Moomba

Or if we went with theories that suggest there's only one timeline rather than one that supports divergence, we'd have to assume that OCR never reaches 50,000 likes. Of course, even if "Waiting for you in 2012" heavily implies the very beginning of the year, no specific date is mentioned so it could "arrive" at any time.

I'm fairly sure you'll be a bit older than 118 by 3012.

Based on what Japanese news sites are reporting, completely free to play, no monthly fee, no initial purchase. The only monetary transactions will be cosmetic changes from a cash shop. I'm also hoping it turns out to have all the parts that made the PSO/PSU/PSP games so much fun to play. I guess we'll find out!

Necromancy hoooooooy! Just some fun stuff - Japanese closed beta applications opened today if anyone happens to be interested. Additionally, it's been announced that the game will be f2p with a cash shop. This includes the client being free to download. The game is set to be released for the Vita, PC and smartphones (only iOS and Android). The PC and Vita versions will be identical, but while the smartphone versions will share character data, they will be simplified single player games with some social elements. Not entirely sure how I feel about the f2p thing, while it's good from a "I-don't-have-to-pay-anything" standpoint, it could end up being a barrier stopping the game from coming over to the west if the cash shop doesn't do so well in Japan. I guess we just have to wait and see.

Oh, I found this lying about. Watch everything on the far right and everything under the reccommended list. It's somewhat old now though. But seriously, start with Code Geass.

Code Geass. It's still considered one of the best original stories in anime. Goes well with Gundam 00.

This. This is also one of the reasons so many English dubs turn out so badly. Putting recording separately to one side for now because the benefits of it are obvious (some western game studios do do it, but not nearly enough - actually that's an entirely separate issue; why does the west take video game voiceovers seriously but not anime voiceovers? The difference in quality is huge and I don't think it's something that can be blamed entirely on using non-union VAs), while overacting is normal in a lot of Japanese media, it is not in English media and this is where part of the problem comes in. Too many English anime VAs try to mimic the original feel of the Japanese voice acting. This does not work. Not just because it's a different language with its own nuances, but because the overacting present in Japanese dubs does not translate well to English. Of course, this isn't the entire problem. There's still the major problem of lifeless emotionless lines and the vast majority of lines that seem to have randomly been recorded completely out of context given how unnatural they feel. Literally no effort is put into most of these dubs (FUNimation has been a rare exception).

Or, y'know, there could be the possibility that I'd seen some of the dub in the past? Full Metal Alchemist was a good dub, better than most at any rate.

I'm not entirely sure that's quite what you meant to say, but I'll bite anyway. You're right. Shitty dialogue has nothing to do with the quality of the dub. Even if it was the best writing in the world, it would still be a godawful dub.

Aaaaaa horrible dubs x.X Now my ears are bleeding. This is exactly why I don't watch anime in English anymore.

I'm legitimately surprised you would consider Redline to be particularly "out there", when compared to a lot of the more popular anime (and in fact, a lot of anime in general) it's actually pretty tame.

1.2.4 finally adds chat history! (also some new decorative blocks) I've wanted chat history for ages now. Kind of a pain on busy servers when you can only see the last few lines in a conversation!

Mouretsu Pirates is pretty slow, but the world is kind of fascinating. I would find it hard to reccomend to anyone who thinks that it might really have anything to do with pirates. Who knows, it might get better. Rinne no Lagrange is definitely worth watching if only for some of the more recent developments. Haganai is a pretty weird slice of life comedy - I enjoyed it, it has some pretty funny moments. The KOKIA song is from Break Blade which is a series of six hour-long movies. They're also very much worth watching (especially if you like mecha - though the mecha in Break Blade are somewhat different to your typical mecha)

Yup, Squenix mentioned the possibility a while ago. The two most monetising game publishers collide.

Not at all! Go watch it! It has some of the best storytelling in any anime to date along with great characters and a well thought out premise.

Watch Stand Alone Complex, if you liked the original movie, there's no sane reason why you wouldn't like the two series that were born from it. I can't allow anyone to list OPs without mentioning this one. Or really any OP or ED that has something by KOKIA. More recent OPs (since very few people here seem to have any interest in more recent anime): Mirai Nikki - Kuusou Mesorogiwi Mouretsu Pirates - Mugen no Ai (despite what I've said about the anime itself) Rinne no Lagrange - Try Unite! Haganai - Zannenki Rinjinbu p.s. the Escaflowne OP is Yakusoku wa Iranai. Oh and if you like the Cowboy Bebop OP you should also like (which everyone should really watch if they haven't seen it and are capable of rational thought).

Sixto: Yup, the entire combined forces that came to fight the reapers are as good as dead now. Earth isn't going to be able to support them and I doubt they have enough supplies onboard to last the decades it would take to travel back to somewhere sustainable.

I only just read this. He makes very good points. It's nice to see major game journalism sites that actually have some idea what they're talking about rather than siding with EA/Bioware against the fans. Edit: This is awesome and should be quoted everywhere.

Just checking but you realise that was satire right? IGN and Kotaku don't really have a strong pro-Bioware argument, hence why it's all "You hate it because Hepler is a woman/You think you're entitled to a good ending!" Both are terrible arguments. Frankly, all major video game journalism sites lost their credability a long time ago... now their reviews are all based on bias (and probably a fair bit of money). Honestly, I don't think releasing a new DLC ending, free or not, is going to help. Bioware screwed their fans over this time, who knows whether or not there will be a next time. Personally I expected there to be two distinctly different endings (two guesses why). They have always advertised the game as being about the choices you make. Kinda funny that they turned around and threw it back in our faces for the series ending. Sure, it's false advertising and it's possible those who are reporting it to officials have a case, but that's kind of going a bit far I think...

Wow. My mind has been blown. That was pretty awesome.

Gamer Entitlement

This is very true. Awakening and the 4 Minutes Before Death Variation are particularly awesome. Hmm. I might do something if I can find time. Or if someone happens to want to collab *hint hint*

Only because people continue to be dumb enough to let companies continue down this route. If we just let them keep pushing, eventually we WILL be buying all games in chapters/levels. It's perfectly natural that developers and their publishers will continue to do their best to push up game prices to try and make a greater profit, and as long as everyone continues to accept their growing use of DLC, we're going to be paying more and more to get the complete game. In my opinion, DLC is only acceptible when it either introduces superficial changes after the game has gone gold (and nothing more can be added to the disc) or in the place of expansions for large content additions well after the game has released. When I say large content additions, I don't mean 4-5 maps and 6 short missions either. I'm not paying £10 just for five extra missions that add a little story and a new ending. If the game's "real" ending wasn't ready for release, you're doing it wrong.

The ending literally made me cringe. I mean I've "cringed" before, but never physically.

I'm curious to see how Dragoon compares to its FFXI incarnation. I loved Dragoon, but it was kind of eh in the long run and horribly hard to get into parties (pretty much impossible 50+ before Level Sync was introduced). I hope it actually manages to be properly badass this time around. p.s. Fuck yes chocobo armour.