James

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]The only major cost associated with Blu-ray is the actual purchase of capital equipment to handle manufacturing. Once a company has made that investment, I doubt that Blu-ray would be substantially more difficult or costly to deal with than DVD. DVD is potentially worse if you're going to use six discs - not because of the added cost of the discs, but because of the unique packaging requirements. Also, there's the simple idea that not everyone is going to want to deal with a six disc game. This is particularly true if you consider that PS3 games will eventually regularly go over DVD spec (ie: regularly use more than 9GB or so). It's cumbersome. The biggest issue I have with Blu-ray, from the consumer standpoint, is that they might be far more easy to damage than DVD, because of their more sensitive nature. Hopefully Sony will be able to do something about that.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]It's still very tough for me to really place TWW, in terms of favourite Zelda games. I would have to say that, bar a few issues, Majora's Mask was probably my favourite of the 3D Zelda games. It wasn't as expansive as OoT, at least in terms of dungeons, but I think it was the better and more refined game. Still, it's a little tough to make the comparison in some ways, because MM was also quite a divergence in many respects. It's hard to view it as a "traditional Zelda". In the final analysis, I think that The Wind Waker is something that "could have been but wasn't". Yes, it was a great game in its own right. And as a Zelda game, it did make several key improvements (graphics/art style, combat). But it dropped the ball in some ways too. The dungeons were mostly pretty good, but I would be hesitant to say that they were anything better than OoT or MM. And the gameplay surrounding the dungeons was better in the two previous games, in my opinion. Remember what it was like to walk out into the stormy ocean in the darkness, following that glowing seahorse? (At least, I think it was a seahorse). Pure brilliance. That whole atmosphere is burned into my memory - The Wind Waker is memorable, but it doesn't stand out as much as its predecessors to me. I suppose I would say that the dungeons are "average" for a Zelda game. They're good, but I'd be very hesitant to say that they're better than the last two games. The biggest issue, I felt, came from the Triforce quest at the end. I've mentioned this on numerous occasions but I really think it's the game's single biggest flaw. Not only was it a [i]painful [/i]aspect of the game (and the first time I've actually experienced something so off-putting in a Zelda title), but it also demonstrated a sloppy design approach from EAD. And that was highly disappointing. Had the two "missing dungeons" been included instead, I'd probably have been a lot happier. It'd have given the game reasonable length, but without compromising gameplay in such a significant manner. In some respects, this makes me feel hesitant even about Twilight Princess. My hope is that Twilight Princess will absolutely surpass Wind Waker in terms of getting things right in every respect - without adding clumsy busywork to the game. That's my hope, anyway. I found it hard to believe that Aonuma was responsible for both The Wind Waker and Majora's Mask, considering that the latter seemed to be such a more polished game, in some respects. I suppose that for me, Wind Waker was to Zelda what Mario Sunshine was to the Mario series. It was great in its own right - a darn sight better than most games. But somehow it missed the boat in a few respects, which was ultimately disappointing. But it's not a terribly bad disappointment, afterall, Zelda does bring with it very high expectations for good reason.[/color][/font]

[QUOTE=Sage]You wish it would be that simple! No, the games don't turn kids into psychotic murderers and rapists, it makes them think that it's totally okay and cool to beat up others, to take what you want despite the fact that it isn't yours, to break stuff etc. Most importantly, the kids I took care of that had played or seen GTA, wanted to be like the man in the game! They looked up to a lowlife criminal!! [/QUOTE][color=#332e1d][font=franklin gothic medium]Kids also played cowboys and indians in years past. I don't think it made them want to go and shoot an indian. I think people forget one important point with all of this - they put the cart before the horse. Yes, violent entertainment can inspire real life violence. That statement is partly true, but it ignores an important point - if you are an inherently unstable person, you are likely to be affected by such outside stimuli. If you aren't, then you are likely not to be affected by it, at least to the point of carrying out violent acts. People will blame Grand Theft Auto and if they can't blame that, they'll blame Marilyn Manson. And before he came along they blamed rock 'n' roll. And so it goes. As Marilyn Manson says, who did Caine blame when he killed his brother in the Biblical story? He had no violent TV or games or music then, so what could he blame? When are we going to [i]stop [/i]blaming outside sources and start taking responsibility? If someone is inherently violent - if they are actually prepared to kill someone or cause harm - they will actively seek out violent content. The content won't invade their homes and force them to do anything; they will seek it out. The buck stops with the perpetrator. As someone who has actually had parenting responsibility, I don't think that it's about always shielding children from gruesome things. It's about ensuring that they understand what is right and wrong and what is real and unreal. If I had a five year old son, would I let him play GTA? Possibly not. But not because I'm afraid of him being influenced to kill people with baseball bats. I'd only prevent him from playing if I felt that it would actually frighten him or something like that. I think parents need to instill that responsibility into their kids by allowing the children to make decisions and to determine outcomes for themselves. Yes, parents can do some protective things as they should - but it has to be within reason. And parents need to understand that they can't blame a video game for their lack of parenting in general.[/font][/color]

[QUOTE=Chaos] No, those are two different things, James. They have different connotations. It's a certain expression of the word and a certain understanding of the meaning. I don't know, maybe my thinking is skewed, but maybe the English language has so many ins and outs to express different things? ;D[/QUOTE][color=#332e1d][font=franklin gothic medium]Wrath: Forceful, often vindictive anger. Wrath is a synonym for anger, in the English language. As I specified in my post, anger is anger. Whether you are talking about a "forceful and vindictive anger" or a "jealous anger" or a "silly, clown-like anger", you're still talking about [b]anger[/b]. So yes, wrath could be considered a "type" of anger. But we are talking about the deepest emotions. So "wrath" would be considered an extension of anger, in the same way that you have different types of love (ie: romantic love, platonic love, etc). That's the point I was trying to make.[/font][/color]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]People who think that it's a "rite-of-passage" are probably the same kind of people who think that boys need to hunt deer to become true men. In other words, they're coming from a backward and asenine place. lol I don't know how bullying can ever be considered a good thing. Yes, kids should probably have some challenges in their lives to give them some perspective. Sometimes negative things can have positive longterm consequences. But...bullying? I don't know. I experienced the usual stuff in school, but nothing extremely negative or terrible. The negative experiences that I [i]did [/i]have probably only served to teach me that some people are incredibly shallow and/or stupid. But they didn't have a profound effect on me, other than confirming to me that I personally would never want to behave that way. Some kids go through absolute hell with this type of thing and in some cases, it does lead to violence (whether suicide or something like Columbine). So, I don't view it as having any kind of healthy or positive side effects. Different kids will react differently to bullying and some will obviously go too far. That's not to say that something else in life won't trigger such reactions, but still, I can't really think of any time where bullying has a positive outcome. So, no, I don't think that bullying has a beneficial effect and I don't think I could ever view it as "tough love". Tough love is about doing things that are in the best interests of someone - belittling them or physically hurting them wouldn't count, I don't think.[/color][/font]

[QUOTE=Chaos]I'd like to point out that that IS the case, and yet people still do it, so that point is a bit moot. Sure, not ever member randomly clicks off the "New Topic" button and give us an obligatory "Jullo i r teh knew," but those that do obviously see the lack of such posts and still go ahead with it. Just making a point. *shrug*[/quote] [color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]It's not at all a moot point. The amount of introduction threads we get is minimal - it's rare to see even two together in the same day. So, clearly, most people are seeing proper discussions and that is important. Yes, people will always try to make these threads. But there are plenty of people who also won't read the rules. That doesn't mean we should remove the rules altogether, to somehow make life easier because people are going to do it anyway.[/color][/font] [quote] EDIT: On a more to-the-point note, why not combine all of the little individual forums' rules into a list and red flag it on the main page? Sure, it's on the sidebar, but I think people would notice it a) more if they had to scroll past it, and b) if it was 'freshened up' so to speak.[/QUOTE] [color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]The main reason that we don't have that stuff unified is because, historically, people don't read it. By having stuff in each forum, we have a better chance of it being visually prominent. In future updates to OB, I would like to visually flag rules more prominently, but this is something I simply cannot do right now on my own. It requires fundamental re-coding of the site, which only Justin is capable of doing. As a result, my hands are a little tied there, because both Justin and I are busy with working on other sites at the present time. The same point is true when it comes to updating rules, even. I can't update them, because we don't have an automated form system to deal with that - it's all done manually in code. I have explained to Justin that for the future, I want all of that to be handled by a useable CP, so that myself (or even others) can update it without needing to look at code. So, I think I should make it clear that all of these things are on the agenda. The problem is mostly a question of time and availability. I rely on Justin for many of these things and while both of us are working on other things primarily, they just won't happen. In the meantime, I have to rely on good moderation to keep things sorted out. Having said that, I do understand if there's some confusion at times. That's why I am trying to keep Moderators as active as possible, to keep everyone in the loop. When time can be made for OtakuBoards, all of this stuff will be done as a broader cumulative update. I apologize for not having this stuff corrected sooner, but it's impossible at the moment.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]I'll definitely take the fire rune. I have no runes equipped at all right now and anthing that'd support my skills would be great. While I'm here I should mention the obvious to guild members - Desbreko has been made an Officer. It just means that he can engage in guild battles and he can add members and all that stuff. Since he's one of our most active members and he is online during different times to me, it means that there will very often be someone online who can help members out, regardless of their time zone. I may add one or two more Officers later on, depending on the need for it.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]Pretty much any energetic song that I like will get me pumped...it doesn't particularly need to be "angry" music, though sometimes that helps. Music that gets me pumped at the moment...probably Disposable Teens by Marilyn Manson, or Bucky Done Gun by M.I.A. But sometimes more peaceful songs pump me up by getting me inspired or making me think of certain things. A good example of that would be Genetic World by Telepopmusik. A few parts of that song are really awesome, it's kind of a shame that the entire song isn't a bit more simple and mellow. Oh well.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]Welcome to OB. Please bear in mind that we don't allow introduction threads here. We haven't included that in the rules, so it's understandable that you may not be aware of it. We prefer for people to jump right into discussion and to introduce themselves in that way. ^_^ Anyway, again, welcome to OtakuBoards. Hopefully you get used to the place and enjoy your stay![/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]I don't really think that we need to compromise with something like this. If we have an introduction forum, we'll then get people who say that we need a "testing forum" and that it wouldn't hurt because it'd give people a place to put their spam. Basically, it's no big challenge for Moderators to remove intro threads. It takes a second to kill each one off. I hire Moderators for that specific purpose - to moderate. What else would they be doing, really? If they aren't moderating...then they aren't Moderators. lol I am usually willing to offer a compromise in certain areas, but I don't think it's necessary to have an intro forum. Having one would probably be detrimental. I mean, think about it - that's the first place new members visit. If all they see is crap, they will think that posting crap all over the site is acceptable. You know? I'd rather that the first thing they see is clear, coherent posts site-wide. That gives an infinitely better impression. And it lets them know what they're in for, so that they can choose whether or not they'd like to stay.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]There are several types of members: New Member Member Moderator Team Leader Administrator Are you sure you aren't looking at someone's custom title? Unless it was somehow added as a joke or something...but I have no knowledge of it. New Members are people with less than 50 posts. Members are everyone else. The other titles are pretty self-explanatory - Team Leaders are essentially Super Moderators, they are like Moderators but they have broader powers and are responsible for overall categories, rather than single forums.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]Lately I've been listening to M.I.A. quite a lot. I think one of their songs has finally hit slightly big in the United States (Galang, I think). That song has also been doing the rounds over here. It has a pretty cool music video. Recently I've been listening to their Arular album. Generally it's not the kind of music I'd be interested in - sometimes it sounds downright obnoxious, lol. But it has a unique appeal about it, it's very fresh in the field of electronic music, especially considering that much electronic music has been pretty stagnant over the last couple of years. Even the bigger dance artists like Paul van Dyk have fallen into a really boring slump, where they haven't been able to produce the kind of big hits that they were putting out during the late 90's. Arular is pretty cool, although as I said, it can sound quite obnoxious, no doubt due to the often high-pitched singing and very raw accent (Indian/Sri Lankan people in Britain must have a certain name for their accents...but it's not quite cockney, although kind of similar). Still, the lyrics are unique and the actual musical sound is quite experimental in many respects. Very fresh in general and a good diversion from other stuff. My favourite songs on the album are probably these: Hombre 10 Dollar Sunshowers Galang Arular Bucky Done Gone (this one's probably my favourite, I think) [/color][/font]

[QUOTE=Sage]Sigh, I know that... :( At times like these I realize how much this world sucks. But I guess we humans only have ourselves to blame for the suckiness. Fortunately there's at least some sort of balance in this world, because there's so much good in this world, too. As individuals we're trying to keep our footing on that rickety scale. :/[/QUOTE][color=#332e1d][font=franklin gothic medium]Yeah, on the day of these attacks I was talking to someone on AIM who was acting in a panicked fashion, despite not even being anywhere near the area. My advice was just to counterbalance all of this by doing something positive - by investing yourself in something you enjoy, or by spending time with people you care about, etc. I suppose it sounds like fairly cliche advice, but getting upset and panicked over these things only gives them more power and significance. I think that's definitely true. It reminds me of a Marilyn Manson lyric: "The more that you fear us, the bigger we get." Isn't that so true of many things in life? The more that you fear it, the more it dominates you and controls you. So, I think if people shed their fear and focus on doing positive things and indulging in what brings them pleasure, life will seem a lot nicer in general.[/font][/color]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]It's hard because the world isn't that simple. The main reason that Osama bin Laden formed Al-Qaeda was because of the American presence on Saudi soil in Gulf War I. He felt that it was offensive for foreign troops to be in the holy land. That's what sparked it. The Americans were only there because they had gotten permission from Saudi Arabia to use its soil to strike on Iraq, in defence of Kuwait (which Iraq had invaded). So there is no justification or reason for bin Laden's fanatacism whatsoever; the same as with [i]any [/i]religious fanatacism. People will gladly cite "oppression" or they'll cite reasons why they feel their cause is justified. But no matter what the political (and highly vague, frequently shifting) reasons are, it's all just an excuse. If it wasn't Saudi Arabia, it'd be Israel or it'd be some other cause. There is really no cause at all.[/color][/font]

[color=#332e1d][font=franklin gothic medium]Wrath is only a synonym for anger anyway; were still fundamentally talking about anger, whichever way you slice it. I don't know what my deepest emotion is at this stage in life. If I don't, I doubt that many who are younger would. I agree that you have to live longer and experience the truest highs and lows in life, in order to have a better understanding of how extreme things can get. It's not to say that I've never experienced extreme emotions - of course I have. Most of us have. And most of us have been through terrible things now and then, which we may rather forget. The big question is how we deal with these things. For example, relationship problems would probably never bring out my very deepest emotions. At least, not romantic relationships. They might bring out some of my stronger positive emotions, but I doubt they'd bring out the darkest ones...simply because a romantic relationship is very different from a family relationship. I think that for me, my strongest emotions would probably be triggered by the death of a loved one. So much so that I'm occasionally a little worried when I think about the possibility of my parents dying. I am so close to them that the thought of being without them, even at this stage, seems unbearable. So...those types of events will probably lead me to the very darkest places in my life. But at this stage in life and at this age, I don't think I could express the full extent of my emotions. And don't forget, many of you are teenagers. [i]Every [/i]emotion feels stronger when you're a teenager - [i]especially [/i]anger/frustration. But to a large extent, you grow out of that when you have completely passed puberty. At that point things become a bit more mellow and you don't get fired up as easily. So that's something to consider.[/font][/color]

[QUOTE=Sage] But to comment the alert-color-raising-thingy: the government did that to increase the (false) sense of security of the people. The reason they didn't raise it when Madrid got bombed was because Americans clearly didn't feel threatened then, or not at least as much as now that London got bombed, since this time the attack was against people who speak the same language as the Americans, and are considered their closest allies in this maniac war. [/QUOTE][color=#332e1d][font=franklin gothic medium]The colour alert is raised for functional reasons primarily. Each level of the alert triggers different types of security responses at different levels (local, state, federal). It's a bit like that military defense system that they use, where each level represents different degrees of preparedness. On one level, you might only have minimal or basic security, but on another you might implement additional measures (such as bomb-detecting dogs and additional security patrols). So, the alert response has nothing to do with language. What you'll find is that after the Madrid bombings, the United States increased its security alerts on their mass transit systems only. Considering the groups like this seem to have a preference for multiple simultaneous (or near-simultaneous) bombings, I do think it's the prudent thing to do. You'll also find that the alert being raised isn't particularly general; alerts are raised or lowered in certain sectors. The main benefit is just for law enforcement, rather than the public. If anything, I think that higher alerts frighten the public more than they actually give anyone peace of mind. That's partly why I think the public representation of the system is not terribly effective.[/font][/color]

[quote]I've also had no problem with the battery--but then again, I don't enjoy seven hour sessions--so who knows. But, larger capacity batteries are being released (one just was actually). So, I don't see what all the fuss is about in that department. The battery life is already reasonable and it's improving.[/quote] [color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]The battery is an issue for people who aren't necessarily likely to recharge frequently. Moreover, we're talking about portable systems here. For sheer portability sake, PSP's battery life is only adequate - and that's only if you count games that can actually achieve seven hours. Plenty can't. I doubt it would be an issue for most people, but if we're going to make battery power comparisons, then obviously it's an issue.[/color][/font] [quote]My main argument against getting a GBA SP wouldn't even be the PSP though. Why on earth wouldn't someone just buy a DS instead? The GBA is dying. All of its big franchises are moving over to the DS. Why would anyone want to buy a GBA at this point if they have enough money to even consider buying a PSP instead? Especially considering that GBA games look better on the DS.[/quote] [color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]Getting a GBA SP at this point would be pointless for one key reason: GameBoy Micro. Other than the concept of shielding the screen, GBM generally trounces GBA SP as a portable product. And it has a higher quality screen, to boot. Also, just for the record in general, who says that sprites are "bad graphics?" Hasn't anyone played Yoshi's Island? That game still looks gorgeous. I don't know how it could be said that 2D is inherently "uglier" than 3D. But having said that, PSP has one clear advantage - it can do both and it features a much better screen for both. 2D games on PSP would look incredibly sharp and crisp, I imagine. So even in 2D graphics, PSP would easily have GBA beat. As I said earlier, I think the biggest issue is price. If PSP were much cheaper, the only real factor would be whether or not people like Nintendo's own games enough (or the third party stuff) to buy GBA. PSP's software library is sluggish right now, but there's plenty of great stuff in the pipeline. There are quite a few games that I'm looking forward to, as well. I suspect that PSP will receive more time from me than GBA ever did, but as mentioned, that's largely due to a preference for console-style games. And now that I do actually own a DS, I really have no incentive to buy a GBM...even though Nintendo obviously isn't going after DS owners with that system anyway.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]This should be a reaffirmation of the evils of religious fundamentalism - any religion. Each major religion has played a major role in various forms of carnage throughout human history. Unfortunately, rigidity and zeal can lead to violence like this. So yes, it's not just about Muslim extremism. It's about religious extremism, period. I think it's something people should always be wary of, even as a non-violent force it can be destructive. [/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]I think the important thing is that people didn't panic. And that no doubt helped to save lives as well. I don't know what else to say about this, except that the extent of human cruelty never ceases to disappoint me. That anyone can deliberately target completely innocent people is just too difficult to contemplate. I think Tony Blair's comments were pretty spot-on. No matter what terrorist organizations do, the world certainly won't stop spinning. So these acts are essentially useless; all they do is kill people who never did anything wrong. The endless cycle of human stupidity continues.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]It's ironic that you mention playing the same games over and over again, considering that PSP's library currently consits of a very limited number of genres. ~_^ Basically I think that if people are buying this thing to get the most out of it (ie: films and music as well), it might become more attractive. But who really wants to pay DVD-like prices for a UMD that you can [i]only [/i]watch on PSP? On that little screen with headphones? You'd have to either hold it up...or hold it below you and look down (which could cause car sickness or whatever). I just think that'd be quite difficult and uncomfortable. And the music aspect is kind of a non-issue, due to the memory limitations and the cost of beefing up your library. So it's probably cheaper to get a small Flash player and a GBA SP. lol But when it comes to these systems - apart from price and so on - I think the biggest thing is going to be what kind of games you like. If you want more portable-type stuff (ie: fairly non-committal 2D games), GBA SP is probably the best bet. But if you want PS2 games on the road, PSP's probably the better option. At that point it really just comes down to price. It makes me wonder if PSP will actually experience a price drop within the first couple of years.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]PSP has a camera? o_O Next I'll be able to remove my own appendix with it! If I had endless money, I'd go with PSP. That's probably because, at least in terms of third party support, it has more franchises (or potential franchises) that I'm interested in. I love my GBA, but I buy so few games for it. Even the great first party games...I just hardly buy them. This is probably because in general, I'm not much of a handheld gamer. PSP games are more console-like, which makes them a bit cumbersome for travel, but as a general game device I think I'd prefer PSP. As a purely portable system? Probably GBA. PSP's battery life just isn't good enough in that respect. The biggest issue for most people is going to be price. I think that's the deciding factor generally. Forget the PSP's music and movie capabilties - I can think of very few people who really take them seriously. [/color][/font]

[QUOTE=Meggido]got this finally today. loving it already. Is it possible if I'm using a european server to join the otakuboards guild? [/QUOTE] [color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]I'm afraid that we require all members to be on the American server. Otherwise it's not physically possible to join each other in the game. You should be able to just switch to the American server pretty easily though.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]Wow, I think this is probably the first time I've heard anyone really reference the Jukebox like that. Glad you've been enjoying it! As far as new music goes, I really have no idea how that works. As far as I know, Adam is responsible for compiling the Jukebox's music. I am not sure when the last time was that he added any songs, so yeah. In any case, I'll talk to Adam about it and see what we can do. Hopefully we can beef up the music library for people who have listened to everything on there.[/color][/font]

[QUOTE=MistressRoxie][color=#9933ff] We already have theories on how the solar system was born, and what comets are made of; all this is doing is backing it up with some facts. Astronomy has grown as much as possible in the theories department - everything is confirmation from here on out. Let the NASA scientists go back up their facts, but it's not all that important to me. [/color][/QUOTE] [color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]That's "all" it's doing? Whether it interests you or not, supporting theories through evidence and research is incredibly important. Many of the benefits may not be immediately apparent to you, but a great deal of this research trickles down into our everyday lives. As a matter of fact, some related research also directly benefits third world countries. This is particularly true in areas like energy production. I see a lot of people dismissing things like this so easily, but I don't think they are thinking further down the line. I don't think they are recognizing how interconnected many of these things really are.[/color][/font]

[color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]I'm not quite sure what they mean about the 512MB flash comment. It won't be external; it'll be on-board. So it's effectively the same as a hard drive. Although obviously Nintendo is going a different route than Microsoft, by allowing you to use SD cards. I think Sony should do what Microsoft is doing - bundle a modest hard drive and allow people to buy several. The Xbox 360 portable/attachable hard drive is one of its best features I think. It's only 20GB, but that's more than enough for the average user - at least, to begin with. The fact that it's portable [i]and [/i]replacable is great. Hopefully Sony gets it right. They didn't with PS2, in this respect.[/color][/font]