises, but not completely unexpected--they were released in conjunction with a high-profile manga side story, and Bandai has always been open to MSV lines. You only have to look at the original 1981 MSV line and keep on going to the current SEED MSV line. And given the content of Gundam video games, these designs aren't totally unknown. Zeonic Front popularized the 6th Gundam, for example.

Wing ver. Ka was released for two reasons. One, the RX-78 Ka sold well, so Bandai decided to continue the ver. Ka line as a special edition deal, where we get sporadic releases. Two, MG Wing ver. Ka can be easily remolded into the best-selling Gundam design of all time, the Wing Gundam Zero Custom--which is already rumored for release.

A plastic Hi nu just isn't happening any time soon. Of course, the possibility for surprises always exist--it's just that Bandai has bad experiences with surprises. HGUC GP03, anyone?

.... right.

Pst... look at the age of those kits. Look at how they happen to be, I don't know... OUT OF PRODUCTION, and used to supplement non-Master Grade product lines.

When B-Club used to put out full kits, Bandai considered it a product test. B-Club focused on designs which Bandai didn't think were popular enough to put into plastic, but if resin kit sales went well, they'd consider it for plastic production at some point. B-Club is now a support company for MG, HGUC, and SEED kits. B-Club hands are released for almost every new kit. B-Club conversion kits are made to work exclusively on MG or HGUC kits (as opposed to, say, releasing stand-alone resin kits.)

Allow me to continue to prove my point.

B-Club Zaku II FZ conversion kit means no MG Zaku II FZ.

B-Club GM Sniper II conversion kit means no MG GM Sniper II.

B-Club Blue Destiny conversion kit means no MG Blue Destiny.

B-Club Powered GM conversion kit means no MG Powered GM.

B-Club Ifrit/Kai conversion kit means no MG Ifrit/Kai.

B-Club Gouf Flight Type conversion kit means no MG Gouf Flight Type.

B-Club Full Armor Gundam conversion kit means no MG Full Armor Gundam.

B-Club GP-04G conversion kit means no MG GP-04G.

HOWEVER

B-Club 1/100 Zaku II F2 eventually led to MG Zaku II F2. (This means the B-Club kit sold well.)

HOWEVER

B-Club 1/100 Geara Doga has not resulted in MG Geara Doga. (See sales figures explanation.)

".... right" back at you.