AndrewTS

They ask you if it is operational, and they of course have you give them your info. They take broken systems and send them to get repaired. I suspect this practice will end sometime mid-2007, and they'll only take working systems. Last Christmas PS2 were constantly sold out everywhere, so maybe they expect to cash in despite the next gen systems. However, I'd first contact Sony and see if your system qualifies for free repair. Remember to stress the DREs you're getting: http://www.us.playstation.com/Support I had opened my old monster PS2 to mod it, so I just traded it in for a slim, myself.

Attention Anya- DS Lite in Pink hits Japan: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153282.html

Currently starting to get sucked into a dirt cheap ($5 used) PS2 platformer called Kya: Dark Lineage. It's a game that got bagged on and ignored because other games that were much more exceptional (Ratchet and Clank, Sly, etc) came out at the same time. It's not utter trash like Haven or Vexx, and in plenty of ways I like it more than any Jak game. So if you've toppled every Grade A platformer out on PS2 (and the Jaks), I'd say it is worth the Abe.

I was contemplating a OAO Sony Says Stupid Crap Thread, but that would be a bit too biased, plus we'd miss out on a lot of good Nintendo and MS stuff. So post any you find. Anyway, I'll link my recent posts through here... http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/index.php?...47496&st=1830 Plus put up this gem, from SCEE's Phil Harrison: I tried to find a PSM magazine to see if Kaz would elaborate where MS ripped off Sony. However, I've yet to find it. I guess 3D graphics is the major thing. Remember -- 1994 : real time 3D graphics. -- 2006 : real time weapon change.

Making HW that is manufactured like crap?

I was tempted to try to get Curse of Darkness, but I picked it up for 15 bucks off Half.com. Whenever these sales happen, lots of brand new games end up there, with people attempting to make a slim profit off them. I still paid less than half of EB Games' asking used price for a new game, so huzzah for the 2ndary market plus Circuit City sales. Although if they aren't picked clean come Saturday, I'll try to see if they have Kim Possible 3 (which plays kind of a like a Batman game).

Actually, the attachable blu-ray drive was just a hypothetical argument. MS is going to be releasing an optional HD-DVD drive for the 360, and HD-DVD is, natch, the major rival format of Blu Ray. MS would never support Blu-Ray as long as HD-DVD has a fighting chance, because it's Sony proprietary hardware. Kaz's position there is that you at least know that PS3 will have blu-ray, and it will be used for both games and movies. There's no extra HW to buy or upgrades to get. Which would be fine and dandy if they haven't already made bold-faced lies about not having 2 SKUs, how lack of space on DVDs will become a problem (nothing currently even comes close to using up all the space unless it's mostly tons and tons of FMVs), and 360 wasn't already building up a hell of a lot of momentum. Sony seemed to be caught totally with their pants down at E3. However, it was a given after the PS2's infamous E3 debut showing that there would be skepticism and overanalyzing of every move they made. People were staring right at the man behind the curtain and saying, "Show us something tangible. You don't actually think we'll eat up this BS again, do you?" Okay, that's not entirely fair. The press raved about the MGS4 trailer, which I honestly don't care about.

Plus they lost half of their stock value, too. But hey, all those fine Sony studio offerings from Sony are so going to sell Blu Ray players. Like Spiderman 3....when that comes out like a year from now....and...um... (PSM interview with Kaz Hirai) Yeah, stop stealing from Sony already, MS!

Rusty's missing right side.

Is JR doing PR for Sony now? from 1up: The retarded Sony quotes just keep on coming. Ken Kutaragi: Sony is The Game and we are That Damn Good! Kaz Hirai: And if you're not down with that, I got two words for ya: RIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAAAACER!!!!

Sega has done almost nothing in years but disappoint, save for a few good xbox games. Sega boned up a classics compilation with "improved" versions. They gave a Sonic character a ****ing gun. They turned Shinobi into crap. They dole out Sonic collections with 1 good game on them and have the balls to charge 30 bucks, then they eviscerate the US version of features. They pushed the Phantasy Star collection for PS2 back into nearly oblivion and still try to push its crappy MMORPG counterpart, etc, etc.

I personally expected the "Jonas Jr and Rusty become the new VBs" theory myself. The clone stuff had to at least be implemented, though. They dropped so many hints throughout the 1st season it was obvious. There's about a dozen possible great episodes set up. However, there was so much being set up you never really got anything too well explained. Hopefully White Noise doesn't return. The writers are better than that. I saw the boys and totally thought Hellraiser, though. "Gas leak...the silent killer." Hopefully they don't play this a hundred times so I get sick of it, like the Trial of the Monarch.

OMG that was just an amazing, surreal, hilarious episode. Well worth the wait. "You have accident-prone boys? You put helmets on them. If you have death prone boys, you keep a few spare clones around."

Oh yeah--love that ep. I swear that those "Teenagers" are from the Plan 9 aliens' planet. However, they screwed up in a host segment, talking about things that haven't happened yet in the movie. They also did that in the Earth vs. the Spider ep. Just finished watching The Amazing Colossal Man. Solid episode, but overrated, IMO. The best part is Mike's skit as Glenn.

"One ep that I have never been able to sit through is The Unearthly. I haven't tried to lately, though." It takes a few viewings, but I really like it now. Overacting John Carradine as a mad scientist running a nuthouse and Tor Johnson. What's not to like? However, I think the very-similar The Atomic Brain is even more fun, because the movie itself is more ridiculous and offers much better riffing opportunities, from the creepy narration, to the dumb blonde's "British accent," the old woman, Brainless Zombie Girl, etc. My personal worst list (I haven't seen a lot of season 1, though. Also there's a handful of eps I don't have): 1. Bloodlust 2. Hellcats 3. Sidehackers 4. Quest of the Delta Knights 5. Castle of Fu Manchu Pretty much anything Lippert sucks too, but I think those were helped a lot more by the riffing than the ones listed above. My list of favorites changes a lot, among them are It Conquered the World, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Space Mutiny, Prince of Space, and of course The Pumaman.

Hamlet can be hard to watch in places, especially considering the dull scenery, non-existant production values, etc, but I can still think of riffs I like. "Danish clowns: the silverfish-infested basement of the clown world." "My nipple came off, you jerk!" - Give us a taste of your quality. - "I said quality, not idiocy!" "The tragedy of King Vitaman!" "Hamlet will be back... in Thunderball!" Plus good host segments. I really like Beast of Yucca Flats. It's possibly the worst movie of the Coleman Francis oevre, but it makes for the best MST3K ep out of any of them, IMO. They take absolutely relentless shots at Tor, put words in his mouth all the time, "Okay...BREASTS, we get it!" "Tor Johnson as the beast--that's just good casting" "This movie stops at nothing... and stays there." "(Tor) da da da..hills alive...soound of mooosic..." *kids stepping over Tor in a cave, Tor makes an old man groan/roar- "(Tor) Hey, I was watching that!!" "Now the bunny eats Tor and becomes the Night of the Lepus" Some of Coleman's rambling narration: "Joseph Javorsky. Noted scientist. Dedicated his life to the betterment of mankind. A once powerful, humble man, reduced to....nothing." "Touch a button. Things happen. A scientist becomes a beast." "Boys from the city, not yet caught in the whirlwind of progress, feed soda pop to thirsty pigs." "Joseph Javorsky, respected scientist. Now a fiend prowling the wastelands, a prehistoric beast in a nuclear age. Kill, kill just to be killing." "A man runs. Somebody shoots at him." Try watching The Hulk after this, too.

Nobody counts KTMA. It isn't MST3K in its fully developed form. It's basically a bunch of bad movies, a few host segments, and a handful of comments throughout the movies. Most of the movies on KTMA are cheesy enough on there own to be worth watching, so sorry, I still rank most of them over those eps. Bloodlust and Hellcats had poor riffs in addition to unwatchably bad movies to riff on. During the making of the Hellcats I had heard that about half the writers were not available. The host segments were good...but they were mostly flashbacks to other eps, so there's no reason to recommend anything in the show on its own. Bloodlust has a good short, but the rest of it is terrible. Bad host segments and unfunny riffs = crap.

http://subjectcinema.podbus.com/sc061706.mp3 Interesting podcast ChrisMWaters hooked me up with. It's nothing people hear likely don't already know, but was a fun listen. I'd dispute their list of best newbie eps and most unwatchable eps. I'd replace one of the Mr. BIG eps with Godzilla vs. Megalon. Also, the worst list is missing a few bad eps that actually came out on VHS/DVD. Manos? Red Zone Cuba? Maybe the first time, but no. Bloodlust is perhaps the worst ever, IMO. Hellcats sucks to high heaven. Agreed on Sidehackers. I'm actually able to stomach Monster A Go Go because of the riffing (which is by itself far the most incompetent movie ever on the show, even more so than Manos). Space Mutiny is probably my number 1 choice for best newbie ep. The dialogue they have going on over the credits is a scream--perhaps even topping the ones from The Movie and Alien from LA. The Final Sacrifice of course is all wrong. One of the best ones ever.

It's not that crazy of a thought, but horribly stated. SES is going to have a major effect on your moral outlook. However, any speculation on how x factor will affect y behavior is pretty much speculation and pulling stuff out their tighty whitey asses. Like the video game brain wave studies. Or the "proof" Jack Thompson sites of studies that, by their own conductors' admittance, prove nothing. The fact that violent crime has good down rarely seems to factor in. I'm surprised that crimes of all kinds aren't on the upswing considering the incompetent government we have in charge. However, maybe those poor people will do nothing until they play Gwan Teft Otto. I would argue very much against the the claim that, as a game player, I'm going to have more permissive attitudes towards drug and alcohol usage.

Funny segment from the Daily Show about the congressional hearings on video games.... http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/medi...ml?itemId=70892 "Seriously, the House of Representative is filled with insane jackasses." They didn't even have to take 2-3 words at a time and blow them out of context. Real quotes...just let 'em breathe...and...wow.

A new Capcom compilation comes, another one hits retail, DMC SE hits today/tomorrow... And MMAC Advance still hasn't been released. Regardless--don't screw us out of extras this time, capcom http://1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3147406 Apparently it'll just be an offline PS2 compilation...anyone who has played any online fighter on PS2 can tell you that you wouldn't be missing that much anyway. Hopefully they'll use the arcade versions and throw in the home features. Anything on top of that is just icing. Although Alpha 1 is friggin' ancient these days, Alpha 2 is fantastic and 3's pretty good too.

I'm sure there's a clever pun there, but since BTO is, to me, just a bunch of old fogies whose music makes me think of things like Officemax and failed political candidates, I'm missing it.

Hey look, a French anime-wannabe Mega Man (which naturally was a ripoff of Astroboy...which naturally was a ripoff of Pinocchio): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotboy However, he's not just a cutesy robot boy with an arm cannon, a blue body, an evil twin, and a crazy robot-making evil scientist nemesis, oh no. He dual-wields his arm cannonS! And has jet boots. I actually want to check it out to see if it's meh or just bad and lame--2nd ep airs Friday at 11:30 PM. http://www.alphanim.com/uploads/RTEmagicC_robotboy.gif.gif

Thanks--one of the few I haven't seen.

Any idea what the sequel will do as far as the guitar controller? Same one? Better one? Game sold by itself? I've actually yet to pick this game up yet, and I'm filled with shame. However, there's something undeniably awesome about, how after I handed off the guitar to a 8-ish year old kid waiting behind me, he bushed out a damn-near perfect version of Iron Man. Rock on, little dude. Halfway through I provided my own Ozzy impression. With War Pigs it's going to be impossible to resist now. Great to see Primus and Reverand there. Where the hell is the Maiden, though?