Kizyr

AnimeUSA is down the street from me, so that sounds like good news! This gives me incentive to go now. Last time I went to AnimeUSA it was tiny and none too special. Apparently it got ridiculously good in the last 2-3 years... KF

I was thinking the same thing when I first listened to it... Not just lyrically out-of-context, but the melody sounded kind of funny (background melody, more so than the vocals), like something was missing at the beginning. 'Winds of Change', I think I'm really looking forward to. That and 'Hajime' are the best of the samples thus far. KF

RPG World got axed. Ian sort of quietly ended it without really telling anyone. As I recall, he got a bit of flak for just ending his work on it without some kind of public announcement. I don't have any confirmation on that, though; just hearsay. But, as far as him giving up RPG World, that much is true. Eh, what can I say? Times are tough. KF

I named my current notebook Mngoje, after the familiar that I had in my then-running game of DnD (the name Mngoje, moreover, was taken from a character in Quest for Glory 3 when I chose my familiar's name). My last notebook was named Katagiri, after one of the characters in Tokimeki Memorial. I'm still trying to decide what name I'd give to my next computer. I think I'm leaning either towards something from the Lunar series, Firefly, or the Dresden Files. Compy 386 as in Strong Bad's old computer? ...maybe you jinxed it via the name. KF

I did really like Chugworth (even got a couple of the books signed by the guy). But... after not updating so long, I really lost interest. If he gets back to some regular or semi-regular update schedule, then I might give it a go once more. But if it's another 2-3 weeks before the next update, eh, I can give it up. Hopefully he can get back to regular, and get some new material. KF

Point taken. I didn't mean to downplay it at all. Well, Google agrees with you. I stand corrected. That link... doesn't appear to be working. KF

レミェス? ...you mean レミックス？ Anyway... I really like piano solos, so I always like seeing more of them on here. This one's good, very relaxing (I'll be adding it to one of my playlists, I'm sure) and I think the comparisons with klutz's stuff is quite deserved. I'd definitely like to hear more stuff from zohar in the future. Maybe some more ambitious piano solos as well. KF

The fun part is when they start claiming that you're the one who stole from them. Middle-school logic always works funny that way. Another second. I wasn't around back then, so this I gotta see... KF

Moonwalker was pretty good... They kept the theme of the levels to each of his songs/music videos, and holding down C (or whatever did the 'special move') would end up with him doing the end of the Smooth Criminal dance and knocking out everyone on-screen. Of course I have to look away at the screen whenever they do the introduction screen for each of the level. The one with the animated face of him going "WOOOH!!" KF

I've had the best results with FCE Ultra myself. It runs pretty smooth, has all the standard features (save states, speeding up the game, etc.), and the hacking features are likewise pretty good and relatively easy to use. ...how in the world did that get past--oh, it was unauthorized. I was under the impression that the only company that managed to really sell 'unauthorized' games was Wisdom Tree (the makers of Bible Adventures, Sunday Funday, and Spiritual Warfare. ...Spiritual Warfare is actually not that bad if you can overlook the whole 'smite the heathens' theme.) ...come to think of it, you might want to go ahead and get Spiritual Warfare. KF

I believe RedOctane has a pretty inexpensive PS1/PS2 -> USB converter. I use that, plus a first-generation (no rumble or analog) PS1 controller always, and have found that to be the best controller in general. The thing is, all the $20 controllers I've found designed specifically for PCs have crapped out quickly and been pretty poor quality. Those old PS1 controllers were designed to take decades of button-mashing, so they hold up much better. On top of that, you have plenty of shoulder-buttons to assign to extra emulator functions (like speeding up/slowing down/reversing the game, save/restore states, etc.). KF

River City Ransom. I'm sure there are others that I can't think of at the moment. I'll take a look at the ROMs I got once I get home for more ideas... EDIT: Street Fighter 2010 is great (I had the cartridge itself back in the NES days). It's incredibly difficult, but a really fun platform game once you get good at it. Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle was a good puzzle-ish platform game, also. If any of these are too hard, well... There's always abuse of save states. Oh... Mike Tyson's Punch Out! There's another good one. KF

Didn't Earth and Beyond have a lot of those elements? If the Firefly MMORPG ever comes to fruition, by the way, I'll definitely be in on that. KF

This is amazing... As usual with your music, I can't stop listening. I might end up just having these play on repeat for half the day... ... ... ...er... except 'Oops'. Playlist just got up to that one. Anyway, first thing I thought when I read the descriptions was "Great! I'm not the only one who liked Voyager!" Red July is incredible, especially the bit from 0:22~0:44 (that I'm guessing will be the chorus?). I also really like the theme you're going with in "Hajime", not to mention the percussion. Though, regarding the third sample, I'm not sure; I think I'd have to hear more of it. Can't wait 'til the next time you want to send out some samples. I'm really looking forward to this. KF

Heh, yeah, I see where you're coming from; if I were you, that's the same advice I'd be giving (likewise, I would recommend a desktop to anyone unless they know they're going to need the mobility). The thing is, getting a notebook is a set issue for me, so I'm already settled on that. I'm not gonna get into all the reasons why, but it deals with how I generally use my computer; the extra expense is something I'm willing to pay for a notebook-vs-desktop, I'm just not willing to overpay. Since gaming is only a small portion of what I do with it (not counting emulating SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, etc.), the only concern I really have is if it'll be able to run all the features of Civ4 that I want. For that, I just need to know if the video card selection on that model is good and, if not, what other notebook models do have a good video card. Also, I'm not very time-sensitive on this. So if there's anything really good coming out in the next 6 months, then I'm fine waiting until then to make my purchase. Thanks for the information. The most I can envision myself doing right now is running Civ4, AIM, MS Word, and Firefox simultaneously, although that could change. Unless I hear anything convincing otherwise, or I find some deal on RAM, I'll probably stick with 2GB. By the way, is there any functional difference between having 2x1GB, or 1x2GB? I'll probably do that. I've been getting recommendations for XP Professional right now (although I haven't noticed any difference between XP Pro and XP Home). KF

Ok... I'd like a little advice on how to progress from here. I've been looking through models on both ABS and CyberPowerPC, and messing with configs, and I have my eyes set on one model in particular. It's the "Xplorer X7-7500" Notebook from CyberPowerPC (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/ntbkx57500.asp?v=d#configurator_top). Here are the main specs on it that I'm concerned about: - DISPLAY LCD: 17" WSXGA+ Widescreen TFT Display 1680x1050 Pixels - CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Mobile T7200 Dual-Core Processor @ 2.00GHz 667FSB 4MB L2 Cache EM64T - MOTHERBOARD: Mobile Intel 945PM Express Chipset Mainboard - MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC5300 DDR2-667 SODIMM Memory (Corsair or Major Brand) - VIDEO CARD: Built-in Mobility™ NVIDIA GeForce GO 7600 256MB PCI-Express X16 Video - HARD DRIVE: 100GB 7200RPM SATA150 HARD DRIVE (Price = $1576.00) So... I have a couple questions that I was hoping some folks here might be able to answer. First, the video card. I admit, I know very little about vid cards. I'd like something that can handle the high-end graphics options for Civilization IV, and any good strategy games that might come out in the next year or two--without any slowdown. Second, I really like the idea of having 4 gigs of RAM. This model was originally configured with 2 gigs (2 1GB processors). Does the 2×2GB processors seem like overkill? I don't mind the extra expense here (made up for it by going down from 2.16GHz to 2). Third, Windows Vista. Has anyone had any real bad experiences with this? Should I just stick with Windows XP Home, or should I go ahead and have Vista on here? (I'm not going with a Mac or installing Ubuntu on here, so please don't suggest those, even if they might be better.) Thanks for any response... Really my main question is about the video card, but I wouldn't mind any input on the 4GB of RAM or Vista. KF

Yeah, Speed of Light is my favorite non-vocal track; that and Antigravity are the two tracks I'll usually replay several times. Although I really like the entire album from start to finish. EDIT: You mentioned Geoffrey Taucer, Fishy, and bgc collaborating on it, right? Out of curiosity, which tracks did they do work on? I recognize GT's guitar on a few of them, just from having listened to his other stuff on OCR in the past, but that's it. KF

Mad Gear LLC: http://www.mad-gear.com/ They're usually at anime conventions along the east coast, though they also have an online store. I've always had very good results with them, although I'm usually looking for rare import games--since you're only looking for games that are 3 years old, it should be easy to find here. On top of that, I've always found their prices really reasonable (the only place I've found with any better prices have been overseas). KF

This is fantastic news. I'm joining the mailing list now. I can't wait to hear it. So... how soon until you start releasing a few samples of what's in store? KF

You'll need Civilization IV, and the Beyond the Sword expansion. You don't need the other expansion (Warlords). After installing it, by the way, I'd recommend downloading all the patches/upgrades (you can do that through the title screen when you start up the game), especially if you have a somewhat older machine (like myself). KF

...I think now I'm gonna be looking through both ABS and CyberPowerPC for a new computer. Some of the ones on there look really good. Video cards, unfortunately, are the one thing I know the least about... Do you have any particular recommendations on what to get? I don't do any online MMORPGing, but I do want to run things like Civilization IV without having to nerf down the graphics settings--and that requires a card that does well with 3D and T&L. Regarding everything else, I'm pretty certain on the kind of specs I want: 120GB HD (preferably > 5400rpm), at least 2GB of RAM, 2~3 hour battery life; only the vid card is what I'm unsure about. Oddly enough, the notebooks listed on ABS seem to have a really short battery life (73 minutes?). Is that right, or am I misreading something? KF

Here are a handful of the photos I managed to get: Pixietricks + Zircon performing 7YearsBroken Improv Mix: (1) (2) I was also chasing a few of the Phoenix Wright group(s) for some more photos: Gumshoe, Gant, and the Blue Badger Excuse the low quality of a few of these; during the performance I was a bit averse to using flash or the red-eye flash. KF

So... has anyone picked this up yet? I did on Tuesday, as soon as I was able to find it in stores. Incidentally, I've been about an hour late to work every day since. Needless to say, I'm having a lot of fun with it so far--I'm really enjoying the new features they've added, and am itching to try out some of the mods (especially "Final Frontier" and "Fall from Heaven"). The 'solo' recording that you mentioned... Does it sound like a dark/ominous theme, with some of these lyrics: 'I remember cold wind, I remember. Forever, the wind will blow, Forever, the bell will toll Dreams of dreams are distant Mankind is asleep, the end is far away The end is far away, mankind is asleep' ? I'd like to say it is... but I'm not entirely sure as it's lower than I'm used to hearing you sing. That song in particular is used as the opening for the "Fall from Heaven: Age of Ice" mod/scenario, the one that's fantasy-themed. KF

That's good to hear! Zophar's Domain is probably my favorite non-vocal song from Lunar: Eternal Blue. There are some other really good orchestral themes, too, but I don't know if they'd quite work as a march. Incidentally, if you're still open to suggestions, a few of the other themes from Lunar may also work as a marching arrangement. In particular, "Envoy of Justice" and "Field to Tomorrow". Those are available at another part of LunarNET: http://www.lunar-net.com/media/soundtracks.php (Envoy of Justice is under "Lunatic Parade Vol. 2 Samples", Field to Tomorrow is under "Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete (WD) Samples") Anyway, re: Dancing Mad... It sounds like a pretty good arrangement. Thing is, since it's a marching band piece, it's a bit hard to assess quality just by the music alone. The transition around 4:05 seems a bit abrupt (like it's suddenly stopped), although that might work given what's going on on the field; around 6:24 it feels like the same thing. However, overall, I think the transitions between each of the different songs that are in there are done really well. Around 9:15 to the end of the arrangement also sounds a bit odd; I don't know if it's the different timing, or if it just sounds too slow/soft to end the piece with, but it contrasts with the preceding 9 minutes. Anyway, I'm no expert, and I still think the arrangement is really good. Besides which, it's hard to assess its quality based only on a MIDI version, so bear that in mind. KF

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of my HP Pavilion; I would still recommend that as the way to go. However, because you're concerned with gaming, keep an eye on the graphics card, because right now that's where the greatest disparity between desktops and notebooks lies (or so it seems to me). I'm actually considering a new computer (desktop or notebook, haven't decided yet) solely on account of getting something with a new graphics card. Also, HP and Compaq are the same company, although some of their models (I think) still come out with the "Compaq" label. Anyway, the good thing about the HP Pavilions is that they're designed with entertainment and media in mind; besides the usual specs, the widescreen and remote are nice additions. Also, by comparison to other notebooks with similar specs, the price isn't too unreasonable (although I can't say the same for other models). I still have to say, Nutritious's advice seems pretty good, so you may want to look into that first before checking HP, Dell, etc. KF