Uxi

I would pick the Aussies before anyone else but they're the most loyal nation to the US and we should reward them appropriately.

HDNET Movies has been playing Top Gun alot recently so thought I would chime in here, though I'm only slightly less than scornful of the foppish flyboys and the soft Air Wingers and their climate controlled environments. Has there ever been rumors of a sequel? If he could ditch some of his craziness, I could see Tom Cruise pulling the Viper/Tom Skerritt role pretty well. Maybe even bring back Ice in the Jester role if they could get Val Kilmer to lose a few pounds. They could be training the next generation and use F-16's to simulate MIGs?

I liked Galaxies. I think I might have actually been partial to the twitchy combat system (I was ambivalent to the first major "Combat Upgrade" and really was hoping all along for something like Jedi Outcast/Academy), but the twin combo of the annihilation of the player-based economy and the move to the Everquest-esque Class system over the skill-based system reminiscent of WEG D6 is what drove me away. I always thought KOTOR or NJO would have been a better period. The Ep IV/V period was great for the movies, but is horrible for an MMO where nearly everyone wants to either participate or witness a lightsaber fight. Jedi are so fundamental to Star Wars that it makes a crummy setting to base an MMO around. Either you make it so very difficult and utterly futile (any nascent Jedi should have tons and tons of stormtroopers, Inquisitors, and eventually Darth Vader himself) on them before they got to any decent level of ability or make it so that the actual setting is completely invalidated. SWG managed to trod both extremes pretty much. You'd think they could have, at the very least, done at least test center servers in different settings to see what was more popular. KOTOR 3 and KOTOR-era MMO would not be mutually exclusive...

"That's not what the Empire would have done... What the Empire would have done was build a supercolossal Yuuzhan Vong-killing battle machine. They would have called it the Nova Colossus...Galaxy Destructor or the Nostril of Palpatine or something equally grandiose... And you know what would have happened? It wouldn't have worked. They'd forget to bolt down a metal plate over an access hatch leading to the main reactors, or some other mistake, and a hotshot enemy pilot would drop a bomb down there and blow the whole thing up. Now that's what the Empire would have done." Han Solo to Vana Dorja - Destiny's Way

I was also expecting NCC-1701 rather than CVN-65.

I think they could stagger it good. I expect Spidey versus Sandman to be on subplot while Spidey/Harry/Venom will be another. Basic theme is revenge and it looks like Harry will get mauled (Spidey, already feeling revenge agaisnt Sandman, getting pushed over the edge by Venom, throwing Harry's explosive grenade thing back at him, and a consequence, Spidey will be ripping Venom off. My hunch is that spidey & harry will team up against Venom. The Aunt May stuff will be minor on clock time, like in Spidey 2, and MJ will take what's left.

More of that duel on the Invisible Hnad footage DOES exist, though likely not to the effect the novelization went to (which IIRC was based on an earlier form of the script). We have footage from Dooku's dialogue, for example on the Ep3 console game (I have the Xbox version), that didn't make the theatrical cut, for example. Have to wait to get our ueber-Blu-ray boxed set with extended cuts and deleted scenes from all 6 movies, I suppose. Did you catch Star by Star, Warmaker? Probably one of the best books in the NJO, particularly in how it covered the larger strategic conflict, but also the tactical scale conflicts such as the Battle of Coruscant and the Black Bantha nebula.

Ah yeah, I LOVE the Xcom games. UFO Defense is still my favorite but the graphics are kinda dated. I love teh concept of the GeoScape and always hoped we'd get a new Xcom game with something like Google:Earth for the Geoscape and allow multiplayer. I always thought multiplayer games would work great and something the size of Google: Earth for a Geoscape could allow a huge number of players who would represent "secret agencies" of various countries. Then you could have a toggle for computer controlled aliens or not. I can imagine playing a big 64-player game with all kinds of factions, carving up the globe like Risk. I have Apocalypse working on my XP machine without Dos Box. Can't remember how I did it as I did it a LONG time ago. Good improvements were that you could finally tie equipment to your characters (I always had a rank based structure for armor. Rookies got nothing! Squaddies got personal armor (the plain armor). Sergeant's got power armor and captain's took Flying armor. As my inventory and wealth expanded, I eventually trickled down and sergeants would get flying armor (Marsec for Apoc), squaddies would get the plain power armor, rookies would get personal armor. Anyways, I hated on UFO Defense when my bases would get invaded and i have to spend 30 minutes equipping all my guys according to my scheme. Leaving your Commander unarmored and having em get killed was always a bummer! I'm about getting played out of Rome: Total Realism (I've chewed up the Ptolemies and have pretty much taken all of Asia Minor from the Selucids - damned phalanxes have made it slower going than I had hoped - i always win, but my sacrificial phalanxes always get badly mauled and my princpes are getting worn down by attrition). Getting ready for my final pincer move on Jerusalem from Egypt and Antioch... Once I'm done with that, I'll most likely go back to Apoc.

I wish we could get a new TIE Fighter game... in my dreams it would be based on the NJO and let you fight the Yuuzhan Vong choosing from XJ3 X-wing's, Series 2 E-Wing's, Chiss Clawcraft, and TIE Defenders. Speaking of which, I got the Action Fleet TIE Defender off Ebay a couple years ago for the outrageous sum of $80. I love that damned thing, though. I have it on a tiny display shelf in my office with the TIE/ln, Vader's TIE Advanced X1, TIE Interceptor, and Darth Maul's TIE/Sith Infiltrator concept for Ep1...

Spiderman 3 trailer is awesome. So is MK2.

Wonder if they can do something with Superman Returns. :ph3ar:

Go to the Rebelscum customs forum... I'm sure I already saw this done...

I would probably get AC6 for my 360 if it doesn't come out on PS3. OverG fighters blew chunks.

Demo for AC4 is up on PSN. Pretty neat. I've been contemplating getting this and the demo might push me over the edge...

I think I had most of these toys. I remember Lion-o, the tank, Cheetarah, etc. I don't think I had any of the bad guys, though, except the wolf guy...

Yeah I have an X35/X36 (the older all black one before they went to silver/neon/transparent plastic). Anyways, got everything set, including the throttle, which eluded me for some bit. Now I"m enjoying fragging Cylons. Gonna have to register and hit a game online.

I did the first 3 missions. Pretty cool. I need to figure out how to map my Saitek a bit better to my liking. I'd also like an external view control, as well.

Anyone get the game going yet? D/L now...

Sounds to me like they're doing a new bluetooth module and are using that as an excuse for a slight bump in HD. I think the iPod analogy is probably very appropriate. I'm planning on putting a 120GB in there, and cloning my nearly full 60GB iPod to it as an another backup point.

Wait for the PS3 version? MMm... Zephyr/360 Elite?

This was a pretty good episode... at least once the Lee Matlock stuff was done. Baltar's cultists are all fairly attractive females? Hopefully they're actually hermaphrodites or syphillis carriers or something and he finally gets his due. The spoilers spoiled the "return" of Starbuck, but I think I would have been expecting it anyway. January 2008? WTF?? Hopefully I can have everything on HD DVD by then...

One VERY important thing to consider is that the PS2 is STILL selling strong (360 was in THIRD place as PS2 was #2 in Febuary according to VG Charts trailing the Wii by only about 50,000 units), though obviously trending down. Sony does NOT want a mass migration to the PS3 at this point in time when they can still milk the PS2 goose, whose expenses have been recouped years ago and is pure profit for them right now. Combined PS2 and PS3 sales still has Sony #1 for game consoles by a not insignificant margin... Meanwhile, Blu-ray components get cheaper every month... The price is Sony's to drop at their leisure. The timing wil be tricky and they'll want to aim it at a time that they can begin writing off the PS2, which is probably about 10-12 more months IMO. Here's an article that captures it perfectly: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=23708

Got 1.6 last night. Synched up my MX5000 bluetooth keyboard and mouse without a hitch. Now that the USB dongle doesn't bother me. Oh well. Did some browsing, too and can't say I really noticed the changes on the browser, though I did play with zoom a bit. Browse MW'ed a bit. I definitely hope we can do custom keymappings / keyboard & mouse configs (page up/down/home/end in the web browser at the very least, as well as mapping the other L1/L2/R1/R2/R3 keys, etc). I also did some folding@home briefly, too. Maybe this weekend I'll leave it on so I can monitor it (I've never had a hint of heat / loud fan issues, but want to be there to periodically check up to make sure everything is kosher). I also tested auto-play and popped in Motorstorm and a couple movies (Stargate, Crank, Casino Royale) and it worked great. Then tested background downloading and grabbed the trailers for transformers and shrek3 (got the notifications during Stargate IIRC). Very neat.

These last couple episodes have absolutely sucked. At least in Maelstorm I had Viper eye candy to watch. This one? Blecch! Is the next one gonna have a space fight in it?

Got the Blu-ray today at BB (they price matched frys.com for $22.99. :D ). I didn't get the car, though. Excellent PQ and another incredible uncompressed PCM track (sounds absolutely incredible from my Denon 4306). I had actually missed this in theaters and then learning the Blu-ray was coming out so fast made me realize I didn't have to tolerate the nasty crowds or pay boku bucks at a specialty theater. My own setup does far more justice to most material than the theaters anyways. I liked the more realistic angle, but the opening montage was pretty weak. I'm used to Bond opening montages being great home theater demo reel material and action packed.