David Hingtgen

Very true. While white paint may still yellow, it's nothing compared to white plastic! Also, I tend to believe that it's usually the clear coat that yellows more than the white paint underneath. Acrylic clears are certainly the way to go, they seem to be inherently more "pure" and truly colorless than any lacquer clear.

Dreamcast is liquid-cooled. Just water, but water is second only to ammonia for "common/safe liquids that can suck up a lot of heat." And liquid ammonia isn't practical for home use. Sodium and lead are even better, being liquid metal under heat/pressure, but it's really hard to work with them---only a few nuclear reactors use it, with the other 90%+ of reactors using water. In other words: water is about the best you'll ever see for liquid-cooled things, anything else is probably inferior or very impractical except for high-end military use.

90% of "something rattling inside" problems are the little ball inside the hilt that is the sensor so that it knows it's being swung, and to make appropriate sounds. In other words: that's how its supposed to be. Same as the "rattling ball" in an Xbox 360--it's how it knows which way is up.

OT, but my GBA is the Asian version, and my brother's Dreamcast was the Asian version. It generally only affects packaging and possibly the default language when starting up the first time. Though IIRC Asian Dreamcasts have no modem.

There's different levels for a tone, it doesn't mean automatically LOCK it simply means it can tell there's something out there and is looking for it. It'll make a different tone (almost always described as a growl--listed for it in real gun camera footage , especially the F-14 ones) when it's actually LOCKED. You can fire a Sidewinder at a sort of "half-lock"----low chance of success, but sometimes it's the best you've got. No noise: Missile's acting stupid, even if it's staring at an afterburner. Tone: Searching, sorta sees something, can tell there's a heat source somewhere in its field of vision. Means "seeker is active". If it actually locks on, it'll give a growl to indicate how well it's locked: Low-pitched growl: slight lock Medium-pitched growl: moderate lock High-pitched growl: strong lock (I think, could be the opposite) Also---"No Joy" specifically refers to sighting of aircraft. If you call "Bandits, 8 o'clock high" to somebody, he'll either respond "Tally Ho" that he sees them too, or "No Joy" that he doesn't.

I'm more curious about that Skull Leader YF-19 in the background.

I still haven't seen one, though my brother recently bought the first one he's ever seen, at Target.

Yup, smacking the case often works to get a fan to "settle down" and quietly hum instead of BUZZ/RATTLE. Until it doesn't. (Then it's time to replace)

Ugh? I've seen fairly universal positive results for the SDB. Of course, seeing "good results/news" for any military program is such a rarity it casts suspicion...

While we're on the subject---what's the best way to quiet a PC fan? (or is it better to just replace the fan). Every PC I ever get, the fan occasionally gets noisy after a year or two of utter smoothness, but doesn't ever actually DIE, it just rattles more and more often.

Kill off the JSF, make F/A-22 Strike Raptors.(heh heh, bring back the /A) History has shown that big fighters can easily be modified into EXCELLENT attack planes---see F-14B/D, F-15E. Of course, I'm also in favor of developing a new bomb that is the biggest possible that'll fit in the current F-22 bay. 1,300lbs? 1,567lbs? Whatever it turns out to be. Almost all current bombs are fat in the middle for aerodynamic reasons, for both stability in flight after being dropped, and minimal drag while being carried. Well, with modern guided bombs directly controlling their own path through the air and internal carriage, there's no need for that. So long as it's not literally shaped like a brick, it'll be fine.

Could you compare the sound to some other systems? I'm rather picky about system noise. (Even the slim PS2 bugs me)

All time? 1. Xenogears (see my avatar) 2. Valkyrie Profile

I too don't have Service Pack 2. Still had to ignore it about 500 times until the download center stopped bugging me with that stupid pop-up... (For SP2, the "don't tell me about this again" button does NOT work) Don't know what finally caused it to stop.

Dutch=Netherlands, not Denmark.

There's a TF 6 soundtrack? How/where? I love my copy of the TF 5 one.

I skipped NES 85-87 due to IMHO the good games being few and far between. Yes, there was Mario and Zelda and Metroid, but 90% struck me as being 2600 re-hashes. It wasn't until later that I saw anything decently innovative (or taking advantage of the system's power). Qix---know of it, never played it, always wanted to. Salamander---played the JP PSX Gradius history pack (or whatever it was officially called), but can't remember much (playing every Gradius and Life Force game together sequentially does tend to blur them a bit in your mind) Going OT just a bit---what's your preferred shooter? I've always liked Darius and Thunderforce best (mainly because I can actually BEAT games in that series, followed by Gradius (which is very fun but I never do well at the end). R-Type always starts out slow (literally) but is fairly fun by the end, but requires more pure memorization than the others. My fave vertical-scroller is still Space Megaforce, followed by Axelay. Ikaruga after that, then Radiant Silvergun.

I'll freely admit I'm slightly too young to be too familiar with most of those other than their names. What makes the NES different? I would argue the design/quality of the games themselves, say 1988+. Of course, you could say it was the programmers, not the console itself that allowed that. Maybe it was just the first to combine all the aspects you mentioned. (or at least, most of them). Closest comparison I can draw is with early passenger jets. The first was the Comet, but it frankly sucked. It was the 707 years later that truly "sparked" the jet-age for passengers. It was just so vastly superior as a whole to what came before--it wasn't all that revolutionary, but it was just the total package that made it superior and far more enduring than almost anything before. Not all that much faster, more comfortable, or longer-ranged than the previous #1 plane in each of those categories ---but it was the new #1 in every category.

I know most people would probably disagree with me, but I really consider the Atari 2600 more like a "pre-console". NES would be my minimum level. (Yes, I draw a sharp line between the NES and all consoles before it) But a full-on Genesis RPG--now THAT'S a game.

Blowing past the Dreamcast for "oldest system with games STILL being released" comes a new GENESIS RPG. Yes, that's right, an all-new US release for the Genesis. http://www.videogamedepot.com/shop/product...d=01D0019136011 I don't think I've played a RPG on the Genesis since Sword of Vermillion.

Dutch, not German. Also, in the US, nearly everyone pronounces "Fokker" as "Foke-er" AFAIK. It wasn't until I was in college and I had a Dutch guy who liked planes in my class that he corrected me that it was in fact pronounced "Fock-er". Just FYI.

I too find diecast highly over-rated. IMHO, it simply means "less precise casting and coarse details, for increased weight." Give me finely-molded, detailed plastic.

I say Super Tomcat, but usually specifically mean the D. Engines alone aren't enough.

I'll have to go see what I have on the Naval F-16. Neat artist's conception, F-16's flying over a carrier...

I never memorize patterns in a Megaman game (except X4 Sigma, only way I could win with Zero---easy with X, very tough with Zero). I just went through Megaman 5 two nights ago, and having played it very few times and not remembering weapons at all, I think I took out 6 of the 8 with the megabuster. It was fun---just jumping, dodging, and not simply obliterating the guy by having the right weapon at the right time. X3 is somewhat like that---weapons are never very effective--it's more like the "right" weapon is the only one that does any damage at all. It will still take many hits and skill to defeat the boss.