Apollo Leader

I'll probably end up getting both like I did with the first Rock Band and GHIII. I ended up getting GH Aerosmith in part because I was able to get a bunch of free swag when I ordered it through Best Buy's website (I picked up all the stuff up at a local store, though), but the inclusion of Ted Nugent's Cat Scratch Fever is what sealed the deal.

As for Konami's game, probably going to pass on that.

Though I my days of collecting $100+ anime toys are pretty much over (the 1/55th reissues are under a $100 so that's why I'm buying those ), I got to give Yamato serious props for continuing to refine their VF-1 toy designs and have now truly come out with the best Valk toy yet.

Thanks Graham for all the hard work you put into this and all your reviews,

Probably the highest-quality online footage of the F-22 so far: (Farnborough demo)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7510364.stm

Of course, like most videos---zoomed in too close to actually tell the motion. 2:04 is a "vectored loop" but hard to realize, 2:56 is a tailslide.

I've been reading up again on the early days of the ATF program. Since Lockheed was stuck with faceting for stealth aircraft until the mid 80's, one of their earliest ATF concepts was practically a larger F-117 with afterburning engines. It would have been marginally supersonic and a hog of a plane to fly. Watching that video above makes me think how far along Lockheed came along in marrying stealth with a fast, highly maneauverable fighter and making it a reality.

Speaking of the F-22, an F-22 is suppose to be on static display at the Offutt Air Show this year!

http://www.offuttairshow.com/

How is it pilot error? Nothing I've read indicates that. If anything it was "bad procedures".

That's the first time I've read that one of the pilots had run the heaters for the pitots fixing the real problem, but a maintenance guys's ealier fix ended up causing more problems.

Obviously there was a communications problem here that is at fault, not neccessarily a fault on anyone's behalf unless the cround crew guy didn't follow proper procedure in notifying anyone about his correction.

But regardless, 19 years (as of a few days ago) of flying the B-2 finally created the right circumstance to bring one down.

Beat the last achievement for COD4 yesterday afternoon. This makes the second game this year for me to get all 1,000 achievement points (does King Kong count? ).

Been finally playing the online game a lot more religiously now and I can see why so many people are loving it and why it's been outdoing Halo 3 for much of this past year. BTW, I noticed that the "China Town" style stage bears a very strong resemblance (layout wise) to one of the French multiplayer stages in COD2.

I suspect this is staged, but,

I was checking out the 1up forums last night and there are a bunch of riled up PS3 fanboys out there. So what if FFXIII is coming out on the 360? It means more people will get to play it and if it does well (and it will) it means more big budegt Final Fantasy games in the future. Sheeesh.

Mr. "Public Sudeku's" video has now passed a quarter-million viewings on Youtube. Funny that so many people don't get it.

Last night I not only beat Call of Duty 4 on Veteran, but I also beat the Mile High Club stage/achievement. Took several hours, though. Now I just have to get the last 9 or 10 pieces of intel so I'll play through on Normal to do that so it should be a cake walk.

Whatever Bungie's big announcement was on their website was taken down yesterday evening. But all indicators are that the game they were going to announce was probably the next Bungie developed Halo game.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/16/surprise...-new-halo-game/

BTW yesterday evening I picked up my cheapest, unopened original Xbox game yet; Final Fight Streetwise for just $1.99. My previous record was when I picked up Xbox Ninja Gaiden brand new for just $3.25.

Also getting closer to beating Call of Duty 4 on Veteran. For those having problems beating the Mile High Club on Veteran, there's currently a video posted on the Xbox dashboard newslink showing a step-by-step walk through on how to do it.

Hey guys, I wanna play more often than I have been. Anyone up for some regularly scheduled Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4? Or at least a one night stand so to speak? I'd love to play with more people from the west coast so the lag isn't so bad.

My time on my 360 really varies these days, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for you. Trying to really get back into playing COD4 at the moment.

Alrighty, Southpaw, you're on the list!

Before I forget, here's the current list (as of about 4 months ago anyway) of Macross World members on XBL. As before, the name on the left is Macross World ID's while names on the right are their Live alias:

Apollo Leader - Apollo Leader

Chowser - Sarge051

Mechafan - TechGhostR6

BoBe-Patt - bobe patt

Sephiroth - Sephiroth017

MilkManX - MilkManX

Dante74 - Lorenzo74

David Hingtgen - Xenogears Id

Valkyrie - Valkyrie2036

Axelay - Silent Scope EX

JsARCLIGHT - JsARCLIGHT

Oihan (Oyan) - Ashmedai

Alpha OTS - Qaztab

Fort Max - Angst O Tron

mikeszekely - Pharaohman

eugimon - eugimon

Mechafan - TechGhostR6

VT 1010 - ROU21

Beltane70 - Beltane0070

Ishimaru - Ryvann

danth - Coocoocola

yellowlightman - Crocodilopolis

Godzilla - Tsoumiester

Spatula - Delicious Bunny

Ginrai - sayjeremy

shogun029 - shogun029

Southpaw Samurai - SouthpawSamurai

I hadn't been much interested in Fallout 3 previously, but after checking out the current trailers my interest had definitely been piqued.

I suspect this is staged, but,

I was checking out the 1up forums last night and there are a bunch of riled up PS3 fanboys out there. So what if FFXIII is coming out on the 360? It means more people will get to play it and if it does well (and it will) it means more big budegt Final Fantasy games in the future. Sheeesh.

That was a boring, awful MS press event.

But uh, Final Fantasy 13 announced for the 360.

Really, really bad news for the PS3.

You beat me to it. But yeah, Final Fantasy XIII getting a 360 release and at the same time the PS3 version hits the US was definitely the big surprise announcement. Other then MGS4, this was the other "exclusive" game that PS3 was hanging its hat on.

I wonder how many PS3 fanboys right now are starting up petitions to Square Enix threatening to boycott the game since its now coming to the 360? (Of course I'm referencing what happened when Devil May Cry 4 was announced for the 360)

damn i'm thinking of getting the vf-1j reissue just for the heatshield improvement. does anyone know which place has it for the cheapest? missed the hlj early bird and they have it for around $70. bbts has it for $100 (more expensive than the super vf-1a's?).

Kevin Lam (Valkyrie Exchange) is offering the non-FAST Pack VF-1's for $80 (shipping included)... just $8 more for the FAST Pack equipped models.

Perhaps it's another example of Murphy's Law? - Never forget that your weapon is made by the lowest bidder.

PW may have had the lower bid.

Or maybe the Pentagon simply wants PW to stay in business because everyone else in the world wants/uses GE engines on U.S. aircraft. [shrug]

If a bunch of money has to be spent ironing out Pratt & Whitney's troubled engine, then it would no longer be the lowest bidder (or I should say being the lowest bidder early on would be a mute point).

One exception I can think of to this rule was the B-2. Lockheed's B-2 design was suppose to cost quite a bit less then Northrop's design, but Northrop's design beat the Lockheed design in nearly every area (stealth, range, payload, etc.) and the Air Force (SAC) went with the later.

Pretty sure it's vintage.

Sorta on-topic: Iran photoshopped their missile launch: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/1...many/index.html

Halo Blue? Is this the new Bungie Halo game or could it just a special repackaging of Halo 3? Also the demo for Too Human is up for play.

Microsoft's keynote dpeach at the E3 is in just a few hours so I can't wait to see what gets announced.

In the case of intercepting Bears off of US territory, I think we are wanting the Russians to know we are there and know that we know they are there so stealth in these circumstances aren't important.

Playing alot of VF5 latley if anyone is game.

Also still playing GEARS!

Yeah I've seen you playing Gears again, so maybe I'll join up sometime. I still got like 3,300 kills left to get Seriously...

And before I forget:

It's official: 360 Pro now $299, 60GB 360 out in August for $349.

I saw it back during the winter. As Scream Man mentioned, it has the feeling of being a pilot episode for a TV show. Early on in the movie when Hayden's character is in his apartment and the TV news was showing a variety of natural disasters, I couldn't but help think that his powers could be put to good use in those situations. Unfortunately the movie never carried through fully in having his character going from a selfish life of crimeand using his powers for good. If that had been better fleshed out by the end of the movie, I think the movie would have turn out better then it did.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention...e-expo/robotech

Yune ended his presentation with some information about the proposed live-action Robotech movie. He confirmed that Warner Brothers is planning it, and that Tobey Maguire is involved. The script is beng written by Lawrence Kasdan, whose credits include Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Bodyguard. The movie is planned as a re-imagining of the Robotech universe, and will take place in the future.

This isn't aimed at anyone in particular, but for those who are thinking that Big West is some sort of messiah or knight in shining armor for our woes as Macross fans outside of Japan, you should really rethink your position. What do you know about the company? What do you know about the people who run it and are employed by it? What do you know about the company's financial situation and influence? (Note that Macross Frontier is being sponsored by Bandai since Big West can't seem to handle it by itself). Ditto with Harmony Gold. By all indicators, it is Big West that has become the speed bump to what we want whether it be merchandice or media like Macross Frontier.

I'm about a month-and-a-half late posting this, but I took a bunch of pictures from my last visit to the Strategic Air and Space Museum on May 17th (Armed Forces Day here in the US). Got 'em all posted on my Facebook account. Unfortunately I was a little rushed so I missed getting over to the B-58 Hustler and MiG-21 Fishbed.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2642...mp;id=582816193

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2643...mp;id=582816193

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2643...mp;id=582816193

Finally got this updated again. I have to admitt I'm not on Macross World as much as I use to be so I'm sorry for not keeping this updated. If I've missed anyone else, let me know.

To Mike, for some odd reason I thought you were in either central or eastern Iowa (like David) at some point, so sorry for the mix up.

For those interested in MSG: Operation Troy, it came out a few weeks ago and they've had a variety of DLC since launch of the game.

Before I forget, here's the current list (as of about 4 months ago anyway) of Macross World members on XBL. As before, the name on the left is Macross World ID's while names on the right are their Live alias:

Apollo Leader - Apollo Leader

Chowser - Sarge051

Mechafan - TechGhostR6

BoBe-Patt - bobe patt

Sephiroth - Sephiroth017

MilkManX - MilkManX

Dante74 - Lorenzo74

David Hingtgen - Xenogears Id

Valkyrie - Valkyrie2036

Axelay - Silent Scope EX

JsARCLIGHT - JsARCLIGHT

Oihan (Oyan) - Ashmedai

Alpha OTS - Qaztab

Fort Max - Angst O Tron

mikeszekely - Pharaohman

eugimon - eugimon

Mechafan - TechGhostR6

VT 1010 - ROU21

Beltane70 - Beltane0070

Ishimaru - Ryvann

danth - Coocoocola

yellowlightman - Crocodilopolis

Godzilla - Tsoumiester

Spatula - Delicious Bunny

Ginrai - sayjeremy

shogun029 - shogun029

I forgive the lateness of your reply. We don't have Shopko's in Western PA anyway.

When did you move out to Pennsylvania? I know you were out in Iowa not too long ago.

As for what I'm playing these days, I've been bouncing around different titles as of late just trying to get some varity in, but getting the last few achievements in Halo 3, COD4, and Gears of War are still a priority.

Where at? I usually scope my local Target for great clearance game deals, but nothing's really grabbed my attention there since I picked up the PS 3 version of Orange Box maybe a month ago for $15.

Oops, sorry for being a week late in responding. It was the last copy at a Shopko. I did pick it up last weekend. When it rang up, it was actually like $5 something before tax so it came up to being one of the cheapest 360 games I've gotton "brand new" (a few weeks ago I picked up The Outfit on clearance at a Toys R Us also int the $5 something range).

Hey, all those ninja killings have consequences.

In other news, I picked up Ninja Gaiden II Sunday, but haven't played it. A friend of mine was over Saturday, and we played Fight Night Round 3 until midnight, and since it's the game that's been in my box, that's the one I've been playing. Only got one more Achievement to unlock on it, too.

And the irony of it all? While the game is really fun, in real life I don't even like boxing.

O just barely passed on picking up Fight Night Round 3 for just $12 last weekend. If it's still at the store I saw it, just maybe I'll pick it up.

I've been going crazy the last several weeks picking up cheap/clearance/used 360, Xbox, and PS2 games. But I've just been too busy to play anything lately. Too many things to take care of around the house, time with family and friends, and hitting the local bike trails a lot recently.