mikeszekely

Since Journey to Jaburo outright sucked, I've resolved to rent any new Gundam games before I buy them, and EiS is no exception. The exception would be AEUG vs. Titans, though. Zeta Gundam is my favorite Gundam series with most of my favorite mobile suits, Capcom is my favorite game developer/publisher, and even if the space battles were less fun, I loved Federation vs. Zeon, and would gladly take a Zeta game even if they didn't improve the engine at all.

The good news about this game is that it stands a chance of a US release... Nintendo Power has had it listed for a US release for a while now. Can't get enough of the One Year War. Eh... I'm tired of the One Year War. Don't get me wrong, First Gundam is one of my all-time favorite shows. But 90% of the Gundam games out there are One Year War, 85% of those sucked, and even the ones that didn't (Federation Vs. Zeon) don't have enough bitchin' mobile suits. I'm with yellowlightman... I want AEUG vs. Titans. IMHO, Zeta Gundam has some of the best mobile suits, and was probably the only Gundam series that was better than the original. And while Federation vs. Zeon had its flaws, even if they don't improve the engine for AEUG vs. Titans, it's still good enough that I know I'll enjoy it. Besides, I heard Quebeley is going to be in it.

Well, it's either that, or the debates we had in those 19 vs 21/22 polls awhile back. A few people will admit that they convereted to the 21/22 after that thread.

I remember last time the VF-1 dominated, too. People tend to like what they saw first, grew up with, or consider to be "classic." Just like there are people who think the NES is still the best for videogames or have a fondness of 60's and 70's muscle cars. Personally, though, I'm always looking forward to the next new thing, and I went with the VF-22. (I lean toward PS2 for my current game system of choice, although I play everything, and my ideal car was a 1999 Mitsubishi 3000GT. Hope the rumor that they might bring them back in 2005 is true...)

Well, that would depend. And let's say I made a movie instead of wrote a book, to keep more in line with our discussion of Lucas. Okay, if I made a movie that was the way I wanted it, and I was satisfied, I should have no reason to alter it. Maybe to prequels or sequels if I felt the need to expand on the story, but if the film captured my vision, then it should be fine. I think going back and altering a character so that he'd seem more of a good guy, or to try to incorporate more mass-market appeal is selling out your artistic vision. On the other hand, if technology limited what I could and couldn't do, then I might have to settle. When technology advances to the point where I could do what I wanted originally, it might be tempting to re-do some things. For example, maybe I intended to have a scene on the moon. It's not feasible to actually do a shoot on the moon, but 20 years from now, it might be. Or perhaps I simply wasn't faithful to my artistic vision. Perhaps the original version was where I sold out, trying to create fame and fortune for myself. Having succeded, I decide that it's safe for me to take my original film(s), and change a few things to make it closer to the idea that I originally had. Would that piss off some people? Sure, but it'd probably make me happy. Now, which of those three scenarios applies to Lucas? I really don't have any idea. But at the end of the day, what it comes down to is that I don't really care, either. Whatever version comes out on DVD is probably the version I'll get, and that'll be good enough for me, and perhaps the simply majority as well. If you really need DVDs of the trilogy in it's original form, well I know on eBay they're selling the trilogy on DVD already. I'd assume that they're region 0's. Perhaps they might be in the original form. Or, although this option will limit the quality, burn your own DVDs from your VHS or laserdiscs. Just a few things you'll need: 1 - A way to capture the video from the source to your computer. Personally, I have S-Video inputs on the front and back of my PC, plus a cable in. 2 - Some kind of software to author a DVD from the video you just captured. Again, my computer came with Click to DVD and Windows Movie Maker. 3 - A DVD burner. They've come down in price a lot, too. You can get burners that just do one type for around $100. Or, at $275, go for the best and get a Sony DRU-510A, which can burn onto all types. When shopping for a burner, do some research and figure out what kind of media your players can read, either DVD+ or DVD-. For the record, both the PS2 and the Xbox will read both, as will most of the newer players. Then you can either buy a cheaper burner that burns what your players can play, or if they play both, buy an expensive burner that burns both formats, and then buy whatever blank DVDs are on sale.

First, if you don't see anything wrong with him only caring about he wants (if that is indeed the case), then I can't help you. Why you seem to think it's laudable that he doesn't take the fans wishes into his consideration is beyond me. I sure as hell don't see anything wrong with an artist caring about only what he wants. When I was in college, I took a clase on writing fiction. Often, the assignment was to write a short story. That's it, no rules, no topics, not boundaries, just write a short story. And yet, for an assignment with no rules or boundaries, I constantly had the teacher (a pompous fellow who acted as if he truly believed himself to be an expert, simply because he was lucky enough to get one of his cheap horror schlock books published as an obscure paperback under a pseudonym) coming back to me and telling me that I should re-write parts of my stories to take into consideration any number of groups who may have found something to complain about (for example, I shouldn't have any kidnapped girls in my story, because I might offend feminists... or victims of kidnappings). He kept telling me to consider my target audience. Well, feminists and victims of kidnappings probably weren't my target audience, but thing I always thought is that I was telling a story because I had a story in my head. I wasn't telling a story to make John Smith happy. And I certainly saw no reason to alter the story that I wanted to tell just to make it more palatable to Mr. Smith. If Lucas thinks the SE versions are the versions that truly tell the story the way he wants, props to him for doing it that way, even some people are going to gripe. On the other hand, if he changed them to make them appeal to a larger crowd, then sure, he may have compromised artistic integrity in favor profit. Which is the case is for you guys to decided, as I personally don't care. What I do care about, though, is an artist's right to create the art the way he or she wants, being forced to compromise his or her original vision for the sake of mass-market appeal.

Okay... slowly but surely, I've been trying to assimilate the various Gundam stories. Now I've seen Gundam Wing, First Gundam, and Zeta Gundam, as the 08th MS Team, 0080, and 0083. All very entertaining stuff, so I decided to start checking out the side stories (less interested in the comic adaptations). So, I picked up Blue Destiny and, um... I forget the crappy English name for it, but the official US release of G-Unit. Sadly, that's about all we have in America. Sure, we have the first Gundam, G Gundam, and Gundam Wing adaptations, as well as the Gundam Wing stories Blind Target, Episode Zero, and Battlefield of Pacifists, but I really an more interested in in the novels and comics that actually advance the UC universe, like Crossbone Gundam and Hathaway's Flash. While info on the mobile suits is plentiful, I can't so much as find a summary of the stories. Which brings me to my question. Does anyone know where I can find summaries or fan translations or the novels or mangas that haven't been commercially released in the States?

Either that, or some kind of "destroy the evidence" failsafe. From Sara's visions, were given to assume that at some point, the AFOS is going to "wake up" and go on a destructive rampage. If AFOS were purely a defensive unit, and it was supposed to protect the Protoculture's experiment (if it was to protect the Protoculture themselves, they wouldn't leave it behind), you'd have to wonder why it goes nuts on them later. Here's something to ponder, though. If the Protoculture landed on Earth and made humans a sub-Protoculture race... and did the same thing to the Zolans on Zola... did they also leave an AFOS somewhere on Zola?

I like the mushroom sequence. The snake part just blows in my opinion... While at first I agreed, after 20 minutes, I realized that the snake breaks up the monotony and actually becomes what makes lengthy viewings possible. The mushroom part is excellent, though, because it has no real relevance to anything else in the... um... film. A large snake might eat a small badger, or a large badger might eat a small snake, but neither would be interested in mushrooms. It's just there, as if being there validates its own existance. Brilliant. All in all, I think Funny Badgers is a genius work of art, and long for the release of a Special Edition Funny Badgers DVD.

You realize that I watched that badger thing for 20 minutes? And now I think I need a CD of the song...

Indiana Jones - After watching all three back to back to back over three nights, I enjoyed "the Last Crusade" the best. Why? Harrison Ford played a brilliant Indy in all three, but Sean Connery was great as Indy's dad. Yes, there may have been more humor ("No ticket!") in Temple and Crusade than in Raiders, but I don't believe that Indy was ever a brooding anti-hero. On the contrary, I feel that all three films were intended to have their comedic moments, and it's those comedic moments that seperate the Indiana Jones movies from other action movies... Indiana Jones isn't simply the tough guy hero who gets the girl... he's the tough guy hero who gets the girl, maybe after his dad did, who sometimes isn't very heroic, and is sometimes damn unlucky. In that sense, Indy's easier to relate to, for most of us. But what's the biggest reason why I think Crusade was better than Raiders? Because I was most entertained when I watched it, and that's all that matters to me. Star Wars - I remember watching it for the first time, then going out into the yard with a wiffle bat and pretending it was a lightsaber. So you could say it captivated my imagination when I was a kid. So Transformers, but when I got the DVDs, I realized they weren't really as good as I remembered. Come to think of it, I also really liked Ninja Turtles, but I don't here anyone bitching about how the new cartoon isn't the same as the old one. And since then, I've found other stories that I've enjoyed as much or more than Star Wars. Will I get the Star Wars trilogy when it comes out? Probably. Do I already have the Phantom Menace and the Clone Wars? Yep. Would it have been cool to have the original versions of the trilogy? I guess so. Do I really care that the special edition versions have been altered? Not really. Did I like Jar Jar? Definately not. But did I feel like making George Lucas start over again when I saw Phantom? Nope. Why? Because I've got better things to do with life than worship a movie trilogy that began before I was even born. In short - Lucas can do whatever the hell he wants. If I like it, great, if not, who cares? It's not like there's a shortage of other sci-fi franchises to spend my dollars on.

Thanks for the site! Interesting reads, all in all. And, judging by the pictures on this page, A Baoa Qu and Zedan's gate are definately the same thing, as motley was kind enough to confirm.

After the Zeon defeat, the Federation took control of their asteroid bases... at least some of them, anyway. In 0083, the Delaz Fleet attacks the naval review at Konpei Island... now, Konpei island used to be called Solomon, right? Then, near the end of Zeta Gundam, everyone's congregating around this place called "The Gate of Zedan" or just Zedan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Zedan A Baoa Qu? And then finally, we have Axis, but Axis is a totally original asteroid base, right?

Aw, come on! The first movie had plenty of humor, too. Like when the girl in his class had "love you" written on her eyelids and kept winking at him. Or when the guy starting swinging his sword to intimidate Indy, and Indy gave him a funny look and shot him. Or when he knocked out the one Nazi on the ship to steal his uniform, but it didn't fit. Having watched the trilogy back to back to back over three nights, and I can honestly say that Indy's character is pretty much the same in all three, and that all three were intended to be action movies with some humor. And for the record, I liked the Last Crusade the best, with Raiders being a very close second. As for the whole Megaroad/black hole thing, yes, there is a super-massive black hole in the center of the galaxy (scientists are actually finding evidence of super-massive black holes at the center of every galaxy, implying a connection between super-massive black holes and galactic formation). But black hole aside, going for the center seemed like a bad choice anyway. I forget the exact numbers, but most of the matter in the galaxy is in the center, which means that gravitational tides near the center would be extreme. If they were going off to look for earth-like planets to colonize, they should have been looking on the edges, were conditions are more like our own.

I thought that was one of the more clever devices in the remake. I thought it filled in an almost empty spot in the Japanese version... Mean... the part about Sadako being able to kill ppl, and cause them to go crazy and commit suicide? Did Sadako make the horses commit suicide? The impression that I got was that they thought the horses seemed to be dying from some unidentified disease, but that Samara was actually using her power to kill the horses because she didn't like sharing the barn with them. As for the horse that jumped off the boat, I think it was just trying to get away from Rachel. The novels and the Japanese films explain that watching the tape infects a person with the girl's being down the genetic level. It's fairly common in literature for animals to sense things that people don't. The horse may have sensed Samara's hate for horses and felt threatend enough to try to run away. The whole thing with the horses was a little contrived, sure. The death of the horses lead to Samara's mother's depression in the movies, instead of a psycic being labeled a fraud in the Japanese version.

yeah... none of the american sequels are gonna be based off the japanese novels or sequels. I also read at RingWorld that Naomi Watts is in for the second, but Gore Verbinski might not be directing it.

Then you are not really disagreeing with me. I pointed out that Capcom tried to do too much... when they should've picked one type, and gone all the way with it. If they had concentrated on 3D gameplay... it would\ve been good. The same with 2D. Instead... they tried to do a little of both.... screwing up 1 side, and getting the other right. Its like this... with the right amount of effort.... Capcom would've gotten even boss battle in 3D right.... but didn't put the right amount of effort.... and even Battle Transmission shows it. Capcom needs to take Megaman seriously again. The part that I disagreed on was that it would have been alright if they focused on crafting the entire game in 3D. In my mind, 2D is the way to go, and recent hits like Viewtiful Joe show that a 2D game can still be well recieved on a console, and not just the GBA. In a sense, you could say that I disagree that they tried to take on too much, even. On the contrary, it was kind of a half-assed game that they used just to explain who Axl was, and set the stage for Command Mission. Just like they were half-assed with X6 so that they could set the stage for Megaman Zero. Of course, I do agree whole-heartedly that they need to start taking Megaman seriously again. Problem is, Keiji Inafune isn't interested. Battle Network is his new baby, and that's all he's interested in right now. Which is a waste, really... while the first Battle Network was a novel idea and it was kind of cool seeing all the classic characters remixed, by Battle Network 3 the game had degenerated into fetch quest after fetch quest. (Here's hoping that the soul styles add something new to the game, but that's for another day). Even if Inafune is too occupied to work on Megaman, Capcom should put someone else in charge with more vision than that fellow who did X7 (and is working on Command Mission). As for Network Transmission... I actually liked it a lot for what it was. I mean, face it... the Battle Network formula didn't lend itself well to the old school gameplay of the classic series, but it was certainly a fun try. Should Capcom try to do it again, though, I would do away with the Battle Chips. They could instead set it up so that you fight a boss, earn his soul style, and then fight another boss who's weak to that Soul Style... and of course, put each boss in a different stage, and let us pick the order of the stages from a screen of mugshots... (of course, then we'd have the magazine griping about how unorginal that is...)

Which one was the one where the guy has sex with her and creates the Sadako clones? Was that Rasen? Yeah, but that was actually from the novel, as far as I know. The third novel gets even weirder. It's about people who are dying and live with some computer. The computer runs a simulated world (kinda like the Matrix) called Loop. The events of Ring and Rasen too place in the Loop... but people the reason that people in the real world are dying is because of Sadako's curse in Loop.

Hey... I was reading on the web that the American sequel to the American Ring is going to be out in October of 2004... and that it's not going to be an adaptation of Spiral (Rasen) or Ring 2, but an entirely original story.

What?!?! Don't get me wrong, Ringu wasn't bad... but better than the American version? Let's see, Reiko was an annoying character who stopped every ten minutes to cry, causing me to actually root for Sadako... who was herself more a vehicle to carry the plot than a real character. Combined with the generally sunny backdrops where Ringu was filmed, and you have a movie that was only marginally scary at best. The cursed video wasn't really bad, but they only had that one obscure clue to go on. As for the American version... Seattle's rainy skies and the muted lighting set a better atmosphere, and while I do agree that silence can be scary, the Ring's soundtrack worked for it. The cursed video was longer and more disturbing, but left a series of clues that actually made the story as much a mystery as a horror story. Samara was a genuinely terrifying character (the scene near the end with the TV gave me nightmares... the first time that's happened since I was seven or eight and I saw Stephen King's It on TV). And Rachel's son was kinda creepy himself. The one thing that Japanese version does win out on is the ending... some people complain that the American version over explains things, but that's not really it... it's just that the Japanese version is... well, I'll just say better. I don't want to spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it. I haven't see the Japanese sequels yet... I heard Ring 2 and Ring 0 were good, though, and Spiral sucked... which is kinda weird, because Spiral was the second novel, and there was no novel for Ring 2. Well, maybe Suzuki's novels just aren't as good... I heard Loop was pretty bad...

I wish every game could "not suck" due to that. Gameplay/control beats EVERYTHING. No matter how gorgeous the graphics, no matter how cool the hero, gameplay/control are the main things. Is that not what's wrong with X7? Zero's cool, X is cool, looks ok--but gameplay? Control? No, as always, Capcom nails control on Megaman. The main gripe is the weak story, going from 2D to 3D, no control over the camera (I might be griping about that for Castlevania later...), and somewhat uninspired level designs for the 3D segments. Axl is like a weaker version of X, and his Copy Shot is cool, but ultimately useless outside of a few spots where they force you to use it to save some of the Reploids. Once you unlock him, X is the same X we know and love. Zero's a little slower with the saber, but he can reflect bullets, plus he gets some new weapons instead of just new moves. Abombz!!... I'm gonna have to disagree with you. While the 2D parts were sheer bliss, the 3D parts were lacking. Especially the bosses... it just didn't feel like Megaman fighting the bosses in large 3D areas. I stand by my original statment: 3D graphics, 2D gameplay.

Seems Japanese horror films are all the rage now since the Ring was so successful. Now we've got this Eye movie, and I heard that they're going to remake Juon, too. I don't know, though. While the Ring was an excellent film (both the Japanese and the American), seems silly to just jump on a Japanese horror film bandwagon. That'd be like saying that Hollywood fantasy movies are good just because LotR was, and anyone who's seen Dungeons and Dragons knows that that's just not the case. The Ring was good because Koji Suzuki is a good author, the Japanese director was a good director, and because Gore Verbinski did a damn fine job directing the remake.

Okay, as the most die-hard Megaman fan the world has ever known, I would have to say... it's really not that bad. See, here's the thing: we all have certain expectations for the way Megaman should play. And the simple fact of the matter is, unlike Mario or Metroid or Zelda or Sonic, but perhaps like Castlevania (more on that later), Megaman is NOT meant to be 3D. Capcom would have served fans better, and everyone I've talked to agrees with this, if they would have rendered the game in 3D, but retained essentially 2D gameplay, ala Viewtiful Joe or Klonoa. Once you recognize that, you start to accept X7 for what it is. The 2D parts are still fun, and the 3D parts... you start to get used to them. Yes, you can unlock X... to do so, you simply need to rescue 64 Reploids. I personally made it my mission to rescue them before beating any bosses, and it didn't take me too long to do it. After you have X, the game starts to feel more like Megaman, with a lot of running and jumping and shooting. Yes, I know that Axl can do these things, but Axl sucks, and his Axl Bullet is three times weaker when fully charged than X's X-Buster. To fix the voice acting, go to the options menu before you even start playing, and for the love of God, set the voices to Japanese! To fix the story... go play Megaman Zero 2. Unfortunately, the story in X7 will always suck and wreck continuity, and for what? Just to introduce Axl and set the stage for Megaman X: Command Mission. If Capcom wants to continue the X series, which I hope they do, they need to stop abusing it. X6 was rushed out to set up Megaman Zero. X7... another rush job to set up another series. To that end, I want to be appointed to direct any new projects relating to the Classic or X series. Since Inafune abandoned them to work on his precious Battle Network games , I'm the only one who can save Megaman! Well, except for those guys doing the Zero series. Kudos to them, as the first Zero game was brilliant, but Zero 2 was still 100% improvement, and the best Megaman game since X4. If they can continue to improve and don't muck up their story (like X did), the Zero series has the most potential. Oh, as for Castlevania, I picked it up... and for those expecting a 3D Symphony of the Night, you're all going to be let down. The RPG elements are gone, the castle is not a large, interconnected beast that will you must get new powers to reach new corners... essentially, there's a hub in the middle, and you teleport to each level. And instead of exploring, it's mostly you find a door, but you have to find and push three switches to unlock it. When you do... there's another door, and more switches... The only thing keeping it from sucking outright is the gorgeous visuals, tight control, fluid gameplay, and excellent soundtrack. So, I think of it as more like a hyrbid of Devil May Cry and Castlevania than a 3D version of 2D Castlevania. Actually, since Leon has a block move, I'm having a lot more fun with Castlevania than DMC. As far as games in general go, it's not bad, but not brilliant like it's 2D cousins. Too many games, too little time, really... although I beat Megaman X7 and Megaman Zero 2 already, I still have to finish Casltevania, Viewtiful Joe, and Time Crisis 3... and in less than a month, since Need for Speed Underground, Final Fantasy X-2, and Mario Kart all come out right around three weeks from now. And only about two weeks or so to play those before Ninja Gaiden...

What exactly is Gundam Evolve, anyway? I think I'd like to see them. Where should I start looking?

While it's true that in Japanese (as in English, with differences in American, Australian, and British dialects) the difference in dialects is usually just some local words that mean the same thing, and can in most cases be understood by people that don't speak that dialect but still speak the same language, that's not always the case. Check out Chinese. Today, all of the different Chinese dialects use the same grammar and is written with the same characters (well, mainland China uses slightly simplified versions). A person from Shanghai can write something down, and a person from Beijing will understand it. But if they read what they wrote in their local dialect, it's basically a foreign language to them. Lots of us know that Cantonese Chinese and Mandarin Chinese is different, but there are actually many many more different Chinese dialects. They're just not as well-known because mainland China and Taiwan use Mandarin Chinese for their "official language," while Cantonese is commonly spoken in Hong Kong (and even at that, I think people in Hong Kong usually can speak Mandarin, too).