Zeya

I used to work on video games. I can all but guarantee the two are made by different teams and share almost no work (aside from high level ideas, concept art, and maybe some art assets). You'll see this type of thing all the time. Basically when two different game machines (the hardware) are significantly different, it's quite challenging to make the same exact game for both of them without having serious compromises. So what ends up happening is that there ends up being different teams working on essentially different games for their targeted hardware platform(s). One team might be making a nice robust platformer for Xbox360 and PS3, and then another team will be making a different but similar game for 3DS, for example. All 3 end products will end up with the same branding and the exact same cover art. This is a typical scenario with games based off of "this summer's hit cartoon kid friendly movie". The publisher behind all 3 games has paid big bucks to license the IP content and wants to target a wide range of consoles and people who buy games for those consoles. In the case of City Undercover, it probably appeals mostly to kids, and that's why they're targeting hand-held systems and the Wii (those systems tend to get bought for families/kids, in contrast with big-boy ones like Xbox). Sorry if this was too much information lol. Also want to say that I'd love to play this game. But like other people, I'm not going to buy a Wii U for it. I got the original Wii and barely used the thing - only have like one game for it. :( Maybe if the Wii U was backward compatible with Gamecube still, I could convince myself to sell off my old Wii and Gamecube on eBay and get a Wii U. But I'm probably in the minority about caring about Gamecube back compatibility.

That's a very nice write-up. I do have a suggestion, if you're willing to take another pass at the presentation. Mainly, I would suggest an ordering to the bars in the bar charts. I would order them from most votes to least votes. That way you can look at one end or the other to see what animals were most popular or least popular.

I've been wondering about UV light through the window of my Lego room and how that causes things to fade. Has anyone used window film to cut down UV rays? I don't care so much about harming the view, since it's just my back yard (ugly storage shed to be exact). Just so long as I can still open the blinds to let light in (just not the UV). Any advice on said window film? Sidebar: I also want to look into window film in the bedroom, but the goal there is to cut down on all light by 50% or more. Faces east and is way too bright in the morning; the curtains can't even keep up.

Intriguing. Another possibility is that he is referring to Lone Ranger as a new version of the western theme. I would think Galaxy Patrol is launching in the first half of the year, based on the comic hyping it up in the latest club magazine. I'm pulling for pirates though.

Where do you navigate on BL to change your password? I found the password reset, which I guess would work, but still...

There's a podcast I really enjoy called The Moth. The newest episode has two stories. Both are very good. The first one is not Lego related (but worth listening to). The second story is about a teacher and some shenanigans at the school with Lego bricks. I recommend everyone to listen to it. Some of the best parts are the discussion of which bricks the kids like and what they do with them. For some reason I can't get the link from iTunes. (I got it automatically with my Podcast app.) But here is a web link to the latest episodes: http://feeds.themoth.../themothpodcast The one you want is this one: And again, the Lego-related story is the second one (female speaker) somewhere halfway through the show.

If there's no skateboarder or surfer, the list is fake.

Screen resolution: 1920 x 1200 Connection speed: 117Mbps down, 171Mbps up (lol, awesome work speeds) Browser: Safari Vers. 6.0.1

He mentioned legislation. I wonder if this has to do with the law here in the US where they have to print the number of pieces on the box. If it's not that, hopefully they can clarify what legislation is the problem, so I can track down who not to vote for this election season. (I'm 96% joking about that.)

My fiancee got me the Pirate Brickmaster book from Costco (a store in the USA) as a gift. That's the book that comes with some bricks and a couple minifigures. Not the type of thing I would usually buy/want, but who am I to say "no" to pirate Lego? Hopefully she bought it at a marked-down price though.

Chima might also be short for Chimaera, a mythical animal creature with 3 heads. I like the energy horse theory better, but just an idea.

Looks like a bubble pack like they have for ninjago spinners. I think it's preliminary and not complete, because it looks like there are two bubbles at the bottom on each side that should have minifigs or spinner things in them. Also the graphics on the packaging are 3D renders but they are flat shaded, and those look preliminary to me as well. I think this image is leaked from someone at the factory. These animal-headed things remind me of the guys from Pharaoh's Quest. The flying mummy and anubis guys.

This is a very nice outpost. When I looked at your roof, I got the thought that maybe you could add some sand on the corner of the rooftops in one corner, as if the wind had been blowing that direction. Just a thought.

That's a really good vignette. And your photos are fantastic. I know this scenario all too well from the elder scrolls games, haha.

I insist on a salty sea dog. Literally a dog. He would be scruffy and gray, with an eye patch printing. Our pirates need trusty buddies for their trips! The imperials could have their own dog that is cleaner cut (maybe with a nice collar or something).

Is anyone else playing the new Elder Scrolls game? How are you liking it? I played a tiny bit of Morrowind and a fair number of hours of Oblivion (restarted and faded away a couple times). I also played to the end of Fallout 3. I'm liking most of the improvements they did for Skyrim so far. Honestly, if any game needed "dumbing down" (heavy air quotes there), it's the Elder Scrolls series. Alchemy was so boring and obtuse in the old games, and I find the new Alchemy menu much easier to use. I'm also liking the smithing too. And no more need to carry around heavy alchemy gear or repair hammers, it seems. I'm only in like the 2nd or 3rd town, about to fight my first dragon (or so they are leading me to believe), so I'll see how that goes. The visuals are definitely improved too. The characters look more natural now and I'm liking the snowy feel of the landscape. I also think I've finally learned to stop going through every barrel and house in the game. I used to want to play a sneaky thief character. I would pickpocket all over the place, pick locks, and steal all kinds of stuff. I think I'm happier now that I've moved away from that. I think you get better stuff from dungeon raiding and playing quests. I'm doing a sort of spellsword build now - an Imperial that uses destruction with the left hand and a one handed weapon with the other. Liking it so far. Hopefully this one will last me some time. P.S. I passed up on Assassin's Creed Revelations and settled on Skyrim. I'm glad I did. Having a lot of fun with Skyrim.

For USA people... not that we should complain too loudly... but last time around I ordered a box from Amazon.fr and it was cheaper than a domestic purchase and they didn't charge any sort of tax or tariff. The only problems there are shipping time (about 3 weeks I think), and waiting for it to be available for purchase if you get impatient. If series 7 is an indication, Amazon.fr will probably have them available for purchase in a couple weeks.

Looks pretty good! I am also an elder scrolls fan. I've been playing Skyrim for the past 8 months, with no end in sight. Might I suggest a nice Jarl throne-sitting MOC? Here's a funny internet joke for inspiration (I think I posted this before in the Skyrim off-topic thread): link

I'm hoping some people in the EB community can help me out here with some advice. My sister and I are selling my mom's house and contents. Sad times. Most things will go through an estate sale, but we're making an exception for certain things. I insisted that we try and sell our old toys ourselves, or half of them anyway. We always kept our toys in good shape and put them away before bed in nice painter buckets, so nothing is horribly damaged, and most of it is in surprisingly good shape. Okay, so what I took home to try and sell are about 3 big rubbermaid bins full of stuff. Luckily they're pretty well separated and not jumbled together. I've got He-Man, Battle Beasts, Ghostbusters, Dino-Riders, "Bone Age", and Micro Machines (Micro Minis?) that I took. These were all mine as a kid. I left my sister's stuff back home (I live very far away), but she had My Little Pony, Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, Cabbage Patch, and some other lesser stuff. I also left behind my Hotwheels/Matchbox cars (godawful heavy). I need to decide soon if it would be worth it to ship the rest out to me to try and sell. Shipping all that might cost around $800 with the method we've been using (industrial pallet shipping - a friend has a shop and hooked us up). If I end up not making a special shipment for that stuff, it'll get sold at estate sale. Which means, they will ask something reasonable for it, but they won't be trying for top eBay dollar for it, and then the estate sale people take a 30% cut. Just FYI. By the way these toys are all from the 80's and early 90's, not any re-release sort of stuff at all. Anyway, I'd just like general advice on how to sell these. I've sold stuff on eBay before, but not nearly in this amount of bulk. I do want to stretch the dollars for us. However, there's a lot of stress right now and my time and stress is a consideration. You know, I don't want to be burning a lot of time I don't have, just to get another dollar per action figure. Would you guys recommend trying to sell these things in one bulk lot on eBay? Like *boom* here is all the He-Man laid out on a table, all 40 figures or whatever. Or would it be better to find some kind of price guide (do they even exist?) and try to weed out the "cloud city Boba Fetts" from the bunch, if you know what I mean? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks for reading. P.S. The silver lining is that I also found my old Lego collection!!! Almost forgot to mention that. I've got some sweet old stuff in there that hopefully I'll get around to playing with some day soon. I'm keeping the Lego of course. The rest of the stuff, while nostalgic, I'm fine with selling somehow. Go figure.

Update time. I got around to going through all the He Man / MotU stuff (That's Masters of the Universe, lol). I snapped a bunch of pics and I'm going to head over to heman.org in a little bit to post on their forum for more specific advice they may have. You know, if they can spot anything especially desirable. I actually spent a lot of time this weekend going through the guide they have there and matching up all the weapons with all the guys they go with, etc. Yikes. But it was pretty fun too. Anyway, here are some pics. I also made a spreadsheet listing each thing, which should help me when I go to make ebay listings and such. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeya/sets/72157630934606300/

Unless I missed it, you might be missing and consider adding this set: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=6192-1 I think this set was mostly overlooked due to its younger-crowd appeal. What drew me to this set was the pirate minifig. He even has back printing. And I like how he's smiling; it reminds me of older wave figs who always seemed to be in a generally good mood.

Looks pretty cool! It looks like they really concentrated on the interior of the house. It definitely has that "modular buildings theme" feel to it on the inside. I'm surprised at the number of the minifigs. There's probably 3 too many. I wish some of them were dressed a little more specially (hats, winter accessories) because some of them look like they just hopped out of a car from the City theme. I look forward to going over the photos with a fine comb until the holiday season comes around. I like figuring out what the unique elements are in these sets. I think that owl is from Harry Potter...

I agree with Wardancer. People can ask the stars and moon for their stuff, but whether it will actually sell is something else entirely. And the best way to find out something's worth is to go to eBay, do your search with "auctions only" and sort by "time ending soonest" and go into each individual listing you're interested in assessing and do "watch this item" on it (or just bookmark it in your browser might work too). Then when the item ends, you check what it actually sold for, and that should be a decent estimate of what it's worth. Of course even that has some error (e.g. someone bid it up but won't actually pay or just a bad day and nobody bought the item for what it's normally worth). Usual disclaimers apply etc.

I made that exact comment during the trailer (which I hadn't seen before). I said "what is this, deadliest catch the movie?" If Nolan is producing, I'm definitely interested. One thing is for sure, this one can't be any worse than the Superman movie from a couple years ago! I never thought I'd see Kevin Spacey in a bad role. Yikes.

You could make an overweight redcoat admiral with this torso: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=973pb849c01 That's the CMF garden gnome's torso.