Rendclaw

In a semi-related topic, is there a program that can take the sound from a movei file (asf, avi, mpg, mpeg) and convert it to mp3?

True. When Gunray was talking about peace, I imagine he thought that they would become seperate from the Republic. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Exactly. As I said to someone I work with who is as much of a Star Wars fan as I am if not more so, the manipulative powers of Palpatine can never be overstated. It awes me in some ways to have that many balls in the air and have them come down pretty much exactly as he wanted them too. He played up the fears of the Senate, The Jedi, The Trade Federation, and they reacted almost exactly how he wanted them to. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah...the only wild card that messed everything up for him at the end was Luke helping Anakin good again. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> By the time Jedi rolled around which was what, 23-25 years after Sith, Palpatine thought no one except Luke could challenge and defeat him, and so he decided to do what he did with Anakin and Dooku, which was try to manipulate Luke into turning to the dark side. It almost worked, but Luke was made of stronger stuff. He got overconfident, and he paid the price in the end. Also, I can;t remember the name of the book, but its one that my aforementioned co-worker is reading, and it basically goes into more depth about how Palpatine was playing both sides against each other and how he undermined Chancellor Valoran's power base.

True. When Gunray was talking about peace, I imagine he thought that they would become seperate from the Republic. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Exactly. As I said to someone I work with who is as much of a Star Wars fan as I am if not more so, the manipulative powers of Palpatine can never be overstated. It awes me in some ways to have that many balls in the air and have them come down pretty much exactly as he wanted them too. He played up the fears of the Senate, The Jedi, The Trade Federation, and they reacted almost exactly how he wanted them to.

Not to mention that the Trade Federation had resources that I am sure was subsumed into the Empire. It was obvious from the first five minutes of TPM that the Trade Federation were nothing but Palpatine's tools. I know this is a wrestling site, but please, cool out on the wrestling terminology when discussing non-wrestling stuff, sheesh

Personally, Darth Maul should have been kept around until Clones and then killed by Anakin, while Obi-Wan fought and got beat by Dooku, then Yoda saves him. It would have made a better sequence, for sure. I can;t agree about Grievous being more interesting. The only way you understood what was going on with him was by watching those damned annoying 5 minute cartoons. I think that more could have been done with Maul to make him more interesting, though his fighting style made him much more interesting to watch than either Grievous or Dooku.

My list is as follows: 1. The Empire Strikes Back: Still the perfect combination of story, special effects, and music. Everything came together in such synchronicity, there was no way to top it, IMO. 2. Revenge of the Sith: Now that I have seen it, this one comes in second. It explained away about 90% of what was to come in a satisfactory way. You only got hints at how much of an evil, manipulative bastard Palpatine was in Jedi, and you got to see hime really turn the screws on Anakin here, not to mention the foresight of Order 66. My only complaint about that was how they managed to take out the majority of the Jedi Order in one night, but that could be explained away by how their numbers were whittled down during the Clone Wars. To see Anakin give in to his fear, anger and impatience was done very well. 3. A New Hope: Before I went to see Sith, I was going to post and place this one second, but after last night, I just could not. This one holds a special place in my heart because I was 8 years old when I saw it, and it had such a strong effect on me, it was pathetic. 4. Return of the Jedi: This one was good, but not as great as it should have been. Despite the popularity and hype, the movie seemed to be rushed to me, from the story to the music. The only thing that was pretty much on point were the special effects. 5. Attack of the Clones: Now we all agree for the most part that these last two movies blew. This one want a long way towards saving the franchise after the debacle that was the following movie. Lucas learned his lesson by pleasing the generation that made Star Wars famous, not by pandering to little kids. 6. The Phantom Menace: What can I say about this movie that hasn;t already been said, and said better than I could? Its is the combination of the story, special effects and music that makes a movie great, and John Williams did his job admirably. The Death Star was new technology on such a grandiose scale, that there was no way that it could be be built faster, IMO. By the time the second one (by the way which was about 30-35% bigger than the original) was constructed, Palpatine had his ducks in a row. The majority of the galaxy was subjugated, he had a much bigger pool of funds and manpower to draw from, and he had the most brilliant minds working for him, willingly or not. It has been suggested in the Rogue Squadron series of books (which were brilliantly done and add a lot of backstory as well) that Palpatine had started a propaganda campaign to completely discredit the Jedi, and we saw the beginnings of that when he first took power. Not to mention that Palpatine and Vader spent a good part of that 18 years hunting down the Jedi and subjugating key worlds, like Kashyyyk. A lot is left up to interpretation, which is as it should be. There was no way that Sith could explain away everything satisfactorily, not without making it at least three and a half hours in length, Peter Jackson-style. Personally, that would not have been a bad idea. Trying to tie up all the loose ends in the space of two or two and a half hours can makes things seem forced and rushed.

Okay, I would put this game smack dab betweeen GT and NFS. Realistic, yet not overly so. The modifications are extensive, yet not so detailed as to slow down or lessen the racing experience. I'm already up to level 10, thanks to some cars that I have won in races. I'm enjoying this game immensely. You can slide by turning off the traction control. Unless you;re good at I wouldn;t recommend it, its too easy to spin out.

As I have said before, its always wise to wait several months at least before buying the system. Unless you 1.) have the scratch to spend, 2.) are able to find one amidst all the rush and hype come release time, and/or 3.) you are that obsessed over being one of the first to own one. Hell, I waited a year and a half to two years before I bought my first PS2, and it was worth the wait, aside from it crapping out on me after a year of moderate play.

I forgot that Phantasie II was released only on the C64 and I think the Apple II... problem solved.

Thats gorgeous.. all right, when I am out on the road, I am going to make a stop at MP and pick it up. The pseudo-Calvin pissing on the GT4 logo was good for a chuckle, though.

I got a $40 certififcate from Media Play, so I am prolly going to pick it up at the end of the week. I enjoyed the hell out of NFS2U for the XBox, and the idea of designing my ultimate fantasy car (maxed out Acura NSX) is just too tempting for me. I have been snapping up games like mad as of late, playing them for a few days and leaving them alone. Thats a bad habit..

I downloaded a boatload of roms for MAME32, which is up to version 0.95. Load and save game states rule. And the underdogs is a confusing site at best. I have been trying to get Phantasie II and Eternal Dagger for the PC for a long time, and cannot find it.

Um, ouch. Umm, double ouch.

And unfortunately thats what its always going to be like. No mega-arcades like The Fun Machine in Orlando. To me, that was the last great arcade: It was HUGE, had at least 70-80 machines, ranging from Sprint 2 all the way to I think SSF2T. It had cutting edge, it had classics that I played way back when I was like 6 or 7. It was perfect. Or 3a) They are threatened by that person in some way. I've seen it in arcades when my former roommate and I would go to an arcade to play SF. To a lot of these kind of guys, the girls should be playing the simple games like Ms. Pac Man and the like and stay over in the corner. When my roommate would go through every guy that put up a quarter/token, one of three things would happen. They would instantly become obsessed with beating her, they would hit on her, or they would give her a real nasty look and stomp off while their friends laughed at him because he got beat by a girl. Thats leaning a bit on a stereotype, Andrew. Does it truly matter that much how someone looks to you, that you would be shocked if she had actual game? I hope thats a joke. Me bashing on some game-oriented minor misogyny does not mean that I hate my gender. Tifa > Bastila >>>> Yuna.

FFVII had the right amount of angst. FFVIII had WAY too much. Quality has been an issue pretty much since Chrono Trigger in my view. Chrono Trigger had a great plot if a little convoluted, for example. More RPGs like Tales of Symphonia need to be out there. Not the best-looking game, but certainly one of the deeper ones.

My former roommate back in Florida, I met in an arcade. She was a Street Fighter player, and a damn good one too. She knew more about games than 95% of the people I have met before or since then. She could manage a gaming store and do it well. Hell, she worked at a local games store for three years until the idiot owner ran it into the ground. Amen to that. Although I think that Morgan is more of a true gamer than the Cheat chick. God only knows how big of a following Morgan has these days. I just wish she still a redhead. She looks too damned goth with black hair. That's because: 1): They don't want to get shown up by a girl when playing SC2 with their geek buddies. 2): They would rather have a chance to "show you how its done" in the hope that you will be so awestruck by their gaming prowess that your clothes will just fall of your body and they can have your way with you. I know I have said this before and its an old bit, but FF X-2 (or FF Dress Up Barbie, as I like to call it) was such a blatant attempt to market to girls (leaving the FF crackheads out of the equation), it was pathetic. Ann Arbor only has Pinball Pete's and its mostly the dancing games, and fighting games for which I has lost interest. At least they give a nod to the old school by having a corner with classic games.

Faith lived in the theatrical version. Every time I have seen Endgame, it was with that ending, though they could have killed her off and I would have been good with it. Ugh, do NOT get me started on Daredevil. I might rent Elektra from Netflix just to check it out. My bias against Daredevil might keep me fropm viewing it with an unbiased perspective, though.

Thats my plan right there. Wait two weeks until the rush dies down, then go see it. I started doing that when I went to see Return of the Jedi, and its fine for me.. I used to know this dude down in Florida who was one of those obnoxious fanboys. He and his friends went so far as to make his own lightsaber and he and his buddies used to make their own Star Wars movies. I got out of that phase when I was what, 14? 15? I may just be getting old but after the first two attempts, I just don't have a burning desire to see Episode III. I was talking about this with a guy I work with who is a huge fan, and he made a good point. George forgot that the kids who saw Episode IV have grown up (I was 8 when I saw it for the first time), and he has forgotten about those fans in attempt to latch onto the current generation, who have shorter attention spans and want things even faster than we did as kids. Not to mention the ever-increasing marketing, licensing and endorsements... its just too much.

That counts for most people who don't have an overinflated opinion of themselves. Highlander: Endgame is the one for me. I just bought a 2 disc copy when I was out in Spokane last month. Aside from the first movie, this one is by far the best of the series. But it seems that a lot of people who are into Highlander hate it. I guess it comes from them not being able to come to terms with the fact that Connor McLeod is no more. Wahhh. Kill Bill was awesome in my view. I think that Tarantino is becoming a victim of his hype. In some peoples eyes, he is all but deified, and the problem with that is that everyone expects him to put out another Pulp Fiction or Riverdogs. While I don;t think its his best work, Kill Bill was wonderful for what it was; a tribute to all of the classic martial arts flicks, with his own spin put on it. MK was excellent (it still holds up today), and MK: Annihilation was an abortion. The Ice Storm was a great movie.

I've got my copy along with Jade Empire. I'll dive into them over the weekend.

My strategy exactly, though I have to admit I haven;t been playing a lot of XBox games as of late, so I can sit back and wait a year or so until the furor dies down.

They stopped getting the majority of my business a long time ago. The people that work a GameStop almost always are snide little pricks who think they should be the head of a gaming corporation or something. Game Crazy and Media Play do it for me. I almost pulled the trigger on buying DBZ sagas for the Cube for 15 bucks, when its brand new for the ps 2 for 39, I think. And Anyanka, it sounds sexist, but because there are still fewer girl gamers out there than guys, most of the time they are going to assume you don;t know shit until you prove them wrong.

Agreed. Gunstar was one of the best games to ever come out for the Genesis, and to see an updated version has caught my interest, to say the least.

Never mind the majority of reports on the PS3 is that its almost twice as powerful as the 360... speculation, bullshit and marketing strategies abounds, but hasn't it always been this way for new gaming consoles?? As always, I will wait for a year for the price to come down if its too prohibitive, and by then the better games start coming out. I have said it before, but the rush for a new console is a shining example just how much of the majority of gamers are like crack-addicted sheep. We all know MS is damned stupid, but they just cannot raise the level of idiocy to the heights that it would take to not make the 360 backwards compatible. I just cannot believe they would be that stupid. They should take a clue from Sega and Nintendo on that score.

Farscape. Hands down, the best science fiction series since Deep Space Nine.