Brasil

The entire banner seems too bright. I'm not sure if it's my screen, my screen resolution or what, but the entire image looks very over-exposed, particularly the left side. Seems like a combination of image brightness, a funky resolution, and just a general poor color scheme.

All The Chancellor's MenBut, where do you dig when you?re looking for sensitive information? The embassies aren?t going to be any help?they?re pretty much locked down, and I wouldn?t be able to persuade any doormen or technicians to be able to poke around storage rooms or data networks. I?d have a better chance of skinning a live kath hound than I would striking up a conversation with any Alderaan official. I don?t think I?d get much from regular citizens, either, except maybe an odd glance and then find myself at the wrong end of a guard?s Bothan Stunner?definitely not a pleasant experience. I?m going to need to get dirty?so where does the dirt collect? The cantina, the most wretched hive of scum and villainy, and the best source around for anything contraband. If you?re looking for someone, ask around in a cantina; you?re bound to hear something. Looking to get in on the spice trafficking, cantina?s where you need to be to make some contacts. It?s easy to disappear in there, too. Sometimes, people just don?t want to be found?the outside world?s gotten a bit too hot for their liking. A few droids are idling outside of the entrance. Guess the barkeep doesn?t take too kindly to their kind, but that?s not very surprising. It?s pretty common. Droids don?t drink?not Juma juice, Talusian ale, or anything like that, at least?and there?s no room in the bar for cheapskates, any good businessman will tell you that. It takes my eyes a few minutes to adjust to the dark, murky haze. The overhead lights are dimmed, probably for the Chadra-Fan. They don?t take too kindly to bright lights. Their bat eyes can?t handle it. They?re in here, too?I can hear their high-pitched squeaks. I take an open spot at the bar and tug on the bartender?s sleeve. He could stand to lose some weight?cut back on ?sampling? the products. Drink enough Juma juice, and you start looking like a Hutt slug, and this guy is starting. He turns and hands me?something. Smells like brandy. I start to protest, because I?m not terribly fond of Vasarian drinks, but he?s not going to listen. ?Tough to get what you want in this dump, huh,? a voice to my left asks. ?Yeah,? I turn, ?sure is. I swear?Alderaan is getting crazier everyday.? ?I believe it. Every time I travel here, I can?t wait to leave. Wish I could get to my ship right now.? ?Why can?t you?? ?Er, well, uh?I think the Starport is a bit hot right now.? ?I heard about some commotion over by the residential areas.? ?Yeah. I heard blaster fire. With everything that?s going on lately, I didn?t think hopping on a ship right after that would be such a good idea.? ?Understandable,? I reply. ?I don?t think we?ve been properly introduced. Name?s Derek.? ?Kyle.? ?So, what brings you to?? I suddenly feel a brutish hand grab my arm and pull me away. The nerve of some people, interrupting what is a perfectly polite conversation and? ?I heard your talk there, and I know who you really are. I gots a message to pass on here,? the bartender explains as he slides a folded paper into my hand. ?It?s sensitive stuff, so don?t go blatherin. Just be there. He?ll contact you. Now, get out. Back exit.? he says in a gruff whisper. As I leave through the rear of the cantina, I take a glance back at the barkeep, who now?s talking to Kyle. This thing is getting weirder and weirder. I step out of the door and into complete darkness. A few minutes pass?it?s a pretty eerie silence, except for the muted music from the cantina. Then I hear a door slide open somewhere to my left. I feel my way through the black to walk right into?Kyle? ?Derek? What?s going on?? ?I don?t know, but I have a feeling we?re about to find out??

[center][b]?Unmasked in the Fog of War?[/b][/center] [quote]Click. ?Drop the shit or you?re fucking dead.? The VietCong replies, ?You American. American soldiers have rule. You can't kill me, because it against rule to shoot man in back.? The VC hears a faint jingle, then the clink of dog-tags hitting the ground. ?Well, whaddya know...looks like those rules don't exactly apply here.?[/quote]

You know, it's difficult for me to choose, because most of the characters there are fairly useless in the film, and exist really only to "fill out" the team...Switch and Apoc, especially, and Dozer isn't excluded here, either. They really have no purpose within the context of the films. They have nothing meaningful to say (when they say anything to begin with--I don't recall Switch, Apoc, and Dozer having [i]any[/i] medium amounts of dialogue), they exist only on the fringes of the story, are never really developed at all. There are hints that Switch and Apoc are "involved" but that's really all there ever is, and it's minimal at most. They really don't represent anything in the films. So, it comes down to Mouse and Spoon Boy, really, if we're concentrating on the first film, and it seems like we are, given the poll choices. Now, Mouse vs Spoon Boy, I'm going to go with Spoon Boy, if only because Spoon Boy's dialogue ("There is no spoon") directly relates to nearly everything that Morpheus is telling Neo throughout the film. S.B. explains how "it's not the spoon that bends, the only thing that bends is your mind." The Spoon is symbolic of everything within the Matrix, that "everything" being fake, a shadow, something that doesn't really exist. To affect it, you can't treat it like it's a solid spoon, because it's not. It's not even there. "There is no spoon." To affect it, you need to understand (and believe) that what you see before you is just a shadow that can be bent and broken ("Free your mind")...it ties into what Morpheus says ("Rules can be bent, others can be broken"). The spoon is one of those rules. This is why Neo fails in the Jump Program: because he hasn't truly let go and realized that there really is no distance between the buildings, and there's only a distance because he thinks there is. He fails because he isn't bending his mind; he's still trying to bend the "spoon." When Neo and Trinity are in the elevator, about to ride the cable up, Neo says "There is no spoon." He can do this (freeing Morpheus, killing Agents) because the Matrix doesn't exist. During the Spar Program, Morpheus asks him, "Do you think my being faster, stronger has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that's air you're breathing now?" The "air" doesn't exist. The Spar Program doesn't exist, lol. Something that doesn't exist can't stop you, and that's what Spoon Boy is saying. The spoon isn't an obstacle, because it doesn't exist.

[quote name='Charles']The mythos of Halo has never been intriguing to me. In all fairness, the storytelling and narrative were improved substantially in Halo 2; the introduction scenes are particularly nice and really set the mood. Their direction showed promise. However, given the time allotted to development, I feel that Bungie could have produced much better cut scenes (and scripting for that matter) on the whole.[/quote] I find that it falls into some of the same pitfalls that The Matrix did: relying too heavily on obvious names and religious imagery, and not developing [i]original[/i] characters, instead trying to piggyback, as it were, on a pre-existing idea and mythos. The Flood, for example, The Arc, the Prophets, Spartans...the title of the franchise, HALO. Not to plug myself, but I find it similar to my Moby Dick/Matrix comparison. I had to dig pretty deep in the films to see connections like that, and there were some fairly subtle ways of linking the two works together that the films do not slap us in the face with, and it's more rewarding on the part of the viewer/gamer, I think, to not have characterizations so painfully obvious (The Flood and Neo...prime examples there). I understand that sometimes, you can't be subtle in writing--hell, Faulkner's response to the criticisms of the obviousness of Joe Christmas' initials, JC, and how Joe is really a Christ figure, was something along the lines of "Hey, you have to be blunt sometimes." But even then, I don't think that's an excuse for what is just sloppy writing and planning, like we see in Halo 2. [QUOTE]My problem is that the cinematics themselves are not consistent in quality throughout. As the game winds down there's a collapse of sorts in the storytelling. The end result is far less than satisfying. The ending, for example, is the worst seen in a video game since the otherwise fantastic PSX Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. The narrative seemed almost non-existent in Bungie's last outing, so I came into Halo 2 welcoming their attempt to flesh out the plot. I walked away almost wishing they hadn't because I now firmly believe that the ability to tell a fantastic story isn't one of Bungie's strongest suits. Hopefully the next game will be less convoluted, focus more on Master Chief acting like a badass, less on humanizing the Covenant, and just deliver a finale that ties everything up. If they can deliver in those areas, everything will be fine.[/QUOTE] I think where the plot turned sour for me (well, apart from the [i]boring[/i] Marines defending Earth rehash) was the cinematic with the Arbiter, MC, and the huge underwater beast. We are told exactly what the new threat is through pure exposition. We've both taken writing classes (actually, both with Denise Gess), and I'm sure we've both heard "Show don't tell" pretty consistently. That underwater cutscene felt forced and showed an extreme lack of originality, I think, because instead of exploring the plot, we're fed the plot. We're not shown; we're told. I think that criticism has extra weight regarding Halo 2, because when they write a screenplay for the game, I like to think the screenwriting rules apply, the golden rule being "Show don't Tell." I somewhat echo your criticisms of the "split" gameplay. The game felt schizophrenic at times, because for the majority of it, it felt like we were constantly switching back and forth between Arbiter and MC after each level, and I never really connected with either character because of that. Often, the only way I could tell who I was playing as was either through watching the cinematics, or by watching to see if Covenant soldiers were attacking me. With that said, however, I appreciated the Covenant narrative thread. They're no longer seeming like just some antagonistic, anonymous, alien race. It's not humanizing them, necessarily, but it is at least going into their culture and structure, to show that there is an organization there that is much more developed than just mindless drones on a planet's surface. I feel that the Marines defending Earth plot paled in comparison to the Internal Jihad/Civil War of the Covenant scenes, if only because the Marines plot has been done so many times before and it's gotten to the point where gamers can say, "Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alien invasion, ships hovering overhead, blast them out of the sky, defend Earth." Rarely do we get to see an alien government split from within. [QUOTE]When we talk about the product for the sum total of its parts--I'm still far from being the president of the Halo fan club. Compared to the best titles that have been and will be released during this generation of consoles--the classics that will be talked about and emulated for years by other developers--Halo 2 is indeed above average. Just not by much. It finds greatness to some extent--but it really only falls somewhere in the middle of the pack compared to some of the truly influential software that's been released in the span of the last five years. Referring solely to console first person shooters released this generation, it's easily head and shoulders above anything else released. With the copious development time Halo 2 received, it in fact should be better than what it is. Just because it isn't doesn't make it average though. It's still great--just not what I would refer to as an instant classic or "the best game ever" as people anticipated it would be for some unfathomable reason.[/QUOTE] I'd think it's safe to say, though, that Halo 2 is really just more of the same, albeit with a sharper presentation and a few new gameplay tweaks (the vehicle highjacking, for example). It's done well, yes, but what it is isn't "new" in the sense of developing new styles and approaches to gameplay, and offering new gameplay types, like what TimeSplitters: Future Perfect is shaping up to be. Basically, Halo 2 is just the solid combat FPS that serves up the basics and nothing more...it's a ham and cheese omelet, but a tasty ham and cheese omelet. [QUOTE]Anyhow, let's again review a key statement you made here Alex that I also quoted above. Absolutely. It can be. Is should be. There's no reason why other console first-person shooters shouldn't nail the fundamentals the way the Halo series does. But they don't. That's why it's necessary to prop Halo up on a pedestal. Bungie has managed to deliver on the basics, which are not only the most important part of the game, but also the most difficult to perfect. That's why I feel that you're undercutting the talent of the developers big-time by attributing the tight, responsive, and precise control scheme to the Xbox controller. Although the Xbox control pad is suited particularly well to first person shooters, it's obviously not responsible for the programming skill that went into utilizing it properly. Just look at a game like Goldeneye: Rogue Agent; it's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Despite its attempt to copycat Halo's style of gameplay, it doesn't play even nearly as well. The Xbox version uses the same control pad obviously and it was published by a juggernaut, yet the controls fail to be as responsive. Try as they did to duplicate the style, they couldn't do the same with the performance. I could probably list a half dozen or more first-person shooters that control awfully despite the Xbox control pad too. Goldeneye: Rogue Agent just stands out in particular since it puts itself into a position where it must be compared to Halo. It's that comparison that shows the distinct difference of skill between the developers. So, try not to ignore the craftsmanship involved behind making the Halo games play as well as they do.[/QUOTE] I don't think you quite understood what I meant when I said "action." I was referring to the situational gameplay--the run n gun, as it were, the lack of real variation in what different types of gameplay we were given. Craftmanship didn't factor in to what I was talking about. Halo/2's action (the situations and gameplay types) can be found everywhere. From a technical execution standpoint, well, yes; Halo 2 stands alone, more or less. There's very little frame-dropping. Character models are mostly very nice, apart from the occasional "bleh" texturing or animation hiccup. But regarding the controls, if you were to port Halo 2 to PS2, for example, or Cube, it's not going to work, no matter how perfect the game turns out to be, because the PS2 and Cube controllers are not FPS controllers, especially Cube. Neither controller feels sturdy (enough for FPS, that is). The PS2 buttons offer little clicky resistance I've found, and their initial responsiveness wears down fairly quickly. The C-stick on Cube is just not an aiming joystick--the reason that TimeSplitters 2 worked so well is largely due to the Custom Control scheme, and the L and R buttons aren't tailored for the shooting-intensive FPS. Even though Rogue Agent's controls aren't [i]as[/i] tight as Halo 2's doesn't mean the game is unplayable, though. On Cube, Rogue Agent is far from unplayable; it just takes a bit longer to become comfortable with the game, due entirely to the nubby C-stick. It controls much, much better on Xbox, just because of the controller. And I think accusing Rogue Agent of trying to copycat [i]Halo[/i]'s gameplay is a bit inaccurate, because the Dev Team at EA has been quoted in interviews saying that the reason they named it GoldenEye was to take the EA Bond FPS series, a series that has gotten progressively more and more unplayable with each new incarnation, back to a familiar style of gameplay made popular in GoldenEye 64, a gameplay that was successful because of a solid development by Rare and a controller that [i]was[/i] an FPS controller. If there's one [i]intentional[/i] (and not based on consumer/reviewer response) similarity to Halo 2, it's the Dual Wielding system, I agree with that. But on that point, I think Rogue Agent trumps Halo 2, because the weapons able to be Dual-Wielded in RA are far more varied and the combinations are far more useful (an RCP-120 and a Remote Mine Gun are very effective, likewise a Shotgun/Venom Pistol and Venom Pistol/Remote Mine Gun) than a Plasma weapon (Pistol, Rifle) and a conventional weapon (SMG, Magnum). The Dual Wielding system in Halo 2 is fairly limited in what the player can actually do with those weapons able to be Dual-Wielded, and I am aware of the Plasma Pistol's charge shot. [QUOTE]I also don't believe the AI is all that bad considering the genre and what the competition's been able to produce. Of course, Halo's antagonists aren't the pinnacle of AI in video games, but both the friendly AI and the computer AI are solid. Not only that, but the AI is again superior to anything else found in this generation of console first-person shooters. That's quite an accomplishment considering how unbelievably terrible AI can be in these games. The illusion of fighting real enemies is there.[/QUOTE] Based on how many times I've seen Marines run into an open space, only to be gunned down by Plasma blasts, Grunts and Elites mowed down by Heretic forces in a tight hallway because it seemingly didn't occur to them to not rush into a bottle-neck, strafing behind cover that's easily countered by the player strafing along the same direction and moving in, flanking maneuvers that amount to dead enemy soldiers when the player simply anticipates a maneuver that is so clearly announced, enemy snipers that don't adjust their position when the player clearly has a bead on their skulls, and painfully obvious "evasion" tactics when the nasties have vehicles...I just can't see solid AI there. Maybe I'm just outsmarting the AI, but I really don't think I'm [i]that[/i] smart, lol. And oddly enough, I found Rogue Agent's AI to be more of a challenge than Halo 2's. I can't quite explain why, but I was thinking on my toes in RA, as opposed to my thought processes that consisted of "Okay, they're moving in that direction, so I'm going to be here" as I played through Halo 2. [quote]But, overall, the single player campaign is under whelming. I'm not a fan of the repetitive level design, narrative or the short length. If Halo 2 didn't have its multiplayer component attached to it, the game would be strictly rental material. However, and this is a big "however," the online mode definitely gives it legs to stand on. It along with the terrific fundamental gameplay aspects manage to carry it to whatever greatness I'm willing to attribute to it. It really makes use of the Xbox Live features to their fullest and is a showcase for the service. When compared to PC games of the same genre it's nothing special. Something like Unreal Tournament 2004 trumps it easily. But, as far as consoles go, you won't find better, widely appealing online multiplayer in a first person shooter or anything that manages to come remotely close.[/QUOTE] And the multiplayer (even offline 1 on 1) is really the only reason Halo 2 gets taken out of my desk drawer. The multiplayer is the game's singular strong point, that which gives it any replay value whatsoever. It's an example of the gamers making the game, not the game making itself.

[quote]'Open your mother-fucking piece of shit door, don't make me rewrite your fucking source code,' he swore, striking the wall with hand and fist.[/quote] My favorite line in this chapter. It just reeks of Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore ("You son of a bitch ball! Why you don't you just go home? That's your HOME! Are you too good for your home? ANSWER ME! SUCK MY WHITE ASS BALL!"). It's my favorite line in Happy Gilmore, just because it's so cruel, mean-spirited, and humorous all at the same time, and it fits perfectly within the n00b Hunter universe, because I can imagine both you and Adam Sandler screaming that line at the door. XD

[QUOTE=Helios]I'm excited to see how they handle single-sabers. In KOTOR I, single-sabers were entirely useless. They claim to have improved them enough to be usable. Hopefully.[/QUOTE] I'd say so. When upgraded, they can do just as much damage as upgraded double-bladed sabers. I just beat the game on Light Side. It took roughly the same amount of time, maybe a few hours less as it did on Dark Side, and the game is even better on Light Side, I think, because much more of the plot is developed. It's almost as if Obsidian wanted the player to go through on LS, because the LS ending is much, much more...whole. The DS ending felt too short, and I was surprised (actually, disappointed) that [spoiler]the Ebon Hawk falls into the core of Malachor V and doesn't fly out or anything in the DS ending[/spoiler]. LS, however, it does, and there's a greater sense of closure, and at the same time, a nice cliffhanger for the third KOTOR, and there's going to be a third, lol. The way they set-up the cliffhanger is quite brilliantly handled, too. Throughout the game, various characters mention how Revan either saved the Republic or destroyed it, based on your response choice at the start of the game. The twist thrown in there is that the Jedi Civil War (the war you fought in the first game) was [spoiler]only the first skirmish in a much larger conflict, a conflict where the petty differences of Sith and Jedi don't matter. Revan knew this, and understood that the heart of the war lied elsewhere, in an unknown region, where only Force Sensitives could venture, it seems. The LS ending cuts to credits as the Ebon Hawk flies off into a distant nebula, presumably headed in the direction of the unknown region.[/spoiler] To end my rambly little post, if you were even remotely fond of the original, do yourself a favor and play this game all the way through, both Force Alignments. It's spectacular.

[center][b]?Living in a Fool?s Paradise?[/b][/center] [quote]He?s living on an island in an endless sea, secluded from the world, convinced that what he knows now is all he?ll ever need. But then the tidal wave is comin?, and he?ll get swept out to sea, and as the waves crash down, the fool is gonna weep, ?Darn, I can only blame me.?[/quote](I recommend that everyone listen to Jack Johnson's 'Cookie Jar')

[center][b]?The Monkey on the Typewriter?[/b] [/center] [quote]Random phrases?bits and pieces of a paragraph chopped up onto separate lines. Stanzas?when they exist?aren?t linked together in any coherent scheme. The monkey may someday write Shakespeare, but old habits die hard, as will the ape, who still fruitlessly hammers away on the typewriter, totally oblivious to the meaninglessness of his words.[/quote]

[quote name='50 cent']Okay first of not many people are looking for storylines that much anymore, because clearly you are not a gamer, most people just want the multiplayer/ online play.[/quote] I'm not a gamer because I criticize Halo's story, because I play a game for the story? Oh, come on, lol. Why do people continue to rave about MGS1? The gameplay is tired as hell now (it's PSX circa 1998), the graphics are laughable at best, yet gamers still treasure it. Why? Because the characters are well-written, the characterizations solid, the dialogue tight, the plot pacing well-constructed, and a concept that's engaging and exciting. What about Chronicles of Riddick? I bought the PC edition not even a week ago, and I'm already halfway through the game, even in light of my computer being unable to run the game perfectly (frame-dropping at various heavy action points, and graphical stuttering), because the plot and story are gripping and entertaining. The characters are lively and aren't just tired and recycled B-movie cliches. Knights of the Old Republic II has frozen on me a few times since I got it for Xmas, and yet, I'm already 35 hours into my second playthrough, and playing it through again on Light Side to catch the plot developments you miss going through on Dark Side. I find it funny how you're trying to justify Halo now by disregarding my comments about the story, claiming that "Halo wasn't designed for story." That's what your [b][i]new[/i][/b] argument boils down to, and if you were to check out the Bonus DVD that came with the Collector's Edition of Halo 2, you would know that your claim is a load of horse****. They wrote out a screenplay, 50 cent...a [i]screenplay[/i]. Halo not having a focus on story? Sure...you're still trying to dance around having to concede my point that Halo's story is B-movie material. [quote]Oh and trust me I think I have talked to atleast 15,000. I mean I play atleast 300 different people everyother day so I think that could add up to 15,000 but also thats just xbox live, there is people on yahoo msn and aol that I have talked to that I have never faced so I think I know what I'm talking about on this one because well your not me, are you?[/quote] And like I requested before, names, Gamertags, screennames. All 15,000 of them. And now you "think" you've talked to at least 15,000? What happened to "I [b][i]have[/i][/b] talked to 15,000"? You were pretty adamant about that before I started pressing that issue, and with your addition of "I mean I play atleast 300 different people everyother day so I think that could add up to 15,000...[etc]," I'm beginning to smell the unraveling of a rather large tapestry of bull**** [QUOTE]Okay I will just say everything that did let me down just a little bit, yes the first level did seem a little similar to the first but first off we got a new suit, also the covenant followed us to Earth and was trying to blow all our space cannon things up so we were trying to defend it, on the first game we were just trying to escape. Then in the cut scenes there was a little bit of lag here and there and the story was a little short, and the AI was pretty much like the first but it still has there differences.[/QUOTE] You've already taken the first step in admitting that Halo/2 is average...take the next step, and the step after that, and after that, because you do see it now. You're no longer blindly praising the game, like you were in your first replies in this thread, are you? [QUOTE]But hey what can we do we are not the creatures[/QUOTE] I'm not a creature, no, nor am I a creator. [QUOTE]but I really think you need to play it on xbox live and see how many people really got the game for the online play, I mean yes everybody loves the fact of jacking people out of there vehicles but we all want online play I mean yes we will all go through the campaign and if we are dissapointed in it oh well because we have a really great multiplayer. Thats all we ever really wanted.[/QUOTE] I hear criticisms of the story, and how it's too brief in the game, how the scope of what they want to do was too large...something tells me that multiplayer/online wasn't the only thing that gamers really wanted, 50. Again, you're trying to justify Halo/2 by claiming that nobody cared about the story, that all they were interested in was action? Then they should play Doom, because that's really what Halo is anyway: Doom with advanced graphics, and Doom 3 does Doom far better than Halo/2, and Half-Life 2 outdoes Halo/2 if you're looking for "interactive" gameplay. [quote]Oh also I bet you the range of the sword is larger than you think it is. If you were at coagulation in the middle of the map and I was on top one of the bases I bet you I could kill you with the sword using the dash attack. That is something I will bet on my own life do you know because I have only done it to a whole crap load of people. 50 out[/QUOTE] The precise middle of Coagulation, huh? Right...your "arguments" are getting more inane and ridiculous as you reply, 50.

[url=http://www.somefantastic.us/][u]Some Fantastic[/u][/url] As some of you may already know, I recently got published in an online sf journal. I'm very, very happy about it, because it's really the first step into a much more...[i]lucrative[/i] world. My professors have long since encouraged me to get my work published, whether it was an epic poem about Lego Kings and vile wizards, or a paper refuting John Milus' claim that he based Apocalyse Now on The Odyssey, or most recently, a research paper showing very real correlative links between The Matrix Trilogy and Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and I never thought it would happen this quickly. I mean, it's not even been four years, but I got published as an undergrad. I'm very happy. :D So, yes. I'm very excited. What do you all think? OMFG did I do a good job?!? lol How many of you hope to get published in the future, and what type of material?

I initially saw The Ditty Bops on the Conan O'Brien show sometime around New Years Eve, and at first, I was "huh?" but as they continued, I started to really enjoy it, and by the end of their performance, I was ready to buy their album. Even my dad really enjoyed it, and that's probably the most surprising out of it all, because rarely does he enjoy any of the bands on Conan. It's somewhat difficult to appropriately and accurately describe The Ditty Bops. Their biggest influence is Ragtime music, but they also have a hint of classical training, a dash of Swing/flapper, and a modern sound. Just imagine piano Ragtime, mandolin, bass, and...the Shimmy, and you'd have a rough idea of what The Ditty Bops are. I've looked for their album in Best Buy to no avail. I believe it's available online, though, so that's a big plus, because I've absolutely fallen in love with this band. They're a breath of fresh air; they really are. Their official site is [url=http://www.thedittybops.com/main.htm][u]here[/u][/url]. I highly recommend them. They rock (and Shimmy, lol).

[center][URL=http://img33.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img33&image=obn00bsabers38ku.jpg][IMG]http://img33.exs.cx/img33/4372/obn00bsabers38ku.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/center] #3. I had a lot of fun with this one, because it's something I always felt might happen if everyone could understand R2D2, because that would make C3PO pretty much useless, and most excellent airlock fodder...

[quote name='50 cent']Oh and thats Sol-blade for being on my side of the debate.[/quote]What side? You were trying to defend something that is so clearly flawed, and your "argument" was so clearly incoherent that you weren't saying much of anything, trying to "prove" your "points" by resorting to vague references to some absurd, exaggerated number of people, each and everyone of whom you've claimed to have talked to, claiming they'll back you up. Also, the fact remains that Halo's story is a B-movie, Halo's AI is tired and monotonous, Halo's action can be found in virtually every single FPS known to man, and Halo's only saving grace is tight controls that are only tight because of the Xbox controller being very well-suited to FPS. Does this mean it's a bad game? No. It means it's average. {Omitted} (1:00:43 AM): Sol-Blade wasn't on his side. XD {Omitted} (1:00:47 AM): I know. {Omitted} (1:00:48 AM): lol {Omitted} (1:01:26 AM): I think he was trying to be sarcastic...? {Omitted} (1:01:35 AM): It didn't work. {Omitted} (1:01:44 AM): No, it did not.

[center][URL=http://img138.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img138&image=obn00bsabers23ij.jpg][IMG]http://img138.exs.cx/img138/324/obn00bsabers23ij.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/center] Consider this #2. ^_^

"Fox, you're just a poseur trying to fit in..." [SFA development reference, for those unaware]

[quote name='Manic Webb']I like the idea of Johnny Depp playing Willy Wonka. Even Gene Wilder's portrayal in the old movie was pretty creepy, when you get right down to it. In fact, if those Oompa-Loompas and Wonka himself didn't stop to sing every 2 minutes, that would be one incredibly scary movie. I mean, every kid in that story nearly dies.[/quote]Yeah, the movie is actually quite creepy. I remember the gondola sequence, with Wonka chanting, the nightmarish images streaming along the walls...I think the only reason people view the film as a "kid's movie" sometimes is because it's so damn colorful and set design so childish ("childish" in the sense that it could have been designed by a child, considering all the fantasy look to it). I'm pretty interested in Burton/Depp's version, because I really don't think there is anyone in Hollywood today, apart from Burton/Depp, who I'd entrust with this film. Burton has been doing this style of film his entire career, and Depp has pretty much always been his leading man, sans one or two movies. They have the talent, the vision, and the approach that's necessary to create a quality picture, I think. I really don't think the film will fall victim to its own hype, really. Yes, there are fairly high expectations here, because it's Tim Burton, the guy who gave us Beetlejuice, Batman, Nightmare Before Christmas, Big Fish, etc, but it's Tim Burton, the guy who gave us Beetlejuice, Batman, Nightmare Before Christmas, Big Fish, etc.

[center][URL=http://img80.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img80&image=obn00bsabers8mq.jpg][IMG]http://img80.exs.cx/img80/2669/obn00bsabers8mq.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/center] What does everyone think? For what I wanted to do with it, I think it turned out pretty well. It's not supposed to look like a work of art that you'd find in the Gugenheim or anything...it's pretty much just a fun and goofy little thing, and I think the art style reflects that. I do like the message of the piece, lol.

[center][quote][b]?Custard: Part III?[/b][/center] [left]?Hello, Alan.?[/left] [left] [/left] [left]?Alex. How??[/left] [left] [/left] [left]?Digital world, Alan. Think about it.?[/left] [left] [/left] [left]?Archival back-up...tricky devil.?[/left] [left] [/left] [left]?Oh, the devil's got nothing on me.?[/left] [left] [/left] [left]?My shotgun does. Revenge, like a good custard pie, is a dish best served ice-cold. Prepare to die.?[/left] [left] [/left] [left]?And how can you hurt me with that fish??[/left] [left] [/left] [left]Alan paused.[/left] [left] [/left] [left]??trout you to death.?[/left] [left] [/left] [left]??shit.?[/quote] [/left] [left]This is going to get interesting...[/left]

To add a quick point, I find much of the hatin' of the WW Link face to be pretty much absurd to begin with, for a few reasons. One, in my mind, and I think in the minds of pretty much everyone who ever paid attention when they were playing LttP, LoZ, etc, the series has always been more lighthearted and goofy. I mean, even just looking at LttP exclusively, it's rife with Saturday morning, Looney Tunes-esque material. From Link's death sequence (the fall, the sound he makes, etc), to the enemy soldiers' reactions (if you look closely enough, there are sweatdrops that appear), and even to the comical way that characters act (Link's Dash attack, for example...he charges it up before zipping along...that's [i]classic[/i] Looney Tunes)...it's always been about what if Bugs Bunny were to do an RPG/action hybrid. This Looney Tunes-esque-ness is pretty much non-existent in OoT, and then when it returns in WW, both in terms of the art itself, character action, and the facial expressions, people complain. "It violates the Link character design," they say, but what they fail to realize is...it's actually closer to the idea of the series...lighthearted and goofy fun. Two, somewhat related to the lighthearted and goofy nature of the series, it's always been a series about a child's adventure. I mean, there's a reason the series is almost "kiddy" in its presentation...because the series is about a young boy going out adventuring. Because of this, the facial "look" of WW Link actually makes more sense within the context of the series, because how many kids do we know that [i]don't[/i] look around? How many kids do we know whose eyes are stuck half-closed, or whose pupils stay in the center of their eyes? How many kids do we know whose eyes don't almost sparkle? WW Link's facial expressions, and most importantly, the eyes, are those of a real kid's, albeit a bit exaggerated, just like LttP and LoZ. When you think about it...OoT is really the extreme variation of the series, and WW is almost its redemption, in a sense.

[quote name='ScirosDarkblade']Look at the instruction manuals for the old Zeldas and see if you can really agree with what you said up there. Wind Waker didn't take us "back" anywhere. It was a total overhaul of the Link character visually. If you think that Wind Waker follows in the "specific kind of art style" that you find in the old Zelda games, then you're way off. Ocarina is closer, in fact.[/quote]Bull. [url="http://www.zeldalegends.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=3"][u]Original NES LoZ manual illustrations[/u][/url] [url="http://www.zeldalegends.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14"][u]Original NES LoZ Official Art[/u][/url] [url="http://www.zeldalegends.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=70&pos=6"][u]OoT Official Art[/u][/url] [url="http://www.zeldalegends.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=165"][u]WindWaker Official Art[/u][/url] In [i]both[/i] the Original NES LoZ and WindWaker official art, I'm not seeing [i]any[/i] of the muscle definition, mature features, or generally, anything remotely resembling the art direction taken in the OoT artwork, apart from the usual green tunic, and even then, the OoT tunic is radically different, stylistically, from LoZ and WW. The illustrations in the manual to LoZ were cartoons--full-fledged Saturday morning cartoon characters, only non-animated. The OoT art direction was not, as is shown by the manual scans, concept art provided, and [url="http://www.zeldalegends.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=74&pos=17"][u]this[/u][/url]. Who are you trying to fool here, Dmitry? lol

[center][quote][b]?Something Better Than Custard?[/b][/center] [left]Mike decided to take a nap while the custard baked. When his cousin, Jackie, awoke him later, he felt a warm, gooey substance on his cheek.[/left] [left] [/left] [left]?Shit?somebody took the custard out too early.?[/left] [left] [/left] [left]Jackie sniffed it, took a dollop on her finger to taste it, and then replied, ?Um, Mike, I don?t think that?s custard.?[/quote] [/left] Don't hate me, please, lol.

[b]What is it?[/b] Arena Underground [Forum] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] Build-up hype before the Sign-ups, spread the word, get feedback, provides an excellent place to guide the RPG after it goes Live, enables members to more fully develop a concept so it doesn't crash and burn. Plus, "Underground" is a very fitting name...nice and gritty, super nifty. [b]What is it?[/b] The Daily Otaku [OB Anth] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] Desi's self-published Supermarket Tabloids...come on, lol. [b]What is it?[/b] Crikey! It's the n00b Hunta! [OB Anth] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] It's Alan's OB "Alien" to Solo's OB "Star Wars." [b]What is it? [/b]55 Fiction [OB Anth] [b][b]Why was it nifty?[/b] [/b]It trains people to be editors. [b]What is it?[/b] Shy [Member] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] He could be considered a co-collaborator with me for Rebel Scum, and his dry humor is second to none. He's a centerpiece to collaborative storytelling at OB, Arena Moderator or not. [b]What is it?[/b] Mimmi [Member] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] She calls herself Badness, but she's Sweetness through and through. Mimmi rocks my world, and many other members', as well. She posts with sincerity, kindness, and refuses to raise her (digital) voice--she lets me do that for her, I suppose. She made 2004 cheery wherever she went. [b]What is it?[/b] Panda [Member] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] She bitchslaps (with) the best of them in OL. She's the epitome of 'tough love,' and that's exactly what OL needs. Panda is to OB what Dirty Harry is to San Francisco. [b]What is it?[/b] Alan [Member] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] I nominated Alan for a few different reasons, actually. I'm always entertained by what he writes (including, but not limited to, n00b Hunter), his personality is gritty and quirky, and in 2004, I feel he's really grown as a member. He's come into his own, I'd say, and he's got just as, if not moreso, a sick mind as Yours Truly, and that always comes in handy. [b]What is it?[/b] Star Wars 411 [Thread] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] More often than not in the past, the thread was a mess of spam, but the past 10 pages are full of very intelligent discussion. Really, those pages can be used for a Star Wars newbie's crash-course in the Saga. In 10 pages, someone can be brought up to speed very quickly, and that's pretty commendable. [b]What is it?[/b] Most Overrated Game [Thread] [b]Why was it nifty?[/b] Still a very good read, especially the middle pages. Good, solid discussion, a variety of in-depth analyses of various game franchises. --- Nominations are finished on my end.

Solo, [i]thank you[/i] for doing an E.T. reference. I was beginning to get worried that nobody would notice the similarity. Solo, the board is yours.

As I won, for Ben declared me the winner, and thus, I am victorious, for I did win...here's my screenshot. [center][img]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=22033&stc=1[/img][/center]