JB0

I think the last long-term console was the Jaguar. N64 has serious controller wear issues, and everything else has entirely too many moving parts in the system. Even with just a disk drive it's ugly. Add fans, and things go downhill FAST. The heatsink compound isn't what I'm worried about. I'm more worried about dust accumulation strangling the heatsink, and THAT takes a backseat to simple mechanical failure. Gooooo emulators!

http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/070927-3416.asp As it turns out, violent video games are GOOD for you! . From a friend who has the magazine it was published in... "In the first experiment, they just tested people on specific tasks without assigning them games (so they had game players and non-players). In the second, where all people were non-players before the experiment, the experimental group played Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and the control group played Ballance. The experimental group improved significantly in the non-game tasks they were testing, while the control group didn't." In conclusion: Playing FPSes improves your spatial skills. And if you're female, it makes you the equal of your male counterparts. So go teach your kid sister to deathmatch. It gives Jack Thompson a coronary AND will give her an edge in math class when she gets older.

I'll be honest, I have my doubts about the effects on non-heatsinked systems. But once you start needing heatsinks, and especially once you start needing heatsinks AND fans, it becomes a very good idea to keep some breathing space around everything.

That would be my stance. If I wanted to see the movie again.

Sitting on carpet's been an official Bad Idea since the beginning, though. The original Atari VCS has stickers on the bottom warning you not to set it down on carpet because it blocks the vents. And if it can hurt THAT, then it can hurt ANYTHING. Given the thermal load of modern computing components... even if the 360 WASN'T fundamentally flawed, sitting on a carpet would probably be a death sentence.

Nonsense. They only blew up 3 VF-11s in the entire series. .... They just blew the first 2 up a LOT. Seriously, I think the VF-1 was blown up more. You just didn't see it quite as often. 'Sides, at least the eject button worked right on the 11.

... PLEASE tell me there's a board under that and he DIDN'T lay his 360 directly on a thick carpet.

And the magical mystical power of song!

Monstructor was the only gestalt I ever finished. :'(

Oh. I was thinking Armored Core. Stupid acronym re-use.

I wasn't hating. I fully respect super robot pilots and their endless amounts of courage and guts, as well as their abiltiy to turn impossible odds into absolute certainties with said courage and guts. It just seemed to be the most accurate description of Basara's personality. Yeah. I think Mylene really should have been the focus of the show. Basically switch the Basara/Mylene ratio and it'd be much more entertaining. It DID fluctuate from event to event. And if I recall, Mylene grew consistently more "powerful" as the series went on, while Basara stayed more or less static. She was also good at stepping it up when more was needed. I was thinking along the lines of the biggest gaps, early on. Which admittedly aren't representative of the whole. I still find it hilarious that there's an episode entitled "Basara Dies!" And we gripe when spoilers pop up OUTSIDE the show(though I guess it wasn't really a spoiler since he, you know, didn't).

I believe PS* cards are region-neutral. But I haven't had occasion to test except in emulators, which obviously aren't the same. Any region variances will only be in the data format, though. Fat lot of good it does you when Sony won't give you something as basic as a format command, though. ... Wait.... AC3 and a bum PS1 card? Are you trying to save a PS2 game on a PS1 memory card? That won't work. Nor will saving PS1 games on a PS2 card.

I DON'T have most of the Fire Bomber songs, but agree that more songs would have helped a LOT. By the time they added the second in, I was sick to death of Planet Dance. HEY EVERYBO-*mute* I think the entire fleet counts as backups. The impression I got was that EVERYONE can do it, if they're passionate enough. Even poor tone-deaf Gamlin(who should be legally banned from singing in the presence of others). Basara is just by far the best at it, with Mylene a distant second. He's in a perpetual state of worked-up and doesn't NEED the impending death of himself, his family, his friends, his species, his galaxy, and his universe to push him on. He just really really really REALLY wants people to LISTEN TO HIS SONG! and it'll touch their hearts if he puts everything he has into it. Even the heathens that don't like rock will be moved, if he can only convince them to LISTEN!. In short, he's a super-robot pilot with a guitar.

New cables will probably run about $30(God, but I hate how they're overpricing everything to death on the 360...). That's what the going rate seems to be. And of course, you'll want the ability to look at the connector design in the package or an easy way to return them if they don't fit. You could also harass Microsoft and see if they're willing to exchange it, since they screwed up.

To be fair, EVERYTHING fails eventually. The 5200 sticks just fail unusually fast. Near as I can tell, the flex circuit technology they used just wasn't mature enough for the environment it was subjected to. Hence why many 5200 sticks only have dead start and fire buttons. I DID mod one stick, but only because I got sick of opening it to clean the contacts(weekly to monthly, depending on usage patterns). Ghetto aluminum foil mod for the win!

I thought chrono's point was the relicensing. Say ADV snatches Black Lagoon up. And sits on it, to keep shelves clear for Yet Another Eva Reissue.

I MAY be giving him too much credit, but I think he's referring to how some companies snap licenses up, then sit on them without actually releasing anything. I know ADV used to be infamous for it, dunno how much it's changed since then.

Yes. .... Sort of. Saw this on another forum. The HDMI units are SUPPOSED to come with a redesigned AV cable that has the TOSLINK connector in a bulge on the cable. Those cables work just fine. But some of the decks have the original-style TOSLINK-on-plug cable packed in instead. The original connector is too wide, and interferes with the HDMI port when it's connected. It's an ugly solution either way though, what with the big wad of component/composite/analog audio cable hanging off. Sad that they won't spare the space on the deck for a dedicated TOSLINK connection.

But that's only half-there too. Remember, the Saturn/PS1 game has an animation sequence of Skull squadron launching and the Prometheus getting vaped, then a side-scrolling game level, then another FMV of the Macross folding out. There's no transition between the two since they're bookendings for a gameplay stage. You'd need to create ANOTHER new animation sequence to bridge the first and second existing sequence. In the same vein, I'd LOVE to see the ARMD attack animation and stage added. GPB 1Js kicking ass en masse!

Just from watching the first episode, I think this one might be further from the original than the OVA was. To the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, they managed to veer as far as humanly possible in the space of thirty minutes. It's my understanding that the 60s live-action show was a semi-faithful adaptation, and the only attempt that's been made at one.

Okay. That makes a lot more sense. I thought you meant like, the entire video cassette/LaserDisk/whatever else Flashback is on.

I have G1 Jazz. Hes a lot more interesting that way than in flat silver. I ALMOST bought G1 Starscream. But I still hate the look of the mold, so.... yeah. Waiting for US Masterpiece 'Screamer.

Because only part of Flashback was intended to be in DYRL in the first place. The rest is a mish-mash that, oni many cases, doesn't fit with the movie(since Flashback has DYRL AND TV series sequences in it). Again I say: Flashback is grossly over-rated.

But remastering the visuals is just restoring them. Repairing damage and going back to source to get away from artifacts introduced in prior video-ifications(mainly interlacing, unless we're dealing with a VHS rip instead of LaserDisk). Not fabricating non-existent information. That's more like colorizing black&white films. I'm very much in favor of leaving it in it's original format. Restore it, by all means. But don't go wasting the disk space on a 6-channel mix for a show that never had a surround soundtrack to start with. Also worth noting that, contrary to your statement, using the original stereo format actually allows for higher-quality audio, since all the audio data is dedicated to two channels instead of split up among 6(even granting that one is a limited-range subwoofer channel). Not that it matters in the US, since we almost invariably get a Dolby Digital soundtrack at a fairly low bitrate, regardless of how much disk space is left(though that bitrate would have better sound with less channels), while Japan tends towards high-bitrate PCM soundtracks. So the US gets lower-quality audio, and almost invariably has space for more soundtracks, though they don't bother to put the original stereo/mono track in.

*expletive* the used decks. Don't even go NEAR them. Seriously. The system's known for having reliability issues, you don't get a proper warranty, there's almost no price break, and GameStop can't even test a PS2 right(took my sister 3 tries to get one that actually worked). You don't say what the Costco bundle is, but I doubt it's really much different than buying a 360 Premium and the game/accessories separately. Get the Target one. 10% off is good. The Intercooler is considered a VERY BAD THING. Aside from being connected to system-killing electrical shorts, it also stresses the system since it leeches from between the system and the power supply. As I understand things, the 360's voltage regulation is in the supply, not the console. Which makes leeching off it a bad thing. Intercooler is so messed up MS actually made a press release saying "Don't buy this. It's crap." They said if you DO buy one, get a USB-powered one. Though they officially deem it unnecessary and note that any unlicensed peripherals void your warranty(though barring Intercooler-related scorch marks, they'll never be able to tell). I don't see much need for the battery pack. I'm still on my first set of AAs. And there's not a good way to handle the charger unless you leave a big nasty cable hanging off your 360, which kinda defeats the purpose of wireless controllers. That's one excuse. Most people think MS just screwed up big-time. The system's so crowded there's just no airflow over the main heatsink. It doesn't really matter how long you play. The new heatsink should be out now. The new chipset is certainly worth waiting for at this point. But I was under the impression it was already hitting shelves. Not likely to be a good sale. Consoles rarely get marked down any appreciable degree below MSRP.