David Hingtgen

That's the reason that if I ever have to sell my 360, I'm either going to have to buy another controller solely to sell along with it, or find someone/somewhere willing to buy it sans controller----as I spent much careful time sanding out the D-pad area, and test-fitting various thickness pieces, to get the D-pad to actually work. (In all likelyhood, I will be selling it to Gamestop, when the 65nm GPU comes out---360's should be even cheaper by then, and the total "cost of upgrading" won't be all that much) Also, the trigger and shoulder buttons don't hold up. My R-trigger and R-button are noticeably weaker than the L ones. R-trigger is the attack button in Oblivion, and with my setup, R-button is "max thrust" in Ace Combat. 2 games shouldn't wear out a controller. They still work fine, and should for years--but they are not what they were when new. "Newness" in a controller should last for a long time, not mush down after the first game that uses them as a main button. (Actually, someday I'd like to buy a new controller, maybe black, and swap my modified D-pad and modified front half of the casing--then I'd have new internals/buttons, a cool color scheme, and be able to keep my working D-pad) PS---the infamous "sanding out the D-pad circle" mod HELPS, but does not SOLVE the "it doesn't always respond" problem. You have to modify the D-pad itself as well. I'll explain more if people need to know. There is no one mod to fix it, it takes both in combination. But I do have a perfectly responsive 360 D-pad now. I still wouldn't want to play SF3 Third Strike with it, but it is certainly "suitable for selecting things on a menu" now, and Pac-Man.

Heck, where does Elle get enough power for her lightning balls? We just heard HRG indirectly say she could generate enough power to run a city.

Anyone else see that ads are likely to have sound and music now? Anyone encountered one yet? (because one of the new options is "disable sound in ads"---but it might not be permanent, and thus you'll have to do it every time you log on, etc)

Nosegear strut's still backwards. (And based on vertical positioning of the link, there's got to be something else really off) Other than that, they did quite well. (Always amazes me that companies can get little things like the 2 different type of under-intake ECM antennas right, but fail to notice the landing gear's on backwards)

That's because it doesn't exist. Photoshopped proposal. (And it also shows well why no matter how awesome a camoflage scheme you may have---if you don't paint the missiles and drop tanks too, it's kinda pointless----which is why pale grey is still #1) Plus you can't paint an F-16's nose like that. You could eventually mold it in all brown or all tan, but an actual "pattern" is impossible with current materials.

Ok, you caught me there. **darn online-only missions**

It'll totally mess up AC6 online. Namco has 1 plane free with each DLC release (that includes the new texture maps for all the new planes) so that everyone can see the new planes properly online when other people use them without having to BUY all the new planes. If there's a 1-week delay in the free plane pack, then things get weird. I experienced it myself as I didn't download the latest free pack immediately, and the new Flankers wouldn't show up properly in-game, and it especially messed up the new missiles. (Because Namco expects everyone to get them immediately, because they're FREE)

Well THAT sucks: http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/12...r-accounts.aspx Silver memberships have to wait at least a week before being allowed to download any new free demos etc.

Oblivion. If you have no hard drive--fine. But if you do have one---enjoy the texture cache! And that's one of the earlier 360 games. It can't be that hard to do.

Gross but relevant: Once, Wolverine was trapped in a glacier. For 6 months (until it melted enough to free him) he'd eat off some of his own flesh from his arm. It'd grow back overnight, then he'd eat some more arm meat the next day. There could be plenty of discussion over consevation of energy, and if he could actually "come out ahead" energy-wise from eating what he'd just expended energy to regrow. Of course, Wolverine has also regenerated from being blasted down to a skeleton, from which there's no way he had enough food/energy remaining to sustain the regrowth of that much tissue. Part of this was explained by mutant powers simply drawing from "an unknown source", independent of their "host". Thus, Storm doesn't expend massive calories calling forth gigawatts of lightning, etc.

::blames EXO for digging up old discussion::

F-35's been grounded since May, may fly again soon: http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/337508.html Also, the second F-35, first F-35B, will be rolled out Dec 18. Anyone taking bets on if it'll actually hover? Australia's asking for the F-22 again: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/sto...onsider%20F-22s New USAF tanker will be designated the KC-45A, regardless of who wins.

Has anything really changed that we need to re-comment on the article? We've already had this discussion, and recently. http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?s=&a...st&p=529129

If his blood heals, can it heal itself? Always-fresh blood... (hey, does that mean it never clots?)

At this point, I'm hoping my refurb lasts until the next real update---65nm GPU. From what I can tell, they "cooled down" the wrong processor (CPU). The really hot one that sits under the drive and heats it up to disc-warping temps(GPU), is still 90nm. Plus, disc drives still vary. There are currently 4 main one in use AFAIK: Loud Hitachi. (not launch-loud, but close) Quiet Hitachi. (almost as quiet as a quiet Benq) Loud BenQ. Loudest ever used in a 360. Quiet BenQ. Quietest of all. You can get a 360 built last week, and it'll have the same loud Hitachi as one from 18 months ago. Or a silent one. Or a super-loud, slow-loading BenQ. Even getting the coveted BenQ is no guarantee of getting a good drive. (Different drives do load at different speeds--normally not much of an issue, but since ME streams off the disc constantly, 1/2 second DOES make a difference) Or if you're really unlucky, a year from now you get a 360 with a 65nm CPU, a 65nm GPU that never overheats and lasts forever---but has a super-loud, slow-loading drive.

I had a thought a few weeks ago, mainly inspired by one of the graphic novels: Can Adam die from lack of food/air/water? I mean, that's not really "healing". If a bullet to the brain is fatal, wouldn't killing the brain via lack of oxygen also work? (though a bit slower)

Nah, yawing's not really that useful for scoring points IMHO. Except for attacking Aigaion. Take rockets, get behind it, and yaw. Watch the points pour in.

Any 64 series 32in Sharps? I've seen their 62 series 32in 1080p's in person, and they have banding. It's subtle, but it's there. ::checks Sharp site:: Nope, 32's only come with banding.

I thought the whole season's Maya/Sylar plot was wasted. Did anything actually happen? They could have had all the stuff that happened to them tonight, in the first ep of the season.

Every Biotic and Tech is different for unlocking requirements. Bascially, they tried to do it so that you COULDN'T just spam for an hour and unlock everything. But they couldn't be too strict about it or it'd mess up "valid" uses. Anyways: Healing. You can only heal when hurt. Hard to spam. Biotics---barrier works always, as you target yourself. Throw/lift/singularity---works best on any targetable object, though I think I got quite a few from walls/floors. Or it could have targeted immobile ojects. Try some crates/barrels---they're guaranteed. Tech---usually needs to be an enemy to target them. AFAIK AI hacking only works on geth, so it'll take a while.

Are the 360 versions really different from "normal" versions? Or is it just their color scheme or what?

Checking manuals: Only two of the TV's I'm considering have the option to actually choose inputs by number. All the others are "tap button several times". And many of them skip ones that aren't "currently active", so it'd actually vary every time depending on what's turned on. Could be VERY hard to program a macro.

I yaw all the time, but mainly when: 1. Lining up an EML shot, or a bomb drop. (mainly campaign) 2. When rolled 90 degrees, to maintain altitude. (if you ever watch a knife-edge pass at an airshow, they always use the rudders to pop the plane up at the start of the move, to actually make a shallow parabola) 3. Whenever I'm under fire, to have a more difficult to follow/predict trajectory. (Right rudder while in a descending left turn gets you a heck of a crab angle) I actually set the controls to PS2 style, as I just couldn't "unlearn" 5 previous games of having the same controls. So I have analog rudder, digital throttle. (Hey, from talking to an F-16 pilot that's pretty much how he flies it---thottle is either idle, mil, or max burner--with occasional min burner)

Thanks but no thanks--I (finally)got an 08 BB. I just feel for all the kids who can't check stores often and won't get one. Or whose parents also can't check often. (Or know that Kohl's is about your only chance)

My point was not that these are supposed to be Xmas toys, but that Hasbro is still missing the huge "TF movie toys for Xmas" sales. 10,000 fast-action-battlers clogging the shelves is not what the kids want. It's been 7 months since the June release---they've had plenty of time to just make more of the very first wave, yet it hasn't really shown up on shelves. There's been a few Barricades and Ironhides, but most major characters are still sparse. They seem to be making large amounts of everything BUT the movie characters. I see loads of "just opened" cases of the Sector 7 truck, Swindle, etc. With the occasional final battle Jazz. Many kids are going to be sad on Dec 25. (They'll probably get Swindle and Arcee, not SS and BB like they asked for, because that's the only things their parents could find on the shelves)