Desbreko

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]I just noticed this: on the Who's Online screen, the IM service symbols all have little white pixel-bits around their edges. Nothin' serious, just an aesthetic thing.[/FONT][/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]That's 'cause whoever on the vB design team made those icons was stupid and used anti-aliasing on them. Which almost completely defeats the purpose of making their backgrounds transparent in the first place since, as you can see, they look like crap when used against a dark background color. I'll fix them sooner or later because that sort of thing bugs me. Oh, and I wanted to let people who have quotes in their signatures know something: If the quote is showing up with the charcoal background color (the one used in the side bar) instead of the light gray it should be, just go to the Edit Signature page and re-save your signature to get it to display the correct background color. I have no idea why it happens, but I noticed a few instances of it while testing the skin and that's how I fixed it. So, you know, don't freak out if it's happened to your sig.[/color]

[center][img]http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5557/lovelycomplexinnerbreaskl5.jpg[/img][/center] [color=#4B0082]Lovely Complex seems to have a lot of these types of moments. [center][img]http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5369/lovelycomplexcrabca0.jpg[/img][/center] So here's this giant [strike]enemy[/strike] lover crab. . . .[/color]

[color=#4B0082]This is Adam's comment on the [url=http://www.theotaku.com/news/view/theotaku-del_rey-nyaf_fan_art_finalists_announced/3133/][u]news post[/u][/url] on theOtaku announcing that the finalists have been chosen:[/color] [quote name='Adam']In terms of process, key representatives of all three organizations (theOtaku, NYAF, and Del Rey) voted on their favorite entries and the 15 with the most votes were able to move forward.[/quote][color=#4B0082]So there you go. It would be difficult to rig a contest when there's three different organizations voting for the finalists, and then having NYAF attendees vote for the winner.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I was seriously disappointed by ep3. The first two episodes were great and got my hopes up that maybe, just maybe, the censorship wouldn't bother me too much. Then it went and ruined ep3 for me. Ep3 had the potential for much hilarity but instead we got a full screen censor box. That was so not cool.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I've heard that one. Before my hard drive got corrupted a few weeks back I had every Zelda mix on the site. :animedepr It's definitely good but not quite one of my favorites. I also like the remix of the Dragon Roost Island theme they have up. I forget its name but I was really happy when that mix was released since it's one of my favorite themes in the game. So far all I've redownloaded is FFVII: Voices of the Lifestream. I need to go pick up the batch torrents and get back my favorites soon.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Well, you know, mob rule isn't pretty. When it's me against a dozen other people who want handicaps it's hard to win unless we happen to be playing my copy of the game. Yeah, of course I fight full strength on both my mains and my little used characters. On some I characters I kind of have to since I can actually end up being at a disadvantage that way. And the thing is, people still learn even when you completely thrash them. They see every move you do and, if they're smart, they'll start trying out the things they see. And going full strength against them will teach them to do things [i]well[/i] because that's how they'll see them being done and that's all that will work against a skilled player. Otherwise they pick up sloppy habits—believe me, I know, since after playing mainly against the horribly predictable CPU players for years I've picked some horribly predictable habits myself. Of course, like Alex said, you don't fight full strength against beginners since they're still learning the game's basic moves. But once they're comfortable with all their character's moves and how to shield and dodge, they're fair game.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]As it happens, when I'm forced into handicapped matches it usually is with people who have little to no experience with the game. So the levels do end up at 3 for me, 7 for them. If I get any say I at least put theirs down to 6 since a difference of more than three becomes no fun. If it's on auto I usually fluctuate between 3 and 2, sometimes up to 4, though I've never been able to push it all the way down to 1. Another reason we play timed matches is that in those settings, there's usually a rather large group of people wanting to play and they care more about actually getting to play than winning or losing. So timed matches work well for rotating people out at regular intervals. If it's just me and a few friends, I definitely prefer stock. Against people who actually have experience with the game but still aren't at my skill level, I just play on my lesser used characters most of the time and only pull out Marth and Link occasionally. That usually evens things out well enough. And yes, you don't go easy on people who actually know what they're doing. If you don't go full strength against them they won't learn as quickly because they won't see what's possible and how to do advanced techniques. There's a reason it took me years to learn crap like wavedashing and SHFFLing and it's because I had to learn it entirely on my own (no one I know can do them, at least to my knowledge) with YouTube videos being my only example.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I never said timed matches give lesser skilled players a better chance at winning. I said it's more fun for them. Since, you know, they actually get to play for a solid five minutes instead of getting eliminated in two and then having to sit and wait out the rest of the match. A lot of the time, yes, the handicaps do go overboard when I'm playing with beginners. They either handicap me so much that I can't get any KOs and just have to run my *** away for most of the match so I won't die in two hits, or else I wipe the floor with them. We've yet to find a middle ground, even adjusting the handicaps manually; I go straight from first place to fourth. Which is actually kind of funny when auto handicaps are used, since it usually results in me winning and losing every other match, but it's still frustrating for either me or them each time. And I also made the same observation back when I first started playing RPGs. But the thing is, it's not that I don't try to finish people off, it's that I literally can't without them being at 200% or more, due to the handicaps. Before I can get anyone that high, someone else will have jumped in and stolen the kill since their attacks aren't weakened as much. I'm happy about the new system since that way, even if I die fast from starting with 100%, I'll at least be able get in good combos and actually have them be able to KO people. Instead of hitting someone with a side smash from the edge of the stage at 150% and having them barely clear the camera range.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Because timed matches work better for four player free-for-all when you've got people of varying skill levels. Otherwise the lesser skilled players just get eliminated right away, which is no fun for them. Normally that would be solved by using handicaps but, again, that gets frustrating for the skilled players because they can never get KOs. And in a stock match it would make sense for the skilled players to do hit and run. Since their attacks are weakened, to KO someone they'd have to get them to significantly higher percent than someone without such a crippling handicap. So it would be safer to do damage, then let others finish the person off rather than keep attacking and risk getting KOed themself.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Melee's handicap system worked great for 1v1 matches, sure. But like I said, it's crap for 4-player free-for-alls. The handicaps weaken you so that people will pretty much always get KOed by the less handicapped people long before you can get anyone to high enough percent for you to be able to KO them. No KOs means no points and no points means it's impossible to win a timed match. Maybe it's better for free-for-all stock matches, but I imagine that would turn into a game of hit and run tactics since all you can do is damage people and then wait for others to KO them until it's only you and one other player left. And that gets old fast. Besides, if you really want to set up a handicap similar to Melee's, just put the damage ratio on .5 and jack up the handicapped player's starting damage to produce the same effect.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Woot! Judging from Snake's taunt in that screen shot on Smash Bros. Dojo, there's just enough space for, "Fatty beat you down!" Also, I have to note that, "That's what she said," will also fit. :toothy: Also, I am so glad they changed the way [url=http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/various/various12.html][u]handicaps[/u][/url] work. They pissed me off to no end in SSB and SSBM because they basically made it impossible for me to win in free-for-all matches while fighting lesser skilled players. I could hit with plenty of good combos but since my attacks were all so weak it was impossible to actually KO anyone before another person came along and took the point with their stronger hits. And using the auto mode would just make my handicap level go up to where I couldn't win, then down to where I'd wipe the floor with everyone, then back up, without actually settling. I got to the point where I wouldn't even bother playing with handicaps on because it just wasn't any fun that way.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]It seems like posting in the thread again can fix it, yeah. I guess if a post doesn't show up after a few minutes, try posting in the thread again and then delete the extra one.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]A friend of mine rented this and we played it for a few hours yesterday. He slaughtered me for the most part 'cause he already had hours of experience with the game but it was still pretty fun once I learned what the heck I was doing. I mainly played on Rukia and Byakuya, though I settled on Rukia because I liked her speed; despite being incredibly fast in the anime, Byakuya's bankai is freaking slow in the game. Even though I'd get behind my friend with flash steps, attacks would take nearly a second to activate, during which time he would just sidestep and smack me. I actually did better on Byakuya when I didn't use bankai at all, which seemed pretty stupid. On Rukia I could dodge and counter attack a lot better, and I liked her special moves. But is it just me or are normal (i.e. not special or critical) attacks completely useless? At first I kept trying to combo from normal attacks into a critical attack . . . except that characters wouldn't even flinch from normal hits and instead my friend would just smack me with a critical attack right through them. And he wasn't even guarding. That's another thing I stopped using altogether and did better for it. Also: Kenpachi is hax. He's hax in the show and he's hax in the game. Even when I managed to land a nice critical combo on him it would only take a sliver off his life bar. Meanwhile, he'd do a fifth of my bar with a similar combo. WTF mates?[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Me and a friend went and picked up Mario Galaxy yesterday and then spent about five hours playing it. I think we collected somewhere around 25 stars between both of us (we traded off playing as Mario and helping out as second player) and it was an absolute blast the whole time. The game has really lived up to its hype. Playing it reminded me just how fun Mario games can be. Running, jumping, flipping and flying through the levels feels effortless thanks to the controls continuing to be top-notch. If you've played Mario 64 or Mario Sunshine you'll immediately be able to pick up Mario Galaxy since all the standard moves return, though in place of punching and kicking you have a spin move (think Mario's down+B from Smash Bros. only not as long lasting) to stun enemies before stomping them. I frequently find myself doing fancy jumps and crazy maneuvers just because it's fun to do them. The level design is absolutely amazing too. There are so many awesome and original things they've done and I haven't even seen half the levels. And yet, it's all incredibly intuitive; when I'd come upon something I'd never encountered before I'd frequently be able to figure out right away what I needed to do with it, or else there'd be an NPC with a short note about how to do something. This kept me moving and having fun the whole time while still providing fresh experiences. One thing about the game really annoys me though: as I feared, there is a severe lack of camera control. Supposedly you can use the control cross to change the camera angle but most of the time it doesn't actually let you. It seems like any time you're on a planetoid that you can run completely around, rather than it having a defined top surface, it doesn't let you move the camera. You can usually use the C button to center the camera behind you still . . . except that it usually doesn't actually center it behind you in that case, and rather just picks what it thinks is the best angle for the situation. It feels like Mario 64's camera all over again, even if it has been improved. And another thing is that when you center the camera behind you it brings you to a full stop for about half a second and then you have to start running from a standstill again. So you can't really make camera adjustments on the fly with it since, well, you stop running when you tap the C button. I really don't get the reasoning behind that and it's incredibly annoying. But, though it annoys me and has caused several deaths, the lack of Mario Sunshine quality camera control doesn't really cripple the game. I have a feeling it will just take time to adjust to the angles it gives me, like I had to do with Mario 64. Oh, yeah, and I can tell you right now that this game will make you lean your head from side to side as you run around on the bottom of things and get weird views of stuff. It's not really a good or bad thing unless you have neck problems but I thought it was funny that I kept catching myself doing it without even thinking.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Does my watching something really influence people around here that much? :o It is a good series from what I've seen so far (through ep6), though. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes weird/cute school comedies. There hasn't been an episode yet that's failed to make me laught out loud. And [url=http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8760/manamimikavl4.jpg][u]omg the cuteness[/u][/url], it's too much; the characters can be really adorable even while being completely weird.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Lucky Star is a different anime, which has already finished airing and recently got licensed in the US. It just happens to also be done by Kyoto Animation and features a lot of the same seiyuu as in Haruhi. Not to mention having a crazy amount of references to Haruhi. There's a thread about it listed in the forum thread directory if you want more details. As for your other questions, I'm not sure. I haven't heard anything about season 2 in a while. Though spring season 2008 seems like the earliest it could start since KyoAni is currently working on Clannad for the autumn and winter seasons.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]That thread is displaying correctly for me. Does it still appear broken for you?[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I'm watching [b]Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight![/b] right now and farther cementing my Aya Hirano fanboyism. Mei is like Kagami from Lucky Star only voiced by Aya, which is a little odd since it's the opposite roll from Lucky Star, but also awesome at the same time. I can't get enough. [center][img]http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4961/ayaownsyoutb9.jpg[/img][/center] Oh yeah, and the rest of the show is pretty good too. It reminds me of Lucky Star in other ways as well, though the humor is notably more physical rather than conversational. There's lots of funny, cute, and heartwarming moments that make it a really fun series.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I'd delete OtakuBoards for $1 million. Drop me a PM if you're interested.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Ah, so that's what he meant. I, too, was thinking it was some kind of writing competition on myOtaku. I faintly remember seeing those polls but I hardly visited theOtaku back then so I never followed them. And that's not a bad idea, Gavin. But I think Dagger would win that match; I'm too nice to girls and my signature move is useless against them anyway. :([/color]

[color=#4B0082]Oh snap, Red pwned him before I could. But still, it always makes me lol when Alex throws around technology-related terms without knowing what they mean.[/color] :lecture: [quote name='Matt']Since when was our Link obsessed admin a major in mathematics?[/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]I've been good at math pretty much forever. But my good friend Mr. Calculator helped me with those bit rate calculations.[/color]

[quote name='The Blue Jihad']Web 2.0[/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]I'm sorry, but you just lost the argument. Web 2.0 is a buzzword that's thrown around to refer to stuff like social networking uses of the internet and has nothing to do with infrastructure or connection speeds. lol Incidentally, I also just lost the Game. :o[/color]

[quote name='The Blue Jihad']Plus, the future of hi-def entertainment (and most entertainment in general) is going to be digital distribution, anyway, so all of these companies investing this much into physical discs is hilarious.[/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]I might agree with you there except for one big setback: Internet connections have a ways to go before most people will be willing to download HD movies. Even lower end broadband connections are only just starting to become the norm, so it's going to be a good while before most people have fast enough connections to keep it from taking days to download such large files. In that time I think there's room for an HD disc format to fill the gap. Not to mention you'd need freaking huge hard drives to store many HD movies. Discs are still a very practical means of storage.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Actually, I did the math and there's no reason they shouldn't be able to get 26 HD quality episodes on one 50 GB disc. Given a 26 minute running length per episode, that's 26 x 26 = 676 minutes of video. 676 x 60 gets us 40,560 seconds. Now let's say episodes are encoded at, oh, 9,000 kbps. 40,560 x 9,000 = 365,040,000 kilobits. Divide that by 8 to get 45,630,000 kilobytes, then divide by 1,024 twice to get ~43.5 gigabytes?easily enough room for all 26 episodes. Now consider that there are fansubs out there of, for example, Shakugan no Shana Second that are encoded at 1280x720 (720p, an HD standard) in h.264. Taking ep4 for example, it's encoded at only 1,339 kbps (that includes the audio stream too) and still looks very nice with few noticeable compression artifacts. Throwing another 7,661 kbps at it for a second English audio stream and improved video quality will be plenty. So unless they're going to move up to 1920x1080 (1080p), they really have no excuse. I don't expect it to be a lot cheaper that way (though packaging a single disc should cost a fair bit less than packaging a set) but it would be a whole lot more convenient.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Since there's no HDTV to be found in my house I'm rather indifferent about the standards war for now. Not to mention I hardly watch movies so I wouldn't bother buying a player anyway. About the only thing I care about for HD-DVD and Blu-ray as video standards is that we'll hopefully see the end of the utter crap that is 3-6 anime episodes per disc. I want to see full 26 episode series on one disc, which will be possible with the increased capacity and the use of the h.264 video codec. What I'm actually looking forward to, however, is when they finally settle on one and start getting PC recorder drives out for it. The higher capacity per disc will make data archiving and backup so much easier.[/color]