Imagist

Proto Man can actually make the game harder if you rely on E and M tanks, because he doesn't get those.

I actually ninja'd that one after I posted and saw you'd made a similar post while I was looking up the member count.

Wow, I hadn't noticed this thread racking up 22114 posts... one for every registered member... oh, and then some, because many people have posted more than once! Man, what a massive thread! (guys am I as cool as darkesword yet)

Less than a week now!

But they totally explained that at the beginning! "Be careful! It's been a while since you've done this!" (or whatever) P.S.: NOW I've only got 3 Robot Masters to go. Tornado Man's stage is terrible.

Oh man. I demolished Galaxy Man and Splash Woman, and now I've been dying repeatedly on every other stage (not even getting to the bosses to figure out who's weak to what I've got). But oh man is it so much fun.

I'm not trying to defend the show or anything (I find myself unable to quit watching it at this point almost because of how utterly mediocre it is in every way, once the initial 'OMFG COOL' factor of season one wore off), but you're making a couple very baseless assumptions. One, that the Speedster showing up right on time to steal the formula is some kind of coincidence (what is her motivation for stealing the formula, who is she working for, what kind of intelligence might her employer have?), and two, that Tracy isn't really Niki (she's had entirely split personalities before, so why not now?). Also, I find Parkman's storyline one of the most interesting at the moment, simply because it's relatively difficult to predict how it will pan out.

Darklink42: You can submit whatever you like, but as just64helpin said, the submission will stand alone when we vote, so you should probably be sure your excerpt works by itself. Washington Maverick: Sorry to hear about your lack of sleep and such, but at least it's for a good cause, right?

The plot is a little artificial, and it'll be a while before Neku is a sympathetic character... like at all... but there are delicate intricacies behind it all, most of which begin bubbling in the second week and rise to the surface in the third. There are even many details you won't truly grasp until after you've "beaten" the game and work through the endgame, so if you're still on day 2 definitely don't give up yet. Re: the battle system. I played through the whole game without ever using the top screen, except when it was required. Only after beating everything did I bother trying to coordinate both screens at once. The bottom screen is easiest if you take some time to experiment with many different pin types and find the ones that work for you, then try to stick with similar ones. It probably took me most of the first week to really get used to it, because it is pretty different, but again, stick with it.

Yeah, I only just realized we've been spending all this submission time under the guise of last competition's results. Doulifee is so good about keeping things up around here I usually don't even need to ask, which has made me too lazy to pay attention!

didn't you hear? nintendo has changed the demographic of the "average" gamer (also do you play at level 1 the whole time, because if not, then you're still not challenging yourself!)

Oh man, guys. We're more than halfway through. Everyone better be working hard!

hahaha oh man

I think I'm a terrible excuse for a ComSci student, because a lot of my functions for the last few levels included routines that were redundant or useless for all but one of their uses (the robot walking into walls, or jumping in place on flat ground, or "lightning" non-blue spaces). I mean, they might as well have given me the option to design a switch statement and use that.

People have been... waiting for another book? For one thing, Adams never wanted to write the last two. And for another, Mostly Harmless ended rather... conclusively. I can't see this being anything but a disaster.

By "Special Edition," I meant the bundle pack with all the instruments. I.e., how the original Rock Band was released to begin with. That isn't getting released until the PS3 version is, which means if you want all the updated instruments now you'll have to spend an extra $50 total. Also, re: the updated drum set, pictures show a metal-reinforced kick pedal. So it should be less flimsy, at least moderately so.

Sorry about the double posting, but all these Youtube links are screwing up the rest of my post. This is the official theme song, which consists of a duet between Jack White and Alicia Keys (a big WTF at first, but it's actually pretty cool). http://www.imeem.com/people/Gnuk1-O/music/PFQVHzx8/alicia_keys_another_way_to_die_feat_jack_white/ And finally, an added bonus: a joke theme song created around the time details about the real theme song were released. It's bloody hilarious: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TMoJRLStD9c

Why are we not talking about this movie, and how awesome it will be? The original teaser trailer, followed by the newer theatrical trailer: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vS9I-MRrgb4&feature=related

Man, is Harmonix smoking rock? Why the hell can't they release the special edition on time if they've got the individual instruments for sale, too?

Er... the new instruments aren't out yet. It's just the game.

You're definitely not alone, ubernym. I try not to reuse old ideas for the competitions, either, although my process is a little different; I don't actually write nearly as often as I should, so I always have a mass of disorganized and unrefined ideas in my head. When I set out to do something for one of these competitions, I try to take the most recent and relevant (to me) of those ideas and work with that, either fleshing it out or doing some associative brainstorming, until I have something worth writing. Of course, there are always the (vast majority of) times when I get lazy and simply submit something I've been working on during the time frame of the contest, but for other purposes.

You've asked this before, just64helpin, and this was my response then... it hasn't changed.

At first I thought the password was "corals." Silly me.

I've actually considered submitting flash fiction (the sub-100 or 200 kind, as I tend to write short stories of the sub-1000 kind on a fairly regular basis) before, myself, but I could never think of a concept that worked well enough in such a short space. The closest I've come was my entry for last September's short story contest: Anyway, as they've kindly pointed out, there is no minimum requirement except that whatever you submit still qualifies as a "short story." And given that's a loose definition, you should find plenty of freedom to submit most whatever you might have in mind.

The "isolation factor" is what makes Metroid Metroid. "A nice change of pace" made it, while still a good game, an entirely different game than Metroid ever was. Granted, this trend started as far back as when the series returned, with Metroid Fusion, so the fact that both Hunters and Prime 3 continued that development could have been expected, but part of why Prime 2 (and especially Prime) worked is that it adhered to the traditional, isolated atmosphere of the series.