Terpfen

I think I'm one of the minority that actually loves the gameplay mechanics of the flashlight. I'd never use that mod that 'tapes' the flashlight to your gun, because of what that takes away from the game. I hate to sound like a McDonald's commercial but I'm loving it.

Agreed. I think a poster on Bluesnews said it best:

I'm sure by the time we have manned colonies on Mars, we'll have moved way beyond duct tape. Presumably, combat troops will have advanced light amplification goggles, and carry miniature diffused light sources. This will allow them to see in virtually any environment as if were broad daylight.

Of course, that'll make combat against demonic creatures from hell a lot less fun, so combat troops will toss the advanced items away and make do with a simple flashlight.

I see where you're getting at.....noted. We'll leave it as that.

Deal.

And on a side note, I'm eagerly awaiting HL2. Valve is reportedly preparing a version to ship to Vivendi for publishing approval.

I don't really want that much realism...but keep things within "belivable" bounds. The shotty is pretty useless anymore than 4-5 feet which is pretty silly. But in any case yeah, I'm looking forward to HL2 for more intuitive play.

It's silly if you want a general-purpose weapon... Doom 3's shotgun, as a gameplay implement, works just fine. The shotgun is immensely powerful, but balanced out by its extremely short range. This is like the flashlight issue--there are no gun-mounted flashlights because id wanted to emphasize atmosphere, not realism.

I think this requires more explaination.

As of now, I don't see how HL2 is any more realistic.

Though I am a fan of the open areas.

Well, in terms of the context--weaponry--nearly all of HL2's weapons exist, or at least look real. Doom 3's machine gun does not look like a modern machine gun--HL2's equivalent, likely an assault rifle, will probably be an AK-47 or M16A2, both of which are fairly real, I'd say.

i really hope bandai gets bored enough to make kits from endless waltz...but knowing bandai they're only making the kits since for some kinda promo...i mean, they're making the hi-zack just for the simple fact that sunrise is making those 3 gundam z movies! so if bandai/sunrise makes something new for wing/endless waltz then maybe JUST MAYBE they'll make a couple MG's as promos... it's that or bandai will have to give in to all the japanese otaku's needs

This is my last successive post, I promise...

Bandai wouldn't get "bored" enough to make Endless Waltz kits, they'd get greedy enough. The 1/100 HG Wing Gundam Zero Custom is the best-selling Gundam kit of all time. It's Katoki's most popular design, and can often be found in the top 5 section of Japanese "favorite Gundam design" polls. Given that 85% of the kit is already molded--see MG Wing Gundam ver. Ka--all Bandai needs to do is to mold a new backpack and the wings, which can be done in a negligible time period.

MG Wing Zero Custom wil come out--even if this rumor is false, it will come sometime soon. Bandai cannot resist recolors. The question is, will they make more Endless Waltz kits? Yes, they will--because Wing Zero Custom will sell more than enough to persuade Bandai to go the Endless Waltz route. The only question is, "How long after the MG Wing Zero Custom's release will it take to get an MG Tallgeese III?"

Uh huh so I see......well now if I can find B-Clubs Resin conversion kit for Nu Gundam I may just buy it, but stupid HLJ wont do the search, it just keeps acting up on me....grrrr either can't find what I want or the site is down, it's getting annoying!

The B-Club conversion kit is out of production.

You can get a recast (out of stock at both e2046 and Hobbyfan; add it to your wish list and they may order another recast run at some point), you can get the G-System 1/100 Hi nu (Hobbyfan MAY still stock it, or you maybe able to order directly from G-System if they still have a kit hanging around), or you can wait for B-Club to reproduce their (overpriced) conversion kit.

Or you could scratchbuild.

Do you think Bandai will make a Hi-Nu kit of somekind???

No.

The Hi nu Gundam has been passed on to B-Club. The only way to get an official Bandai Hi nu Gundam is to buy the MG nu Gundam and the B-Club conversion kit.

General rule of Bandai thumb: if it's put out by B-Club, it'll never be available in plastic. Meaning: no MG Hi nu. Not even a plastic Hi nu.

The only other 1/100 Hi nu options available are: 1) buy the G-System kit, or 2) scratchbuild your own.

You can do a 1/48 resin kit the same way you do a 1/100 resin kit: you use properly-sized pins, an appropriate amount of glue, and you make sure you know what you're doing. The fixed-pose nature of resin kits also helps.

As for telling the difference between a recast and an official kit... pricetag is one. If you're paying $30 or so for a 1/8 figure, it's a recast. The second is packaging: recast sites will package the resin parts in a bag, include Xeroxed instructions (if any came with the original kit), and will usually be contained in a small plastic shipping container. That's how e2046 packages, at least.

Quick visual guide:

Original.

Recast.

The way it spreads is abit dodgy though. This is the future fer crying out loud. Even present day shot guns don't spread so much that only 1 pellet hits a target 5 feet away.

PS: I think you could've sniped with doom 1 shotty. XD

It's an id video game... gameplay mechanics are more important than realism. There's always Half-life 2 if you want true realism.

Doom 3 has a per-pixel hit system for animation purposes. But as far as actual locational damage goes, it's in, but it's not as important as in more realistic games. For example, you can kill a zombie in 2-3 pistol shots to the head, or 5-6 to the chest.

I hate saying this, but the overall point is that you're some weak human against demons and their spawn, so id tried to keep things challenging.

Umm, have you played Battleycry and any Macross games? I'm not going to say the PSX Macross games are great, but they're better than Battlecry....though Battlecry may be better than M3. Besides, getting an american made game, by an american company, does not somehow justify not getting a plethora of Japanese games that are related in visuals alone.

The fact remains there are still Japanese games that we'd like to play, that are not getting US releases. Pointing at Megaman of all things does not prove otherwise.

The point isn't whether or not the games are good--the point is, we're getting them, good or not. It used to be that games were filtered for multiple reasons, be they content, graphics, marketability, or any other number of factors. Restrictions now are loosened to the point where the market, not the marketing department, is deciding which games come over.

Ten years ago, we would not have gotten Xenosaga or Xenogears. Ten years ago, we would not have gotten a game even remotely related to anime. Ten years ago, we were playing games like Judge Dredd instead of games like Vampire Savior or Burning Rangers. The last game I can remember that fell victim to the "it's too Japanese" filter was Goemon, when Working Designs attempted to bring the latest game in the series to the US--and Sony blocked them. That's it.

The problem with Macross games coming over here is the same problem with Macross series coming over here. Don't blame the video game market for Harmony Gold's shortcomings.

And, if you'll notice, I didn't point "at Megaman of all things." I pointed at Megaman as an example of a dying genre. Megaman Legends and the X series have gone 3D. The 2D platformer is a dead genre on consoles--yet we still got the most recent games in that dead genre. Even the 2D fighter is dying, if you've read recent statements from Capcom and SNK.

Now, if the demand is more for Macross games than for certain obscure games, then that's fine--but, people, don't frame the debate in terms of "We aren't getting any of the really good series," because this is demonstrably false. Frame it in terms of "Some idiot company is using their copyrights to prevent Macross games from being domestically released."

No more replies from me.

I am talking about video games.

"is there any game that doesn't get translated at one point or another?"

To Macross fans the answer is an obvious "yes".

You're still talking about Macross.

And didn't we just get Robotech: Battlecry?

Terpfen... what you're basically saying is that we get most games here, but we're don't get a lot of the niche genres. But that's exactly my point. Companies don't think it's worth it to have a real US release, and they're probably right. But, there are still plenty of gamers who would like to play those niche games, myself included. That's why I figure they should just leave the region lockout out and allow for imports.

No, I'm saying we get a lot of games in nearly every genre, and I cited two niche genres to prove the point. Or do you not think that shooters are a niche genre?

You can always change your voter registration--something I did two years ago.

A better moral may be, "Don't mess with criminals."

But just for future reference, how do I disable mipmap?

All your OpenGL and Direct3D settings are Advanced Display Properties menu. Right-click the desktop, hit Properties, hit the Settings tab, hit Advanced.

Alternatively, you could use a third party program like Powerstrip. Actually, I recommend that. It's much easier to tweak settings that way.

I can't believe you wrote this in a Macross forum.

Believe it, because the context isn't the distribution of Macross, it's the availability of video games. Two different concepts.

Terpfen, there are a TON of games that still don't make it to the American market. Oddly enough, though, many of them DO make it to the European market...

I'm not disputing that there are games that don't get imported. I'm disputing the idea that genuinely interesting, quality games aren't making it here. Most of the games we're missing out on are games like Xenosaga Freaks, which is a mascot game (note that we got Xenosaga, which ten years ago wouldn't have been translated.) What else are we missing out on? Primarily sims, be they dating sims or railroad engineer sims. Hell, we even got Incredible Crisis a few years back, and we've gotten games in genres that are practically dead here--like shooters. We've gotten R-Type Final, are getting Gradius V, have gotten Ikaruga, Einhander, Xevius 3D/G, and a whole lot more. We've even got compilations of 2D platformers, a dying genre even in Japan--Castlevania Collection and Mega Man Anniversary.

We aren't missing much.

I can´t understand why Sony is dumb enough to support a media which in their own words enables you to record your own stuff on it and in the other hand canñt let people record freely on Hi-MD after all the people who have prayed for things like optical out or native MP3 support ( I personally hate MP3 quality but WTH , it would widen up MD market) and whole number of other things.

... You mean like how they supported CDs and DVDs, both of which are recordable media? I can't imagine, either.

Has nintendo or MS said anyhting about there next format? More than likely with sony's move the others might join in on it.

Is it just me, or is the game very, very, green? I'm seeing green hues all over the place. My first guess is that it's due to my radeon 9000 not being directx 9 compatible. But did anyone else encounter a similar problem?

EDIT: Added a pic... most of the game looks like this

You've got mipmap coloring enabled. Disable it.

I have LWC.  Trust me, they've tweaked the engine and improved the graphics to a point where it doesn't even play or look like Journey to Jaburo.  Anyone who's played both can back me up on this. 

Disgaea is way overrated.  PS1/Saturn level of graphical presentation.  People are only foaming at their mouth because anime style SRPGs are few and far in between in the US market for any console.

Journey to Jaburo was so bad that anything with merely slight improvements would seem like a Godsend. However, Zeonic Front also sucks. Encounters in Space especially sucks. There's not much you can say to convince me that LWC somehow avoided sucking. It's like Madden games: if every game prior to this year's version sucked, why should I buy the latest one?

Disgaea isn't overrated, IMO. It's actually quite underrated. It would be overrated if it hadn't been translated--import lore would've put it nearly on par with the Saturn version of Grandia. As it stands now, the game was excellently done, but only a moderate success. Yes, it's popular because of a lack of games in its genre--but it also happens to be a damn good game in its genre. Kind of like Final Fantasy Tactics. Chalking Disgaea's success up to anime fandom while praising Sakura Wars--perhaps the most cleverly disguised dating sim on the planet--is an odd double standard, IMO. You also missed, or at least didn't acknowledge, my point here: games that had no chance of being translated before are now doing so. If Disgaea had been a SNES, Saturn, or PSone title, it never would've seen the light of day here. Citing Sakura Wars as proof that importing is still a necessity is a fallacy.

You missed my point. If a gun sounds powerful, then in all likelyhood it should be powerful. Basic logic dictates that. If you make the guns sound weak, then the guns will likely be weak. The point of Doom 3 is that you're some isolated, feeble Marine up against the forces of Hell. Everyone else in the base is dead--yet somehow, with these dinky weapons, you keep living.

Accomplishment.

Many games do have English text options. The Silent Hill series had English in their JP releases since 2.

There are still tons of games that never got translated. Otherwise I wouldn't be importing games like Sakura Wars, the good Gundam games such as Lost War Chronicles and Giren's Greed (Bandai America can shove their crappy Battle Assault games up their ass as far as I am concerned), etc.

Super Metroid had English text options as well. Difference is, SH2-4 and SM weren't given those options with the intent of cashing in on importers.

I agree on the key Gundam games not getting translated, but I have to dispute their quality in the first place. If LWC runs on the same engine as the other games, is developed by the same team as the other games, has the same presentation and missions as the other games, then it's going to suck like the other games, and no amount of what I call "importer's lore" is going to make it not suck. LWC, Sakura Wars, and Giren's Greed are not that big a loss. IMO, if we hadn't gotten Disgaea, that would've been a far bigger crime than not getting Sakura Wars.

This thread is amusing... maybe it's just the nature of living in suburban South Florida, but I've shopped at Wal-mart, Target, Radio Shack, CompUSA, Circuit City, Best Buy, Gamestop, and Electronics Botique. I've never had a problem with any of them. Of course, my shopping methods may be a bit arcane: I learn about the products online, decide which I want to buy, decide whether or not online purchasing is suitable (for example, purchasing major appliances such as TVs should be done in person), and then I go and buy it at a store that has it, be it online or physical.

Of course, I also have Tech Bargains bookmarked, so maybe I'm just savvy like that.

Exactly, when it comes down to it, who gives a poo about U.S. divisions of companies, as they obviously don't care to tailer to the more ecclectic import crowd. The people they care about wouldn't touch an import game since it has "another language" on it.

The Japanese branches don't cater to importers either, otherwise games would have English text options (and with the storage space available on current consoles, it's quite possible.)

Complaining about regional lockouts is beyond me these days. Sure, it was annoying back in the SNES and Saturn days--no Dragon Quest V and VI, no Star Ocean, no Tales of Phantasia, no Creation of Heaven and Earth, no Shining Force III eps 2 and 3, no Burning Rangers, no Radiant Silvergun, no RAM packs, no high-quality Capcom fighters. Back then, importing was a legitimate tactic.

But, nowadays, is there any game that doesn't get translated at one point or another? Importing is crucial only if you're impatient. For the more obscure games, Working Designs not only translates them, but includes massive amounts of swag for far less than the prices of Japanese version limited editions.

I really hope theydo something about the gunsounds... they just sound too soft.

I want better gunsounds with lots of kick in it!

You're fighting against the hordes of Hell. The weapons were designed so that they aren't exactly overpowering--it takes upwards of six bullets to kill a simple zombie--but that you somehow got the job done anyway. So, despite your dinky weapons, you still kick Hell's ass.

The point is to create a sense of accomplishment, and it works.

So, any comparisons of HD DVD and Blu-Ray? What little I've read points to HD DVD being the better format, able to hold 36gigs per disc as opposed to Blu-Ray's 27, and it definitely will be compatable with older DVD formats.. I'm certain there's other factors, though.

Other way around... HD-DVDs hold 30GB on a dual-layer disc (meaning, the most the format can hold). It is compatible with current DVD players, though.

Blu-Ray holds 27 GB on a single-layer disc, 50GB on a dual-layer. Would you have to buy new DVD players and drives? Yes, but I'm sure the new drives would be able to read old DVDs just fine: for one, if Blu-Ray becomes standard, current DVD laser prices would drop like a rock.