mikeszekely

I hate to get involved... but here's some points you might what to make to that uppity Mikael Yrin fellow... First, I'm pretty sure that a Valkyrie CAN fire missiles in Battroid mode. The VF-19's in Macross 7 do it on a regular basis. They only don't let you do it in the videogames for purposes of balance between the modes. Second, while I'm inclined to agree that beam weapons like the Gundam or Gelgoog's beam rifle are likely to be more effective than a VF-1's gunpod, the gunpod shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, either, as it's likely to be on par with the the rifles used by the Zaku or the RX-78[G]. And in any case, a VF-1 with a strike pack does indeed have a rather large beam cannon. Third, just because a Saberfish uses pansy missles is no reason to believe that a VF-1 does. In fact, VF-1s can be fitted with ridiculously powerful reaction missles. Fourth, a VF-1 is in no way fragile, nor merely a "suped-up F-14." VFs are not made of steel, but a super-strong material called hypercarbons. Macross Zero also implies that all VFs are fitted with SWAG energy converting armor... that is, armor that uses extra power from the engines to increase the strenght of the armor. For all we know, hypercarbons are just as strong as luna titanium... and another poster in the thread already pointed out that a single VF-1 engine (and they have two) crank out a lot more power than any mobile suits'. Fifth, there is no evidence to support the notion that a standard MS, or even the RX-78, is more maneuverable than a VF-1 in any mode, figher, gerwalk, or battroid. Sixth, just because Minovskies block the standard radar that the EFSF and Zeons were using does not guarantee that it would affect the overtechnology developed CYCLOPS radar systems used by the UN Spacy forces. Valkyries may indeed be able to pick off mobile suits from distances. But I think the most telling thing is the fact that the SDF-1 has proven to be very damage resistant, not to mention armed with a pin-point barrier and a ridiculously large heavy particle gun, while both the Zeon and EFSF ships are constantly bursting like balloons. Several Salamis have even been shown to explode from a little fire from a Zaku machine gun, while the SDF-1 crashed into the earth and remained mostly intact, survived a number or skirmishes with the Zentraedi for several months in space, plowed through a Zentraedi mother ship, and still surived a kamikaze attack from Kamujin. Whatever cases might be made for mobile suits over variable fighters, the SDF-1 vs. any capital ship from Gundam is a no-contest.

I'm in, although I heard that it plays a little like the Gundam Vs. series. If it doesn't get a US release, I'll import.

Chou Jikyuu Yousai Macross: Sousei no Aquarion...

Oh why does it have to come out when all the good videogames are coming? Damn publishers for holding everything until the holidays, leaving me with a long and boring year and poverty for Q4?! I really want that MKII pencil sharpener...

Feel free to take a look here for Mac II mecha info.

You don't like Jet Li because you haven't seen two of his better ones... check out High Risk (I think it was released in the US in that red and black series as Meltdown), and Fist of Legend (which was an excellent remake of Bruce's The Chinese Connection).

I guess the movie pack isn't too bad of a deal, but c'mon... $30 for a DVD? Why is anime so behind the times?

If that's the case, they should have taken the time to come up with a decent ending. I mean, you hear talk about the "American" need for happy endings in films... let's talk about the Chinese need for tragic endings. Because, let's be honest... if something like Crouching Tiger or Hero happened to real, rational people, things would have been handled much differently. But in the movies, we have characters who could resolve things quite simply, yet make ridiculously irrational choices that take away from the story or ignore the wishes of the characters who were their friends or comrades in the story, just to pin some tragedy on the end. And while it made me scratch my head and say "that was kind of dumb" in Tiger, it actually ruined Hero for me.

Hey, I saw it last night... I thought it was pretty good.

Red Vs. Blue kicks much ass. You guys know that you can buy both seasons on DVD? Gamestop carries them, other stores might.

Well, the fight scenes are very reminiscent of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and it has Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi, two of my favorite Chinese actors. So, you'd think I'd love it, right? But much like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, let's just say the ending ruins the whole movie.

Woo-hoo!

I'm telling you, MW is the most pessimistic board around. I mean, the movie is just into production. None of us have seen it, as it isn't even done yet. And we already have a thread to bash it? Come on!

*shivers* Do I but the first season... or will the taint of the movie leak into the goodness that was the TV series...?

season 1 box set is already out. Sah-weet! KITT rules, man! I just hope that the uber crappy made for TV movie never sees the light of day again...

*waits patiently for Knight Rider*

... How is the second screen a gimmick? True, not every game will make the second screen worthwhile--Super Mario 64 DS, for example, has a dinky 2D map on the second screen--but I can imagine plenty of games that could make proper use of that second screen. Imagine a remake of the original NES Zelda with the status screen on the second screen. Or a new Metroid with an area map on the second screen, complete with weapon/item icon placements. The second screen can be quite helpful, and it's far more than just a gimmick... but, like with consoles, wait a couple of years before you buy a portable. Prices will lower, hardware quality will go up, and you'll know which one has the better games. The second screen is a gimmick, because while you and I might be able to think of a use for it, so far the only use developers seem to use for the second screen is as a map screen. And yeah, that can be handy (especially with a new Castlevania), but it's still gimmicky. Gimmicks aside, though, the DS seems to have a better design, better price, and better software.

The PSP's tecnological strengths are overshadowed by its weaknesses... Ridiculously short battery life. High price tag for a "portable," (estimated $250-$300) due to features we don't need, like the ability to play movies. The fact that we'll have to re-buy said movies on Sony's UMD format, if we want to take advantage of said feature. Lack of content (the best game announced so far, GT4, will be a straight port of the PS2 version). Sony's reputation for fragile systems. That's an extra sting, given the PSP's ridiculous price. Granted, most of those complaints can be easily addressed by releasing the PSP at a much more reasonable price... but I don't see it happening. On this particular afternoon in August, the Nintendo DS is just looking better. Forget the dual screen gimmick, the games are there (New Super Mario Bros. looks awesome, and a new Castlevania was announced for it). Not to mention Nintendo's reputation for quality hardware, the clamshell design to protect the screens, and the fact that it plays my already large library of GBA games. And the price looks better... forget EB's presale info, the DS is atually looking to retail at just $150, and Nintendo has talked about how cheap the DS carts will be to produce, so I'd say the games are going to retail at the same $29.99 that GBA games have been retailing at.

I think most famous people should keep their opinions to themselves. Sure, they're entitled to their opinions, but too many celebrities use their fame as a platform the voice their opinions, when many times they are not necessarily qualified to speak on the topics.

Arguing that your movie was better than other movies doesn't make it so. The general consensus is that House of the Dead is crap... and crap it is. Telling us about how you had to fight your way from poverty into the industry also doesn't make you movies good. Next time you see a movie, Mr. Dr. Boll, and think that you can make a better one, don't, because you are the only one who actually thinks that your movies are better. And stay the hell away from my videogames.

I think that would be pretty bad for the fansubbing community considering how they may get nasty lawsuits instead of a warm welcome. A slap to the face instead of a hand shake. Actually, I heard most of the big companies leave the fansubbers alone, as long as they stop distributing once the series is officially licensed. In fact, I heard that a lot of the companies actually use the fansubbers to see which series are generating the most interest as a way of deciding what to license.

Of Macross Zero? I could be dead before that happens.

I hear that. I swear, too, that everyone who says they loved it are just ashamed to admit that they didn't understand it. Meanwhile, no one understood it... it never made any sense at all. Terpfen... what you're basically saying is that we get most games here, but we're don't get a lot of the niche genres. But that's exactly my point. Companies don't think it's worth it to have a real US release, and they're probably right. But, there are still plenty of gamers who would like to play those niche games, myself included. That's why I figure they should just leave the region lockout out and allow for imports.

I forget which magazine.... might have been Game Informer... but a couple of months ago, I read that Uwe Boll picked up the rights to this and a few other games. And even more rights to games are being picked up by even more directors. Making game-based movies seems to be trendy these says, especially as a lot of games today already have strong stories and characters to work with. Problem is, for every one director who will put some effort into their movies and make an, at least, decent game-based movie (ala Resident Evil), there are people like Uwe Boll who seem to think that they can make a movie however cheap and crappy, and that the gamers will pay to see it. And they think that will make them a lot of money, because the videogame industry is enormous now.

Screw that. I'm probably the biggest Megaman fan around, and I'm sure as hell not importing Command Mission at probably $10 more than I'd pay for it here with English subs two months from now, just because they put a freakin' COLOR manual in it. And just because it's $10 less here, I don't see many Japanese importing the American ones that come out later, because they get it first over there, in their native language, and shipping is going to eat plenty of that price difference anyway. Again, I point to the GBA... no territorial lockout, no massive swarms of importing either way. Terpfen, there are a TON of games that still don't make it to the American market. Oddly enough, though, many of them DO make it to the European market... Actually, leaving out the lockouts might cut down on piracy. You mod your system, you can play imports and bootlegs. You have a unmodded system without a lockout, you can play the imports, but they can probably still allow for the system to tell if the disc isn't legit.