JB0

... Those poor DVDs, sealed up unloved forever in their celophane tomb. My opinion of HD-DVD VS BluRay: Whoever wins, we lose. They're both driven by media companies dead set against fair use. Among the stipulations being demanded by movie makers is that they NEVER release a computer drive for the media.

Famitus is generally regarded as being fairly tough on games, so a good Famitsu score USUALLY means the game doesn't have any major flaws, and more than it's share of good points. Of course, this is a generality, not a rule. And I basically ignore any media review automatically. Except perhaps if a game I like is getting good reviews, as it might mean that it'll get mass-market appeal and not go down as yet another failed non-sequel, non-thug, non-fighter game.

I would worry about the swirls being stress marks. And I like the yin/yang hubs. They have a nice "eject" mechanism built-in. tetsujin: Thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to find a few "crap" disks to test before I use it on something I actually want to save. And apply the glue to the label side to further reduce chances.

I've seen the thing. Not constructed quite as robustly, or with the right movement resistances as I'd like for an FPS though. And I don't think it supports tilt, either. It was actually the controller that got me thinking about something like that for a shooter though. -Al Ahhh, a perfectionist. I feel your pain. If I recall, it supported twist, but not tilt. ... You need a POWER GLOVE! *chuckles* ... I actually want one of those. Someday... someday...

Heh. Ambidextrious too. I'd be spared my usual gripe-fest about left-handed d-pads. I actually want one of those. Though the lack of an analog stick limits it a little bit, and it's pretty obviously worthless for action games, I'd live.

My Stargate ultimate edition did this... practically shattered the center. I did it ghetto style and used scotch tape to piece the whole thing back together. Still plays, but I think I'll get another copy soon I'd use a thin superglue, personally.

He did. HG has all their stock now.

Mine were first run and are just fine. I'm also good about pushing the little "eject button" hub. I really like the style case they used, and I'm glad it's (mostly) the standard, as it lets you get the disk out without much stress at all.

I've seen it happen to ... 2 CDs. 1 music, 1 game. One was physically abused. The other one I don't recall being abused. I just pulled it out one day and it was split in 2. I'm concerned about it happening to... everything where the case DOESN'T LET GO OF THE DISK! If it starts bending when I go to pull it out, I worry.

Not so sure about that. While the Logitech Wheel is the best I've tried (with almost no dead zone and a 900 degree turning radius), none of them have enough force feedback to truly recreate the feeling of driving car. And since I'm already used to the standard controller, switching to a wheel or stick causes a drastic reduction in skill for me. The turning radius chased me away shortly after looking at it(casually, since like I said, no PS2... ). Of course, all I really want a wheel for is Roadblasters, so realism isn't exactly an issue so much as matching the arcade wheel, which had a much smaller turning radius. I'm thinking 180, but even that may be a bit much. ... Oh yeah. And no play. Play is evil(and what's primarily wrong with my current wheel, which is cheap garbage).

I know a few other people that liked the original 'Box controller, but I just never saw it. It was too big... like holding a loaf of bread with two analog sticks poking out. The d-pad was one of the worst ever (at least the S has a cross on the circle), and while the white/black button placement might have been better (and that's debateable... I got used to having them near the bottom real fast), the X/Y/B/A buttons were clustered way too close together. I remember playing DoA3 and constantly had the problem of pushing the wrong buttons. The demo units I played, the size was never an issue to me. On the other hand, everything on the device felt in the "wrong" place. The button slant especially gave me hell. It was like they intended it to be held sideways with the way the button set slanted almost straight up.

Actually, regular US copyright law gives you backup rights. The DMCA is explciitly designed to take those rights away. ... But as no one enforces most of the DMCA, it doesn't matter.

Why dream? Microsoft made it. Sidewinder Strategic Commander.

Occasionally a special comes up that breaks him loose.

Just to add to the flames... But why use a pad to play a shooter when a mouse/keyboard combo offers the best precision movements? Let's see... I've already thrown all my gas on, but I think I've got a jar of kerosene around here... A. Trackballs are infinitely better than mice. B. Keyboards suck. C. I'd much rather play a 2D shooter than a first-person one. My optimum FPS setup would be something like ... this and this. What I'd change if I owned a factory... Replace the d-pad on the Nostromo SpeedPad with something more resembling a mouse touchpad, simulating an analog stick. With ridges running along the cardinal directions for tactile feedback. If you saw a TurboTouch pad, you have the appearance down(But not the functionality. The tech is WAY better than it was back then, thank goodness...). Also plausable is an NES Max-style d-pad, with pots on the slider. Either way... thumb on the center, no motion. Slide it forward a little, you scoot forward a little. Out some more, we're walking. Slide to the edge of the pad, full-out run. The genre is well overdue for a little analog motion.

They actually gave an explanation!! Yah. Recent story arc involving genetically engineered humans. Klingons captured some, attempted to apply the enhancements to klingons. Met with limited success, in that it made them supermen, but also killed them. And was carried through the klingon equivalent of a cold. Our stars fixed things. The klingons don't get super powers, but don't die. And are stuck with the human-ish faces of Kirk's era.

Nice collection... Odyssey 1 or 2? I've currently got at least one of each of the following: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Vectrex, INTV, NES, SNES+Super GameBoy, Genesis+SegaCD+Power Base Converter, PS1, GameCube, DreamCast, Atari 800XL, TI 99/4a(worst controllers ever), GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance non-SP, NeoGeo Pocket Color, and of course, IBM PCs in both modern and legacy box flavors. And likely something I missed. I do that disturbingly often. I really don't want to count my games. I've been putting off a proper indexing for far too long, and I intend to keep doing it. I know I have over a hundred 2600 carts alone, though I admit that pr'ly a third of those are duplicates(it shames me to admit, but I have 3 Superman carts). And yes, I know my collection is lagging somewhat. Haven't had the funds to expand it greatly for a while. Aside from the obvious PS2, XBox, and DS, I need to add a Saturn at least. I've had too much fun with them to keep ignoring it. Also drooling over a PCEngine setup. And knowing how I am, I'll likely wind up with a Jaguar, 7800, and God knows what else when all's said and done. *thinks* Man, I haven't put my SNES pad through it's paces in a while. I remember it being pretty good, though. I WAS getting some accidental up/down motion on my last Super Metroid run. But I think I was just sloppy. *shrugs* I do admit to being amazingly picky sometimes. But with few exceptions(RAD being my shining example of near-perfection), I find the DualShock as just annoying. I'd move select, start, black, and white. Only real gripes is they ride too low for my tastes. Give me enough time with an XBox, and I might form a strong pro/con on the d-pad. A few minute sat a demo kiosk doesn't leave much of an impression, especially when the only games I've seen show up on demo disks that it's much good for are Metal Slug and SNK VS Capcom. I've been told it has a pretty darn good one, by someone who I consider rather well-versed in the subject. I KNOW it can't be worse than the one in the 'Cube and GBA, though that doesn't say much. Original Genesis pad will always win points in my book for putting pause in a readily-accessible spot. Why no one ELSE ever figured this out is beyond me. And for the enclosure size. I like the size of the pad. I LIKE 6 face buttons, personally. I've never been a big fan of the diamond layout, except for my period as a die-hard Nintendo fanboy when I was much younger.

I think a fight was involved.

I don't know since I can't read Kanji, but do they list Megazone 23 on the Japanese side of their site?. And, this is what I meant by Yamato going global. http://www.yamato-toys.com Their site used to be yamato-toys.co.jp, which now has a redirect to the new Yamato-Toys.Com. They also changed from the .co.jp URL to the .com URL at least a year ago as well. Common guys, get with the program here Graham Wait... you're telling me Yamato has a WEBSITE now?

First try. 908.9 meters. Latest personal high: 6273.50m

*sighs* I need one of those for PN3. 'Cube's d-pad sucks. ... Except PN3 needs the analog stick too.

I like the VB, poor screen refresh aside. Comfort I've already said my piece on. Memorizable... The PS is the ONLY system where I have to look at the controller when button labels are mentioned, because Sony had to be diffrent and use random shapes instead of something reasonable. Not that Nintendo's backwards labels were the best thing ever, but I could at least remember them. They could've at LEAST used logical shapes, like ^, V, <, and >. I don't hit the wrong button on ANYTHING due to controller design. Except the DualShock's L3 and R3. ... Though my experience with the original XBox pad did leave me with a rather sour taste. Thumb hit the right analog stick every time I went for the A button, which was just too dang close to the stick.

The Advantage is nice for a cheap joystick. Nowhere near arcade-grade(heck, the stick isn't even microswitched), but nice for the price point. But comparing it to a DualShock is like comparing apples to Apples. It's over a decade old, and totally lacking in ... well, buttons mainly. You can't play a PS game with it, and that's the main problem. Now THIS... http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-m-70-5w3.html ... is unfair on the other end. But the subject of joysticks is a lot more subjective. I think something like the above is an optimum solution, though it can't play anything needing analog sticks. I don't think it even supports analog buttons(if it did, I wouldn't pay near that for it). But it's a good layout, with good parts.

Would you care to clarify what was "flawed and outdated" about the dual shock design? I've used just about every 1st party game controler and found them to be all garbage compared to Sony's design. Microsoft's are either too big or have the buttons in akward positions, it hurts to hold the Dreamcast controler after about an hour and the D pad has a habit of biting into your thumb, the Gamecube, is by far the worst, too damn small. Sony didn't need to redesign their controler, it was fine as is. I agree with everything you said except the GC controller. I think the size is a perfect middle ground so that female gamers (like myself) don't have to struggle holding it like I did the XB and DC controllers. Those made my hands hurt nect to the N64's analog surface. The GC's controller flaw is the button design from the location of the X and Y buttons, the size of the A button to the stupidly placed Z trigger. Thank goodness for controller port converters. Sega Saturn controllers were the best IMO. Itnerestingly enough... I compared earlier. The 'Cube pad is slightly BIGGER than a DualShock. Personally, I like the 'Cube button layout. For properly-mated games. It won't win any awards for fighting game controller of the year, obviously. but there's no way I'd play Metroid Prime with anything else. For the record... Z is stupidly placed because it wasn't an original design feature. They realized they were short a button for Smash Brothers and wedged another in.

PSX was never an official system name. The origins are hard to trace, but it SEEMS to stem from a typo in an early magazine article about Sony's upcoming new video game system. It was accidentally dubbed PSX in the preview, and it stuck.