David Hingtgen

Anyone playing ME, awesome sidequest easily missed (I did): Attican Beta Cluster / Hercules System / Eletania Go there. And bring the thing you get from I don't know if "the thing" is easily attainable as a renegade (it can be done but many don't have it) so it might be a long while before I get it. Darn, and I found every other and none of them did anything other than get my hopes up for something cool. Apparently the one in Eletania does something. Though I swear I was there, but didn't find anything.

Graham--the Super Nova schemes are clearly based on the F-15 prototype schemes (IMHO). Just have them do those. Though the Super Nova schemes have extra striping. Or hey--how about the ACTIVE scheme? That's awesome, and well-known in Japan. (It has to be, Namco puts it in every Ace Combat game from the past couple of years)

Doesn't a Sith Lord have "Force Persuasion" or something?

Hey, they're finally going to take off all those 0-point, played for 5 mins arcade game demo-only versions off people's achievement and gamercard lists. (It's been bugging me for a long time--simply because they were played more recently, it means games I actually spent time with are 40 slowly-scrolled slots below junk I hated after 10 secs) http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164575

I have two different lists of them. (I never completed the quest, too much of a Paragon) I'm betting you're missing one in the Citadel Tower, one is up high and WAY off to the side by the council chamber.

Ok, maybe a stupid question, but as you can tell I haven't even looked at printers in many years. Why would one buy a printer that's not a photo printer? Photo printers seem capable of printing "normally" as well and don't seem to inherently cost any more. Or do cheap photo printers suck? (Because the high-end ones greatly surpass normal printers in price) Or, since photos are the only "upgrade" I'm looking for, should I just buy a small, cheaper photo printer and only hook it up on the occasions I need it, rather than buying an all-new printer for everything? PS---a lot of time I'm just looking more for "raw ink/color density" than "smooth glossy finish"---as in printing a photo as best I can on normal cheap paper. Are any printers especially good at that? PPS--I do have a ZIP disk here somewhere, leftover from college.

Hey, I like having all the cables look different--makes it easy to track them when hooking and unhooking things. Plus even new PC's only have so many USB ports. (though all my Firewire ones are unused) This PC's old, it'll be replaced in a year or two. Might be my longest-used PC ever. Almost nothing'll work with the motherboard anymore. Hard enough to find AGP graphics cards... I plan to re-use this one's new DVD-ROM and possibly power supply in the new one, but probably nothing else.

A little OT but close enough: Suggestions for a new printer? My current printer is years (and years) old. (HP 832C) It still works perfectly, it just isn't really capable of printing photos well (nor at all quickly). And since I haven't had a film camera in years, my printer's the only way to get hard copies of my pictures without heading down to Wal-Mart. Budget? 200 bucks maybe? 150'd be better, but if 200 gets way better photo abilities, that'd be worth it. Speed isn't TOO much of a concern, anything's faster than what I have now when it comes to printing a photo. (All inkjets print out reports and spreadsheets equally well and fast IMHO, how they print photos is the real test) I like to print BIG though if I'm printing a hard copy, full 8.5x11 sheets when possible. Not a bunch of litle 3x5's. I have a couple requests/requirements: 1. Not very tall. My printer's in a sliding drawer, so it can't be more than 7.5 inches tall. (And it can only be 16 inches front to back--but most printers are fine in that dimension) 2. If it could scan, that'd be nice, but most "all-in-one" things are quite tall and deep. 3. Separate ink for each color would save me money. For as long as I've printed in color, I've only ever had "CMY" cartridges that run out of yellow, but red and blue are still half-full. I'm always buying new catridges that are still half-full, but out of yellow. Don't know why, but I go through yellow way faster than the others. 4. Good with printing envelopes. Some printers are very finicky, I like a dedicated envelope slot or tray spacer or something that's quick and easy to have it print envelopes without a fuss. PS---I still like big parallel cables on LPT1 for printers. USB-only is ok, but not preferred.

FB-22.

I might have to go make a uber-password for my Live account. It's currently one of my "high level" ones. But it's not one of my "totally random mix of letters and numbers" which I reserve for really important stuff. (I can only memorize so many totally random long character strigs)

Exactly--Congress etc wouldn't understand that there's much more to the F-22 than just agility etc. They'd read reports that the F-15ACTIVE can out-fly the F-22, and say "well then we'll just buy new nozzles for F-15's and 16's and save billions". As for stealth---I say the F-22 beats anything but the B-2. The F-117 is an angled compromise limited sheerly by computer processing ability of the time. The B-2 is utterly perfect 3D curves, as it has no need to fly in anything but a straight line. The F-22 is a "slightly compromised" 3D curve design, as it needs to be able to dogfight. Though the F-23 would beat the F-22.

I vote for the F-15ACTIVE beating even the F-16VISTA, as the ACTIVE has twin 3D nozzles and canards, which is far more than simply adding a vectoring nozzle to a single-engined non-canarded plane. Some say ACTIVE can out-fly the F-22. Supersonically I doubt the F-22 can out-do the ACTIVE. And it's very cheap and easy to add just the nozzles, the ACTIVE nozzle was designed to retrofit every F100 engine out there. So of course it never happened. (If you could get F-22 performance from old planes, why buy F-22's?)

I've personally see a mach shadow, though I didn't photograph it. Lasted several minutes. Took years before I ever found a mention of the phenomena (and its name)----thought I was seeing things or was nuts for a while. (Most people doubt you saw a hovering shadow of a non-existent object above a plane's wing) http://atmospherical.blogspot.com/2007/09/...ridescence.html (bottom 3 pics) I can't find any references to a "mach shadow" using google, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was called---it was specifically more of a shadow/darkness than a simple mirage-like "transparent distortion) But that link's the closest thing I could come up with. Though if you look, you notice everything to the right of the shock in the photos is slightly darker. What I saw is more like a clearly defined "line of darkness".

Well from the promos for next week, at least they learned one lesson--don't drag it out. Looks like , instead of 6 eps from now.

Apparently you can find out who is. I know from being spoiled by someone who did, but I haven't seen that part of that quest. Maybe you have to be a renegade.

Awesome!!!------American Gladiators coming back, that is. Episode was meh, but better than most of the first half of the season.

<<THERE HAS TO BE A LEGAL, INEXPENSIVE WAY TO WATCH NEW ANIME IN ENGLISH.>> That's all that really needs be said. Nobody's going to wait 3 years and pay $1+ per minute for anime. And half the stuff I want/watch NEVER comes out. (If it passes 3 years, that's effectively never). Example---Macross Zero. Or Macross 7. Even if it does some day come over here, it took so long it's effectively pointless/worthless at this point. Of course, as I have for years, I blame dubs. Subs are cheap. Company X could license and sell a dub in weeks for cheap. But they don't, because the masses want dubs. And that costs a ton of money and time. And they refuse to quickly make a cheap sub and sell it to us sub-preferrers, to make money to fund the later dubbing.

Oh, THAT mission. Hmmn. I only had like 7 secs to spare the first time but made it. I wonder if you COULD fail it and go on. Kinda doubt it, as isn't that mission the key source for ? I have a theory that you can not get Wrex, or at least delay it. Going to try it next time. (not timed, but I bet you can just avoid him). Though he seems to be a required character, unlike say Juhani or HK-47 in KOTOR.

From all indications, it's true as well.

Any "timed" mission just ends with you dying and having to re-load. I have yet to find one where you can actually fail it yet continue on with the game, living with the consequences.

Well, there are a few real choices near the end (either or, not both), but you're right concerning 90% of the game.

I *hate* glossy piano black stuff. That's an instant deal-killer for a TV. Reflections and glare galore, constantly catches my eye. But I haven't seen that particular TV--BestBuy says online only. (Really, that's one of the few places to get a TV around here). I'll check Sears and see if they have it, it may be better. However, the 32S3000 was already about at my limit, I was really leaning more towards the M3000, which is 200 cheaper. Going 200 above the S3000 is now 50% more than a planned to spend. But if the Sharp's noticeably better, I'll splurge for it. (And not get any valks for a while--sigh, I want that new YF-21) Question for people who know----on a PC monitor, if you go from say 1024 to 1280, all the text shrinks. If you go to 1600 on a 15in monitor, you've got very nice graphics with 1-pixel-high text. Does the same happen on a TV with game systems? How will text on a 360 look on a 720p vs 1080p TV? Tiny text is a problem, I play lots of RPG and hud-dependent games. Or is stuff the same size, just "smoother"? I don't think I've ever seen anyone comment on resolution vs actual display size on HD games and HDTV's.

Actually, I never ignored a call, but none seemed to be "urgent"---as in you could leave and come back hours later and be fine. I mean, there's plot planets with distress calls, but you can wait 20 hours and 30 sidequests later to do it, and it makes no difference. Anyone actually "ignore" a call, come back later, and find them all dead---yet you know they can be saved since other people did it? (A lot of the time, they're dead anyways no matter how fast you get there) Many "calls" are actually level/stat based, the communication comes in "next time you go somewhere at level 21"---you'll get the call, regardless of where/when you are.

Anyone seen a gold DS Lite? Nowhere around here has one. (And yes I said I didn't like Zelda DS much, but it's like half-price as part of the package---I just haven't decided if the gold is good enough to buy. (Sigh, I still really want Navy, but can't risk importing it due to possible dead pixels--I've had bad luck with Nintendo LCD's, I've had to have several brand-new Gameboys replaced due to bad screens)

Exactly--a lot of people are thinking that (as opposed to Bioware dropping the ball) that the ending of ME 1 doesn't really show your actions on purpose---it'll take a while, and show up in ME 2. There's at least 2 species that are VERY affected by your actions, but it'll take more than a week for it to be apparent. (Plus humans of course). I mean c'mon---Suikoden 3 on the PS2 could read your Suik 1 character's name and stats from a PSX save file----I'm sure that a game DESIGNED to have future games on the same system read the info can do much more. PS---I'm annoyed that the neat "tough decisions" trailer sequence doesn't happen at all. There's no planet "Castalon"? to go to instead of Noveria. And Noveria doesn't send out a distress call. That'd be an awesome option though---which planet do you answer the distress call of? Also that's the only time we see Ashley lower her visor--I always thought it was fixed, but it's apparently retractable.