yellowlightman

Considering that the 2000 series actually got rid of a lot of the inherent problems in the original 1000 series, I'm not seeing as much of a need to upgrade to the 3000. The screen might be nicer, but the 2000's screen is pretty damn nice still. The speaker isn't very appealing either, as the PSP seems like a less than ideal platform for Skype. Not to mention having to wait for the firmware hacking to catch up.

Typical Japanese overreaction. Stupid!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-...atrical-release I still haven't watched the OAV, but I'd probably catch it in theaters if I could.

Because PS3 and 360 games cost a lot of money to develop and both have a small user base in Japan so it's hard to recoup costs. Third party Wii games sell like crap. The PSP is cheaper and easier to develop for, and the developers already have a lot of experience on the system with the three Gundam Battle games.

I hope it helps, just focus on having a good time. Be sure to let us know how it goes! Edit: You should ask around and see if there are any guys at your event running in the CP (pretty sure thats the one... it's been a few years since I've been out to an auto-x event) class. They tend to be guys running seriously modified muscle cars specifically designed to for auto-x, so they're a bit crazy. They generally spend a lot of time sliding around bu tit looks like a LOT of fun. Just goes to show there's a lot more out there than Miatas.

It's a real shame that every toy that comes out nowadays cant be $20 and be absolutely perfect.

To be completely honest, I expect neither of those cars will perform particularly well. But it's your first time, so you'll probably do poorly no matter WHAT kind of car you drive. My advice is to take whichever car you feel more comfortable in. Power helps but it isn't everything. Also, autocross tends to have lots of tight turns and the quicker you can lock the steering wheel from side to side the easier it'll be. But really, no matter what you take you'll have fun. Just worry about getting a feel for it rather than putting down good times

Good lord that is an ugly toy. I know some people like clear toys (or so I assume, judging by how many are made) but the combination of that with the metallic colors... super tacky. It's too bad they didn't bother to make some creative customs, rather than these garish little things.

It's a PSP game. Everything looks blocky.

Uh, you can update firmware anyways. The only time it was relevant was when hacking would only work on certain firmware versions, but I don't believe that's a problem anymore.

The best hope would be that COSPA decides to do a Macross hawaiian shirt, as they've done with Gundam and VOTOMS.

Happened before and it'll probably happen again. As much as I am skeptical that the 360 will ever hit the big time in Japan, the fact that they have a lot of RPGs lined up for it means some interesting things could happen in the next year or two.

Cracks me up that fansubbers are putting their tags on this series, when all they're doing is encoding the video off the PS3. But then they're fansubbers, who are easily some of the biggest idiots in fandom, so...

Watched the first two episodes, haven't gotten around to watching the next two. It's pretty good. Some of the designs are terrible (characters, organic stuff) but the stuff they took from Miyazaki is great. Here's the review that made me give it a shot.

The ass on that thing really looks terrible, especially in that first picture. Yeesh. It's like they got the proportions right for the rest of the car and then got lazy at the end.

Kendo might not be a great idea because as you mentioned, the equipment is a big cost. With kids being as finicky as they are, you'd hate dropping $500 on equipment and then have the kid stop wanting to go. I think the best advice is to open up the yellow pages and just call around or visit. Within any given styles there's a lot of different philosophies, so it would really pay off for you to spend some time and try and get to know the mentality behind each school. Keep in mind how long the teacher has been studying, and see what they're like with students. If someone spends a lot of time talking about belts or some such, they're probably full of it and not worth your time. There's a lot of karate and tae kwon do schools that basically reward patronage with belts, so if a guy brags about getting a black belt in a few years don't waste your time. Alternatively, check out local rec centers and what not for classes. They won't be as much of a money making business as a lot of the schools you'll find and enrolling your kid in some classes there might be a good test to see if it's something he wants to commit to.

Er, what? Shinji is just a loser. He didn't do a damned thing by himself and the only thing he manages to accomplish is realizing that being a loser is okay. That's... kind of the whole point. He was Anno's middle finger to the Amuro stereotype of the hero who out grows his childish ways and takes control of his abilities. Shinji never does that, because he is not particularly exceptional. The point is, it's okay to be a loser. Not everyone can be Amuro.

I'm having a hard time seeing the problems with the proportions. Checking it against the lineart from the movie, the only problems I see the the chest is a little too snub nosed and should be more rounded and the legs could be just a little bit longer. But otherwise it looks pretty spot on. I'm guessing you guys are forgetting the Ingram is kind of a squat looking design...

The fact is she a character who is young looking and acts immaturely and that her character is highly sexualized. This isn't an innocent Japanese kawaii thing, this is exploitive garbage made for creepy guys who like cartoon girls and is not some misunderstood aspect of Japanese culture. The only thing being misunderstood is the people defending this kind of stuff, not realizing who it's made for. Just because it's not expressly against the letter of the Japanese law, doesn't mean its morally questionable and certainly doesn't make it acceptable to the majority of Japanese people. For further reference you can check out the beastiality DVD's and the Under-15 model fetish videos.

I realize you like playing the "guy who lives in Japan and knows everything about everything Japanese" card, but give me a break. Just because it's made in Japan, for Japanese people, does not make the sexualization of expressly underage characters any less questionable. People in Japan don't find this kind of stuff any more acceptable, and there's a good reason why most people here dislike otaku. Stop trying to portray it as some kind of deeply significant cultural aspect that we as westerners can't understand, because it isn't.

Considering Macross Frontier portrays underage females in a sexual context, it might actually be a worthwhile discussion? Fan service, underage girls and moe are big parts of Frontier, so trying to ignore that is foolish. Now, would the people here have the maturity to do the discussion justice? That's an entirely different question...

Not to mention the control, which was easily one of the worst of any games I've played in recent memory... let alone for a game as "great" as GTAIV.

Pretty obvious to go with the steelies. Even if they are heavy, it's not like the Camaro isn't already insanely overweight. Might as well make it look good.

It's really looking like the Yamato is the one to get. I love the size, I just wish I wasn't so apathetic to the AV-98 Ingram design. Despite being a huge fan of the series and many of the designs therein, the Ingram (and Griffon) design is just so... meh.

Yeah, the fact that they're covering Macross II interests me a lot. As someone brought up in another thread, I'd really REALLY love to see them covering stuff from the old PC-98 and PC-Engine games, but that's probably asking for a bit much.