F-ZeroOne
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I can't get a good view of them but they look like they could be special, "real" colour versions of the Masterpiece Starscream (and similar Masterpiece Seekers). If thats the case, they're likely to be web shop or other exclusives. It could also be that they're unrelated to Transformers and just on the same page...
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True - I love the way that "fitted for" implies that a capability is there when its not - but what I'm trying to get at is the reporter appears to be exaggerating a known thing into a big "great unknown oh look the governments messed up again!" thing
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Hmm. I can't speak from actual flying experience, but having read a fair few accounts by test and combat pilots, I'm not sure that advice totally works for heavily loaded combat aircraft... (I can imagine some civil aeroplane manufacturer lawyer saying "Whats this in the manual about 'spin recovery'? You can't make airplanes that spin, gentlemen!") And, yes, the P-39 was apparently infamous, possibly because of its unusual (mid-engine mount) configuration... also, Jeffrey Quill, one of the most well known Spitfire test pilots has commented that the Spitfires stability was always slightly marginal, and the situation got worse as more powerful and more heavily loaded variants were developed...
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Apparently the reporter in question is extrapolating (i.e making things up... ) from things that are already known. The B model is still the UKs preference, however, it has always been the case that the C is a possibility if there are severe development or cost problems with the B. Likewise, the carriers have always been planned with the potential for being fitted with catapaults (naval Typhoon, remember?).
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Yes, it was something of a surprise to me too; I only found out about it a week or so ago. As I mentioned, don't go expecting the full-up PC experience - its definitely been "console-ised" - but going by what I've seen so far, I don't think anyone will be too disappointed.
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I've only played the demo a couple of times, but one thing I've noticed is that its seemingly quite easy to stall on the Realistic setting; I don't know if thats similar to the PC version. And if you do stall, theres an even nastier surprise waiting for you - spins!
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I downloaded the demo for this from XBox 360 Live. Its a title that flew under my radar until very recently. It may well fill your aviation warfare itch until the next Ace Combat comes out. The two scenarios in the demo are a Battle of Britain mission and a Battle of the Bulge ground attack mission. It strikes an interesting balance between realism and arcade; you can fly it like Afterburner (well, After-full-war-emergency-power) but still enjoy some realistic aspects; throttle control is quite important, and if you plough into an enemy bomber formation you'll get cut to ribbons by their defensive fire. Theres some lovely touches; damage causes holes (big ones) to appear in your aircraft, gun recoil slows you down, and if you get too close to a bomber you're shooting up oil spots might splatter your windscreen. Theres three different difficulty modes - Arcade, Realistic and Simulator. Annoyingly, Simulator seems to default to the in-cockpit view and as far as I can tell can't be changed. Ammunition is handled interestingly on the higher settings; you have unlimited ammo but it "charges"; fire too long and you have to wait. The difficulty also affects how hard enemies are to shoot down; on Arcade He-111s are made of tissue paper but on Realistic they're made of much sterner stuff. Theres a nice little deflection shooting mechanic as well. There could be some annoyances in the full game - targets selection isn't quite as smooth as the Ace Combat series, and ground attack missions seem a bit under-cooked. Still, going by the demo its a decent try at a semi-realistic console air combat simulator (don't go expecting the You-Must-Earn-Your-Wings-Before-Playing PC predecessor) and seems much better than Blazing Angels.
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I can't help but notice that the really tight space armour is in for the ladies this year...
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No, effin' is the fact that price will translate directly into 55 to 60 UK pounds...
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The missile vs gun debate is as old as... well, missiles, but 180 rounds is about typical for a modern day fighter. The Vulcan needs more ammunition because it fires at a much faster rate. Even during World War II, the 333 rounds carried by each of a Spitfires 8 Browning machine guns (for a total of approx. 2,664 rounds) was expected to last for no more than about 8 - 12 seconds of continuous fire (and those were .303 calibre, roughly 7.62mm). As has also been pointed out, the F-35s gun will also fire a much larger and more powerful round. The argument about volume of fire vs destructiveness of rounds that actually hit the target is probably as old as guns themselves, but theres a famous story that when they were testing the MiG-29s 30mm gun, it would tend to jam after about three or so rounds, but those rounds would be so accurate the target was usually destroyed (the MiG-29 was one of the first aircraft to use a laser to aid gun aiming)...
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Movies that were better than the book
F-ZeroOne replied to David Hingtgen's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I seem to recall that they got round this by saying the screenplay was written by Kubrick, based on the book by Clarke, and the book was written by Clarke, based on the screenplay by Kubrick... -
What Current Anime Series Are You Watching? v2.0
F-ZeroOne replied to Duke Togo's topic in Hall Of The Super Topics
Planetes. It is Patlabor on TV in Space. This is a very good thing. Buy it, because like Patlabor on TV, I've been told that it sold roughly minus two copies, and supporting this sort of excellent stuff might mean Bandai will see fit to release Turn-A Gundam at some point before the heat death of the Universe. You copy? -
San Diego Comic Con International 2009 thread
F-ZeroOne replied to EXO's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I assume you mean the character there, and not the actress... -
On reflection, I think I might have over-reacted a touch with the "OHMIGAWDZ! SPOILERS!" link to the Christmas Who special - having watched it again, theres nothing in the trailer that hasn't leaked out somewhere else over the past few weeks, and the same information is available from the BBC Who site. Unless you're those types who sits in a sealed underground vault until broadcast day, I think most of you can probably survive following that link...
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Christmas 09, Doctor Who Special teaser, MASSIVE SPOILER ALERTS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSaMpxsYRFI...player_embedded Theres some... familiar... faces in there...
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Fourth series of Torchwood on the way, apparently: http://www.comicmix.com/news/2009/07/25/ex...-season-by-bbc/
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For a view of translation from the other side, I would suggest seeking out Terry Pratchetts "Discworld Compendium" or Jonathan Clements "Schoolgirl Milky Crisis", which highlight some of the challenges involved in translating. Although I will point out again that Wales is not in England, Del Rey, though it often stands in for it in Doctor Who. Edit: I've just realised I might be accusing Del Rey of the same thing I'm trying to defend! I don't read Japanese, and its possible the geographical error I'm talking about was made by the original manga creator. In which case, there is a classic translation dilemma: do you translate exactly what it says, and hear the cries of "Oh, noes!" from actual British people [1] or do you correct the error in translation and then hear the cries of "Oh, noes!" from the "translations must be 100% accurate at all times!" people? The various attempts to smash down on the import markets... [1] They exist, apparently. I'm told I might be one.
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Okay. I wasn't completely clear on what I thought you meant. Though, I suspect, given the choice, veterans of those campaigns could have withstood some media griping in exchange for a modern loss ratio...
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Whatever Yoshiyuki Tomino plans to do with Gundam next.
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Macross 7 is under-rated. Yes, it takes far too long to get going, the overall length needs to be trimmed by about ten episodes, its budget was probably about the same as what they spent on Mr. Kawamoris Pocky during the production of Macross Plus, and there are some characters who should never, ever have been been allowed to sing - but once it does get going, its actually not half bad, and its probably much closer in spirit to the original Macross series than Plus...
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Those weren't acceptable attrition rates, they were unacceptable and unsustainable in the long run. I'm not sure if you mean the planning factored in a loss rate the USAAF would have accepted, but that certainly wasn't the result they got. Missions like that forced a serious re-think of long-held USAAF strategic bombing policies, particularly on the issue of fighter escort.
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Some people would consider them so, yes - the earlier image you posted did appear on the BBC website, though; possibly that image of the new Doctor and new companion would be fairly safe as that image has already been seen in the general media. However, I've seen other images from the same series of photos that can be considered a major spoiler, and people can get upset about such things sometimes, so links may be safer overall.
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Part of the BattleTech canon is that there was a significant loss in technological skills which meant that much 'Mech combat took place at close quarters as, yes, no-one had advanced computer systems any more. Yes, the fact that they can still operate giant robots in the first place is inconsistent reasoning and many of the novels featured laser range-finders or the like... The real reason is to do with in-game scale; IIRC a typical BattleTech game-hex was 30 metres square and if realistic weapons ranges were used you would have needed a bowling alley just to account for short-range weapons. It is also, of course, the standard Mecha McGuffin to account for the use of giant robots over tanks etc... BattlleMechs are powered by nuclear fusion engines; I don't actually recall engine explosions being part of the game (just 'Mecha shutdown if enough damage was taken) but its been a loooong time since I last played and I could be wrong. Maybe it just looked cool. You could set off some mightily hurtin' ammo magazine explosions though (and because I just know you're going to point this out, yes, they did later develop blow-away ammo sections to disperse the blast... ) As for the ejection - er, next time, check for wind direction?
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I didn't notice it at the time, but now that you mention it... so, want to go munch on some puny humans?
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Children of Earth has proved very successful given its format, which might explain the rush DVD release. Also, theres a feeling among some UK fans that it was possibly intended to see off the Torchwood spin-off but that the generally rave reviews and relatively good viewing figures might force a re-think.