JsARCLIGHT

My leeway given to Sons of BlahBlah was that it must have made much more sense and been better paced in Japanese... because the US version put me to sleep. What is the point of having bad guys with organization names you can't pronouce (Lelilaleahloo my ass) and yet another seemingly straightforward and potentially gripping drama ruined by lame-ass sci fi and over the top preachyness. Is it just me or do the japanese go just one step too far with their "messages" in games. A two year old could get their point most of the time as they smash it home with a mario hammer.

Have you managed to do any of the corny crap that I have like shooting the guard's radios, bleeding all over and having the animals track you or taking a guy "hostage" and screwing up and allowing his buddies to surround you, then shoot him and take you out? They really have beefed up the AI in this game, these guys used to be brick stupid and now they are quite relentless and mercinary.

I think I got the same demo disc from a guy at work today. Came home and played it and did not notice any strange lag on the codec transitions... also did not notice the "one minute timeout", then again I was just sitting there playing it and giving it my full attention. I do concur that this game stinks of Sons of Blahblahblahblahblah and I'm fearing yet another ten minute cutscene then one minute of action followed by a ten minute cutscene game. As for comparing Snake Beater to Splinter Cell I'd say they are similar content games but are still quite different. Splinter Cell to me felt more intutive, more fluid... while the MGS series always feels like a chain of small episodic encounters strung together between cutscenes. These guys really need to get off the whole "interactive movie" schtick and just make a darn game again. I myself really loose interest when I have to watch cutscenes rather than play a game.

I'd say the Alien franchise has cleared the shark, the platform, the beach, the grandstands and is most likely coming down in the parking lot behind the changing tents. P W.S. Anderson... puting the yuck back in SUCK. I am ashamed to have the same family name as he... I must take my own... F no, I'll just put him on my kick in the balls on sight list.

Perhaps it is just me but the movie's message that I caught was that you should not be a super hardcore kill-em-all pompous warmonger but at the same time you should not be a super panzy-ass rubber spined weenie. If anything the message was the same message that Trey and Matt have in a lot of their South Park episodes: see both sides for what they are and try to stay in the middle. The other thing I picked up from the movie (which sadly is more correct in America by the minute these days) is that for every hardcore kill-em-all pompous warmonger you have you need a super panzy-ass rubber spined weenie to balance out the equasion. If we were all hardcore nutjobs then you could easily see what the country would be like... and vice versa. The Dove needs the Hawk to protect it and the Hawk needs the Dove to keep it under control.

I saw it today at lunch with my crew from work. I wanted to buy a drink but I'm sooooooo glad I didn't as it would have come out my nose. Funniest movie of the year, hands down. ... and for some reason during the puppet barfing bit I went from "eeewww" to "heh... heh heh" to almost crying laughing. Puppets puking, puppets getting blowed up real good and funky puppet boot knocking... what more could you ask for?

I think I'm going to pony up and get the special "collector's edition" DVD release of the game just to get the Half Life: Source game (which is the original HL just remade using the Source engine). I think it will be pretty neat to replay the first one in the new game engine then play the new one immediately after.

There is nothing wrong with rooting for underdogs, but when it comes to video games in this day and age a true "underdog" title really needs to shine in all areas to attract more buyers and players... to break out of it's "niche" status and enter the big arena and challenge the marios and GTA's of the world. IMHO that is what GTA did long ago... this little unassuming top down game turned the world on it's ear and kept evolving and growing into the goliath it is today with it's most recent release waiting in the wings to pounce on the video game world again. Drawing on it's own creativity and on a good number of licences GTA has become a massive hit, like it or love it... but in a nutshell it is more creative and less licence in the end whereas Invasion is more licence than creative. Producing a mediocre licenced game is about as common as the people that complain about them but doing one right and doing it in such a way that the game transcends the licence is a very, very hard thing to do. Most lisenced games end up like Invasion... low on gameplay, low on content, low on appeal and high on hopes that the licence will pull the title through. Most games like that suck big time and the only redeeming quality about them most of the time is the licence. Look at most of the Gundam games made... most of them suck on ice but people keep buying and playing them because of the licence. Same can be said for Dragonball and a lot of others... sure once in a while a truly good licenced title sneaks out but those are usually rare. Then you have the strange kismit licenced titles like Kingdom Hearts, games that by all account should have fallen on their face but turned out to be quite interesting and popular. Invasion could have been so much more, so much "neater"... but in the end it falls prey to the rushed licence game syndrome in my opinion. I have no doubts that with a talented team and the right "motiviation" a very good licenced Mospeada game could be possible... but not now and surely not from Whoremoney Gold.

Reviews are just someone else's opinion. If you put stock in reviews then you are putting stock in someone else's opinion of the game... and in the case of game magazines you are depending on the slanted opinion of someone who is most likely on the payroll of the game makers to some good degree. The only "true" review of a game is the one you yourself give it, not something someone else gives it. If you like a particular game then great, by all means love the thing and play it into old age... but don't rely on the opinions of others to support your own. When it comes to "what kicks ass and what doesn't" it's all opinion, there are not hard facts to "proove this game 'ownz'". The only cold hard facts about a game being good or not reflect in it's sales, numbers most of us will never see as game companies tend to hide the numbers of poor titles and brag about (and sometimes inflate) the numbers of outstanding titles. Months from now after the holidays we will know how good Invasion sold... and if nothing else we will see what price it is sitting at. My honest opinion is it will sell for crap and be priced at $20 after the holidays after getting it's ass handed to it by all the upcomming massive flagship titles expected out.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - I still go back to this game when I need some time to cool off by rampaging through the city like a crazy hooligan. This is the first game I ever played that I said "perfection" while playing it. Resident Evil - be it the original, the director's cut or the Gamecube rehash this game just keeps pulling me back in to play it again and again... I have no clue why, it just does. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - this game just sucks me in... you just must replay it again and again with a different "path" just to see what changes. Metal Gear - be it the first one, the second one, the PS1 or 2 and even the terrible Sons of Liberty... I keep re-buying and replaying these games. ... There are a lot of other games that I liked but I just don't feel that "urge" to keep going back and replaying them. Games like marios, zeldas and the like I just don't like replaying for some reason.

Why did I suddenly have a flashback of Titan AE? Will Shadow force also have a talking Donkey character?

Ride? Riding like the demon that drives your dreams? Ahh, the '80s... back when you could build a show around a quirky teamup or a vehicle with a catchy soundtrack and a flashy TV Guide splash ad.

My word for it: CRAP Other's word for it: tolleralble I have yet to really see more than a tiny few people praise it unconditionally. Consensus is it is a very flawed POS at worst and a "it can grow on you" gradual warm up to it despite it's issues at best. Then again Toynami got on my "kick in the balls on sight" list because of this toy so don't take my word for it, read the pinned thread.

Uuuuum, not sure were you get your info but Michael Moore is on Stone and Parker's shitlist from how he handled Stone's appearance in Bowling for Collumbine... hence their downright cruel treatment of him in Team America. If you don't believe me here is a news article where they spell it out: Source: AP Article

That's a good question. The launch day has been bounced back and forth because both Sony and Nintendo want to get the drop on each other with the PSP and the DS. I remember when they were both supposed to be out at the end of Sept. So your best bet is to just keep checking in with stores. I did some checking just now and some websites are listing the new system IN STOCK as of now... if that is true or not and in what quantities is TBD. If it is true then this might just be a quiet "soft release" to fill the missing system gap.

You're right, it is our problem. We have both had very bad experiences at those stores and we don't like them. Why should I write and complain about a store I don't like to shop at? That would be like me taking time to write a letter to Peir One complaining their candle isle smells to strong even though I never shop there. If I shopped there all the time and felt annoyed then perhaps a letter would allow me to vent my frustrations but I'd rather just not shop there, simple as that. I may go in to look at what they have but I buy elsewhere, that affects them more than any letter will. All a letter will do is generate a form letter response and become a statistic on a boardroom chart. The supreme showing of displeasure is by not doing business with them. Yet all this is personal opinion. I'm sure several people have had good experiences and feel they got their money's worth at those stores but to me Gamestop is a swarthy switchjoint with a used car lot feel. There is not much they can do to change that opinion in my mind so if you work for them don't take it personally that people like me dislike the place you work for. It is not your fault and we are not insulting you personally, we just feel your bosses and establishment are not to our liking.

As far as I'm concerned Gamestop is a ripoff on wheels. Here in saint louis they have "mall prices", which means they are higher priced on everything... especially used games. Our Gamestops (of the like three we have) on average are $5 to $10 higher priced on games, especially used games. I only shop there when there is nowhere else that carries what I'm looking for. Plus the Gamestop here in my local mall (Crestwood) is staffed by nothing but dorks. Every time I have been in there you overhear them talking about Linux or building computers or playing some online game... the three guys I speak of have also worked there for years as they are the only three people I ever see in that store. As for working the other side of the counter, I've been there. I worked almost all retail from high school through college (with a brief break to wear green and jump out of helecopters and ride around in trucks). I know that stores can be a real pain and it is really only in recent years that all the corporate required bullshot has started up with "discount cards" and "promotional this and that". You'd think the companies would actually listen to their customers when we start complaining about all that.

I myself will most likely not buy a DS... just because portable games don't do it for me any more. I have nothing against the DS and it looks like it will be a nice system but ever since I bought my new TV I just want everything to hook up to it and play back in 480p widescreen... bigger than life... which very few games actually do. On another note (not meaning to derail this thread but it would be stupid to start a new one just for this question and it seems all the video game saavy people are paying attention to this thread anyway)... when is the new smaller PS2 coming out? All the "official" sources say November 1st but a few retail sites that list the system on their site are listing it as tomorrow or some time this week. I've also noticed that just about all the online mass retailers (Best Buy, Target, TRU, etc.) are sold out of the old systems. It would be rather stupid of Sony to let the stores sit without systems for three whole weeks until November 1st IMHO. OK, back to the DS talk.

I myself fully admit to being a cartoon nerd... but at least I hide it well under the guise of just another yuppie trash hairpile in a BMW. To be honest, you don't see too many of the "manchild" in the wilds... I still think I was halucinating from that piece of cookie cake I bought while walking around. But alas, the cookie cake could not have created the disturbed vision that was that game. Damn... makes you wonder how people can work on something like that and not say "hey... could we maybee... you know... perhaps... try?"

I was out shopping with my wife today for some halloween things at a local mall and decided to stop on by the Gamestop store to laugh at their prices and heckle the zit-faced employees debating who would win in a fist fight, Darth Vader or a Cylon and what did I see them playing? Robotech Invasion. My own feelings on the game pale in comparison to those voiced by the uber dweeb playing the game. Neither were employees but one appeared to be a swarthy manchild of his early thirties that reeked of cheetos and mom's basement and the other was a kid who appeared to just be playing the game to have something to do while mom was four stores up shopping for underwear in the "naughty store". This is the scene I walked into and this is what went down... The "manchild" seemed to be an "expert" on all things robotech and was lecturing the kid on the show, what was "wrong" with the game and the game was worse than (fill in name of domestically released anime title game here, most of the titles he mentioned were dragonball). Now, despite the manchild's seeming depth of knowledge on robotech he was constantly cussing at the game and uttering, what I could only assume as I only recognised one, dragonball fight phrases. Meanwhile the only audible phrases the kid could cough out were simple questions like "how do you shoot" and "why does that one guy keep killing you". I could not help but start to sniker to myself. I mean, this was rich. This was too stereotypically funny to be true I said to myself. The two target audiences of this game playing it in one place at one time. That was when one of the employees came up behind me and asked me if "my son was enjoying the game" and he started into a sales pitch that I had to cut short with "that isn't my kid... and if the other one was I'd have to charge him rent". Upon hearing my comment (I assume) and feeling the eyes of the store goon upon him the manchild took his leave to the back corner of the store to peruse PC game boxes and I took his place at the controls. Five words came into mu head after a few minutes: Man Does This Game Suck. I know, long story with no payoff at the end. Leave it to JsARCLIGHT to conversationally blueball the message board again. Well, if anything, you should know that I found a thirtysomething anime dork lecturing a child about a cartoon show that he was "well aquainted with" was more entertaining to me than the actual game. Battlecry strikes again. Please don't buy or rent this game, you're just encouraging them.

The sling that Bsu has is most likely the generation before the green canvas Nam era slings I have and is most likely the exact same design, except substitute leather for green canvas. These Nam slings were originally designed to be used on the M14... and the M14 was originally designed as the son of the M1 Garand... so a lot of their parts and accessories just transfered over with only minor changes. The two big "oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-they-actually-made-this" issues on these slings are the metal on metal hardpoint connection that Bsu mentioned and the metal retainer clasp with metal endcap. Not only does the metal on metal rear buttstock attachment point sound like loose change in your pocket when it rattles but the metal endcap swings and hits the metal retainer clasp as you move causing yet another metal on metal clinking noise. Not to mention those two pieces can also make contact with the weapon and make even more noise. The "modern" silent sling was in fact a GI jerry-rig from all the way back in WWII as a way to eliminate some of those noisy metal parts. With the "invention" of Duct tape for WWII a lot of it got used on slings... and again in Korea and Vietnam and on and on.

Not to derail any more than this thread is already derailed but in recent printed sales numbers the Japanese Import makers currenly only hold about 30% of the American light vehicle market with the Domestic makers holding about 60% still. That "Import" number even includes the domestically produced "Import" vehicles made in the Americas. While it could be argued that Japanese import cars "outlast" their domestic competition in the long run you can pro-rate those numbers for all the used cars floating around out there and even then the japanese imports still do not surpass the number of domestic light vehicles on the roads. While it may appear that the imports dominate the states in certain places they are just a small piece of the automotive pie with the domestic makers still holding the lion's share of the vehicles on the road. The next part is OpEd so take it as you will. American automotive makers have proven time and time again that they are slow to react to trends and when they do they ride that trend into the ground, preferring to tell the american consumer what they want rather than letting them make up their own mind. I would not be suprised if the true electric or hydrogen car market keeps getting put off due to new "flavor of the month" specialty cars popping up. SUV's are only the current incarnation of the same old large, gas guzzling, heavy American cars that have always prowled the roads. We Americans love our aircraft carrier cars... or at least we think we do.

It's either that or bulk out and wear tight leather hot pants and a hockey mask... and I think Agent One covets that role... ... plus L's would love me in leather and assless chaps.