mikeszekely

Wow... finally a Lord of the Rings movie I liked!

It's not Antonio Banderas' long lost Asian cousin. That's the guy who played Samanosuke in Onimusha and Onimusha 3!

Is that a 12-3 theatrical release, or just a R1 DVD release? One of my wife's clients in China sent us a VCD... hope to get it soon.

and some Namco corporate BS. I wonder if this song will be in the Japanese version. Can't rag on a group I've never heard of. Mostly these days, I listen to Japanese music. And while M-Flo and Ryohei Yamamoto's new CDs kick ass, I don't really want them in an Ace Combat game. It might be worth complaining about, except that it's probably just intro or ending music. The in-game music will likely be along the same lines as AC4. I wouldn't mind a little Kenny Loggins in an Ace Combat game...

my brotha! i stand united with you, our solidarity against sh!t movies while the rest say "i hate it, but i'll be in line when it hits theaters and buy the boxed set when it comes out" you and i will be standing strong in defiance of utter crap. I didn't see it either! Just like I didn't see Freddy vs. Jason. The only vs. I like in my life is Red vs. Blue.

No way, dude, Swordfish ruled.

SDF Macross is the classic story, so I voted for it. Why not DYRL? DYRL is flash over substance. So what if the VF-1s look prettier, and the battles seem more epic? The story is a pale substitute for the original TV series. I'm actually kinda sick of Plus.

I find that ridiculous. The mentor character in Escaflowne was Balgus. To be honest, Allen Schezar was actually inspired from Roy Focker. Folken has the rank of Britai, and the character seems more inspired from Guld than anyone else. The ranks of the enemy are somewhat intuitive: there is the commander who never sees the battlefield, a sort of emperor (Bodolza), the commander who sees the battlefield but doesn't fight personally (Britai), and the commander who fights (Kamjin). This is the basic structure, you can increase the number of commanders but these ranks are the most representative of an army. This is not what makes an anime formulaic. FV Then Kamjin = Dilandau, by your formula. And considering that they were both nuts, yeah, that makes sense.

It SHIPS exactly one week from today. Unless you live in California, that generally means it won't be in stores until a week from tomorrow... that is, not until Tuesday 10-26. Most games aren't street dated the way movies are.

That's pretty cool, although it does some better than others. I do like how you can click to see the original image.

There are a lot of games I can play through more than once (given the time)... and at any given time, if my buds come over, we can play pretty much any given shooter or fighter, and my wife and I are always up for some Tiger Woods... But there is only ONE series that, no matter how many times I play it, it never gets old. Seriously. And that would be Megaman/Rockman (well, as Jemstone already pointed out, not EXE or Legends). I'm almost getting burn out on X, but the Zero series is still a blast... but where it's really at is the classic series. The Anniversary Collection was a dream come true for me, and even before that, I would play through at least 1-6 once or twice a year, just to stay in practice. And when the Anniversary Collection came out, I finished it in 8 days... because everday, I sat down and played entirely through one Megaman game. Ah, good times. Maybe I can sneak a little time with MMAC before Ace Combat 5, since I finished Zero 3...

Isn't that orange fella in Tetsuwan Atom?

I have a DMS3... on their site, they advertise that a modded PS2 with a DMS3 will play all PS2 games. In fact, they had "ALL" in caps, and defined all as "backups, originals, imports, silvers, and DVD9s." They go on to say that the DMS3 plays all regions of DVDs, with an asterick by all. Down further on the page, they explain by saying that a PAL PS2 with a DMS3 can play all DVDs, but a US or Japanese PS2 can only play NTSC DVDs, due to an issue with the frame buffer length. They make it sound like an issue with PAL DVD movies, not PAL displays, which shouldn't affect the games, so while they don't definitavely come out and say that a US PS2 with their modchip can play PAL games, they do seem to imply it. But again, if anyone knows something I don't, let me know. Man, all this trouble for the new Knight Rider game... damn me for being a kid in the 80's...

I know that, since both Japan and US use NTSC, that it's relatively easy to import games to the US from Japan... in my case, I have a modded PS2. But, can modded a modded NTSC-U/C console play European PAL games? I thought that the number of lines displayed on PAL TVs is different than the number of lines on an NTSC TV and thought that might be a factor. If anyone knows the answer, please tell me.

Well, Star Wars Battlefront is on my list of games to try before RT Invasion, but as I have so little time for console games (haven't played a game of any sort in 6 months....not kidding), it might be a while before I get around to giving Invasion a try. OT, but curse Battlefront for not having a 2-player split screen mode I don't think there is anyway to play it online here in HK. I was looking forward to having a friend come round to try it with me, but then I found out there is no 2-player mode . I wish game developers would realise that not everbody is into or has access to play online console games. Anyway, I'm old fashioned and still prefer playing when I have my friends in the same room with me together with plenty of beer and pizza. None of this anonymous online gaming for me thank you very much. So getting back on topic, how is the 2-player mode of RT Invasion? Graham Battlefront most certainly does have splitscreen two player. On the main menu, you should have four choices: Single Player (self explanitory), Multiplayer (online play or multiple consoles), Splitscreen (for two players on one console), and Options (self explanitory). Even though it's in the main menu, it can actually be easy to miss... whenever I go to play with buds at home, I ALWAYS hit Multiplayer first, as it's the second option, before I remember that Splitscreen isn't in Multiplayer.

I'm probably going to sell my copy of SVC Chaos. As much as I want to like it, everytime I put it in my Xbox, I can't get over how ugly the game looks. And then I try to play it...

It's not that were snooty... it's just that as the console market grows and more developers know there's money to be had, we have more and more games to choose from. And unlike our PC breathren, who seem to get a lot of games at $29.99 or less, console gamers usually have to pay $40-$50 for new games. We don't have time or money to play every game... so we only buy what we feel is the best. What the best is is different for everyone... there will be people who buy Invasion just because it is Robotech/Mospeada. But the majority are just going to see a poorly done shooter... and even if they're in the mood for a shooter where you can transform into a vehicle and drive around, for half of what Invasion costs, you could buy the Transformers game, which was actually pretty good.

From the way you're describing it, though, you make it sound like the Gamestop in your area really marks up the price of their games, which is the part I don't understand. When you go to Gamespot or IGN, they list the set retail price, which is usually $50 for a game. My Gamestop, all the Gamestops in my area, all the Targets, K-Marts, Wal-Marts, Circuit Cities, Best Buys, etc, all sell their games at that retail price, with variations of no more than a few cents. Sure, some areas have local stores that sell games for a few bucks less, and if I live near one (and didn't get a discount already), I'd probably buy from them... why pay more when you can pay less, right? But you can't really fault a retail chain for selling games at retail price... except that, from the way you describe it, your local Gamestop isn't. I'm not really defending Gamestop as a company, just saying that Gamestop as a company isn't like your store, which puzzles me. I know that Gamestop corporate are money-whores... but charging above retail, especially when that's not a chain-wide practice, almost seems like a scam. (I never understood why companies do stuff like that anyway... they think that if they charge more, they make more, which may be true per item sold, but is rarely true in terms of overall profits. Wal-Mart's the number one retail chain in America for a reason, and it's not because the stores look like dumps...) As you said, not shopping there shows your displeasure more than a letter. But I wonder if a letter wouldn't be like catching a kid with his hands in the cookie jar, you know?

There's nothing wrong with console loyalty, if you don't buy consoles for the games. Most people that buy consoles do it so they can be cool, just like everyone else on their block. Unfortunately, this does hurt the videogame industry for those that actually do like videogames and want the best videogames the industry has to offer. Look at the PS2, everyone bit into the hype, even when it was revealed that Sony was lying about the abilities of the PS2, people still hailed it as the best of the next gen consoles. Sega saw that everyone was going to drop their Dreamcast like a bad habit, and they rolled over and died. PS2 hits the stores, no games really worth mentioning until about a year or TWO after it launches. It's still the most popular console, not because it has the best games or the best technology, but is considered the coolest console. PSX at least had better 3D hardware than the Saturn, and more texture mapping space, RAM, and 3rd party support than the N64, so even though it didn't have all the best games, even though some of it's games were better on the other systems. Even though most of the 2D games of that generation were better than the 3D games and the PSX couldn't do 2D for crap, you can still point at it and explain the merits it did have that brought it to the top. PS2 just rides the wave of brand loyalty. While the PS2 is technically the most inferior system, it still has some pretty sweet games. It'd be nice if it were a little less jaggy, and it's got some awful load times, though. Criterion's Renderware engine helps a bit, though. Some of my favorite series on the PS2 include Onimusha, Zone of the Enders, and Ace Combat. I also lean toward PS2 for racers and fighters if they're not Live enabled, and if a Megaman game is released for PS2 and Gamecube like the Anniversary Collection and Command Mission were, I get it for PS2. Gamecube... well, I got Soul Calibur for the Cube, because Link is cooler than Spawn or Heihachi. And it's got Megaman Network Transmission... as a Megaman fan, my collection wouldn't be complete without it. I love the Gameboy Player, too, because sometimes it's nice to play Megaman Zero on the big TV. Mostly it just collects dust, though. I'm not really into Nintendo's first party stuff. Xbox... rapidly becoming my system of choice. Xbox Live makes it easier to keep track of friends and set up matches online. The Xbox controller is also great for shooters (unless you're a PC elitist... then I realize that nothing works for you but a mouse and keyboard), although not so good for air combat games like Ace Combat. The hard drive also kicks bootie for sports games... no more needing to buy extra memory cards just because the new Madden takes up half of one! More games on the Xbox support Dolby Digital surround sound, which is a wonderful thing, and games that are designed specifically for Xbox instead of being developed for PS2 and ported to Xbox are often things of beauty... most notably the Dead of Alive series and Ninja Gaiden. When a game comes out on mulitple systems, I usually buy the Xbox version, especially if it's Live enabled. The Xbox doesn't get much love in Japan, though, and consequently, not enough good Japanese games, especially RPGs. All in all, I don't think the PS2 is top dog because "it's the cool system." I think careful marketing, backwards compatibility, and the PlayStation brand helped to get it out and in people's homes before the Xbox and Gamecube were even released. And while it's taken awhile, the PS2 has filled out its library with more variety than the other consoles offer. Much as I loved the Dreamcast, Sega built it as a console to compete with the N64 and the original PlayStation. They released to early and were too shortsighted, and never really stood a chance. While Xbox has gained a lot of steam, there's not enough family friendly games, and they've failed to capture the Japanese market, and thus not get enough attention from that crowd of people that gravitate less toward games like Halo or Need for Speed Underground and more toward Final Fantasy and Katamari Damacy. Nintendo, on the other hand, had definately got the attention of that crowd with games like Tales of Symphonia and Pikmin, and Nintendo's got a reputation for being kid-friendly. Unfortunately, they've also got a reputation for being too kid-friendly, and there's really not enough "mainstream" content on the Cube.

Not a big deal, since it doesn't change the ship date, but Ace Combat 5 officially went gold. For those not in the know, when a game "goes gold," it means that it's 100% complete, and the masters are shipped to the factory for pressing. I guess the masters used to be gold discs, although I understand that today the masters are usually digital tapes.

Yeah, man. Think of the shipping cost alone! Yeah, I just saw that. Actually I live 3 hr away from there, but event then I think I'd need a U-Haul to get all that mess (including 12 grand apparently) But what's this thing against console loyalty? I understand to some extent what you're saying, but it does account for something I believe. I've had about 6 Nintendo systems(not including every manifestation of Gameboy), and man have those things been durable(except the infamous NES starting rituals ). Everything from high-altitude falls to anti-brother-warheads to standing water hasn't phased my Nintendoes. I think the only cou-de-ta has been setting a GB game on top of a toaster oven and melting it alitlle. That's why I think the DS will be able to take some punishment. But I guess you're talking about the games more. I've never really had to worry about picking up a Nintendo game and not having fun with it. Most people are casual gamers if anything, right? Seeing as I have no real time for games now, GC has done me quite well with what it's offering, but of course I had to get the PS2 for Macross if nothing else. btw, Panzer, YOU WEN AT TEH INTERW3B!!! Yeah, but can a Nintendo system take a bullet like the Xbox can? Man, I wish I could still find a link to that story.

My gawd... Thanking for expressing in so many words how I have always felt about Gamestop/Funcoland/Babbages. They are so abd that they are the one store that if I could rob them blind or simply burn down each chain store I would in a heart beat. But then my friends who all worked there did rob them blind. lol I once was going to trade in a GBA X-men game by activision. The thing wasn't even played. They were going to give me $12 for it yet resell it for $45 as brand new.... F'n crooks! Well, that's your problem, guys. You have weird Gamestops. Out here, Gamestop, Best Buy, Target, EB, K-Mart... they all sell most new console games at $49.99. Wal-Mart might sell it for four cents less, KB Toys for $5 more. If your Gamestops are selling new games for more than $49.99, write to corporate and complain. I work tomorrow, I'll get the address then. Oh, and like I said, we don't have any tiny stores like Starland that sell the games for... a whole whopping $5 less. It's true that we'll still only give you $12 for that GBA game, but out here, it'd be sold used at no more than $25. Yes, that's still kind of a high mark up, but they do that so there's wiggle room for discounts and sales.

You gotta love Believe Your Justice's plot, though. If it comes out stateside, and is reviewed well, I might check it out. I'll probably import Another Century Episode, though.

Sure, the PSP's graphics are great. It doesn't change the fact that they're mostly PS2 games, and I'm not buying the same game twice. It doesn't change the fact that the PSP is going to be over-priced due to the fact that Sony wants to cram in features we don't want/don't need and don't really care to pay more for. It doesn't change the fact that to use those features, you need to buy more stuff, like Memory Sticks or UMD copies of movies you already bought once on DVD. And it sure as heck doesn't make up for the PSP's ridiculously short battery life.

SHAME ON YOU! I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE BASH NINTENDO! Sometimes you gotta call it like it is. Nintendo shot themselves in the foot with the N64 being cart based... a $50 game for PlayStation would go for $70 on the N64. Plus, perhaps living in the glory days when developers knew the money was with Nintendo's system, high licesnsing fees means it's harder to make money making Gamecube games that it is to make PS2 or Xbox games. Nintendo fans are loyal to Nintendo for one big reason... Nintendo caters to them with the Zeldas, Marios, Pikmins, etc. That's not even entirely true as Nintendo doesn't even release a good majority of it "best" titles to the states. Look how many years it took for Fire Emblem as just one example to make it over. "Console Loyalty" is a very retarded concept in itself an only retards with no understanding about economics or marketing are "console loyalist". However, Panzer's comment about a the GC having a "gay" design is rather ignorant and entirely stupid on many levels (especially if he can actually compare it to a purse). What I've said about Nintendo loyalists, the problems with using carts and propietary media, the problem with Nintendo's kid-centric image, and the problem with liscensing is all absolutely true, hence the lack of content on the Gamecube. One of the reasons Nintendo hired Reggie was to smooth over relations with 3rd party developers and to give Nintendo a more aggressive image. If many of Nintendo's "best" games, as you put it, are not making it stateside, then it's just another example of how Nintendo is shooting themselves in the foot, because the videogame market in Japan is on the decline, and most of the money to be made in the industry is in the US, which is why games like Shadow of Rome and Metal Gear Solid are developed with the American audience in mind.