JB0

Interesting. I hadn't made that connection, but now that you mention it... It was the Macross 5 in Macross 7, though. Macross 13 gets smashed in VF-X2. Well, the network was probably weighted more towards larger objects like ships. Raw power over precision. And using debris to hide yourself like that isn't an unworkable solution, especially when you're talking about a planet that had over a million capital ships destroyed around it. Sure it's 30 years later, but there should still be a LOT of crap in Earth orbit. ... Actually, the defensive network might have originally been sold as a way to prevent major impacts. There was a lot of large debris in orbit and no easy way to get rid of it. So put a bunch of cannons in a low orbit taking potshots at anything big enough to survive re-entry or intersecting an orbit you want protected. Anti-attacker capacity would be a bonus short-term, though far more important in the long run.

To be fair, Sharon hacked the entire UN defense force, including the people. She had soldiers running around blasting machine guns at Myung, so she'd probably hijacked the pilots for those conventional piloted aircraft(though whether the brainwashed pilots were coordinated enough to fly is another story...). It's not like she just stole the Ghost. She already had control of everything and everyone around it, from the top admirals and central computer to the guy waxing the armor and probably the Pepsi-bot pushing drinks on unsuspecting visitors. If anything, it's a point about the dangers of excessive networking She gained access to ONE machine inside the Macross and took over everything, from the Macross' anti-aircraft guns up to the defense satellite network. Not just the military systems, either, given the video billboards and hologram projectors she was using. For a few hours, she owned everything in the world except an annoying pair of prototype VFs, the 3 people riding them, and Myung. And for a few seconds, she owned everything but the YF-21, Guld, and and Myung. That's a LOT of damage for one computer. It's also appalling computer security... The UN should NEVER have brought a strange computer inside their central command facility and hooked it in like that. It's even more absurd than holding a Quake tournament in the Pentagon. You wanna hold a concert, that's great... go outside and hook your computer up in the concert hall like everyone else does.

But the REAL question is do auto-focus cameras in the future reliably identify the correct subject? Seriously, it does stand to reason. More advanced technology = more powerful computers = more advanced AI routines that can be run at a reasonable speed. If nothing else, the X9 proved the promises of superior speed and maneuverability were accurate. I doubt the neural chip issue really factored into things much in that case, honestly. The Ghost was probably just following orders issued by Sharon. But it's possible the chase with Guld that led to it's destruction(in the movie) was a result of that annoying self-preservation instinct. If it'd blasted Guld as he came in instead of running from the kamikaze strike... ... Of course, Sharon may've ordered it to harass, but not destroy, the 2 VF prototypes. She knew exactly who the pilots were, and since she "inherited" Myung's feelings... we KNOW she wanted Isamu for herself, and it's possible she had something similar in mind for Guld. If those were the orders the X9 was given, it performed magnificently.

There's some indications that Deep Blue likely would've lost a fair contest. First, Kasparov went in blind. Deep Blue had every available game Kasparov had ever played programmed into it, Kasparov had not one game log. Deep Blue had no public games other than the dozen Kasparov games, and IBM refused to supply any private match data when it was requested. Second, IBM was altering the AI between games(and the entire computer, both software and hardware, was overhauled between the first and second series). So Kasparov wasn't playing against the "same" opponent in each game. This could be argued as a sub-point of the first one(not only did he go in blind at the beginning of the first series, but also in every game afterwards). Conspiracy theory time! Deep Blue might not've been the only player. No one but IBM saw the move suggestions, and there were a few moves made during the series that a computer wasn't supposed to be capable of coming up with at the time. Requests for logs to prove they were moves suggested by Deep Blue were refused at the time, which is really the only reason I give this argument any credibility. Not to say that Deep Blue wasn't an impressive piece of hardware, but it was hardly a level playing field. As far as Macross goes... The AI won't take over, despite the massive gains(if nothing else, removing the "cream filling" and necessary support gear increases physical maneuverability because you have a lighter vehicle that no longer needs to not kill the pilot). Solely because no one wants to write a story about AI drones fighting wars and the computer nerds that tune them. That was actually the point of Plus. People are better. Even if machines are better, people are still better.

Yah. Like I said, I saw them go from "come back later" to "sold out" in 30 seconds. Was pretty much a waste of my time. Not bad. I'm debating hitting Microcenter. There's one in my area and they have a 100$ rebate on both versions of the 360. That drops it to 300 for the full version once the rebate comes in, and Microcenter's pretty good about those.

All I know is the Sunrise games have GaoGaiGar on the covers. But he's tucked into the top-right corner on R. Big G deserves better.

So did anyone see the Amazon.com sale? 100$ for a core. Woulda been a hell of a sale if A. there'd been more than a thousand of them, and B. every gaming news site in the world hadn't picked it up. They sold out in about 30 seconds. Maybe less, the site got laggy as hell about 2 minutes before the sale went up.

I suspect it's a IPB bug. And I can't do Firefox. It's not a browser I've used for any degree of time. If they maintain the menu structure of Mozilla, it'll be in edit/preferences dialog somewhere, but I'm not sure the menus are the same.

Clearing your browser cache before submitting the new avatar usually fixes it. Should be the last thing you do before clicking "upload avatar" I believe. Either that or right after entering the "edit avatar settings" page. Method for clearing the cache varies with browser, or I'd tell you where to go.

It's so BEAUTIFUL! ... Aside from the legs. But I expected a compromise somewhere.

Now, now... I'm pretty sure he looks right at home in a collection of Macross 2 models.

OG2 is out in the US today. Bump for great justice.

No, it's not. PCs can't even read the GameCube disks. Nintendo uses a funky data format that upsets them badly. There ARE adapters to use PS controllers on the 'Cube, though I'm not sure there's any decent flight sticks for the PS either. With a soldering iron and a sacrificial 'Cube pad, there's a good chance you could rebuild the PC stick.

I DID notice a tendency towards "backpacks" on them. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out why Soundwave's wings don't have hinges to collapse them down. The design's really nice aside from that.

That WOULD explain some of the odd skin colorations...

Hypothetically, it's to protect the children, not make the evil villains more obvious(if it were, the law would require real guns to be bright colors and toy guns to be dark). Got put in after some kid removed himself from the gene pool by pulling a plastic gun on a cop. But people DO get brightly-colored real guns sometimes. Because they're "kewl gangstaz" or something. They don't exactly use it as a confusion tactic, though.

Ah.

Came out pretty good for no flash. Guess you have a pretty stable hand.

Less magic. Song energy/anima spiritia is still magic. It just isn't as ... pronounced... as Zero's magic(in that it needs technological harnessing to do anything interesting).

I'm sure you actually did need the flash(or a tripod and a LONG shutter time). I'm equally sure the camera guessed wrong on what the subject was and fired the flash too strongly/opened the aperture too wide/exposed the frame for too long. It was probably trying to make the gray background lighter, if I had to guess. If there's an exposure compensation option, try lowering it a little(I assume it's digital, so no wasted film if you do shots at -1 and -2 both). My Kodak will let you do exposure compensation, and it's got jack squat in the way of controls.

Somethin' strange... in the neighborhood. Who ya gonna call? GUNBUSTER!

The first two panels are also blatantly overexposed, which isn't helping matters. It's amazing how mind-numbingly stupid cameras can be sometimes.

You forgot the part where it turned out Hikaru was a clone of Roy, who was a clone of an alien. Or Roy was an alien and Hikaru was injected with alien cells. Or Max was the clone, and Hikaru just got brainwashed into thinking he was actually Max. It's really not very clear.

You'd think, but... I've got a US-release solid-orange GunCon that the paint scrapes off with a fingernail.

HAHAHA! That's the spirit! *grabs the Dremel, attaches "de-oranger" tool*