David Hingtgen

The tailfins look REALLY asymmetrical in that pic.

Yeah, because they totally ditched the metallic look.

That's another thing that irks me--stuff like the Centaur. Those were half-assed kit-bashed designs both FX-wise and canonically. Yet they're in, and not the classes they were derived from. I'm surprised we don't have Yeager class instead of Intrepid...

Seekers as cars is just plain wrong. Do we get Sideswipe as an F-15 next?

I'd certainly do a beta if I didn't have to pre-order. Though honestly, the main thing I don't like about the game so far: Lack of major/famous ships. When I first read about the various "groupings" (cruiser, explorer, etc), and the progression---in about 5 secs I had thought up an awesome fleet covering from TOS through DS9. And when the actual ship list came out---almost NONE of them were there. How the hell do you not put the Excelsior class in the game? Or Nebula? They were the backbone of the fleets for a while. Certainly the most common "not the Enterprise" ship you'd see of their respective generations. Why on earth are there a zillion made-up classes, and very few of the well-known, seen-in-multiple-episodes ones? I mean, that'd be like making a Star Wars game, and inventing many new force powers and weapons, but leaving out blaster pistols and force lightning. No Excelsior=no purchase. Period. I will not play without that ship.

Wing Zero (TV version) could, very similar to Wing Gundam. Wing Zero Custom (Endless Waltz) couldn't. (though it could do that quasi-cocoon thing)

kaio-----Actually I was talking to almost everyone else---I know *you're* good at keeping things "under wraps" from the BSG thread. But others.....I'm not so confident of.

Warning to all: I will personally ban anyone who posts open spoilers in this thread. Do NOT discuss what kaio mentioned without spoiler tags, as I don't want to know what he said, as I'm trying very hard NOT to know why they're allowing you to change your class/appearance. Until just a few days ago, I didn't even know 2 of the companions (I wanted to be utterly knowledgeless going into the game, but I kinda had to look up who had what abilities, to plan my classes/playthroughs). But I know there's stil at least 2 "not formally revealed yet" companions AFAIK---so please don't mention/discuss them unless Bioware officially frontpages them on their site, etc. Discuss classes, powers, weapons, game mechanics, etc all you want. Just not other characters/locations/events. (especially locations---those seem to be full of spoilers just by mentioning where/what they are and people aren't spoiler-proofing them at all on other forums, even the no-spoiler sections of forums) Also, "the first hour of the game" is still a spoiler, even if IGN and every other site has already played it and posted exactly what happens and half the people here already know about it. And frankly--if it's a big spoiler, just don't post it at all until like February, even "hidden". It's too easy to accidently read it still, or to forget to spoiler-tag it. PS---please spoiler-tag "xxxxx will/won't re-appear from ME1". Who does and doesn't show up is going to be a big part of the gaming experience IMHO and should remain surprises. PPS---hell, at this point maybe I should just avoid this thread for the next couple weeks. It's inevitable I'll read something I don't want to. But of course, it's about my last refuge on the net, as every other forum is talking "too freely" about people/events/places in the game. Just because something showed up for 4 frames in a trailer, doesn't mean it's not a spoiler any more, or at least that "most people don't know about that yet". PPPS---sorry if I sound bitchy, but I *really* like Mass Effect, and really don't want anything spoiled at all, even basics.

If you want more info on ME 2's classes than just what the videos offer (like the class-unique powers and upgrades), IGN seems to have the best. Here's the Soldier class info, with links to all the others at the bottom: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1060359p1.html Hmmn, commando vs shock trooper? IMHO, infiltrator looks like a much more viable class this time, as does even engineer. (I'm still deciding---really, a lot depends on how effective shotguns are---they are just NOT as good as they should be---IMHO a max-carnage point-blank shot from the best shotgun in the game with the best upgrades and ammo, against a target that's been "warped" should pretty much be an instant kill---yet I find already-hurt *lackeys* that can survive that. True, I've only ever played a vanguard on hardcore and insanity, but if I'm dedicating that many points/upgrades/risks to empahsizing close-range attacks, it better be really good----yet my basic pistol does better in many situations). I like vanguard in ME 1 (armor+biotics) but unless the shotgun's way better this time around, I'm going adept. (since now it seems anyone can use any armor, which was a big part of vanguard's appeal vs adept in the ME 1) Of course, there's also the issue of just how good "charge" will be.

4's furball was better IMHO---it was the inspiration for 5's. 4's had SR-71s thrown in the mix---big bonus if you can snag one. It certainly SEEMED more impressive at the time, since it was new. But if 5 was the first time you saw such a thing...

I think I already did have dialogue boosted, but it may have been reset when I last "auto'd" the audio settings. (Street Fighter IV was giving me some weird issues, and I re-did a lot of audio settings)

I'm currently leaning towards "adept" for my fem/renegade Shep. Based on what they can do now and "what enemies do that annoys me" in my current play-through. (just started Feros, then going to Virmire) Maybe sentinel for male/paragon Shep.

Yay! Another KOTOR figure I want that I'll never actually see on shelves...

Darn it, they didn't ask for pics of Mylene's valk...

Soldier class video is up: http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/1423501...dier_11210.html Also, next book, looks to be a direct sequel to the last one: http://masseffect.bioware.com/market/books/ Finally---important info about enemy defenses you should read before playing. http://blog.bioware.com/

So said all the people who voted "mine's fine" on our earlier poll, only to ask that their vote be changed to "broken" a few months later.

Stress marks WILL turn into cracks. (also, if you have one shoulder that's cracked, the other WILL crack eventually).

I have to agree with Jenius. It's not how you transform it. I would bet money I was the most careful of anyone here transforming the shoulders (I would spent several mins on them alone, going VERY slowly and carefully, checking both ends with each mm of movement--all having loosened the screws already) and they broke in like three transformations. Also, they broke even worse while I photographed them last week. And I didn't even transform it to photograph them, just had to rotate them out half-way---and that made the "really cracked" one lose a chunk, and the less-cracked one crack all the way. Them when I rotated them back, the second one lost its chunk as well. They got worse over time, just sitting on the shelf, as I never transformed it again after I saw a hariline crack on one and a stress mark on the other. In the months after, large chunks of plastic completely came off---again, having never been transformed since the first white stress mark appeared. (personally, I think the originating issue is actually that the diameter of the middle of the pin is too large, and thus too tight against the central, rotating part of the hinge---if the middle part of the pin was smaller, the knurling would simply hold in place like it was designed to and not rotate---it's the rotation of the knurled part that actually stresses the plastic after the initial installation) The pin itself shouldn't move at all (that's why it's knurled in the first place). Switching to a smooth-end pin doesn't actually fix the original flaw, but it cures the symptoms. (a *smaller* pin is the real fix, which may be the third pin variant reported?) Smooth pin sections rotate, knurled ones don't. If you have a knurled pin that's rotating, that means the smooth part is WAY too tight somewhere, to the point that the smooth part has frozen in place and the rough part is being forced to move---which is the exact opposite of the design intent.

I still like 5 the best. Then 4. Then Zero, then 6.

Well, I just moved my PS3 to test a different TV and used ROTF for reference, and that one was simply "PS3 to TV, via HDMI". Tried several of the TV's own sound settings, including "normal" "clear voice" and "movie". But my own TV was the same.

Speaker/sound question: The DVD of Transformers(2007) was notable for being just plain "flat" soundwise---most noticeable in the opening scene of Blackout attacking the base. Even just listening to the speakers on 20in CRT revealed "issues" with the audio mix. Anyways, IMHO the Blu-Ray of Revenge of the Fallen isn't that much better. Specifically, Prime's "I'll take you all on!" line is pretty quiet. But I remember hearing it *clearly* in the theater---I think everyone did, as it seemed to be about the most-quoted and favorite line--and he didn't quietly whisper it. But even turning the volume up to double what I have it set at for the movie---it's still pretty quiet. Is the mix just off, is there some setting in my PS3 or TV that's really wrong, or is it absolutely impossible to get decent volume out of the dialogue in that scene without some sort of receiver or something? (and if so, why do the Transformers movies have such problems with making stuff sound decent?) No other DVD nor BluRay that I own has such noticeable differences in the audio mix---loud things are quiet and quiet things are loud, compared to the theater----I'm not talking about "lack of bass" or anything, but just raw "volume relative to other aspects".

Someone had already quoted the info in their post, so I had to remove it.

I imagine they expect sales of a pink VF-11 would be low. As for Milia's---it's probably even less well-known than her -17, but I'd love to have one. If they can make Milia's -22, surely they have the license needed for her -11. (still, I'd take a VFX-2 one above all else)

Graham----technically we need a lot of light grey hinges, not white. White ones are needed, but I think we need more light grey than white. (VF-1S Roy is light grey, VF-1J Hikaru is white) PS---technically, a VF-0D wouldn't be an all-new sculpt.

Gunship grey (36118) would be too dark, I'd start with Dark Gull Grey (36231). (at least, going from how the 1/72 were done---I haven't seen a 1/60 in person) In between those two is F-15 grey (36176). Gunship grey is neutral/blue, while dark gull grey is decidedly warm.