Terpfen

If you have an Xbox, both Doom 3 and Half-life 2 are receiving ports to that console. If you're wondering why only the Xbox, that's because it's the only console that best resembles a PC, and thus makes for the easiest port.

Regarding Macross Compendium: I'm not a hardcore Macross fan. My first series is Zero, and while I find the episode summaries I've read interesting, I'm in it for the planes, the VF-0D and the VF-22S in particular. Could you link me to the Compendium? As for the VF-0A... the only closeups I'm aware of (6:54 into episode 2) show it being colored fully gray, not tan. So, I'm officially confused here.

Laptop gaming generally isn't great. Your video card (probably a low-end ATi card) and RAM are holding you back.

Yes, I've seen M0, thank you. Going back through, I've confirmed that there are VF-0A appearances in episode 2, in both Valkyrie and Battroid form. Shin hops into a downed VF-0A Valk, and at about the 6:54 mark, the VF-0A Battroids appear. At the time of my post, I had forgotten about their appearances--forgivable, since it's been months, if not more than a year, since the series began. I was corrected on this by some friends of mine. As for episode 1, I took a quick look, and you could easily mistake the VF-0A appearances for repainted VF-0S planes, when you can see them clearly at all. This includes the hangar scene with Focker and Raizo talking while watching the pilots inspect their planes. Regardless, the VF-0D has more exposure by its very nature (it's the main character's ride), and it's clear Hasegawa is milking the VF-0S mold as best they can. You can also tell that I haven't quite forgiven them for making up a VF-0B (which is not in the list of VF-0 variants as listed at MAHQ, nor does it appear anywhere in the show, unless we're talking the tail end of episode 5; in which case, it's a fairly untimely release).

Very, very nice... I might just have to buy FS2004 for these planes. These DO work in FS2004, right? A suggestion: tweak the skins so that the colors are less anime-style, and more realistic. I'd love to fly a VF-22S, but it would help so much more if it looked as if it fit in with the landscape, you know?

Despite the good reports, I wouldn't listen to talk about the alpha. It's just that; an alpha. I'm sure Carmack has changed the renderer since then, and has also made streamlines and optimizations. If you're unsure about how your system will do, the best thing is to just wait for the demo, which will be out shortly after the game is released.

Out-of-box deathmatch is configured for 4 players only, and it'll actually be a welcome change. Imagine a deathmatch where you actually hunt someone, instead of standing around near a spawn point and firing rockets. Assuming the EAX implementation is up to par, deathmatch should be something else. And then there's all the mods that will undoubtedly come out; I'm sure the first one will be a mod to allow server admins to set their own max player count. In addition, I'm not sure if UT2K4 will remain the multiplayer game of choice. Singleplayer games have a wider player base, and can easily beat online-only games. Just take a look at Half-life's dominance of the FPS gaming area for years, and its beating-out of Unreal Tournament, Quake III, and their sequels. Regardless, the singleplayer game is reported to be about 23 hours long (my source is PC Gamer's review of Doom 3), so you'll have a little while before you can worry about multiplayer.

Actually, it's optimized for OpenGL, not Nvidia cards. If anything, Carmack has complained about Nvidia cards--certainly Valve has made a stink about the shoddy performance of Nvidia cards versus the Radeon series in Half-life 2, as shown here. UT2K4 is likely optimized for Nvidia, as it even contains an endorsement in the opening sequence; of course, I run UT2K4 at 1280x1024x32, with everything on high, and don't get so much as a stutter.

Yes, I know. The VF-0D appeared in episode 2, in both Shin's blue/white version and the standard gray/white version. Shin's was destroyed in episode 3. I'm referring to a 1/72 VF-0D from Hasegawa.

I'm on a P4 2.8Ghz with a Radeon 9800 Pro and 1 GB of RAM. Bring it on, id! Edit: Oh, yeah. Gamestop.com has an offer where, if you preorder Doom 3 and Half-life 2 simultaneously, you get a coupon code that gives you free overnight shipping for them both. Or if you visit planetdoom.com, one of the recent stories gives you a product code that allows free overnight shipping for Doom 3 by itself, no HL2 preorder needed. If you use this deal, you'll get Doom 3 on August 4.

First a made-up VF-0B... now a VF-0A that doesn't even appear in the show (unless it's episode 5; in which case, Hasegawa is redefining pre-emptive marketing). Where the hell is the VF-0D, damnit? THAT'S the disappointing part. Though a VF-0S Battroid would satisfy me for a while.

I think a few people are missing some key questions here. -What is the AFOS, and why does the anti-UN want it so badly, seemingly more than the UN forces? -How does Mayan Island's creation legend tie in with the Protoculture, if it's even a Protoculture reference at all? (After all, the details are vastly different, and how did the islanders' genes spread to all of humanity if it's the only instance of Protoculture messing with human DNA?) -Why the hell haven't we gotten a VF-0D model yet?

Yes, I can recognize number order in serial numbers, thank you. That doesn't mean they actually ARE continued designs, it just means that the series is pulling what we like to call a CYA. Duel is GAT-X102. Obviously, 102 is lower than, say, the Blitz's 207. Except the Blitz doesn't look anything like the Duel. They share nothing besides the Phase Shift, and even then Blitz doesn't fulfill a function anything like what the Duel does. There's no continuity between these designs. Who are you going to trust, Bandai or your own eyes?

Mecha design is a visual medium as much as it is a technological medium. Freedom and Justice had the Phase Shift system, but nothing else. One similarity does not a continuity make. This applies to the Strike/Impulse design as well. No. The GINN is to GuAIZ what the Zaku is to the Gelgoog. Yeah, that's called technological espionage, not design continuity. Don't know if you realize this or not, but all Gundams share the same general aesthetics. This is what makes a Gundam a Gundam in this long-running series. Gundams have faces and not monoeyes. Gundams have V-fins. Gundams are usually prototypes in some way. That's why the GM is called a GM, not a Gundam. That's why your argument is flawed. You've got a weird sense of continuity. The GP03, designed in 1991, is an extention of the basic idea Katoki set forth in 1988 with the Deep Striker. In Gundam chronology, the Deep Striker is just a smaller-scale GP03. Now, the idea that all transforming suits after the Zeta are Zeta ripoffs is false for three reasons: one, you're the only one arguing that technology is the most important aspect when considering design continuity. Two, there were transforming suits in existence before the Zeta Gundam (Asshimar and Methuss are two that I can remember off the top of my head). Three, Zeta itself transforms using a technology created by the other side. Now, if you want to couple design continuity in terms of the Zeta, then the Zeta Plus line is a nice example of what should be considered true design continuity. The Dinn was not a GINN with wings. Go back and look at the thing. The Dinn has a standing mode where its wings are folded up reminiscent of the Heaven's Sword. When the Dinn is flying, it is reminiscent of the Heaven's Sword. It's the same thing with ZAFT aesthetics, and I take it as every bit as unseriously as I take the Heaven's Sword, because no army in the world is going to field something that looks like the Dinn. The Genesis is not a descendent of the Blitz Gundam. There is no relation between the two, cloaking technology or no cloaking technology. Freedom doesn't have shoulder cannons. Its cannons are stuffed between two wings, which kind of screws with what I like to term aerodynamics, thus further discrediting Freedom as a design to be taken seriously... well, that and the guns acting as skirt armor. Way to go, Okawara. What worries me about this argument is that you need to have two mobile suits be nearly clones of each other, and both designed by the same guy, before you'll admit to one being a ripoff of the other. This is going nowhere. So... Gaia Gundam could be another case of Okawara ripping himself off, which would be a repeat of the relation between Freedom and Gundam XX, so you admit to a ripoff there. Gaia Gundam could also be a BuCue rehash, in which case it's a Zoids ripoff, so you've recognized the existence of another Okawara "original." Thanks for making the case for me. No more replies from my end. This is getting about as goofy as Okawara's M-MSV line.

Correct on the first four counts. Impulse is not an evolution of the Strike, because the Strike is not a ZAFT suit. ZAFT did not appropriate the Strike plans in any way, shape, or form. Impulse is a new MS with Freedom's features in an attempt to show a design evolution, but Strike's features because Okawara decided Strike is the basic "first half of the series good guy" mecha for the SEED universe, and so incorporated it into the Impulse. This is about as silly as wondering why US jet fighters don't incorporate designs from Russian jets. Freedom and Justice are not derived from the 4 stolen Gundams, despite what the show may say. There's no similarity between the 5 initial Gundams, let alone the Freedom and Justice. Okawara couldn't stand to make similar parts on the Freedom and Justice, two brother designs. In either case, Justice is derived from the Dinn, and the Freedom is derived from some unnamed source--it sure as heck isn't the Strike or the 4 stolen Gundams. My bet is the Gundam XX, but that's just me. CGUE and GINN were created at about the same time in the SEED universe, IMO; there was no lesson to be learned from the GINN. The CGUE is simply a commander's MS that bears some proportional similarities to the GINN. Would you like to say that the Goohn and Dinn are evolutions of the GINN? You'd be just as wrong. Genesis is not an elaboration or continuation of the Blitz Gundam. It may have appropriated technology, but the MiG-29 is not an appropriation of a Cessna just because it has wings. Why don't you mention how the Meteor is simply an evolution of Katoki's GP03? This is the most obvious ripoff in the entire show, IMO. Or how about the Dinn conning stuff off the Death Birdie and the Gundam Heaven's Sword? MAHQ lists it as the Death Beast. In any case, the Death Whatever was able to fold its legs up and attach itself to an add-on pack, which it could eject and then unfold its four legs to cross complex terrain. But that wasn't my point; the point is the Gaia Gundam transforms into something that looks awfully damn similar.

Now THAT is much better. Great stuff. Any chance of a sketch of Misa in her red swimsuit?

He said he drew it in Adam Hughes' style.

Natural evolution is a design philosophy that Okawara does not subscribe to, and so is not present in SEED D. What we have here is merely a recycling of parts. There is no evolution to be found. Evolution can be found in Gundam Wing, where Katoki took the Tallgeese, stripped it down into the Leo, and then evolved it while keeping common features. Evolution can be found in Gundam 0083, where Katoki took the GM Type C, created the Powered GM, and then incorporated Powered GM aesthetics into the GM Custom--then took the GM Custom plus the Gundam Stamen, with a bit of the Gundam mk.II, and molded it into the GM Quel. In contrast, all that Okawara did here was to recycle the same design aesthetics and parts he's been using for 12 years, mixed in with ripoffs of other designers (for example, Gaia Gundam's four-legged transformation is merely a rehash of the Death Army from G). Fire this man already. It looks like Bandai is trying to recreate Zeta, and it will not work. Period. Thank God for the existence of Studio Reckless.

I love it. I have to agree with the idea here that the lips are a little too large, though--but I think that if you were to correct it, the nose would need thinning more than the lips. Also, just my personal taste, but I would've drawn this at another angle; her thighs look stunted from the POV you've drawn. Maybe something off to her left would've been better. Looking forward to more Misa art. We don't have enough of it.

Bill Lockyer, the source for this non-story, is the guy who came out publically and said that Schwarzenegger's order to put Gavin Newsom in his place was a political move designed to please a constituency, rather than a legitimate order. Given that Lockyer has a history of lying in public about his boss, you'll excuse me if I don't believe a word of this.

Why make him search? It's faster and easier just to click "Macross" in the left frame, and then to be a good poster by conveniently linking to the results. Observe: VF-0S instructions. SV-51 instructions.

GM Command space type, also.

Well, you could try Tamiya's white spray primer for those areas. It shouldn't make too much of a difference in terms of color shading, and I believe Tamiya and Gunze paints are chemically compatible.

I'm sure that the HGUC Zeta is, from a technological and structural point of view, a very nice kit; well-constructed, even. My problem with the HGUC Zeta is that its styling is so retro that it makes my retinas bleed.

In the original 0080 lineup, Bandai released both the ground and space variants of the GM Command. So far in the HGUC line, we've got the GM Cold Climate, with the ground use GM Command coming up soon. Oh, hell no. Bandai knows people want these kits desperately. So what they do is string buyers along, releasing these guaranteed sellers as far apart as they can. For example, there's a reason why Bandai waited until the HG RX-78 mold was rendered unusable before they released the HGUC. There's also a reason why it's taken so long for the HGUC Zeta's release (which, by the way, is an extremely disappointing little kit; so much for my hopes of an updated Zeta to match the updated HGUC The-O). You'll get your 0079 retro-styled (blah) kits, but in due course. Until then... Master Grades. It has nothing to do with radio waves. When two objects touch, a medium is created for the transmission of sound waves. Given the lack of gravity in space's vacuum, the sound waves given by a person's speech vibrates their MS slightly, and those vibration waves carry over to the other MS, and is then heard by the other person. It's the same principle that a SWAT team's listening device will use; you stick a listening device on a window pane, and if there are people in the room, the window will vibrate due to the sound waves of the speakers' voices, and the listening device reads the vibrations to send sound back to the SWAT team. Also, Minovsky particles affect long-range radar and radio. Radar usage and radio communications over short distances are still possible, though not perfect. You can thank SEED for it. Bandai's flooded the Gundam market with SEED models and toys and everything else, and UC modelers had nothing to buy. So Bandai's revisiting a highly-desired subject; 0080. Me, I'm still waiting for Bandai to release a HGUC GP02A. I don't want one, but I think there should be one.