Semjaza

I had already deleted that post (I don't know when James started typing a response, but it was probably before I deleted it). As I said in the "reason", it wasn't even worth getting into it. If anyone agreed with my thoughts on it, it would have been gone already. I don't agree with some of these ideas presented whatsoever, but whatever. All I know is that it wouldn't fly on these same grounds at other places I visit and I still think it's condoning it when it's an obvious [b]fact[/b] that people have done these things (I mean, it's directly mentioned in this very thread; no link doesn't make a difference). In any case, I'm dropping it. I don't agree and I respect the administration's viewpoint on the subject. That's all I have to say and I don't really require more responses lol.

Am I the only one that finds it odd that this thread has remained open when it's extremely obvious that a good majority of the people who have watched this film (and will in the near future) have pirated it through Bittorrent or other means? There's a reason why posts about Bittorrent on theOtaku get the highest amounts of comments. This is like indirectly condoning that obviously illegal action, which isn't exactly smart on a site of this size that obviously wants to be something important to the world of anime. Most other major forums I go to would have shut this down by now.

[quote name='Panda']Trolling. It happens on every single message board you visit and it really does make the mods walk a fine line. Because of the nature of trolling the author can say...Oh you took that the wrong way, I meant it this way...when in truth they really did mean their statement to be taken in a negative way. Thus making it difficult to take action against the author. Some may see it for what it is, trolling, while other members may see it as abuse of moderator power. You are damned if you do, damned if you don't. .[/quote] The problem with trolling is that it's too easy for people to take any sort of disagreement or strong difference in opinion. When I go to some forums and someone posts a thread on something, as soon as someone states why they don't like that subject they're considered a "troll" for it. As long as we're only talking about people who systematically just post poorly formatted responses like "man, that guy stinks!" and try to nastily undermine literally anything, then I have no problem with it, but people take the definition way too far in general in my opinion. Flaming has a similar set of issues. In relation to that, I agree with Mitch's opinion on this... although one has to remember this is a message board and opinions and posts will be refuted or agreed upon all the time. It's the nature of the place. If someone wants to just write a few paragraphs and just have people accept it, I suppose they should just write in their own personal journal lol. Boards don't really act like a space vaccuum. I think the mods need to be more clearly defined as well. I know there's that one link, but I can't be the only one that never ever notices it there. I was told that was going to be adjusted in the future, however, so I suppose that's going to rectify itself. I'm also coming into agreement with the suffocating feel. At times I don't feel like I can even post in a basic thread without it resulting in some sort of argument/debate at some point. With the idea of "quality" seems to come the idea that everything has to be taken very seriously and debated until there's one opinion. I think there's room for that in a lot of the threads and it's very understandable (hell, I and everyone else do it at points), but at times it just gets to be too much. Positives: I like the layout and the things related to that. The myO integration is a nice touch... but I think it would be cool if it was expanded on a bit more, although I don't know how possible that is.

Johnny slowly returned the phone to the receiver and continued to drink the remainder of his water. He grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door. It was the afternoon and local traffic was already piling up. Kids flew by on their bicycles and tossed some trash on the ground. As he walked down the sidewalk towards the closest bus stop he caught the glances of a few people. City dwellers always seemed to avoid making eye contact and a simple hello was like poison. At times it made him feel a bit uncomfortable, if only out of the concern that any of them actually considered him suspicious. Not that he'd have to do much more than dispose of them and their families to rectify the issue. Even so-called ?outbursts? such as these tended to rectify themselves if he kept them to a relative minimum. There was little chance of him being pointed out to begin with and he knew far too well from past experiences that the authorities considered him a ?necessary evil? of sorts. They hired him enough to make that obvious. He eyed his briefcase as he thought this; it contained the only real evidence of his alter-ego . . . aside from everything in his condominium, anyway. He disliked having to live the normal life, but short of building a secret base in a cave somewhere he had no real alternatives. Coming in and out of his current home in full-on Persona attire would certainly not have been a good idea. He couldn't kill everyone and even he required rest and relaxation. It wasn't that he was afraid of being caught and incarcerated or even being put to death. It was a fear of not being able to do what he did best. His blood lust took precedence over other issues. Okita's call came as a slight surprise. He ? as Persona anyway ? had done many, many things to many, many people, but all of them were ? to his knowledge ? alive. The humor of the situation did not evade him; the idea of a professional killer have to deal with those already dead struck him as ironic, even if he wasn't directly responsible for their original deaths. These thoughts reminded him all too well off the fact that his preferred line of work had seen a lull lately. People just didn't want to have each other killed as often as they used to. Even so, he kept himself going and he remained in peak condition both physically and mentally. It really hadn't been all that long since his last big mission, although for him it felt like an eternity. All he really needed was another major disaster and he'd be back in the front again. Wars and fights were an inevitability. As it was, jobs as bizarre as this one, unfortunately, were his main source of income. Even they were becoming uncommon. Every so often he'd get some blood out of it, but it was becoming increasingly rare. Lately it just seemed like an excuse to clean his mask and press his suit. He felt a slight bit on edge and tried to put it out of his mind by thinking of the matter at hand. He had a plane to catch. By the time Persona reached Mammon Studios in his full attire it was already dusk. The lot was still semi-busy and filled with all sorts of characters and props, although it was obviously dying down. Carts pulling trailers of even more props or carrying less important actors sped by. He didn't stand out too much in such a crowd and walked around rather freely in his generally non-standard attire. Next to some of the costumed extras he actually looked slightly normal. Their actions towards him led him to wonder if he wasn't recognized because of the area and commotion or whether it had really been so long since he made the news. Could he have been forgotten that quickly? The thought of the studio filming another one of those horrid and ridiculous films that made use of his character crossed his mind. If only he had some way to cash in on all of that. He found Okita in what had recently become an abandoned section of the lot, Studio 12B. It was famous for random films from the 30s and 40s that had once been popular, but had since become largely forgotten. Still, some of the names of the actors and actresses involved still managed to resound even today. This unassuming building, which somewhat resembled a large warehouse, was the source of Mammon's recent problems and the reason why he, Okita and Echo had been called over to begin with. As much as he hated working as a team, he bared with it. Beggars can't be choosers.

I don't mind a lot of these beyond a certain point because any ficticious thing is bound to have cliches in it. It's unavoidable due to the medium and the general idea that people want something accessible that doesn't insult their intelligence... which has proven to be true with FF selling in droves despite using the same basic plot developments for the past few games (which I've gotten into before, but I'm not going to bother here). People like things they're comfortable with and I don't know that it's necessarily a bad thing as long as other games are attempting new things. RPGs tend to go in cycles. It used to be that the group would be a bunch of young adventurers trying to have a good time and save the world while they were at it. Then suddenly we were bombarded with unnecessarily angsty lead characters with muddy feelings towards everything. Then the young adventurer thing came back for bit and now we're being hit with RPGs that look like they fell out of a random mediocre anime series. And really, there are a lot of RPGs that avoid most of this list (and my personal problems with today's RPGs, many of which aren't on that list) entirely. Unfortunately, a lot of them seem to fall under the radar. I don't pop in Disgaea or Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne or Vagrant Story or Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter or even Shadow Hearts: Covenant (despite it fitting into that mediocre-anime thing I complained about , it does do a lot of things well) and feel like I'm being assaulted by incredibly recycled and re-used concepts. I mean, if I was making Part VI of a hugely popular series I would try to avoid doing anything radically new myself. You don't want to abandon older fans if you can help it. I suppose at some point there is a breaking point, however, and things have to change both on a story and a gameplay front. It seems as though that's happening with FFXII, for example. I certainly respect what they're attempting to do, regardless of whether I loved the last few games or not. To be clear, I'm not trying to be like "FF stinks!" because, while I think it is flawed, I don't think it's a bad series by any stretch of the imagination. It's just certainly easier to reference what is obviously the absolute most popular RPG series in existance outside of Japan. Even with cliches, a RPG can manage to be special with its character development (or lack of it, in some cases) or its design. No one is going to argue that Skies of Arcadia was full of really insanely innovative developments. What helped it, however, was a reliance on a group of fun characters in a world that was suddenly dominated by depressing, angsty character driven RPGs. Sometimes just going against the trend can be a breath of fresh air. I'd say the same of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. The basic storyline of it is not something that I think would bowl anyone over (it's the traditional "This monster might kill us all!" thing), but between its characters, style and translation it wins out anyway. So I suppose it's give and take. I certainly think it's possible to use cliches in a fun way if the developer realizes ahead of time that the story and circumstances being used are, indeed, a cliche to begin with. This is something I noticed both Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and Shadow Hearts: Covenant took advantage of, which I think is commendable.

I know next to no one knows this, but I was having video card issues. Games would run fine for ten minutes and then I'd get a solid minute or so of just terrible framerates. Then it would be normal, then bad. Over and over again. I reinstalled drivers a few times and finally narrowed down the issue. I had to choose the opposite Fastwrite setting than I had checked off. Now it works. So I should actually be able to play soon. I'm only like Level 7 or something and I've not logged in in a while thanks to all of this, but Alex tells me that he and a few others have low level characters to use as well. I'm hoping I can get some help with the crappy quests I still have to do to even come close to where most of you are. :o

I never liked Brosnan as Bond. In fact, he was probably my least favorite actor to play the part. I'm rather positive it wasn't his fault as much as it was the fault of the writing, however. Bond films are so vapid nowadays and feel like satirical shells of what they once were. I can't even find them interesting from a purely action point of view, let alone anything else. Calling Keanu Reeves a "good" actor is beyond anything I can imagine. He's actually got some good sense when it comes to picking films (as of late anyway), but come on, he was basically the same character in the Matrix and Constantine (making your voice slightly gruff does not do much at all)... which is really a shame since he was very little like John Constantine is in the comics. No freaking thanks. I kind of would like them to at least get someone who can pull of a decent English accent, which is completely out of Keanu's grasp. He has nothing going for him for the character's requirements (and yes I'm aware that Connery is not English).

As for the "limited Xbox compatability", as long as it supports Forza and Rallisport Challenge 2, I'm cool. [quote name='Killer7']Please look things up before you shoot down what someone else has said. PS3 currently has 3 Rpg's slated with 8 months until release, not including the rumored remake. Xbox in turn has 6 with 3 months to go, one which is FFXI, basically a port, 2 being made by Mistwalker, a Japanese RPG company. The rest are american made action-RPG's. With the same amount of actual new Rpg's with over double the time to release, PS3 will certainly have more RPG's as more Japanese devolopers favor it.[/quote] So how does it not have more RPGs announced for it? That's all I said. I don't recall factoring in release dates of anything considering it's highly unlikely most of these games will be available anywhere near launch for either of these systems. I don't recall claiming 360 would always have more either. Maybe you should not put words in my mouth? Maybe while you're doing that you should look up things like Enchant Arm, Operation Darkness and Far East of Eden among other things which are not being made by American companies? There's also several announced games from Japanese companies that we know nothing about. There's more announced for it than most "game lists" seem to have on them right now. Personally, after games like Baldur's Gate and Jade Empire, I think it's pretty dumb to think "Americanized" RPGs are all crap anyway. You're missing out on a lot of great games because of that shortsightedness. If you think the new Elder Scrolls game, for example, has something wrong with it because it's not being made in Japan I feel sorry for you. If you want to look forward to PS3 more then be my guest. I hardly think it will be a bad system to own. However, to act like there is nothing worth owning that's been announced for Xbox 360 system is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. You don't have to buy it for that reason as I know not everyone has thousands to throw at video games, but it's hardly having a tough time gaining support and there's a lot on there already that would interest many people. I'm sure the PS3 will as well, but that wasn't my point. The point was simply that you seem to be denouncing this system for rather little reason... so of course I'm going to compare it to the system you consider a "10" in its defense.

[QUOTE=Charles]Personally, I'm interested, but I doubt I'll be an early adopter this time around. I have been following it closely, and my problem doesn't necessarily stem from the lack of quality software available, but from the pricing strategy they've employed. Microsoft has said that its out to make money this time around, which is understandable. But, how they're going about it could be potentially harmful. My main concern is that they're selling one completely useless SKU that's going to possibly limit the Xbox 360's overall potential. The 512 MB of RAM will soften the blow considerably, the fact that a portion of the system's audience won't have the hard drive means that we won't see it incorporated into a lot of games. Interestingly enough, the hard drive was the reason Square Enix seemed to jump onboard the 360.[/quote] Yeah, I've complained about this hard drive issue elsewhere. I really feel that it effectively splits the userbase to the point that most developers would see no reason to use it beyond acting as a massive memory card. Obviously it depends on which one sells most (and people can obviously buy the hard drive later on, but add-ons never work out). MS seems to think the more expensive one will be way out in front and, if so, then I suppose developers will consider the hard drive more often. The biggest problem with this, to me, is that developers can't really rely on the hard drive as a cache anymore. A lot of original Xbox titles (and PC titles, obviously) use the hard drive to soften load times, among other things. That'll have to be worked around thanks to this difference. I don't see why they can't just get rid of the Core unit and make the $400 unit $350 and be done with it. I don't really plan on getting one at launch myself, but to act like this thing has nothing of interest announced for it seems kind of shortsighted and ignorant. As for Square-Enix I doubt that was the only idea, but it's basically the only way FFXI can work: it requires a hard drive. They're likely going to put that game on anything that can use it so they can continue to raise their Play Online subscriptions. FFXI is continued easy money for them, really. They've made more comments since then (very recently) about putting pretty much all of their major series in some form on other platforms at some point. [QUOTE]--The Playstation 3 price--I have common sense, so I agree, it's going to be super expensive. Sony will undoubtedly release a basic pack like Microsoft without the hard drive and/or the Bluray drive to soften the blow--but again, it'll be useless to buy it. I just wish they would release one SKU. I do, however, feel that it's good that Sony's included built in wi-fi. It costs $100 to add it to Xbox 360. But, I suppose that should give a good indication of the system's inevitable price point.[/QUOTE] The games are supposedly using Bluray. Not including that would make absolutely no sense. If they released, for example, a DVD only version (Sony isn't supporting HD-DVD which would hold more, hence their Bluray drive), they'd effectively be cutting off certain people from certain games entirely. It's like a kid buying a 32X game and expecting it to work on a normal Genesis back in the day... there's too much of a difference and both can't be kept in mind. That makes even less sense than MS not including a hard drive and it just won't happen. It's removing a very basic component of the system... it'd be like making certain PS3's with less chips inside. Anything MS isn't including in the 360 can easily be bought and plugged in. You can't just expect to plug in a Bluray drive in the future. Sony apparently isn't including the hard drive already, but again, these things do not cost that much to include at the GB size consoles seem to be aiming for (20 GB or so). The lack of other options really just means that Sony can sell the drive for a slightly inflated price and try to make some profit of it, really. Considering their comments on price, I don't see why they'd care to release a second, cheaper model anywhere near launch to begin with. There's other things that could be removed such as the second HD output, some of the ports, etc before that, if they removed anything. [QUOTE]HD output-- Microsoft also requires that all games have to be able to do at least 720p.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I know that... the point was that they won't even be attempting 720p last I saw. 1080i, sure, considering Xbox has done that already. With PS3's obviously strong focus on 1080p, I imagine costs and development time to get framerates under control will be far more of an issue than with 1080p honestly... but it remains to be seen. We don't have any examples. If the thing is as powerful as claimed, it might not be much of an issue (but again, half of what we've seen in an actual gameplay environment with things and AI-style stuff going on was pre-rendered and thus we have no real example).

Xbox 360 has a really damn strong line-up already. Considering how many Japanese developers have already announced and shown RPGs for the system (several and certainly more than the PS3 or Revolution both right now), I have to wonder where this "crappy Americanized RPG" idea comes from. I think most people who aren't interested in Xbox 360 haven't been keeping up with it at all and in that case they just shouldn't bother saying anything. If people don't want to get the system, then whatever, but the thing seriously does have some really strong stuff lined up for launch as well as the near future. Aside from sequels to established franchises that I'm interested in, but that have already proven to be dying out sales wise (Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry), I don't exactly see what the PS3 is really offering over any of this stuff either... especially with Square Enix saying recently they want to bring more of their games to all systems. It's just assumed because PS2 and PSX had the most games before that. Well, Nintendo did before that and look how that changed. These things do not last forever. If anyone thinks the PS3 will be around $300 for $400 they are absolutely, positively ******* insane. I don't know how else to put this. I talk about this on my site too and a few people continue to remain hopeful, but I think Sony is going to take about fifteen rocketlaunchers to shatter that tiny bit of hope into an infinite amount of pieces. I mean, come on: - Every single computer port related to man; possibly more than will be needed: 6 USB, memory stick slots, SD slots, Compact Flash Slots, three gigabit Ethernet ports, optical in port, multi-AV connector, two HDMI ports - Built in wi-fi - HD output (last I heard all games have to be able to do at least 720p, which is the progressive scan right below 1080p) - Most importantly: 1080p HD output, something even some of the best TVs right now don't even do, including Sony's - The ability to put out TWO 1080p HD images at once - A video card that's as powerful as two that retail for $400 at stores right now - The development of a chip system that is currently not used in anything else - a Bluray drive, that again, is currently not used in anything else and holds vast amounts of data; original models had a writable area, I'm not sure if the PS3 is using that idea or not - All the other crap inside of it that as well as the casing The 1080p stuff is especially expensive. They have inclusions of things that don't even exist on any other household item in the world right now, which obviously will add to the price. Factories have to be built or altered especially for some of this. Even ignoring the possible graphic differences (particularly in output, since I've heard nothing of 360 outputting a 1080p image at all), the 360 doesn't have even half of this stuff and still can clock in at $400. Sony has [B]again and again and again[/B] said they are not targeting normal households with this system. They keep saying they will not call it a "console" and refer to it as a "computer", which is really a large pointer to what it will be doing and how much it will cost. These companies think "normal" households can afford a $300 to $400 console, as proven in the past. So why would they keep claiming this really high price point and then suddenly put it out that low? They keep acting as though this is an "investment". They want it to be around ten years; about twice as long as the usual generation. These things don't happen with a console that comes out at $300 and is down to $150 in two years. When they considered the PS2 a [i]value[/i] at $300+, do people honestly think the PS3 will cost that much? Several systems have launched at $400 in the past with compatively less power for their point in time. If people think this will cost as little as the more expensive 360 I really think they're just plain crazy and know nothing about technology. Sony can eat up some of the price to fuel sales, but they can't do too much or they'll never gain a profit no many how many games they sell. Taking out the hard drive (like they apparently plan on doing) really isn't going to take that much out of its price. I'm interested in the thing and I am impressed by its power, but with power comes cost. Personally, the biggest annoyance for me is that it won't be able to use any older accessories. I have no idea how I'm going to move my PS2 saves over if I want to play a PS2 game on a PS3... although I'm sure there will be a way.

[quote name='Killer7']I love how people say their is a lack of a library, especially the people who don't have it. Yes they do have alot of ports(THUG 2, Midnight Club 3) or original versions of already established series (Hot Shots Golf Open Tee, Metal Gear Acid) but these 4 games are waaayyyy better then any DS game, Advance wars Ds, Warioware, and Mario 64 DS being the only good games for the DS (all which are from already established series). Personally this looks like a case favortism towards the handheld you own. Honestly the PSP's launch library was ALOT better then the PS2's launch. The only thing the DS has over the PSP is those wierd Japanese surgery and lawyer games, which I do want to play.[/quote] Personally I consider Polarium, Puyo Pop Fever, Meteos, Yoshi Touch and Go, Nintendogs (since you mentioned a game not out yet), Kirby's Canvas Curse and a few others all good games, but that's me. This isn't a versus thread, so I guess it doesn't matter in the scheme of things. They both have good games and they've both been going through a slow period. The point isn't really what's out on the thing (and largely has been out for months), but what's coming up... and really there isn't much of note in the next few months that I've noticed.

Well, I got a really good deal on one, although I haven't received it in the mail yet (value pack, 256 MB card, six games, three movies, screen guards, extra battery, etc)... so for me it was worth it, but for the general retail price? Not really. There are about six or seven games on it that I'd really be interested in, though. I suppose my main draw right now is the emulation possiblities, although oddly the SNES emulator for NDS supposedly works better... don't ask me why. I'm sure that'll change as development progresses, though. I figured this was coming. For all intents and purposes, the PSP's E3 showing was very weak. In fact, it was part of the main complaints at E3 to begin with over several magazines and internet sites I go to. It surprised me, to be honest, particularly when some of these same sites were impressed with the DS's line-up at the show. I kind of figured it would be other way around. I'm sure it will pick up, much like the DS is sort of starting to. With handhelds there always seems to be this lull shortly after launch while companies are finishing up games and then there's a sudden wave of a bunch of stuff. Either way, there's games I'm looking forward to on the PSP, so I just suppose it's a question of where your priorities are. Personally, I'd be content with six solid titles to play the crap out of... but yeah, I suppose near future prospects are kind of disappointing.

The only people I feel bad for are the ones making minimum wage, which is a bit over $5 here. If they have to drive a decent amount for their job, that effectively kills off a good amount of their money after taxes are taken out. I cannot imagine supporting myself on that, let alone a family. Regular here is averaging around $2.99 a gallon right now.

[QUOTE=Bombu][color=darkred]Mario Kart DS is one of the games that I'll only be hyped up about if I did actually go online with my DS, because of the multi-player mayhem that usually comes with it. I'm the only person who plans on getting a DS any time soon around my area, so not having access to any of Mario Kart DS's multi-player capabilities would be a big let down for me. As for Animal Crossing DS, I want it purely for the interaction element involved within. I love comparing my town with my friend's towns, and trading items and stuff, and providing I do go online, this interactivity will be stretched farther for me. Also, it's great that Animal Crossing is making its way to a handheld system. One of the main reasons why I didn't keep up with my town on the GameCube version was because I found it to be a chore all of a sudden, and I just couldn't keep up with it. So hopefully being handheld will turn all that around, seeing as I'll be able to play at more convinient times.[/color][/QUOTE] Yeah, I would like to mention these two even if it goes over my three game limit. I already own Super Mario 64 DS, which is a great game aside from the control issues (even if you get good at it, I don't think it ever compares to having a true analog stick). These games just really excite me. Nintendo has so many properties that just beg to go online. They've spent so much time considering the four people in one room dynamic that they've wound up with a lot of games just would work perfectly on the internet. I'm really looking forward to playing some of these online, whether with some people on here or elsewhere.

[quote name='Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f']Speaking of spoiler tags, I have a request unrelated to this thread. Can spoiler tags be added to the menu like the other deatures? So we can just wrap spoiler tags around text with a click of a button?[/COLOR][/quote] Yeah, they can. A button has to be made, obviously. The only problem is that adding extra buttons to the menu can easily throw off the entire design. It's another set of pixels that weren't thought of originally. They might fit here though, I don't know lol.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but putting it near the Revolution release might help more than anything anyway. It would appeal to those with a GameCube who still don't want to (or simply cannot) buy a new system (I mean, honestly, only a small amount of a console's overall sales are in the first months anyway). It would also appeal to those who are getting a Revolution considering the thing can play GameCube games out of the box. Nintendo can simultaneously look like they're not ditching GCN owners, but also be like "If you don't have a GameCube, you can still get this and play that along with some other new games". That's assuming that Revolution comes out around the same time, but the fact that it can be played on both systems (even if the Revolution comes out months later) would likely extend sales more than normally expected. Putting that alongside some other new Revolution-specific games certainly won't hurt. Hell, there's games coming up for Xbox 360 that honestly still look like they're running on current hardware as it is (Gun, Tony Hawk, etc). I don't think the graphics angle will hurt it very much.

Well, to fix that, don't put in really ugly smilies :p Technically, vB allows you to insert "options". Meaning you can put in things similar to what Sara is saying. It would be possible to allow colors to change the spoilers appearance. I can't remember offhand if you can limit the options for a user to put in for something like this, however... which means people could use literally any color under the sun. It would look terrible and it would ruin any sort of cohesive quality... People would wonder why the spoilers were orange here and red there. Look at the things people ask already lol. It also runs the risk of people picking colors that match the background. (Of course, if you can limit the colors to certain ones, I guess it doesn't matter and the whole spoiler2 spoiler3 thing is possible). Back when mathguy and I originally put these in (and then Justin again with this new skin, I assume) it was just a quick and dirty method to help ease all the ruined plotpoints I'd constantly see here. Appearance wasn't a concern. It works, it's obvious and it's easy to remedy because anyone can highlight things. Either way, it's just a bunch of blocks, so I don't know. I don't think I'd feel any better if they were blue, but whatever lol.

[QUOTE=Dagger]@Tony: Spoiler buttons can also be set up to look like [url=http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=530388&postcount=349][u]this[/u][/url], so that the same amount of space is consumed regardless of the length of the spoiler or the size of the image posted within them. ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] Yeah, I was referring to that at the end with the stretching the post out thing... In that I don't know how feasible something like that is if you wind up with a large post or whatever. Personally I don't like the effect, but that's me.

[quote name='Hack Helba][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=SeaGreen]A believe [URL=http://www.tip.it/runescape/index.php?rs2quest_id=21]this[/URL] proves a perfect example of what you're suggesting. It's an idea to look into, I agree. However, that'd be a pain for someone who just wanted to spoiler tag a sentence or word. That's my opinion on it.[/COLOR'][/FONT][/quote] The thing about that is all it does is hide the text. It still requires it all to take up the same amount of room. If you don't want to read the spoilers you're suddenly required to scroll down a large amount of blank space. It works fine there, but I sure wouldn't like it in a forum. I've seen others that scroll everything down to fit in the new text, but I don't know how feasible stuff like that is for a forum. The black boxes are ugly, I agree. When I originally pushed for their inclusion here I wasn't concerned with looks, but rather the fact that people were constantly ruining things (a lot of people back then thought they'd be useless, so don't ask me lol). I'm sure there would be better ways to implement it all... but at the same time, I like how obvious they are personally.

Imageshack is just an issue if you're going to upload something that will get a LOT of downloads. We're talking thousands in a short period of time. I doubt that will be a concern. If you're on Windows you can get this nice little program called "Shell Uploader". It allows you to right click images and upload them to Imageshack (and some other places) automatically. I use it constantly.

I've been pretty happy with Dark Horse. Almost anything I've wanted to read of my own accord has been put out by them such as Lone Wolf and Cub and pretty much any Shirow release.

[quote name='Lore][color=#6699cc]I [i]do[/i] remember girls in my class being utterly enthralled with everything Jonathan Taylor Thomas did, years back. Come to think of it, I haven't heard anything about him since [i]Titanic[/i'] thrust Leo DeCaprio into the hearts of middle-schoolers everywhere. Whatever happened to him? [/color][/quote] He disappeared once he passed puberty and all the girls realized they had a deeper voice than he did.

From these last two posts I come to a question I've been wanting to ask: If "anime" basically just means animation, doesn't that imply that the Japanese would call any animation "anime"? Regardless of where it is from? The same with Western comics being released in Japan (which I know happens). Are these called manga or do they have a separate word for these things? I agree with the last couple of posts on how the terms should be used here, but I'm just curious.

[quote name='Sage Kaley']I'm going to agree with Morpheus about the minimum wage problem. If gas wasn't coming so close to the minimum it wouldn't be so bad. But it is. The wage stays the same, according to politicians, because if the wage increases, all other prices have to increase to keep up. How does that work though? I'm awful at economics, I'll give them that but it seems to me if people, I dunno, finally had enough money to live then maybe they'll start buying more things! Wouldn't that void any price increases? I probably don't understand it but to me it's silly that minimum wage (the wage at which you should be able to live comfortablely) is $5.15 when gas is as high as $2.77 on a bad day. [/quote] It's one of those situations where they have very little precedent to cite. Even back when everyone was flopping around and going nuts about oil shortages months back there were quite a few people who knew far more what they were talking about claiming there was nothing to get crazy about. Oil prices nowadays get pumped up for reasons beyond simply "oh, we don't have enough". Inflation on anything isn't really black and white anymore, I guess. Minimum wage here isn't "living wage" and it probably never will be. I doubt many politicians and such are very concerned about how closely these prices will likely come to minimum wage. I don't really think raising it some would affect much considering the average profits of many of these companies compared to what they pay their employees, but I'm digressing. In fact, I think a lot of people would work harder if they were paid what their job description likely deserves. I sure would. To claim these things as issues for prices and such when stores hire anaylists to figure out how to make people do more for less is rather strange to me. I'm glad I don't use a car any longer. I stick with the bus.

I don't know that I'd say most anime people seem to like have good plots anyway lol. [QUOTE=Killer7]hmm...so many choices, so I will say my top 3 1. [B]Killer7[/B]- this is perfectly suited as an anime, their are even anime cutscenes in it showing certain battle scenes. The graphics are cel-shaded, so they are close to an anime style, and they have an amazingly wierd but great story line..[/QUOTE] There's a few I'd probably say, but honestly, this one seems like the best fit and the only one I can think of that would work perfectly the way it is now. I'd say Megami Tensei otherwise, but they've done some of those and they're all pretty terrible. Such a shame. :o