Daeval

LOL, I didn't realize that emu was so well known. I found him in a random fit of googling (we'd been talking about the difference between emus and ostriches) and he was my desktop image for about the last month. And now he shows up here!

I'll throw in my vote for the PC upgrade. Yeah, it costs a little more, but unless you're really attached to Halo or Ninja Gaiden, your PC can do just as much and more than even a modded xbox. The games they share look better on the PC, you don't have to pay X-Box Live! fees to play online, and you'll get a wide variety of free user-made mods and conversions (like counterstrike, to use a dated example), not to mention freeware and public betas that are far more common on PC (gunbound being a good example). They can both play DVDs and music. They can both use emulators for the All-In-One effect, some of which have internet play on a PC. And to top it all off, everything you already do on your PC will be that much smoother. To be fair, if you're going to have a bunch of people over all the time to sit around and play games, the Xbox could be a better option, but it depends on what your friends like to play. There isn't a lot on the Xbox that is able to hold the interest of myself and my friends for very long. And you could always just get some USB gamepads and go crazy with the emulators on PC (Gravis Gamepad Pro USB, best gamepad ever for half the price of an XB controller). The Xbox MIGHT be more portable, but honestly I've seen smaller computers. So yeah, if you have the money, my vote's for the PC upgrade. If money is a factor, wait until you have it, and then upgrade your PC.

Sometimes, I don't understand the Mainstream/Hardcore rift. If a company makes things I like, I like to see them be successful, with the caveat that they can't abandon what made them great in the first place. Granted, the move to 3D is not typical of SNK, but they have not stopped production on (and have actually UPPED the presence of, with the re-releases) their 2D games. If they had put a WWE wrestler IN the game, that would be a problem, but I don't take issue with their promoting their creations in a way that might make them new fans.

Does it bother anyone else that half of that money is advertising? I haven't thought about it too hard, but some of the best games come from independents or are otherwise poorly marketed (ICO, Nippon Ichi's stuff, Beyond Good and Evil, the VF series stateside, etc). I'm not going to feel like paying twice as much for my unadvertised good game so they can advertise the hell out of their next "big hit" crap title. I realize this is probably basically how it works now, but in the foreshadow a price hike, it's even more irritating. It reminds me too much of the way the music industry works. When I pay full price to support a smaller band on a major lable, I know full well that half my money is going to be used to shove some crappy pop star down my throat. Then said pop star gets even MORE money, while the band I'm trying to support gets whatever meager royalty the company is shafting them with.

Alright, I'll break down and throw in here too.. For the last couple of years of high school (and a while after that) I was pretty depressed myself. More and more I didn't see the point of all the bullshit I was dealing with on a daily basis (failing school, parents psychotic AND divorcing, wasn't close to anyone, etc). Even things I should have been happy about just seemed pointless. I was suicidal and still bear a few scars, and probably an unhealthy tolerance for certain medicinals, to show for it. (Neither of which I'm particularly proud of now) I never saw a therapist, aside from the school councelors that tried to figure out why I wasn't applying myself at all. I thank them for trying, but none of them ever really helped. I never took anti-depressants, though those aren't a bad option for those who need them. What ultimately did it for me was philosophy. I know that sounds stupid, but I started looking into Buddhist philosophy (not the same as modern buddhist religion) and it gave me some insight on my own world-view. From there, I explored other philosophies through books and school, and just looking at the way other people view the world, without hearing about why my view was "bad," slowly changed my own outlook. Back then, I wouldn't have trusted a therapist, or a priest, or even a friend really, to understand or help with my condition. So, I can understand why you feel that talking won't help. Breaking free for me was a matter of understanding my own life in a different way. Most importantly, that life comes with some suffering, it's just part of the package, but that it's the way you deal with that pain that makes the difference in your own life. I felt trapped, like I knew my whole life was screwed and there was no way to make it better, but I learned that that is never the reality. So, whether it's with the help of a therapist, a priest, a friend, a book, or just some time to yourself, hold out, and let yourself be open to new ideas about your life. I'm not talking all flowers and rainbows here, but you're working with the other extreme, and that's not realistic either. As the buddhists say, everything is temporary. Good things pass, and that you have to deal with, but Bad things don't last forever either.

I have this (The X36) and I can second that it rocks! However, retail on it is about a hundred bucks, so do some shopping around... I only got it because I lucked out.. Way back in the day I was looking for a decent flight stick (I think for Crimson Skies or Mechwarrior 3, maybe before that), and most of 'em were like $50 bucks for a solid stick, a few buttons, and a hat or two. I couldn't justify that, but bestbuy.com had a pricing error on the X36, which was even more expensive back then. I'm pretty sure the price was missing a digit, but I got it for about $50.

I haven't had a chance to ask my japanese kinfolk (they aren't home yet), but the definitions on m-w.com, as well as this: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId...y=hara-kiri&ct= would point to my interpretation. HaraKiri ("Belly-Cutting") would be the more literal (and therefore more vulgar by japanese standards) term. Granted, those aren't Japanese sources. I'm pretty sure I'm remembering this from a native japanese teacher though.

I agree, the only way to up hold honour! Seppuku is dishonorable suicide Hairikiri is Honorable Truth, but in this case I don't think it matters much. I always heard that Seppuku is honorable suicide done BECAUSE you did something dishonorable.. Like the right thing to do to make up for something really stupid. While Hairikiri was a more vulgar term for same... Maybe I have 'em mixed up, or maybe I'm just wrong. I shall have to ask my japanese relatives...

Pfftt.. May Lee was better! Even though her moveset kinda sucked...

It depends on what firewall you're using, etc. Basically, you have to figure out which ports your version of BitTorrent is using. Then, you have to figure out how to open ports on your firewall. Then you have to open the ports that bittorent is using. All that stuff is different depending on what you're running. Luckily, there's a 99% chance it's on the internet somewhere, google away.

It is true! I'm rich!

ABC (and torrent stuff in general) is a pretty big resource hog, especially when it first starts up. It's going to depend on how many files your DLing at once and how big they are, more than anything else. When you start or resume a file, it has to check what you already have of it, which is the worst time for your system resources, especially if the file is large. Once that's done, it's mostly a matter of how many files you have DLing. While I can usually handle upwards of 10 in most P2P programs, I had to cut it down to 3 with ABC, and then things ran mostly ok. I still had considerable slowdown starting up new applications, and transfer rates from websites were really slow even when ABC wasn't really moving a lot, but I could manage. This was on a 2.8GHz P4 w/512MB Ram. Hope that means something to ya.

Maybe it has better firewall handling or something? I was using Bittorrent and getting 1-10 (MAX) download speeds, then switched over to ABC and was averaging around 20-30. Then I finally triggered the right ports on my firewall and couldn't keep enough bandwidth free to maintain a connection to AIM. I'm serious, 350kB+ constant downstream over about three files is a LOT of data. Maybe I could have gotten that with BT if I'd fixed up my firewall, but I was getting slightly better results with ABC even before I'd done that. No clue why exactly.

And why would you say that? Do I get 6 bucks too?

I'm not anti-rap but that song just sucks! Amen.

I once worked customer support for a hugely popular american MMORPG. That's a little like driving the short bus, if you catch my drift. Don't get me wrong, a lot of normal people play those games, they just aren't the ones who usually call.

Ever had a friend get hooked on a MMORPG? Now THAT'S scary.

Ridiculous. Awesome, but ridiculous. I couldn't make it more than halfway through either.

You can't squash them, but you CAN make a guy who looks mysteriously like Steve Buscemi and have him invite them over, and then trap them in a small room without food in his backyard until they starve to death. Then you can put the urn with their ashes in it next to the others in his dining room.

I haven't played Sims 2 yet (I need to get myself a job again before I can get it.. sort of ironic..), but the first one was hideously addicting. At first I thought it was just a screw around game but there is some serious strategy in being succesful. AND it's fun to screw around in. As fun as it is, it's an extremely materialistic game. The Ikea Game, you might call it. In a way, that's disturbing (especially when I see kids swoon over this game), but it's so much fun I'm lulled into complacence.

I counted him as big because he's flocking huge. Sure why not, he IS "flocking huge".. I left it up to the posters to keep things interesting and discourage debate(*cough*flames*cough*) over particulars.

For a while there, we only ever got anime on TV when the sci-fi channel had a special anime marathon. I forget what they called it. And yeah, they usually showed the same three or four things (Iria was one of them 99% of the time). Then they finally went with the saturday mornings. Man, back then, I had to borrow bootlegged VHS's from friends who knew people who knew people who'd been to japan, etc. Hehehe... Although, other than the kid shows and Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, there's still not a lot on TV.

Wow, I don't know if it was Jjang or what, but I left the house for a few hours and now 01_10 are finished. I did tweak my firewall settings a little (triggered some ports as opposed to forwarding), but it wasn't moving THAT fast when I left. Thanks!

Don't forget Studio Ghibli's works. Those are groundbreaking in this field. Definately, among others, I was just reffering to those that Cartoon Network had picked up.

Alright, obviously it's big here, and I've had some friends recommend this show to me, so I'm trying to get started on it. So... Are we allowed to ask for reseeds here? 01_10 and 11_20 are just not moving at all... I'm new to bittorrent too.. I've got yellow on those two files, and green on everything else (I'm using ABC). Is that because fewer people are seeding them or did I screw something up?