Apollo Leader

Not sure if this will effect Transformers 2 or not, but it's been reported that Shia is still having a lot of problems with his injured hand and that he will have to have additional surgery. He's having to drop out of the next movie he was suppose to star in.

Way too much info indeed! As for the season of Transformers after the 1986 movie, I never could stand it. Crappy animation and even crappier stories.

Yeah, I'm talking about the 2600 style stick that Mad Catz did. Getting back to 360 games themselves, I played several hours into Gears of War campaign mode last night ( ). I thought, and still think, the first Gears was a very gorgeous looking game, but I really got to tip my hat to what Epic did with this game in just the sheer amount of detail going into the graphics. Not to mention it plays great and is a lot of fun. On a side note, is it just me, or did this fall mark the first major use of F-bombs in console games? Besides Gears 2, I also noticed this in the latest Call of Duty. Gotta wonder how many parents realize what their kids are playing. (Just thinking of all these kids I see online playing Gears 1 or 2)

I know I'm a few days late into this whole joystick vs. pad debate, but I am definitely with MilkManX that joysticks are the way to go for a lot of fighting games, especially any requiring circular motions. Hori's had a joystiq for the 360 for a number of years now. Earlier versions had DOA4 artwork (I have this version); there's also a Soul Calibur IV variant. I don't know exactly who all carries it, but I was pretty impressed to see 3 or 4 of them out for sale at the Nebraska Furniture Mart here in Omaha recently. There was also a joystick out a year or two ago that was designed specifically with XBLA games in mind. There are two Street Fighter IV joysticks up for preorder at Gamestop's website. The Mad Catz one runs $150!

It was either late 1999 or within the first few months of 2000 that I stumpled across Macross World while looking up pictures and info on Toycom/Yamato's Macross Plus toys. It was also in early December 2000 (I know it was the first week), that the Macross World Forums as we love, know, and cherish it today was launched. I remember being like the 6th person to sign up! Many a thanks to Shawn, Graham, and all of our moderators throughout the years who have toiled to make this THE premiere Macross fan site and forum.

For a while, the FX channel ran the latest episode of 24 a day or two after Fox. I had a joke for a long time that if 24 ever made it to season 7, FX was going to host an all week special called "24/7". All 168 episodes of 24 would be run back-to-back starting Sunday or Monday morning and running until the next week. I bet there would be some die hard fans that would attempt to watch the whole event with out sleeping or napping. For those who got Redemption last week, the first 17 minutes of the first episode of season seven is on the set. There is some small extra details on why Tony appears to be alive, but hopefully as the season unfolds more will be revealed about how Tony escaped death and why he's taken the plunge into villainy.

I finally took the Blu Ray plunge. Though it will be a few weeks before it's in my hands, I bought a Sony S350 yesterday for $229. Though not the $179 some of Friday's sales had it at and definitely not the $128 that Wal-mart had its one Magnavox model at, it looks like I am getting a good player. eBay bids for this player look to be past $230 at closing, so I'm happy. My first DVD player, a Magnavox, I got in March 1999 for about $270. In today's dollar that would be close to $350. I have one Blu Ray movie so far, The Incredible Hulk. Most of my future movie purchases will probably be Blu-Ray, though it might depend on what extra features either the Blu Ray or DVD versions have to offer. I also don't plan on replacing most of my DVD collection so I'm going to be extremely picky which movies I'll "upgrade" (Transformers is one that is a 100% definite). BTW, since the US and Japan are the same Blu Ray region, did Macross DYRL ever get a Blu Ray release?

I played it with MilkManX on Thursday. Highly recommended! Glad they changed the Super/Super Turbo announcer's voice along with Guile's. As for Cammy, Milk commented on that he thought that she was drawn too big. My thought was that either one of us were simply just used to seeing her on a smaller screen. Probably have to make some direct comparisons.

How does it play online? Is it less laggy then Street Fighter II Turbo? I'll probably download it first thing tonight. It's funny to think that SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO when I first played the game, I would never had thought that 17 years in the future that Capcom would authorize a FIFTH incarnation of the original SF II with totally revamped, high resolution graphics. Just shows that some classics are indeed timeless. With a four day weekend ahead, I am hoping to finally sink my teeth into the campaign/story mode of GOW 2. Just so many games to sink my teeth into. Just hope my hand continues to heal.

You are missing a fun game my friend! BTW, Mike, if you want to play Horde mode while you have the game, I can help you out. Right now I'm up to stage 38 of 50.

For those interested, 24: Redemption will be out on DVD on Tuesday. I wonder when 24 will go the Blu-Ray route since 24 is broadcasted in high def? As for the show last night, it was great seeing Jack in a totally different environment and setting like this. You can only do so many stories and plots involving LA and CTU LA so many times. Season 7 is looking promising at this point.

DAMN IT!!! 24: Redemption is on in a few hours.

Based off of the crispness of the picture, was this a current day Marine Legacy Hornet painted up like the protypes? Speaking of anniversaries, it was 20 years ago yesterday (the Xbox 360 anniversary, too!) that the first B-2 was rolled out to the public. I was a freshman in high school back then. Earlier in the spring was when the first artist depiction was shown to the public (the exhausts were painted out in that painting). It was also twenty years ago this month on November 10th that the first picture of an F-117 was revealed to the public. Lots of military aviation history this month!

The Xbox 360 turned three years old yesterday. To date I've gone through two systems (the second of whuich has worked for me for nearly 2 years and 4 months) and have close to 15,000 GS (thus averaging close to 5,000 a year). Unfortunately my gaming's bit sidelined at the moment. I think I either have developed carpal tunel and/or pulled something in my wrist while playing a few days ago. Right now I'm just tring to keep my wrist stabilized and not over-doing it. Maybe I might play some Gears or COD tonight, but I think I'm taking a serious break from GH or Rock Band type games.

Yes, I've been stealing Milk from his administrative duties. I completely agree with you about the guide's appearance. Could they have made it any more bland or uglier? And for those who are loading their 360 games to their hard drive: Halo 3 works less efficiently loaded on to a hard drive.

Never realized that Holloman's 49th FW was getting F-22's in direct replacement for their F-117's. So in a way, they traded in their stealth "fighters" for real stealth FIGHTERS!

So who here actually based their avatar off of themselves? I like a lot of the new dashboard features, but I'm definitely going to miss the way the old dashboard looked and how you were able to lay out your themes. Right now the two games I'm playing at the moment are Gears of War 2 and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Funny thing about GH Aerosmith is that from just two or three nights of playing it, I got like 31 of the 49 achievements (I managed to beat Hard difficulty in one shot without failing a single song) and I already have 535 or so GS points from it; in comparsion, GH III which I've had for over a year now, I only have about 250 or so GS points, 24 or so of the 50+ achievements, and I still haven't beaten hard (the last 5 songs are murder). Further proof that GH III was way too difficult. I've been playing with MilkManX and some of his friends on GOW2 over the last few nights, and they are a great bunch to play with.

I know I probably said this about the F-22 sometime before, but whenever I watch videoes of this aircraft performing these aerobatic feats, its incredible to think that Lockheed's original ATF concepts started out as oversized F-117's with afterburning engines to make it go supersonic. Doubt that a "fighter" version of the F-117 could pull maneuvers like this.

Xbox 360 set to outsell original Xbox this month. I'm assuming that would be all Xbox's ever sold between 2001 and now. BTW, just about one more week to the 360's third year anniversary!

With exceptions, I usually wait on some games until they become clearance items. A lot of times I find much better deals on clearance games then I do for them used. Even when I was heavily into game and console collecting, used stuff was always a turn off just because there's just so many people out there that poorly care for their stuff and you never know who was handling the game and its case. Back to 360 stuff, I picked up COD World at War last night. This will probably be my last game purchase for 2008 since I have such a back log of unplayed games as it is. From the first reviews online yesterday, it looks like this Treyarch COD game is getting good reviews. Last night me, Oyan (Ashmedai), and some others got up to wave 36 in Horde mode in GOW2. Now time to beat the last 14!

It had to happen... Van Damme Street Fighter movie on Dlu-Ray.

During my first year of being a 360 owner, COD2 was the main game that I played. When COD3 came out, it was disappointing that the game handled differently then CO2 and that it was a different graphics engine (but I thought it looked good none the less). But during those first few weeks that I had it, I played it online quite a bit and really enjoyed that fact that you know had vehicles and that the matches now involved a lot more people. But after I started playing Gears of War more heavily and became very obsessed with that, COD3 fell to the wayside and I haven't had the chance to pick it up again in two years though I do one day plan to do so and beat the story mode. I think COD World at War is going to have a better reception then COD3 in that, unlike COD3, it is a lot more heavily tied to the most recent IW mega hit (COD4); the graphics, the handling, and online gameplay (the perks, etc.) will have a lot more people at home then when going from COD2 to 3. Having Keifer Sutherland provide voiceovers was a nice touch. But at the same time, too, there is a game called Gears of War 2 which will provide very stiff competition. My one gripe about the beta is the attack dogs; very frustrationg to take down! I haven't played it since Friday night, but I am loving Gears of War 2. Hope I can get some Macross Worlders to help me beat all 50 levels of Horde mode! (18 is the best I have done so far)

Since both bands have a song in Rock Band 2... Jethro Tull beats Metallica for Grammy's first, and only, Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental award!

Got my shirt today! As someone who has (I think...) every single MW Con shirt ever made, I've gotten most of these shirts because of him so I would like to say here publically that I very much appreciate the work he has put into these shirts (whether it be the layout or getting them made). As someone who will probably never have the opportunity to appreciate the MW Con which has been going on since 2001, it's nice to at least be able to participate in the event in some small way.

The Beatles coming to Rock Band. Remains to be seen if this will be a fully dedicated game or DLC. Though the Beatles are truly rock legends and have a huge following, I personally got to ask how much of the Rock Band or Guitar Hero audiance going to snatch up whatever Beatles songs are put out on Rock Band? The Beatles and their music existed well before many of the people or kids that play Guitar Hero and Rock Band today. I know in my case I'm far more interested in either the AC/DC release for Rock Band or Guitar Hero Metallica then this news. Heck, I would pick Guitar Hero Aerosmith (which I have) over whatever Beatle release takes place for Rock Band. But I guess that's just me.