JB0

Yeah. The companies are talking about trying that out. I think it'll bomb. Remember the N64?

This is also what Nintendo did for the Cube. Do you remember the claims Sony made about the PS2 before it launched? Do you remember when they showed the realtime rendered ball scene from FFVIII and claimed it was running on the PS2, when it was really running on several SGI machines? Sony hype should never be taken at face value. I'd go so far as to say their hype for the PS2 was outright lies. And Sega got hammered with those claims, because htey were releasing what they believed were real-world specs for the Dreamcast. In point of fact, developers got more than spec'ed out of the DC rather regularly. But it's damn near impossible to get the "spec'ed" performance from a PS2.

Not if you have force powers or magick which Sara and Mao started to have. Remember they may be the descendants of PC, an advanced lemurian/atlantean civilisation that may have awakened dormant powers of the mind and passed this knowledge to the select few in a sacred bloodline who would use it wisely and not abuse it. You can just use the force to read where the shots will hit, and instead of using your hand to move the controls, just push it with your mind. Now ppl, don't forget that shin managed to do this of his own power when he levitated the vf0 of his own power so I'm not making this one up. Oooohhh... Jedi in a VF...

JB0, I'm not arguing in favor of proprietary memory cards. If you have to use a memory card, I'd say go with CF on account of its sheer cheapness. But, why waste money on either if you can stream media wirelessly and store it on the supplied 20GB hard drive? PS3 lets you save games to a hard drive? ... I have GOT to pay more attention to gaming news. Everything I've seen's just been "OMG TEH CELL AM PWNZ" over and over. If the XBox did nothing else, it got me internal game saves back. And for that Microsoft has my gratitude.

That's a weird market strategy. Do we have any actual tech demos of what the Revolution is able to do? Reports seem to indicate that the new system is "only" about 2 or 3 times as fast as the Cube. Nintendo's own numbers. And what's wierd about attempting to give real-world performance #s instead of grotesquely bloated ones? Average user can get 4x the Wavebird's max range, too. The 3.2 GHz PowerPC in the XBox is pr'ly about 2-3x better than the 733MHz P3. We'll say 3. Dual procs is usually roughly 1.6x single proc performance. 3 procs gets you roughly 2x. Resource conflicts typically prevent the gains from being as great as expected. A problem compunded by the fact that all 3 of the XBox cores are on one chip, and thus one CPU bus. That's 4-6x, hardly the 15x being promised. Sony's 35x is just comedic. They have ONE 3.2 GHz processor with 7 extra floating-point units. Admittedly, FPUs are good for 3D gaming, but not THAT good. Aside from which, SCE's never released an accurate spec in their entire history. These aren't even benchmarks, as far as I know. Just marketing estimates of increased "power." And power isn't even really defined. We can assume, with the context, that it's the CPU(s). But beyond that, what is it? More MIPS? Less cache misses? Watts comsumed? ... actually, I'd believe it if it was watts consumed. It's just the modern version of "bittage". It's a meaningless term without a definition.

PRE-RENDERED custscenes blow. I have no problem with game-engine cutscenes, in moderation. But pre-rendered ones break the visual continuity and make me feel funny. ... Especially when your character's carrying a rifle, and suddenly shows up with a pistol in the FMV.

Ultimately, DTV may make that true. Higher-res TVs = higher-res games = more detailed textures. But right now, the # of games that go above the need for a single single-layer disk can likely be counted on one hand(only one I know of is SO3). It's like everyone crapped on the Dreamcast because it's 1GB disks were too small. I believe a grand total of 3 2-disk games came out. And every PS2 title at the time was a 650 MB CD-ROM. Either way, there's no clear successor yet. Game manufacturers don't want to get caught in another Betamax. So they stick with what works.

Japanese price. Japan has a proud tradition of shafting consumers. PS1 and Saturn both premiered at 500. The PS3's 300$ pricetag at launch made it the cheapest DVD player around, while evrywhere else had 100$ DVD players on shelves a year before. That's not indicative of the american launch price, I gaurantee it..

I hereby dub this the annual booth babe thread! Let the pictures commence!

I have a 6340i. Gogo low-res B&W screen. Only thing I REALLY want is better ring tones. The buzzer is kinda annoying.

I think the key there is if it is a known type. Otherwise, it's hit the decoys, run like hell and/or switch modes and pray you can shot it down. The computer should be able to assemble a rough profile from observed actions in the field. Not as good as a pre-programmed one with precise data, but still useful. Without the profile you're reduced to... what a conventional pilot has, only you still have the BDI's more extensive and intuitive sensor data and the BCS' superior control. Either way, the PPB is still easier to work with a BCS. So you just snap a disk around to catch the incoming fire(and hope there's not enough kick to splash around the barrier), instead of letting go of the stick and lunging for a trackball. ... Ah, heck. Only way a fighter-mounted PPB is really viable IMO is with automated barrier tracking anyways. Never mind.

Yes, but an ace by Kamjin's definition and an ace by Millia's are so diffrent that it doesn't matter. Max was the guy she wanted. If Kamjin had IDed Hikaru for her, she'd've pr'ly been so pissed that she'd've shot him for making fun of her.

Having power available for better graphics doesn't somehow mean that gameplay will necessarily be worse. Nor does having a system with lesser capabilities mean that gameplay will somehow magically improve and be inherent to the system. It's not as if Nintendo putting worse hardware in their next box and settling for worse graphics somehow translates to effort towards how great their games are going to be. A lesser system does mean you can't have both in the same box, at least compared to more powerful platforms. The whole concept of platforms "trading" worse graphics for better gameplay is marketing spin to cover for a less capable system. Sure, developers might be more motivated to polish substance over style on a system they know can't compete in looks... but in the console wars, I've found that the availability of good gameplay depended more on which and how many developers signed on to develop for a console than the console itself. Of course Nintendo has some of the greatest game designers and teams locked up tight. But the quality of their games certainly isn't by merit of their systems' lackluster power. If they produced a box that looked 10 times better, their games would be just as good. And much more compelling visually. -Al I don't think Nintendo's using lesser hardware. I think it's more that they're intentionally understating their performance gains while the competition is intentionally overstating them. Nintendo, like Sega before them, is big about trying to quote real-world #s that you're likely to see in ACTUAL GAMES. This puts them at a disadvantage when going up against Sony's notoriously inflated "optimistic" numbers for a hypothetical tech demo that involves every last transistor in the system in the task of filling the screen with unlit, untextured triangles floating in space.

On the other hand, every other Trek got a sendoff from the prior show in episode 1(Dr. McCoy was the only one on Next Generation, but they worked Scotty, Spock, and Kirk in later).

Don't panic. There's a switch in the front under the loading slot. It's flush so it probably is touch sensitive. It mars the aesthetic design when you have a flip switch sticking out in the front, so they put it in the back - just like the PS2. I think Sony should've left the hard switch off entirely. No one reaches around behind their PC to kill the hard power switch on their ATX computer. No one unplugs their TV, VCR, or stereo to force it out of standby mode. Why is the PS2 special? Just leave it in standby like you do every other piece of equipment in the house.

Actually one good thing about this micro-GBA SP. The regular SP will drop in price, and I'll be able to pick up a backup GBA SP for cheap. That way, when the first SP gives out (hopefully never), I'll have another ready to go. Of course, I'll take the battery out for long term storage. Won't do to have battery leakage destroying the unit before I can use it. What's gonna kill you is the LiIon battery pack has a ... I think it's 10-year life... from date of manufacture. After that time, they're pretty much useless, no matter how well you cared for it(even if you maintained it at it's optimum 2/3s charge for every second of it's life). Fortunately, Nintendo seems to be using the same LiIon pack for the DS, so the SP has gotten a new lease on life. With luck, they'll stick with the same pack through the forseeable future.

What the Jaguar did (like what the Dreamcast did) was to claim to have a certain bit processor, when they actually had two half-bit processors. I forget the Jaguar's numbers, but in the case of the Dreamcast, they claimed 128-bit with two 64 bit processors. And as you can see, the Dreamcast was more powerful than the 64-bit N64... damn near the true 128-bit PS2. The bait! I MUST NOW REPLY! Jaguar claimed to be 64-bit. And in point of fact, two of it's five processors(spread across three chips) ARE 64-bit. It has a 16-bit 68k(intended for bootstrapping and IO processing, only capable of reading 16-bits of the bus at a time), a pair of identical general-purpose 32-bit RISC cores(one in Tom{designated for central processing}, one in Jerry{designated the digital signal processor, and intended for audio work}, though only the one in Tom can read all 64 bits of the bus at once, due to the limitations of the Jerry chip, whcih can only "see" 32 bits at a time), and two 64-bit processors in Tom, both of which are intended for graphics work(the blitter and object processor are both fully programmable general-purpose processors). Interesting aspect to the Jaguar is that there's very little hard-wired into the system. While all processors had recommended uses, that didn't mean you had to do it. You CAN use the "blitter" as your main processor should you desire. You can even have everything running on the 68k, and totally ignore the other 4 processors completely(many titles, particularly SNES/Genesis ports, did exactly this). All 5 processors can access everything on the system. The hardware is totally, completely, utterly insane. The argument for the Jaguar being 64-bits ultimately rests in the system bus. Most systems have a central processor(or in multi-processor systems, several identical chips) responsible for all system activity, which aside from being the logical measure of "bittage," defines the system bus. The Jaguar has no true central processor, and the system bus is 64-bits to ensure it's wide enough to accomodate all the devices on the system(graphics chip Tom specifically). So they count the bus width. Ultimately, however, trying to classify the Jaguar's "bittage" is futile and will leave you with nothing but a headache(so it's a good thing bittage doesn't really matter). And the Dreamcast is a single-processor system. I think you're thinking of the TG16, which had 2 8-bit processors, but a single 16-bit graphics chipset. DC IS in a similar boat in one respect, however. While it had a single 64-bit CPU(or 32, I've seen conflicting data on the SH-4, and think it might depend on which specific variant you use, as well as where you count the "bittage"), the graphics chipset was 128-bit, and they claimed the GPU bittage(I believe both companies were careful to say that it was x-bit graphics, not an x-bit system, though I could be mistaken{it's very possible NEC was thinking 8+8=16}). Other oddities: Saturn has 3 32-bit processors(2 of which are SH-2 CPUs, one of which is an SH-1 intended for CD drive operation) and a 16-bit one(68k variant intended for sound hardware control). If I recall, at least one SH-2 MUST be used for central processing or the system no workie, and all CD access has to go through the SH-1. NeoGeo and CPS2 both have a 16-bit CPU(68000) and 8-bit sound processor(Z80). SNK advertised the home version of the NeoGeo as a 24-bit system, because it was 8+16. A fully tricked out Genesis has 2 32-bit SH-2 processors in the 32x, a 16-bit 68000 and 8-bit Z80 in the base Genesis, and another 16-bit 68000 in the SegaCD. And which one/s is/are in command depends on what software you're running, from the Z80(Master System software) through the twin SH-2s(32x). The base Genesis is at least clear enough. In Genesis mode, the 68k is the CPU, and in Master System mode, the Z80 is the CPU(and the 68k is offline) The Intellivision, despite being pre-NES, uses a 16-bit processor(name forgotten). A 16-bit chip that takes 10-bit instructions, no less. Figure that one out. The XBox, while bieng hte most powerful current-gen system, uses a 32-bit CPU. Bottom line... bits are meaningless, and not just because no one's ever defined hat "bittage" is. Long as I'm here, I'll provide commentary on the rest... For what it's worth, the big bottleneck comes at RAM access, if I recall. Multiple devices usually can't access RAM at the same time, so they don't screw each other's work up. How many shader operations per second do you need? Do you even know what that means? Shhhhh, you'll make his head hurt. Fact(?): The Xbox 360 has licensed BLAST PROCESSING!* from Sega. *Actually, I defend blast processing as clever marketing to communicate the superiority of the Genesis CPU to a market that thought 68000 was the appropriate # of beers to drink at a frat party, and megahertz was what their head did the next morning. But it's still easy to make fun of. It has a lot less. You don't need to be as fast (mind you, I didn't catch the PS3's speed, but the 360's is 700MHz) if you don't have to read and write from it as often. Reminds me of the SNES/Genesis days, when Nintendo attempted to confuse the issue. "SO Sega claims the Genesis is faster. Well how do we measure system speed? Sure their CPU runs faster, but our RAM runs faster. So see, it's hard to say which is better." Yes, they actually claimed that. I still have the GamePro with the ad in it(2-page spread, designed to look like an impartial editorial column), though Althena herself would have trouble finding it. I realize it's not a good habit to reply to one person's post while quoting another, but... I owned a 100$ DVD player before the PS2 even hit the US market at 300. Thank you. It IS, however, true that the PS2 was the cheapest DVD player available IN JAPAN. That qualifier means a hell of a lot, as it restricts the statement to the small chain of islands where it was true. Leaving that little qualifier off is a long-running thorn in my side. As I pointed out at the beginning of the current generation during some all-too-common 'Cube bashing along the lines of "OMG IT AM NOT HAEVING TEH DVD PLAYAR IT AM SUX!!1111"... "Sure the PS2 doubles as a DVD player. But you can buy a GameCube, a DVD player, AND a game for the same price as a PS2. And the standalone DVD player won't have the playback issues that the PS2 player has already become famous for." Well, SO3 comes close... it's on 2 single-layer disks. But other than that... *shrugs* It's a console, not a PC. I haven't found a use for the two USB ports on the PS2. Why the hell would I care that the PS3 has three more than the Xbox 360, then? Either way... my PC has 2 hubs sticking off of it. 5$ solves the problem nicely. I have to defend the CF/SD/MemStick slots. I hate the proprietary flash RAM cards we've been stuck with since the PS1. 30$ for an 8 megabyte PS2 card is highway robbery. And the sub-megabyte cards on the GameCube? GAH! When was the last time you played a 7 player game? Addendum: With all 7 players seated at one machine. While quite possible over TEH INTARWEB, it IS pretty absurd for a single-system setting. Only valid use I can think of is the Silver Star Story bonus game "Lords of Lunar." If something else supported 8 players on the PS*(I can't use X as a variable? :'( ), I'd love to hear about it. Last I checked, 95% of titles didn't even support ONE multitap. ... And personally, I don't think LoL worked with more than 4 players. Once you get past the 4 corner stations of the original Warlords, the whole gameplay setup gets seriously borked.

I have a theory. They wanted to taint the license so badly that no one would request an Enterprise movie, or send them another annoying petition to bring it back.

That percent is the operative symbol, though. Microsoft and Sony both have a larger QUANTITY. It's easy to have a higher percentage of M-rated titles when you have the smallest library. Look, I grew up on Nintendo, and I've tried to support them right up through the DS. I'm tired of getting screwed for my support though with small libraries, little third party support, and ports and remakes of old games. I'm just saying. If it's a kiddie system, then how come it has so many M games?

*sighs* Untill I saw the size, I was actually interested. If the screen size was consistant with other GBAs(and thusly, the whole system was a fair bit larger), it'd be the best of all worlds. The image quality of the DS with the comfort (and presumably 8-bit compatibility, though that's not proven) of the original GBA. I HATE the SP. My original GBA is more than visible enough to balance out the pathetically bad image quality of a lit SP(and good luck playing it unlit). The SP is furthermore massively uncomfortable due to it's small size(a sin sharred by it's Micro sibling). And I'm not paying extra for headphone compatibility, which is a necessity for portable gaming(the speakers they put in those things are abominations, aside from the lack of stereo speakers in everything but DS and PSP).

Personal preference is leaning towards the Revolution. I'll very likely wind up with all 3 eventually*, however. There's invariably a few "must-have" titles for everyone's system. Hence, I vote "more than one." *Eventually means "oncepeople get hyped about XBox720, PS4, and HyperNES.

Trust me... its just a new shell for the same old mistakes lol Yeah no kidding. The hardware won't matter anything if they keep their marketing focus on lil barnacles and Pokemon as opposed to targeting a wider cash-spending audience. By cash-spending audience, I don't mean the type that have to ask mom if they can go outside and play. So... you're too old for Resident Evil? RE0 and the RE1 remake are still 'Cube exclusives. RE4 is COMING to PS2, but the 'Cube's had it for sometime now, and the PS2 version is taking a graphical downgrade. Fact: 'Cube has the largest % of M-rated games of all 3 current systems.

And Sony stole the design from Atari. Get over it. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=270&st=1 Which seemed like a good idea at the time. The goal was to avoid load times. Which they did quite successfully. And ROM carts ARE more durable than CDs, which is another plus. Ultimately, profit margins made it undesirable. It costs a lot mroe to make a ROM cart, which means you don't get as much cash per sale. Oh, boohoo. DVD player was ONLY an issue for japanese PS2s. In America, DVD players had been available for over a year at the 100$ level, a third the price of the PS2. Make the disk wider, double the capacity. No-brainer. Dual-layer DVD is quite enough currently. 'S why MS is sticking with DVD next gen too. Revolution only got DVD video playback because it adds MAYBE a penny to manufacturing costs. I still say the 'Cube has the best games. And here's what interests me... 512 MB OF ONBOARD SRAM! A HALF-GIGABYTE OF SAVE SPACE INSIDE THE DECK! I LOVE YOU NINTENDO! ... But not as much as I would have if hte XBox hadn't been able to save internally too. Nice to see things swinging back to the days of the PCEngine and SegaCD, though.

As noted above, the YF-19's shield is anti-projectile while the YF-21's shields aren't described as such--after all, they're repurposed stabilizers. The YF-19 also has two wing cannons which can be rotated freely about in Battroid mode. (Think of them as shoot-from-the-hip rifles.) I'd like to point out that the YF-19's shield being more useful without a PPB is partially offset by the YF-21's BDI/BCS. It's easier for the YF-21 to dodge fire(especially from a known enemy with a detailed database entry), because Guld has computer forecasts of probable fire areas. And if he dodges wrong, it's a lot easier and faster to relocate a PPB disk with BCS than with conventional controls(even taking into account that the disks may have a maximum movement rate, you don't have to release control of something else, and have a more accurate idea of where to place the disk). Not knowing how fast they come up when the system is activated, I can't guess at how that ties into things(may be able to leave the system off until the instant you need the barrier disk, but I wouldn't bet on it).

They were happy enough to give us the mirror universe episodes, which in my opinion were some of the best of the entire series. I think Paramount just wanted to make sure no one asked for movies.