Grand_Admiral_Thrawn

I think that so far Battlefield 2 is by-far the best of the series, and of any other copy-cat games. I do have a few qualms with it. First, those individuals who simply parade around in the APCs, camp spawn points and make playing frustrating in general. I know, this is a dynamic of the game, but I think there should be more focus on the squad play and infantry rather than the vehicles. The biggest problem with this is that the Anti-Tank class is given a terrible weapon (even the unlockable auto shotgun isn't that great) and the so-called "anti-tank" weapon takes three hits at least to deal with an armored vehicle (when you're only given five rounds, that's signifigant). I also think that the mini-guns on the Blackhawk need to be toned down a tad. A blackhawk with two engineers and a medic is pretty much invincable, and the guns don't help any. None of the other transport choppers get anything more than a machine gun, which is rather random and fires more slowly, not to meantion they do no damage to armored vehicles. This is really only a small problem, and only becomes annoying on some servers. My third and final problem isn't really with the game I suppose, but with the industry. EA teamed up with nVidia for this, and claim that the game will run best on a system with an nVidia video card. Well, that's a load of crap. Tests have shown that ATI X850 PEs perform the best. That aside, this teamup of EA and nVidia means that those of us with ATI cards suffer from glitches. I have just baught an ATI X850 XT. I spent $550 on this card because I knew that its 16 pixel pipelines and 256 MB of ram would run the game better than my old 6800, which only had 128 MB of ram and 12 pixel pipelines. Despite this, I suffer from missing textures on rocks and trees in some instances. ATI's temp solution to this is to lower the texture settings from high to medium. Well, since you can't run the game with full setting on anything short of a system with 1.2 gig of ram, I'm already running it on medium textures. Basically my point is that the industry should attempt to perfect their games for users with all types of hardware, not just hose with one brand. Now, I don't just want to complain. I'm glad that this game pretty much requires you to have an up-to-date system. Without a good deal of ram and a next-generation video card you can't play htis game with both Anti Aliasing and High Textures. The industry is finally moving away from reusing old graphics engines that are tested and true and taking the risk of forcing users to stup up their game a little... or maybe it just like it because I can use these games as an excuse to spend my money on things I really don't need.

I'm not sure if this is airing anywhere else tonight, but here in Canada there will a a two-hour premier of a show called Empire. Basically it will focus on the Roman Empire post Julius. Now, it's not going to be a historical drama, more of a Star Trek-like history show. I think it will be similar to Gladiator (not historically correct, but entertaining). It stars at 9:00 on CTV.

Actually, Mr. Fantastic isn't that much older than Sue (in terms of the actors) Alba is what, mid 20s? Ioan Gruffudd is only in his late twenties to early thirties. I think the accident in space has something to do with the grey in his hair.

Well, I've never really taken much interest in the Fantastic 4, but I might go and see this just for kicks. Ioan Gruffudd plays Mr. Fantastic, and he did a great job as Horatio Hornblower in the T.V. movies based on those books. I really wish they would make an Iron Man movie, that I would go and see...

The thing about the Batman comics is that they were really more like graphic novels than comic books. They were dark and brooding compared to the early Superman comics. Batman is really intended for a mature audience. The new Superman might be better than the originals (well, I hope it is) and it will be interesting to see if they take pointers from Batman Begins on how closely they follow the comics. If only someone would teach Marvel how to do a fantastic adaptation we'd be set (and that wasn't an allusion to the up-comming Fantastic 4 movie ).

I just watched it today, and I am very impressed. Batman is suppose to be a dark story, and not even the original movie captured that. This movie escaped from the comic-bookish feel that plagued the first four (yes, all four). I know what some of you are thinking "But it is a comic book!". What I meant by that is that even the Keaton movies were restrpiced in how accurately they portrayed Bruce Wayne and the actions of Batman. Batman Begins also gives us a look in to how Wayne came to be as skilled as he is. It's nice to get a look at his evolution into the Dark Knight. All-in-all I think this series (because we know there must be a second one) will transcend the crap that has come before it and become the staple for Batman movies. If we're luckey, people will forget the first four. This isn't actually a prequel. It's a complete re-do of everything that has come before. The first movies were simply modifications of the true Batman storie line, changed to fit the audience of the time, and restrictions with filming (many advances have been made that would make Begins impossible to create in the 80s and early 90s). So, when you watch this movie you simply ignore the others.

With the release date of Empire at War approaching (and by that I mean next year), LucasArts will be less-likely than ever to release the source code to a game that is EW's superior in every way except graphics. The source code would allow us to modify this game to such an extent that we wouldn't need to buy Empire at War, which is where LucasArts looses interest in helping us. That, and by releasing it they loose some of the controle they have over Rebellion.

Good God man, what have you done!? The end is near, run for your lives!

So far I've found that my defensive stretegy has worked well. I was getting attacked frequently, but after seven in a row were easily defended the attacks stopped, despite the fact that I have over 500k gold at the moment (well, until I buy more stuff that is).

In reality a plot doesn't add much to a game. You play it once through and then what? You play multiplayer! Multiplayer is what keeps most games alive past their expiration date. Most people buy new games simply for the online experience. Warlords has succeeded in keeping Homeworld2 alive .

I agree with Krytos on this one. The visual was what made vaders "No" melodramatic, not the voice-over by Mr. Jones. Had he fallen o his knees or something I think it would have been better.

Actually, despite the fact I know nothing about, nor do I enjoy watching basketball, I do know that the Spurs and Pistons are playing their final game tonight. If I'm not mistaken the Spurs are representing San Antonio and the Pistons are representing Detroit. There was something unique about this game (I think it had something to do with the first game five in eleven years or something).

Yeah, I got a little lazy on the last two I must admit, though I think had I put a hilt in there it would have looked sort of funny due to the fact that the angle would have been wrong.

Well, I can't tell you the exact stats to give each character, but Jaina should have a high combat and leadership rating, but her diplomacy should be rather low, with her espionage being moderate. Jacen should have a high diplomacy, low combat, higher than average espionage, and a moderate leadership. Anakin should have a high combat, low diplomacy, low espionage but a high leadership. Both Anakin and Jaina should have ship research abilities. Anakin should also have a moderate troop research ability. Hope that is of some help to you .

Well, it's not a Jedi babe, and I think I may have seen Jahled do something similar (maybe that's where the idea came from?), but this was what I came up with. This tinkering with Photoshop is getting me back in the swing of things. I used to use PSP for all of my photo editing, but I think this is easier. I might be ready to take on more ambitouse projects soon.

Well, i'm sure if you searched Kevin would have a ton of pictures of him wearing skimpy neglige while reclining with his hands behind his back too .

I'll have to work on getting a more Star Wars-ish background. If only more people had pictures in as perfect a pose as your Cindy Crawford. It's almost impossible to find a good imaged to fiddle around with!

Well, I for one am not too bit on Mrs. Crawford. Now if you did something with Katie Holmes or Rachel Bilson I'd be with you . EDIT:Ok, I spent a little time comming up with something more preferable to Cindy up there. My time and hard work came up with this: http://img187.echo.cx/img187/1876/jediholmes7qf.jpg I think the blade is a little off-centre, but it's not really that easy to notice. Not too bad for my first attempt IMO.

Well, for your first question, the Encyclopedia images can be changed by changing the respecitve units/characters images. You can't change the settings to force a fixed star location for the rebel base. An NJO TC would be possible, but it would be complex. I don't think you could introduce a third faction, so the Remnant is out of the question.

Well, remember that the Ewok movies were made strictly for children, and really have no baring on the Star Wars Universe. As for the worst actor, you can't put all the blame on Hayden. Alot of it was the lines that were written for him. I would have to say that Jake Lloyd (sp?) was by far the worst actor in a Star Wars movie.

Ah, good to know . I know I've been having trouble with some new Counter-Strike skins I'm using. They're quite detailed and cause my video card to lagg a bit. You have confirmed my presumptions (but now I can get a new video card!). I was also planning on dabbling a little in model making, so that should hep me when I get around to texturing .

Looks nice Stellar! I was tempted to do it, but I'm a little too rusty with my photo-editing skills to tackle it right now . I, too, look forward to seeing your card when it is completed.

No, Survivor's Quest is the novel that Zahn wrote after the majority of the NJO books had been published, but that takes place just before the Vong invade. It was an interesting novel, but certainly not one of his best pieces of writing.

Yup, there was a Destroyer Driod in that book. I'm assuming that the strange ship is the central hub of Outbound Flight. If I remember correctly it was composed of multiple Dreadnaughts linked together by a central structure.

Yes, when playing with the computer it's really pointless since it knows where you are. When you're in an MP game, you can hide virtually anywhere as either side and amass an armada.