David Hingtgen

Basically, I plan to get rid of most of my few remaining SNES games, and since I doubt any local store would even know what Scrambled Valkyrie is, I'm wondering if it goes for anything---especially since I believe most people who play it nowadays simply use a ROM and emulator. In case anyone's wondering, mine was MISB when I bought it, and is now as close to that as it can be while having been played. (I still have the plastic wrap with yen price tag) If not, I'll just keep it another 20 years and sell it when vintage import cartridges of any kind are "RARE!!11! L@@K" on Ebay.

The complete guide to Future: http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

I too would recommend a brown color for paneling Milia's

That report has already been retracted/denied on other sites. (At least the price part of it) Anyone know if the PS3 will output PS2/PSX games in 720? My current #1 want for the system.

Soul Calibur was a DC launch title. I remember DC launch day: Walked into BestBuy around noon, picked up my DC and a copy of SC. Had put a whole 10 bucks down... And I still say SC is the best of the SC series, especially music. I really don't know why SC3 has like the worst tracks of 1 and 2 remixed for its music---the majority of SC1's track blow away 2. I really wanted remixed Soul Edge music for SC3 (SE beats even SC1 for music IMHO), especially since Hwang and LiLong are finally back. (OT, sorry) PS---BestBuy bundling seems to be a store-by-store issue, at least a few are reporting non-bundled BB purchases. PPS--at this point, I am wondering how soon a new HD will come out---if I wait 6 to 12 months, will a 40GB one be available, and then get a Core+40GB? (I don't play online, need neither Ethernet nor Headset) And if the presumably coming 40GB has more backwards compatability as shipped, that's a big issue to me. (I really want backwards compatability for as many games as possible--I don't want to have too keep both my XB and 360 hooked up simultaneously to play everything)

::edit:: Could you clarify that? Do you mean 30 bundles and 25 core and 25 premium, or 30 premium and 25 core and 25 separate HD's? I think you're mixing terms or something.

Ouch, 700 for a CORE system? BTW, I only saw one HD in the whole store. Plenty of controllers, cables, and 3rd party faceplates, but only a lone HD. Kind of surprised it's carded and not boxed. PS--yes, both Wal-Mart and BB seem to be going completely against what they say when you call them.

Yup, I just found out about an hour ago Best Buy is only doing bundles. And many people in line are ticked, because they are advertising it alone, if you called the store today and asked they say you don't need a bundle, and nearly every employee policing the line said you could buy the systems alone. But the higher-ups in the store are preparing the bundles, and you can only get a bundle. (Silver or Gold). The thing is---many people waiting in line still don't know that. Only if you go inside and talk to the people at the registers can you get the truth. Plenty of people are upset because 3 hours ago, they were in line all set to fork out 500 for a system and games, but now find out they waited in line for hours for nothing, because they don't have enough cash for the bundle. When I left there still was nothing posted about being sold only in bundles, only if you talked to the right employee would you find out. There were at least a few people circulating along the line trying to inform people, but they were being countered out by all the BB employees who had wrong info. By the time I left there did seem to be one employee going along the line with the RIGHT info, disappointing a lot of people. Not many people in line had brought 700+, or could charge that much. From what I gather they were going to circulate a brochure, and you would mark which bundle you wanted and which games from that bundle, then they'd bundle it up in the store, give you a ticket, then when they open the doors you claim your bundle. (I wasn't going there to get a 360, had no intention of standing in line anywhere tonight, but I just wanted to waste some time at the mall tonight and happened to see the big line forming before I had expected one, so I went on over and talked to people and browsed the HDTV's inside). Sharp Aquos looks nice, especially considering price. Of course, BB's not a good place to evaluate, since the employees always set Contrast and Color to 100, then have half the TV's in the dark and the other half with 500 watt spotlights aimed at them. Person #1 in line had been there since 9AM, Person #20 or so since 1:30PM. (And he was the only guy I talked to who had enough to get a bundle it seemed) PS---it seemed nearly every 12-14 year old in line (there were more of them than I expected) was planning on the Core system and nothing more. They all had just enough for it and tax. That's not even half the money for BB's bundle. PPS---the link I posted earlier with BB's allocation seems accurate, my store did have 40 according to 2 people I talked to. Didn't find out if the 30/10 split was right, but I'm guessing it was since the 40 was right. PPPS---last thing I heard before I left was that they were only going to sell 20 at launch, and were holding back the other 20 for who knows when.

Could all be the settings. There's plenty of 360 out there hooked up to demo HDTV LCD's, yet are set to output 480i!!! Very near my BB's 360 is Shadow of the Colossus on a LCD---looks horribly godawful. That game is NOT meant to be displayed like that. On a typical tube TV it looks very "ethereal" and fantasy-like, and has a nice atmosphere. Kinda like an N64 if it had much better draw-in and sharper textures. But on an LCD HDTV it's the most jaggy thing I've ever seen, and the fog is just GONE, replaced by distinct sheets of transparent white. Interlacing is pretty necessary to look "right" on anything that's not bleeding-edge graphics-wise. Too many store demos are hooked up by the guy who can't tell an RCA connector from component if his life depended on it. Yeesh, the local Sears had their PS2 on a 13in GE television that was older than me, via RF! And yes, it was in their vintage "World of Nintendo" cabinet.

My all time fave books. And I am a staunch believer in the "original" order for reading them. Anyways----going through all the new Narnia stuff at the local Barnes & Noble, I found that there's a lot more illustrations in the newer printings. I've been missing out on like 2/3 or more of the art all these years! I got my set when I was 10 or 11 I think, and have re-read them every few years. I just re-read them a month ago to get ready for the movie, and now I find I'm going to have to go buy a whole new set and re-read it again to get the new (old) art... All these years I had based all my ideas of how Narnia looked on the scant few illustrations in my books---I never knew there was art of so many more things. As for the movie---I thought LOTR was much better as movies than books. However, I feel Narnia will be much better as books than movies. Mainly, I can't help but feel that they "LOTR-ized" the movies as much as possible, to both hope to replicate LOTR's success as well as "that's what people expect nowadays for famous/beloved fantasy books made into movies". I'm seeing all these toys and collectibles based on characters that weren't in the books (mainly talking animals etc---I certainly do not recall a prominent centaur general in Book 1) PS--saw the BBC series when I was probably 13 or 14. Liked it, but since "A Horse and His Boy" is my favorite book and "The Silver Chair" is my least favorite, I was rather disappointed.

As of last night I actually thought Ebay prices were rather cheap for 360's. PS2's went for twice their MSRP easy early on, I've yet to see an $800 360. Quick question for anyone who knows---are *all* Wal-Marts getting 360's for launch day? Because I'm not too far from some pretty small and rural ones. (Of course, everyone else in town is probably thinking the same thing)

X360 opened up and dissected to look inside: http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2610

My PS2 camp story: Went out around 3:30AM, was 17th in line. I think they got in 70. Line grew slowly, was only up to 30 by like 7AM. I could have slept in for like 4 more hours and still gotten one. Only took along M.Dew and granola bars for sustenance. And my pocket GB. However: A. Video games are much more "in" now than 1999. There are simply far more gamers. B. There seem to be far fewer 360's available per store, and fewer chains are getting them. In 1999, my BB got in 70 PS2's in a non-holiday season. Now, with more gamers out there in the general public, just days from Thanksgiving/Xmas shopping spree, they're getting half that many 360's. The next-nearest store to me, serving a city with a population over twice that of my town, is getting in TWO more 360's. Nearest store after that, also twice my town's size, is getting in two FEWER 360's. So I presume the 360 will be MUCH harder to get than the PS2 on launch day. Seriously----how many people had paid pre-orders cancelled on the PS2? I don't think I heard of any. If you pre-ordered and had paid, you got one.

Diecast has no affect on magnets. Diecast is zinc. Regardless of if the legs are diecast, styrene, ABS, or whatever, there must be separate magnets embedded in the legs to attract the FAST pack magnets.

I camped out at BB for my PS2, but plan to skip both 360 and PS3 launches. My launch day PS2 served me well, never had a read error (though it chattered loudly with any blue disc), but I could tell it was getting old last year, so I sold it and got a slim PS2 the week they came out. Of course, my new slim PS2 died after 12 hours of use, so I'm now on my replacement slim PS2.

Seems all the BestBuy's around me are getting around 40, usually a 30/10 premium/core split. Of the few numbers I've seen, I'm seeing much higher numbers for BB than Wal-Mart. Was like that for the PS2 launch as well (at least here). And the powerpack is HUGE. And the system apparently runs hot. Sigh--my XB is the hottest (literally) "thing" I own after my car, it heats up my room more than central heating and about a 3-foot zone around where it sits. If the 360 is even hotter... BestBuy X360 allocations, store by store, and some pics: http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/showpos...&postcount=1397

Currently waiting for first price drop for both 360 and PS3. Unless some truly stellar game comes out soon. (And I don't play FPS as a rule) I got a PS2 launch day, but that was because I already had dozens of games for my PSX that I wanted to try. (Most importantly, my fave game Xenogears is one of the most-improved games of all when played on the PS2, graphically). XBox, I waited a while (DOA3 and JSRF was among the few games I wanted) and of course, they included a Controller S and JSRF for the exact price I had paid for the system alone just a little while after I bought the system, Constroller S, JSRF and DOA3. Then the titles picked up a lot and I have bought more XB than PS2 titles in the past 2 years. PS2 is my main system again lately though. Common standard quote---it's the games, not the system. There's lots of neat games coming up for existing systems, but I see little I want for new ones. PSX is the best example--many of its best games came at the end, and the end was overall the best. (That is not redundant) I'm betting we'll see lots more "must have" XB and PS2 games in the next 18 months than must-have 360 and PS3 game.

Just an FYI. There's some nice new pics of the F-22 at the USAF's site. Non-squished this time. http://www.af.mil/photos/index.asp?galleryID=40 Plenty to make wallpaper from.

I believe the AIM-9M is still made in "USAF" and "USN" versions. I know the Navy still has external nitrogen bottles, as it's a key way to tell the various Super Hornet blocks apart. Newer ones have different wingtip launch rails, and the difference is where the nitrogen bottle is.

CAP is CAP, Alert is Alert. CAP is your basic "flying around in circles just in case there's trouble". CAP's are usually set up around AWACS, and at borders etc. Specific time and place. "patrol here to here, N to S then W to E, then circle around the other way, repeat x2" Alert is "sitting on the ground ready to launch at short notice". No planned mission/goal/routing. "If something comes, shoot it down". A plane is ready to scramble in however many minutes it's set up to. As in, Alert 5 is ready in 5 minutes, Alert 15 is 15 minutes, etc. "Zulu alert" is basically Alert 0, which is literally sitting in the cockpit with the engines running, near the end of the runway. Rarely done nowadays. Drawing away a CAP isn't really a tactic, since CAP's are intended to fly around expected trouble spots looking for people to go after. You will draw them regardless. The No-Fly Zones in Iraq were the largest and longest CAPs ever I think. Flew pre-planned routes at certain times and places, just in case something occured. For "cold" scrambles, basically the bigger the plane the longer it takes. A key selling point of the F-20 was a MUCH shorter scramble time than anything else. Even with the F-15's massive speed and climb advantage, in any condition other than Zulu Alert the F-20 could intercept most anything well before an F-15. Two main factors for starting a plane up: 1. Engine start. It's not a car, it takes more than 2 secs. And if you have 2 engines it takes twice as long. 2. Avionics, particularly the nav systems. Can easily take 10+ mins to align them. A possible factor, if you're limited to short-range missiles (a lot of planes/nations are) could be missile cooling, as heat-seekers need their seekers cooled prior to launch. I have no idea how long it takes to cool them. As for anti-sub---totally independent. The missions are exclusive--fighters can't attack subs, and sub-hunters can't engage in air combat. One mission even a Super Hornet can't perform at all is sub hunting. And you don't want to take an S-3 against a MiG-29.

To add to that---a softened decal can easily conform so tightly to the surface that you can see orange peel/bumps in the paint. Or dust particles. Or a stray piece of lint. That's the difference between a decal and a sticker---decals can conform EXACTLY to a surface, if applied well (and if the decal itself is of decent quality---there is AFAIK no way to help bad decals) Hasegawa may be a bit thick, but they are of good quality. My #1 decal tip is take your time, let water/solvents do their work.

A big part of it is optical illusion. The human eye measures speed by measuring how long an object takes to travel a distance equal to its own length. Big things look like they're going slower, even if they're not. Same reason 747's look so slow, when they are the same as any other plane. Same reason biz jets seem to really zoom around. Almost all jets have similar takeoff and landing speeds, but their relative size affects their perceived speed. And yes, I have seen a Super Hornet have almost no apparent motion. But it's mainly just the angle, and the fact that you're "used to" planes moving so much faster. VFA-122 says 100 knots for the high alpha pass, and that decreases with a headwind.

Sukhoi's re-numbering system is nothing compared to Mikoyan's. Sukhoi may give every variant a new name, but at least they don't reuse the same name for several planes. There's probably 4 "MiG-33/35's" by now. For a while the 1.44 was the MiG-35, but not anymore it seems, with the 1.44 having almost no chance of going into production. I don't think a MiG-29 w/canards really exists. I've yet to see a photo that I can recall---and frankly, there SHOULD be photos, LOTS of them, if it's out there. It's not some black project. From some angles (and if you don't see the whole plane) a 1.44 can REALLY look like a -29 w/canards. Googling to check gives no results---lots and lots of mentionings and a few drawings (I've got a GREAT MiG-29 w/canards etc drawing in a WAPJ) but no actual MiG-29 w/canards. Plenty of models and schematics shown at airshows though...

Mikoyan has recently "pulled a Sukhoi" and renamed the MiG-29M the MiG-33, and the MiG-29M/OVT the MiG-35. The "MiG-29 with canards" is actually the 1.42/144.

Quick correction: realized when I woke up that opposing nozzles (up/down) on an Su-30MKI would create proverse yaw in addition to roll. (Hey, it's hard to think in 3D when you're tired)