nsps

Because you could be in another fucking Indiana Jones movie! The original movies were actually made with the conceit that old-school special effects would be used. However, nowadays all Lucas does is digitally jerk off all over the screen, so I'm pretty worried we'll have digital creatures flying around in every inch of the background. Hope I'm wrong and that Spielberg can reign the nutter in.

The best thing written about PCs and Macs is just a bunch of smug gloating from a smug gloater? Do you mean the best comedic piece? If you say so... http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/broken_windows I generally prefer Safari to Firefox (it decodes the pages faster), but use Firefox sometimes since some pages aren't tested on Safari. I don't see why it's necessary when Windows already has Firefox, though. That particular dialogue box has always annoyed me with its linguistic imprecision. I would assume "Change All" is correct? This, however, is the ultimate OS X dialogue box: http://daringfireball.net/2005/05/has_to_be_ok

As opposed to the first NES TMNT game, which was just plain shit. Also, JoannaDark, what exactly are you saying about Toejam & Earl? There's nothing guilty about that pleasure.

I can't load it because it isn't out in my country yet, but that might not be too helpful to you. Also, I got a black screen for a rather long time the first time I tried to play Strikers on my Wii (shortly after reading this thread.)

If you can't appreciate Arzt blowing up, I guess some people can't be pleased.

While LOST may have a few too many mysteries, I would not compare it with the X Files. I'm a big fan of X-F, but the grand conspiracy storyline was so convoluted and changed so many times that by the end I didn't care at all. LOST clearly has a game plan, and is expected to tie up its many plot points because they aren't just making up the story as it goes like the X Files producers did. LOST will have three more seasons, but with the episode-count equivalent of two seasons. I would prefer the producer's original wish of one and a half more seasons, but like BSG, they're putting the end in sight rather than hoping that the network will let them end it when the time is right.

This bugged the shit out of me. Also, the resolution in general was wholly unsatisfying. Quite simply, nothing that exciting happened, either from the perspective of the characters or in the plot. It was more or less what I expected. All that build up, all season long, for that? It was like they were trying to include every character, and forgot to have anything of impact happen to any of them. The "big" fight was clumsy, the stakes didn't feel high despite the fact the world being in danger and my overall reaction was, "eh, guess that's done."

Toejam & Earl = essential I got Bomberman 93 because it supports 5-player mode (you have to hold down the z button to activate your gamecube controller, by the way), and while it's fun classic Bomberman, I have one qualm: If you play a best of 7 match, you have to play the same board on every match. Lame. But like I said, still good Bomberman fun and 5-player is great for parties. If you've never played "Punch-Out!!" it's one of the most fun video games ever. I was always a fan of Ninja Gaiden, but I've still never finished the damn last level. So hard. Obviously Sonic the Hedgehog if you've never played it... I hear Super Mario 64 has better graphics than the original. The 1up Retro Roundup reviews the new releases every week. I don't know how correct they are, as I haven't had a lot of Wii points to burn lately, but it is a good reference for lesser-known games (and they gave this Actraiser game Miffy's gushing about a very positive review). Also, note that some of their reviews, like Mario Kart 64, are negative due to missing features like memory card support. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3157575

Sorry—I was referring to the actual Oahu, not the video game. Hawaii is notorious for its speed traps.

You can't go above 20 in Oahu without getting a speeding ticket.

I haven't watched the last two Heroes, as the last two LOSTs were my top priority when I got back from Europe yesterday. However, even the people who were big fans of the show seem to be less than thrilled with the finale. My take on the show is that it's always been a bit over-hyped. I think it was OK but not great for its first six episodes or so, and got more interesting as it went on. Shortly before the hiatus, it really hit its stride and had a couple really fantastic episodes. But the episodes since (not counting the two I haven't seen, of course) weren't all that impressive. The writers' main source of surprising developments is habitually revealing that a character who was previously thought to not have a power…wait for it…has a power! Seriously, it happens at least every other episode. LOST, however, is still fantastic despite those who suggest otherwise, and had a particularly great run for the second half (maybe two-thirds) of season 3. Even the Charlie episode was great. If you haven't been watching it, catch the fuck up. (I would prefer to wait until the thing is done and watch it all at once, but fear spoilers.)

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2006/08/the_descent_the_deeper_ending.html#more

I would definitely WAIT to buy Elebits until you can get it cheap for $19.99 (or in whatever crazy currency you fernerz use—I just got back from the Cannes Film Festival, which explains why I'm responding to a two-week-old post and my first-hand knowledge of how worthless U.S. currency is). I'm also looking forward to Strikers. The Gamecube version is great fun. There's supposed to be wii implementation for goalkeepers and some other cool stuff.

Heh. I learned my lesson when I was snarky ONCE in Golden Sun on GBA and had to press A for 45 minutes AGAIN. Compared to that game, SPM has a fast-paced intro!

Like I said, it might get better later in the game—need to play more. But at the beginning, you have to press through dialogue for 45 minutes before you can actually play. The two people I was with found it quite annoying as well.

I'm just through the first level, but it's pretty awesome. My only complaint so far is the fucking story being too fucking long for anyone to actually play the fucking game. Fuck. Hopefully it'll lessen as the game goes on. I really love the whole switching-to-3D gimmick. As a long-time advocate of 3D, I enjoy the deconstruction of the image and the post-modern references to gaming (Somewhere, in another dimension, someone knows what I mean by "press A"). I was gonna start a thread on it myself, but wanted to play more of the game and damn Miffy beat me to it!

I played that for a bit and then got sick of it when I realized that there wasn't really a story at all. If you like that type of video-enhanced-Chess-like stuff, you'll like it. I FINALLY finished Phoenix Wright 1, and I'll probably play some other stuff before diving into the second one. The only other game I've really gotten to play is New Super Mario Bros. and yet I have a ton of Thumb recommendations sitting around waiting for me, including Contact, Meteos, Hotel Dusk, Mario Kart and Feel the Magic. I also got Bomberman for $10, because as long as it's not Xtreme and it has an eight-player mode, how bad could it be? It's Bomberman, after all!

In regards to aspect ratios, 1.33:1 has been very rare since the '60s, but Gus Van Sant recently used it in "Elephant" and "Last Days." Technically, 1.37, 1.66 and 1.85 all use the same 1.37 frame, but different plates are put in the projector to crop it as the filmmakers intended. If a theater has a full, academy ratio (1.37:1) screen, they simply have to change out the projector's plates and adjust the masking on the top and bottom of the screen. Most theaters, however, only have and need 1.85:1 screens. Rather than Miffy's theater's cut-off-the-top-and-bottom-a-bit-and-hope-no-one-notices technique, some theaters have more lenses that adjust the height to fit, projecting a smaller image, but using the whole frame. Cinemascope (2.35:1) uses the entire 1.37:1 frame, but stretches it with an anamorphic lens. All these ratios were used by filmmakers before HDTV, so they couldn't really accommodate them all.

The battery going dead sounds like the most likely explanation, unless your MacBook is fucked. If you want to use your built-in screen but have your dock and menu bar on the external display (as I do—it's handy just to have mail and chat visible all the time and not have to pull them in and out), do this: Go to Apple>System Preferences>Display. You can then set the arrangement of the screen simply by dragging it around, so one is on the right, left, top or bottom of the other. To change which screen has the main controls on it, simply drag the white bar from one of the little monitor representations to the other on the arrangement. It just works. EDIT: Also, if you hold command and shift while clicking the thin black dividing bar, you can drag the dock to different sides of your screen. Just a handy tip to know...

The opening scene is based on an actual incident in which an American mortician at a military base dumped a bunch of formaldehyde down the drain. It did go through several filtration plants before going into the river, though.

I too enjoyed when Yufster was posting frequently, and wondered why she stopped. I never thought it was because people were complaining....

The colors were over-processed shit as well. The style didn't serve any purpose like it did in Sin City. Was film from Roman times blown-out and super grainy? Army of Shadows is indeed awesome. I had a good time at Hot Fuzz, although his fake trailer for Grindhouse was even better. The Hoast is worth seeing for the opening scene alone.

Any guesses as to what platform Tim is prepping his new game for? Or how long until we'll get an announcement?

I can only assume that an absurdist adventure game that answers many of those questions will be integrated in, in order to fill out the rather simple collection of sports mini games. Right, Ben? :tup: