David Hingtgen

It's not so much raw production speed/capacity of the factories, but complexity/testing of new technology. The more complex they are, the worse it is. Planes are never ever late/delayed because of the factory that's building them. It's always software glitches, unexpected behavior at 600kts, bureacracy, etc. I imagine a TRANSFORMING plane that is capable of going into SPACE would take forever to test and bring into service.

Plane assignment in a wing for a battle group---well, there hasn't been a new air wing made in decades AFAIK, just reductions. But squadrons are constantly swapped around. In the 70's/80's squadrons often were in semi-permanent pairs, but not not any more. FYI, squadrons are assigned to wings, and wings to battle groups. Nothing's permanent. You can swap out just one squadron in a wing, or swap entire wings between carriers. As for why not put VF-19's in a presumably new-build M7 fleet? Because the VF-19 was still too new to be in production/service. From the time the YF-22 was selected to the very first test F-22 built was a good 6 years. And 6 years after that for first delivery to the TEST squadrons. Also, despite what the movies show, you do NOT deploy your new, advanced, untested, expensive prototype planes "in the real world" to go do field testing. M7 was sent out with VF-11's because they were readily available, and tested/proven. (Though based on M0, and even SDF:M, the UN seems to be able to field new valks in a remarkably short time---maybe because all humanity is working together or something, bypassing standard military-industrial complex slowness)

It was obvious when most of the theater noticed that, they all started laughing. I saw it like in the first scene, but the camera didn't really focus on it until like 10 mins later.

Anyone else really want a nice, big, Barricade? Before I saw the movie, he was probably my least-fave Decep. But now he's my fave. He deserves more than a $10 toy with a gimmicky arm. For being BB's "counterpart" he sure isn't getting nearly as good/many toys. Lots of folders, pens, etc merchandise, but the toys are lacking.

The YF-22 vs YF-23 competition took place in 1990-91. The F-22 was picked as the winner in 1991. We now have 1 wing in front-line service, with the 2nd coming soon. So 16 years from selection to in-service. And, while the F-22 was supposed to replace the F-15, due to cost cuts etc, very few will be built, and the F-15 will remain the primary fighter for a long time, with a few upgrades. I think M7 matches that pretty well. No giant fleets of VF-19's, just a few early ones in service with upgraded VF-11's making up the majority.

Plus now that it's Takara/Tomy, not just Takara, makes me wonder if they had some say in it. (Tomy is the original maker of Zoids) If nothing else, it prevented a copyright lawsuit, since some elements are not simply "inspired by" but flat out copied.

I plan to try to hold out and see how long emo-chip ones last. Backwards compatability is a big issue for me. I *need* to replay certain RPG's (and Ace Combat games) every once in a while. But I really don't want to spend 500 bucks just to get a PS3 and like 1 game, just to get an emo chip before they're gone.

Hmmmn. Comcast isn't on the ban list (only 3 specific emails from there), and your IP isn't anywhere near any of the ones on the ban list. "Redfinger" is still in validation limbo awaiting confimation of the comcast email address, but I can no longer manually validate it--that could likely solve your problem, but most mods (including me) have been unable to access the validation controls since the server upgrade.

Any issues/reports/rumors/theories about "wear" from using a PS3 to play movies? Because using a PS2 to watch movies is often cited as one of the main reasons for them wearing out/having read errors.

Checked Target and Wal-Mart today. Nada. Which means it'll be weeks before I get them, and they'll just trickle in, no big "mass release". We're almost totally out of TF's. There's maybe 10 voyager and 30 deluxes in the whole town, and ALL the deluxes are Swindle and Bonecrusher. No BB, SS, Ironhide, Barricade, Prime at all. A few Ratchets. Whoever's in charge of ordering seriously mis-timed or underestimated demand for $10-20 movie toys.

Now would be a good time to mention Mass Effect, as it's the "spiritual successor" to KOTOR.

The Final Countdown gets BIG points for using real F-14's. Yes, a lot of Top Gun is fake, many scenes use large radio-controlled models.

I'll say it again: Lost Odyssey looks far more FF-like than any recent FF. If they call it FF 14, nobody'd know the difference. It has Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Nobuo Uematsu. FF 13 looks better than 11 and 12 IMHO, but LO I bet will be better. If you think FF has "lost its magic"---it's because it did and it's all been put into LO now. (Of course, all this is just based on early impressions of trailers etc)

AC6--of course, and one of the themes. I'm going to be playing DOA 4 tonight online anyways, so if you see "Xenogears Id" (likely with a C6 Ayane) that's me. I always have everything muted (too many idiots out there) so don't expect to chat, sorry.

One of the writers of KOTOR wrote a "female lightside" epilogue for Revan and posted it online. In it, she stopped the Ebon Hawk from leaving. That's why I said semi-canon. It's not in the game, but "the guy who made the characters" wrote it as a follow-up. :edit: Found it, here you go--- http://www.kotorfanmedia.com/?p=937

Have you revised/finalized your method on reducing the shoulder gap? I still want to do it to mine. (Also, a lot of the pics on the YF-19 mods thread is gone, so there's not as much reference as there used to be for what you did)

KITT vs KARR on Youtube:

Ok, that definitely qualifies. (Haven't seen trailer yet, been doing other things on Live) ::edit:: watched trailer. That IS too much. He should be able to take down Vader and Sidious simultaneously with that kind of power. If anyone could stop an ISD, it'd be Revan. And Revan can't. (Though semi-canonically, Revan stopped the Ebon Hawk from lifting off) I must admit I am very fond of the reverse-hold saber. Been wanting to see that for a long time. (Asajj Ventress only ever did it for parrying with two sabers really, not as a primary single-saber style)

With E3 going on and lots of new downloads, I figure there's a lot more people on Live than normal. I used one of my "1 month of Gold free" cards and so can play online for little while. Anyone want to try to schedule a MW XBL meeting? DOA 4?

Yeah, we all knew there'd be a "super weapon"---but I wasn't expecting it to be revealed in the demo. Also---don't forget to get the separate trailer download too. Mostly CG, but it's probably the most "epic-feeling" game trailer in a long time. Music is flat-out "heroic".

Yoda lifted an X-Wing, and stopped a 10-ton rock in mid-air. I've yet to see a game even meet those, much less surpass it.

Went to Target today, nada. Our Target is pretty "strict" about new stuff the past few months---it's on the shelves when the planogram says it MUST be, and not an hour before.

I seriously doubt I'll own a PS3 before they're all emu-only, but my slim PS2 is so tiny I'll probably just leave it hooked up. How heavy is a PS3? I currently have my slim PS2 on top of my DVD player, but I doubt my player will like a PS3 on top of it.

FYI, there are several gamer pics and themes up to download. There's no previews at xbox.com (not even listed), so you can only go by the tiny pics on Live. I downloaded theme #3, and the blade backgrounds are Su-33, Tornado GR.4, F-15E, F-16C. The guide background is basically silver, with small embossed squadron badges tiled across.

I want the new LED-backlit ones. That's what I'm waiting for. Whoever brings it out first in a size UNDER 37in gets my money. (My main movie/gaming TV sits about 4 feet from my eyes (I've measured), so most are WAY too big----but the smaller sizes always seem to be a year behind, tech-wise) I could move the TV back a foot or so to accomodate a bit bigger screen, but even 32in is pushing it---you run into "too wide for your field of view" issues, as well as "lighting evenness left-right". I'm BIG on "screen being evenly lit" from top to bottom and left to right---it's where a lot of even high-end LCD's fail miserably. I actually like the look of plasma better, but there are absolutely none under 42in---what's the reason?