Effect

Tabula Rasa just had a major facelift. I'm really liking the new direction as well. Went from a fantasy/scifi hybrid to a more Anarchy Online type of Scifi game. The Lost Eden expansion for Anarchy Online is also suppose to add mechs to the game that you can pilot. If they could only undo Shadowlands or make a server that doesn't include it.

I'm still excited about being able to download NES, SNES, and N64 games and being able to store and play them. Even if you aren't interested in the new games that much and you love old school this is still something you should be interested in. It's access to all those games(most likely a low prices I'd assume) and a system to store and play them on. Now I can try out all the games I missed out on either due to lack of interest or money and time at the time. Just think how huge that library will have to be. There are tons of SNES games I'd love to play again and even though I have them being able to play them without having to find all the parts to my SNES and making sure the games work and have no dust will be a plus. Get done playing a new NR game and then play Chrono Trigger or some other SNES game. :) The only thing I hope is that this system has a ethernet port for this setup. Wireless is great but not everyone has a router(though not a problem for me but when I get my own place it might since it will just be my computer). Being able to directly connect the system to the cable modem would be nice.

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach Well I was playing Everquest 2 till I canceled my account last night. Just not feeling it even though this was my second time giving it a chance. Oh well. No other MMORPG seems to get me interested. Either I don't want to spend the money to upgrade my system(really I just need more ram) or the gameplay is boring. EQ2's structure just felt bland. I had more fun in the cities doing quest back and forth then I did hunting. They finally got the quest part of Evequest right but everything else kinda falls apart. I'd love to just quest 100% of the time and never have to life a sword. Maybe even puzzle type quest but I doubt we'll ever see a MMORPG like that. So for the time being I'm going back to Anarchy Online with my free account(the one playable till Jan 2006. The original game is still the best, include notum wars as well. If only they could undo Shadowlands. The original AO, Notum Wars, and Alien Invasion are great but it's the Shadowlands expansion that kills that game. It's more fantasy then scifi due to it. Eve Online was fun but not worth the price per month I feel. I don't think any of these games are worth $15 a month. Even EQ1's price has increase and that's just looks like a way to force peopel to buy the All Access price which is $20 for all the games but for just one game you spend $15. So when you get the All Access price you are going to want to go out and buy the games and their expansions so you get your money's worth, or at least you think you are, but end up spending even more on the games itself. Smart idea by SOE, greedy and shady no doubt, but smart.

I think it could be more about image then anything else. You know those people that think they are "too cool" to be seen playing a video game in public. Something this small might be better for their "image". Could possibly be a reason to make it so small or for those really on the go and think that the current GBA SP is to big for the clothes you wear(again about image). Also it could simply be another test of their hardware. The Nintendo Revolution looks really small and was said to be even smaller in it's final version. So the GBA mini could be a test for them to see exactly how small they can go with things. How well they can compress technology and even data. I wouldn't get one for fear of losing it to be honest. Though I wonder what the price would be. If I had the extra cash I'd blow money on it for one of these situations where I don't take any bags with me and I just carry my wallet and this could fit without being noticed.

Reason Nintendo doesn't "dive in" like Sony or Microsoft is that Nintendo is 100% a gaming company. Sony and Microsoft aren't, they have gaming divisions. If their gaming divisions loss money which they tend to actually do at times, Sony and Microsoft can simply use money from other divisions of the company to cover those losses. So they can afford to do certain things and loss money in the process just to gain more of the market. Reports have said that last year Nintendo as a whole with it's games and systems gained a lot more profit then Sony and Microsoft's gaming divisions. That's what you have to compare here. Nintendo as a whole and the gaming divisions of Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo is actually better then those divisions but Sony and Microsoft are still much larger companies due to everything else they do and have done before even thinking about getting into the gaming industry. Nintendo and Sega were better to compare cause both were 100% gaming companies. Which is part of the reason why I think Ninendo isn't even bothering to try and compete directly with Sony or Microsoft cause they honestly can't due to how large both those companies are. They aren't just going up against their gaming divisions money wise. A lot of people forget this have to rethink how they should compare the three sides I think.

Well I don't think they are thinking that way. It seems more like they aren't trying to just go for just the PS2 or Xbox crowd but going after everyone else in hopes of drawing them into the market. Basicly aiming for everyone (including the PS2 and Xbox crowd but not focusing on just them). Which makes sense. Why limit themselves with just one group of people already being divided due to the Sony and Microsoft when you can try to keep your core base and try to attact everyone else since Sony and Microsoft don't seem to be going in that direction. I agree, the DS games haven't been that great and the launch titles suck at the moment. I've questioend why I bought a DS quite a few times. Yet when I look at games like Nintendo Dogs, and several others I see why I got a DS. Sucks that all the good games or ones that look like they will be great are coming out this summer and fall and people have to wait but still looking forward to them and I think this whole "inovation" thing will take off though I think it already has. One of the things I saw commented in an article on N-sider.com was that how these type of controls with the Nintendo DS could open things up more to companies that have small development teams. Look at how popular Wario Twisted/Touched type game is. It's nothing but mini-games(either the GBA or DS versions). I'd love to see more, simply fun games come out. I think this might be one of the things Nintendo might be trying to do. Allow for these different type of games to be made. Less work and people needed, means more games made allowing for more people to enter the industry and to build themselves up making for a more interesting market instead of having a few single companies dominate the market producing sequel after boring sequel with just better graphics.

The new Nintendo system might get picked up. Most likely in the end I'll get both Nintendo and the Xbox 360. I really have no desire to pick up a PS3 to be honest no matter how great the graphics look.

I like what Nintendo is trying to do. Sure you can continue to make games look better and better. There comes a time when you have to concentrate on gameplay which is what Nintendo seems to be doing and they started doing that with the Nintendo DS. So while the Xbox 360 and PS3 might be 10x + more powerful then their previous systems and will most likely look insanely great it comes down to the gameplay now. I'm sure we've had enough examples of great looking games that played like crap. Same for great looking movies with big explosions and special effects that ended up being crap in the eyes of some. I'm more interested in how some of these games play. It's at the point now that graphics don't matter in my opinion since all three systems will have great graphics. Gameplay, length of the games, etc is what is important now I think.

Really???? I was not aware at all that Square Enix is releasing FFs for XBOX and NINTENDO!!! If that's the case, for the same reason as you the PS3 is of almost no interest to me now... ~Tico Yeah. One of the news articles on Gamespot says that Final Fantasy XI will be released on the Xbox 360 and Xbox live. Nintendo has already had Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles released on the GameCube with a version coming out for the Nintendo DS. Final Fantasy 1 and 2 have been relased on the Gameboy Advance as was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance(different game then the PS1 FFT but same world). Final Fantasy 3(the NES one not the version that was released on the SNES(that was actually FF6)) will be coming out on the Nintendo DS as well. Both FF1 and 2(released as Dawn of Souls) got upgrades in terms of areas, graphics, and gameplay systems and the DS version of FF3 will most likely be upgraded as well. The team that made Chrono Trigger(another Sqauresoft game from the SNES days) that is now called Mistwalker are making an RPG for the Xbox. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if FFX, FFX-2, or FFXII was (re)released on one of the other consoles as well. Graphics wise they'd fit right in or could be given an upgrade if they wanted.

I like, I like. I must say, all of the new console designs look really good this year. Not to big, not to small. I'm really looking forward to the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Revolution most of all. Really I haven't been that interested in the PlayStation 3 to be honest. It could be that one of my main attactions to Sony was due to the Final Fantasy franchise and RPGs. Since Square-Enix is actually releasing games on both the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo systems again and both Nintendo and Xbox have gotten and are getting even more RPGs from different companies, there really is nothing tying me down to the PlayStation anymore. All of the franchises I like the most and characters are mostly Nintendo made or appear on all the systems. I wonder if the Nintendo Revolution will play GameCube games. It's all about being backward compatible these days.

The Defiant being able to cloak came into play later in the timeline. They were able to make it cloak by basicly borrowing a cloaking device from the Romulans. The Peagasus starship was a good 15+ years befor ethe Defiant was made when Starfleet itself was trying to develop cloaking in secret but wasn't able to, not to mention it was against a treaty they signed.

Ugh. Granted while it was great to see Riker and Troi again, their actors shouldn't have played those characters in the time period they put them in. They would have been better off putting them on the Titan but I can understand why they didn't. They haven't even designed that ship yet. The first Titan/Captain Riker novel is out yet they are still holding a contest for the actual design of the ship. With that I though as a Enterprise episode it was just wrong to do and really did seem like a slap in the face of the Enterprise cast. The story without the TNG parts, was decent enough by itself I feel. If anything they should have simply cut out the TNG parts of part 2 of the finale and just made one extra long episode around 90 minutes or so or how ever long the part 2 parts would have been when added onto the first part. Damn Berman and Braga. I can't believe they are being allowed to do a new series, thank god it isn't Star Trek. They've done enough damage already. Since they are moving on to something else, things can only go up with new people taking control of things. I just hope this new film will be fresh start.

More ZAFT gundams. :( As I was looking forward to seeing episode 30, since things seemed to be finally getting interesting I'm not even going to bother. I didn't even bother with episode 29 either. Things seem to be just getting worse and worse. With Destory looking like it's not going to last more then two episodes and not even be attacking ZAFT forces things have just gone intot he crapper I feel with the Strike Freedom being a ZAFT suit. Meaning that there is an even greater chance of Justice being ZAFT made as well. Just leaving Chaos as the EA's only decent mobile suit and who knows how long till that is destoryed now that both Gaia and Abyss are gone(and were ven ZAFT suits to begin with) from the EA. If I had known the EA and it's forces were going to be treated and presented as poo I wouldn't even have started watching the series.

I've really enjoying the following so far and can't wait to see more. Kyou Kara Maou - season 2 just started several weeks ago with episode 40(start of season 2 having being subbed)(though not for everyone I think). Tsukuyomi Moon Phase - a little on the loli side but still really enjoyable vampire anime. Can't wait to see the end since only up to episode 16 has been subbed and it's now over in Japan I think with 26 episodes. Aquarion - Cool robot action with a mystical touch. Erementar Gerad - Very interesting adventure show where there are human like beings that merge with other humans and become weapons for these humans to use.

Congrats

I hope these are true. Granted you can tell when something is fake but these it's kinda hard I think. Logically, a lot of makes sense in my opinion. Also EA developing a mobile suit with beam shields sounds like something EA woudl do first seeing as they were the first ones to use beam weapons on mobile suits, the first to develop energy shields for stations and mobile armors. Not to mention all the advancements they made with the first batch and second batch fo Gundams. So them pushign things again seems like something they would do. Also is it me or does GFAS-X1S Destory and GFAS-X5 Diablos sound similar to the OZ-13MSX1 Vayeate and OZ-13MSX2 Mercurius in Gundam Wing. In how they are suppose to work together. If this Destory is real then I don't feel so annoyed about what happens to the prototype Stellar is going to pilot. I just hope this means that the EA will finally be shown to be competent and actually like a real military that is able to win battles. Neo getting Justice would be nice. I just hope that if it's true, that they go into more why Kira was able to sense him in episode 23 and why Kira could sense Rau at the end of SEED. Kira a newtype? I'm think that is quite possible. Or better yet, maybe Kira shares some DNA with Mwu's father, making Mwu, Kira, Rau, maybe even Rey all related to a certain degree. Maybe explaining why they all show newtype elements. Though the Gundam stealing never ends, it's nice that Kira gets another Gundam named Strike. Though I would have liked it and thought it more interesting if Kira actually joined Neo for his own reasons. Wishful thinking but at least I hope when they steal it it's difficult as hell though. Not another Lacus giving Kira a Gundam scene. While it made sense, once is enough I feel. I don't expect a shoot out similar to what happen with ZAFT's Gundams in the beginning. A nice stealth operation would be sweet to see. Kira going all Solid Snake or Mission Impossible on us.

True this doesn't move the plot along but I am liking the character development for the different characters. I like how they are spliting it up between the different characters characters and developing a few of them at a time and not completley focusing on one character. Looking forward to episode 6 and 7 though.

Well so far it seems like you'd want to use the Solar Aquarion if you want to go into straight fights with the enemy. Where pure power is needed above all else, which has been shown so far I think. Though Mars Aquarion seems like you'd want to use that to disable the collectors that are taking humans. Seeing as you have to hit an exact point in the ships to stop it due to all the other parts being made up of humans. Since it has a sword, it would be ideal when you have to be extremely exact in certain situations. Solar seems to be used for close range fighting. Mars could be used for middle range combat due to being able to reach with the sword or even when the one pilot kicked fire balls. Luna on the other hand has the bow and arrow like weapon right? Along with the throwing attack I believe which would make that mode ideal for long range, general distant fighting when you need to be exact(bow) or want to do as much damage. It also seems to be the fastest I think, or that could just be due to Reika when she was the head in the first episode and that's how she's able to make the machine move.

I don't recall any kids piloting in Aquarion. I see teens and adults(young and older), being lead and maybe trained by several adults(older). Both groups which seem to have powers.

Talk about being able to work and make a wide range of shows. Like direct opposites of each other. Interesting.

I really think I'm going to have to buy the new game. Watching these clips from the game, I really can't wait for this film now. That and the book is getting picked up as soon as possible(which I also like that the Wookie scenes aren't in the novel but are in the film though so I'll still be surprised.).

Weren't the summaries of Destiny Astray posted in this thread before? I'm interested in seeing how that ends since Destiny Astray actually takes place before the SEED Destiny anime starts. So the trouble they have in the Astray manga really shouldn't be going on once the anime starts I think.

I really have no clue what this show is like or about. Is SK behind the mech designs or the actual story as well? Is it angst filled or are there adult characters? What are the mecha fights like? Is it more comedy based? Is it a serious drama show? How long is it suppose to be? Are there fansubs out for it or just raws?

What I find most confusing about SEED is that it's making the EA out to seem like it's weak by having some of the areas in it rebel, them needing Orb's forces. Yet They are only in one part of the world. Last time I checked the Atlantic Federation controlled both North and South America and some parts of Euripe around the UK region. It was the Eurasian Federation areas that were having the rebel problems it seemed. Yet it seems as if they were trying to show the EA in trouble. We have limited ZAFT forces on Earth. While they seem to be building new bases or have a lot of smaller ones, they do't look that well defended and a few shrapnel shells seems like they would wonders to those bases. If I didn't know any better I would think that they were trying to show that while it looks like ZAFT is winning they really aren't doing much cause the Atlantic Federation ground forces could come in and blitz them anytime they want. Sure ZAFT has the Minerva but I wouldn't doubt if the Atlantic Federation had a few new Archangel style battleships partoling their waters just waiting for orders. If they don't then it doesn't make any sense why they wouldn't have any ships like that since they clearly can build them since they had two Archangel and the Dominion and Atlantic Federation areas were never directly assulted outside of Alaska and Panama. I would like to think that but it seems that might not be the case unless the Atlantic Federation has all it's forces in space which makes no sense. Or if Dijbril is actually part of the Eurasian Federation and mainly deals with them with talking to the Atlantic Federation President that one time since it was them that had the nukes and not the Eurasian Federation which would be weird I feel. We don't really know exactly who is in charge of the EA it seems. We never get a face of the peopel calling the shots or anything. We've seem to get that in all other Gundam series but this one and even to a degree in SEED. One can't simply say BC is in charge but who from Blue Cosmos? Are the military leaders being controlled? The president of these countries? Who is BC and why are they letting things continue as they are? Sure we know LOGOS might be behind it but that hasn't stopped them from showing Gilber or constantly hearing Talia saying they have orders to go to different places and not always running into Neo's fleet. Arg. To many problems with the show. I'm trying not to think to much about but it can't be helped sometimes since the show forces you to ask these questions I feel by doing certain things or by not doing certain things.

I've heard Bandai refered to as the Microsoft of Japan in how they buy up other companies. How true is that or is that not true at all?