Akkhraziel

I don't know if those can be dissasembled, they might have been put together with that brick melting glue sometimes used. Akkh

I dunno, I kinda like the Fenris wolf. Looks perfectly fit to attempt to swallow the sun or be boud by a chain of seven impossible things. About the only set I'm not too keen on is the Catapult set. The rest I'm going to have to pick up, it'll just be a matter of time and resources. Akkh

Congrats ed, you have defeated the universe for yet another year. Congrats and many happy returns. Akkh

The last one was so much fun. I'm in. Akkh

...like a puma ? (Yes, its a one line comment, and a reference most people probably won't get, but I couldn't resist.) Akkh

We need a more than one or all of the above option :-D Akkh

This is in contrast with Sony, who said that the PS2 would be fully reverse compatible, and then it wasn't, and many DVD's it would not recognize, either. This was, most likely due to a simple oversight, but then it becomes a matter of personal preference, would you perfer that a company hedge its statements and wait till it knows better, or go ahead and make a definitve stance and then turn out to be wrong. Now, on the other hand, I didn't own any of the games the PS2 wasn't compatible with, but I seem to remember a list compiled somewhere out in the internet on what games didn't waork, as well as what Movies had problems. I'm still wondering how much more the next gen of games is going to run. I've heard $60 bandied about. Akkh

Assuming the Cell chip is all its cracked up to be (rumors have its not even in production, yet). Personally, I think the PS3 is going to be a great system, though I think "two times as powerful as the Xbox 360" is a bit of a stretch. Then again, its been awhile since I've looked at the projected hardware lists, who knows, it might very well be. The key for all the companies will be in their follow through, both in games and how the products are handled. Given that I'm sending Sony back my PSP (a wonderful system, but as aforementioned, this is the third one with dead pixels) I am actually slightly concerned with quality control. Given the utter mismanagement of SW Galaxies (long story, check the Penny Arcade archive) and the fubar with FFXI (the new slim line PS2 can't play it) I hope that Sony dosen't proceed with...well, mistakes. The more mistakes it makes, the closer the competition gets. Again, while competition is healthy, and leads to overall better games, its bad for any company to just assume people are going to want to buy its product. Nintendo would probably have a lot to say about that particular market problem. Attempting to wrap this up slightly, I want all three next gen consoles to be close in price and quality. Why ? Becasue I don't beleive that any of the three companies right now shuold be the sole console on the market. As the above would indicate, I don't have that much faith in Sony as a company to manage such a thing. I'm not even going to waste time on how Microsoft having a monopoly on consoles would be unhealthy, and Nintendo has demonstrated in the past that its gets complacent when its ahead. One other thing that bears mentioning, looking at consoles like this, is that in two cases (the Revolution and the PS3) there is a lot of time between now and their release. When there was this much time before the PSP's release, rumors that it could play PS2 games where flying around, and a lot of other speculation as to what the handheld system was going to be able to do. In the end, we got a great system, but it wasn't exactly like it had first been anticipated. That becasue plans, parts availiability, and profit margins all change. Which is a pleasant way of saying that right now, there is a very good chance that little is set in stone, and what you may be told is the hardware right now for the PS3 or Revolution might very well change before you get the final product (on that note, I've heard two different processor speeds for the PS3, and I have no idea which one is going to be genuine.) In the end, though, as long as all three products are competitve, it will probably be a great time to be a gamer. Akkh

No problem. :-D Though a bit of clairification, the PS2 and XBox comparison was not meant as an indicator of what the future systems will bring, but instead refers back to the conversation on logic. In the end, given that all systems will be out within a year of each other, I think whats really going to make the difference is the games. And it will remain to be seen as to what 'must haev' titles are released on what systems. Akkh

Yep. A hard drive that no developer uses is just a really big memory card, and it made the XBox more expensive for something that was realtively not used at all. Honestly, all three are looking pretty good. I know Sony is going to have a few nice surprises lined up. Microsoft looks like its learning from its previous mistakes and the idea of downloading vinatge Nintendo Games on the Revolution sounds very appealing. The only thing real concern I have is that games are increasing in price, according to ye olde rumour mill. Akkh

All right, where to begin: Which was preceeded by the earlier statement of: And that, then is the thrust of that arguement. A bias is simply a predisposition to address to react to someone or something in a certain way. In this case, because you dislike the aspect of Microsoft that deals with computer applications and PC software, you also react negatively towards the video game division of the company. Your dislike stems less from problems with the Xbox itself, or the games on it, so much as the parent company, hence, a bias. Just a note, almost everyone is biased about things in some form or fashion, its just that in this particular case your bias against microsfot has made for mostly dissapointing video game conversation, just as the little green man's impugning of the PS3 for no other reason than it wasn't the XBox 360 didsn't make for scintillating conversation. You even state that you don't really like consoles, but apparently you like Sony more than Microsoft enough to state an opinion. But the beginning of this conversation had very little to do with the Xbox 360. It was about how nifty the PS3 looked and what might be available on it. Between your first post and the person prior, you began talking about another company and another product. Which would generally indicate that you have some beef with Microsoft (which you do, but not so much with their Xbox or the games on that system) or that the PS3 was so underwhelming that the only thing to discuss was the comeptition...which I sincerely hope is not the case for Sony. And as far as microsoft being a joke for making a console with no experience, the could easily have been said for Sony when the PS one debuted, as until that point Sony had been a consumer electronics company, but had very little experience with the video game market. Consumer Electronics, Computer software, about the same learning curve. Moving elsewhere: Well, the technical components of the systems involved would be why I say the XBox has better hardware. A quick run down: The XBox Graphics Processor Nvidia NV2A Graphics Core Clock Speed 233MHz Graphics Frame Buffer 64MB 200MHz DDR SDRAM UMA Texture Cache 64MB 200MHz DDR SDRAM UMA Texture Read Bandwidth 6.4GB/s Fill Rate (pixels) 932 Mpixels/s Fill Rate (texels) 1.86 Mtexels/s Fill Rate (triangles) 125 Mtriangles/s Pixel Depth 32-bit color, 32-bit Z-buffer Processor Clock Speed 733MHz Internal Data Precision 32-bit Integer, 64-bit Floating-Point L2 Cache 128KB L1 Cache Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB External Bus 6.4GB/s Processor 1 x Intel Pentium III 733MHz Main Memory 64MB 200MHz DDR SDRAM UMA Main Memory Bandwidth 6.4GB/s And the PS2: Graphics Processor Graphics Synthesizer Graphics Core Clock Speed 150MHz Graphics Frame Buffer 4MB Embedded DRAM Video Memory 4MB VRAM Fill Rate (pixels) 2.4 Gpixels/s Fill Rate (texels) 1.2 Gtexels/s Fill Rate (triangles) 75 Mtriangles/s Pixel Depth 32-bit color, 32-bit Z-buffer Processor Clock Speed 300MHz L1 Cache Instruction 16KB, Data 8KB, 16K SPRAM Processor 2 x Toshiba & Sony Emotion Engine 294.9MHz Main Memory 32MB RDRAM Main Memory Bandwidth 3.2GB/s As the above would indicate, in a comparison between the XBox and the PS2, the Xbox has a better graphics processor, more Video Memory, a faster processor, and more main memory. Hrm, what else: *chuckles* Not so much, but generalizations make conversation aimless. *chuckles* I don't bother with a thesaurus. I've just had to do an incredible amount of writing in school and such things have repercussions when engaging in text based conversations. But as far as you still being a kid, that still doesn't mean you are incapable of conveying meaningful points with consistent thought. When your points are conveyed with nothing more than sarcasm, bias, and a noted lack of understanding of the subject matter, then your points become only so much noise. If you don't care about the PS3, then why state an opinion about it all ? Speaking of thoughts, and attempting to get back to the original topic, you brought up a good point: Given as both Sony and Nintendo also look to be offering things online, it will be interesting to see how long bad things start happening to the consoles that are online so much. And parting thoughts...I'm still curious as to what the touted 'Cell' chip is going to be like. Its been rumoured to have been in development for quite awhile. I know during the most recent Sony shuffling of Execs it was discussed quite a bit. It will be interesting to see what its capable of. Akkh

Darth Ewok I wasn't referring to you when I posted that. The comment was directed at little green man, who hasn't exactly contributed positively to the conversation, and to Wolf04, who I addressed in the post above this one. Sorry about that. Akkh

Well, given that your first post on this thread was the second one that mentioned Microsoft and given the fact that one of the first things you do in that thread is make disparaging comments, I'd say that might be a good indication of such. Just in case you've forgotten: Given that up until that point most conversation had been fairly even keeled...yep, I'd say your biased. Let's reference the latter first. You've never owned a console. So, in that case, your experience with the game libraries and offerings of the major systems, then, is limited by the fact you haven't really gone shopping for games for the systems nor probably spent extensive playtime with the different systems, but clearly feel capable enough to announce to the world that one system is better than the others and than one company is superior to the others. Hrm. This section of your last post has some good promise in actually articualting something of...use. But, the guidlines for your comparison are unclear. You compared the consoles and based on the figures (in your opinion) the PS3 has the upper hand. Are these hardware figures, impressions of games that have been announced, other mitigating factors ? Becasue you follow that up by stating that the PS2 had the upperhand over the XBox. Well, speaking from a matter of hardware, the Xbox had surperior power over the PS2, so if the figures you were mentioning in the first part of the sentence, the latter part of the sentence creates a paradox. (ie: You wouldn't want say that the PS3 is superior to the other systems on account of the hardware specifications in the same way that the PS2 was better than the XBox, as the PS2 didn't possess better hardware) As for the other figures, what are you examining when you make such a comparison. At the root of all of this is that you make comments slamming other products that you seem to have either limited interaction with, and that you seem to be just parroting the comments made by peopl on misc forums and chats all over the internet. The Gamecube is too childish: What games gave you that impression. What is the breadth and scope of games you've tried on the Cube. While yes, many of the Nintendo franchises are designed with kids at heart, the Rogue Sqaudron series of games and several other games that landed on the console do not conform to this generalization. Did you get a chance to play any of them, or are you just asserting that the Gamecube games are too childish ? In regards to the Xbox, you say that the games are ugly. Given that titles that release on all three systems are generallygraphically superior on the Xbox (again, that hardware thing), this seems an odd comment to make. There are several flat out beautiful games on the Xbox (though the gamecube has some games that rival the graphics nicely). Games such as Ninja Gaiden, Jade Empire, KotoR and KotoR II all are graphically interesting and fun games to play. As for the babbling useless nonsense...yep, if by pointing out that from a flawed perspective you offer your opinions as hard fact and more valid than other people's perceptions...then yep, I'm babbling nonsense. But at the very least, I am capable of articulating my arguements well and have the wherwithal and common courtesy to not shout over dissenting opinions, and the maturity to follow logic when its placed in front of me. Thus far, the general tone of your posts and the way you treat others is an indication that you are lacking in such things. Akkh

Just my two cents: I had peiced together the Antonio Banderas link a ways before I actually posted anything about it, but a combination of school and a sense of wanting to let others play delayed me. I also had noticed the Nordic knives connection, which is why I obliquely referenced the Knife show that was occuring when the whole murder mystery started. I didn't want to be the know it all that did everything. Anywho, thanks Brickseter, it was fun. And Bloody Jay...we should talk steel at somepoint. ;) Akkh

I also think its silly to blindly ally oneself with a console out of some misguided sense of company loyalty, saying that other products are 'crap' or 'overated' and what have you. Video games are all about preferences, what genres people like, and what gameplay experiences people seek. Until the market narrows down to one format (which in and of itself could be a very bad thing), it is virtually a definite that there will be worthwhile games unique to each system. But to blithely and blanketly say that a system has no good games nor will it ever is just sheer rampant fanboyism, and none more than a bit silly. I'm looking forward to what the PS3 brings to the table when it launches. Akkh

Bah, school has been keeping me from looking at this. Stuff for people to think on: Solvang is located in the Santa Ynez Valley in Claifornia, and it neighbors closely Santa Marai Valley, the area where the bandit who would be popularized as Zorro operated out of (Let's not forget that Antonio Banderas, a linking clue, portayed Zorro as well). Additionally, Solvang is, as many of you have noticed, the self-proclaimed Danish capital of America. Where else would Bloody Jay feel more at home, heck, he could even stay at the Viking INN while visitng the area. Additionally, during the first week of May, about when things started getting serious, there was a blade show going on at Solvang, where many dealers in antiquites, fine swords, and the like would be visitng the Danish capital of america. Food for thought. Akkh

My Take: I'll probably get both a XBox 360 and a PS3, and adopt a wait and see on Revolution. My preferences: The XBox has been a better system for me than the PS2. Higher caliber games in genres I enjoy made it my favorite of the three currently available systems. Going forward, it looks like Microsft has learned from its mistakes. The Xbox 360 has solid 3rd part support (including Square Enix, finally). That and Microsoft did infact realize that having a head start on the market benefitted the PS2 greatly. It will be interesting to see if a Holiday release this year, backed up with games actually available at launch will boost the interest in the XBox 360. As for the PS3, there are more than likely still some interesting games on the way for it. Sony no longer really having Square Enix solely on their system is going to make things interesting. Personally, I think that Sony has dropped the ball on a few too many isues as of late (SW Galaxies pissed off a large part of its player base. FFXI can't be played on the newer smaler PS2, and I'll have to send my 3rd (!!!!) PSP to Sony because of dead pixels...quality control....must learn quality control). All that said, there are still likely to be some great games available only on the PS3. It then becomes a matter of watching the system and the games and deciding when to get it. Comeptition is a good thing for gamers. It means that the resultant products have to improve to remain competitive. I can only hope that Sony and Nintendo both rally and respond, and that Microsoft continues to seek innnovation. That will lead to bigger and better games, better hardware, and better prices. Akkh

Well, given the way you phrased it, I'm going to guess its one of the following: 1891: A four set Bonus pack containing 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890. Which, if memory serves me correctly, all those sets can only be found in that bonus pack. I could be way off, though... Akkh

Connection: EL Mariachi is the first in a trilogy of movies, introducing us to a flamenco guitar and singing individual who also happens to know his way around a gun in the best of Action Ways.It would be the second movie in the El Mariachi Trilogy that would be the important clue, however, in that the second movie was when the all important El Mariachi wor his most important face: That of Antonio Banderas. This movie would be known to most by the Title "Desperado". Antonio Banderas would also portray El Mariachi in the third installment in the series, Once Upon a time in Mexico. But back to why this is important: Evita would also see Antonio Banderas play the character of Ch

As to the question about who likes movies: Well, the obvious ones would be Yoda "Having a thing for certain movie characters." Bloody Jay and 13th warrior have been drawn together several times over the course of this journey. Someone is also a Godfather Fan, if I remember correctly. And from the sounds of it, all this is over some second hand booty... Hrm. Akkh

Maria, When you say he sang like El Mariachi, do you mean he sang in spanish or that he sang in a lively spanish fashion ? Dressed all in black...gunning down people dressed in pirates...and again with the music...hrm. Akkh

Well, Either Athos was going to be a target of the murderer, or something he said got himself perished by the one (or two) that do not want their secrets out. Hrm. Time to go over Athos's words concerning the murder. Also, if any of you come and knock on my door in the middle of the night, I'm probably not going to answer. The door to door salesmen on this train don't seem to take 'no' for an answer very well. Akkh

And back into the fray we go... Sarg, do you feel that you were spamming with the amount of posts you were making? And by that, I mean that in the occasions that you were exceeding 100 posts a day, where they mostly on topic and more than just one to two line posts ? If that is the case, then I think you are taking a general statment that was made and making a mountain out of it. At the time, that particular comment was more directed at Phes than at you. You seem to take it very personally, though. And to that my only comment is: don't. Its not that big a deal. No one thinks less of you or any such things. Its why we have moderators, to remind us every now and then that sometimes a participants in a forum, we do things that we ought to think over a bit more. f you don't think you were spamming, then take the post that a mod said as a good rule of thumb that more than 50 posts per day per person is probably excessive. At the very least, some of those posts could probably have been merged together to create a feel more akin to a forum than to a chat room (and they are looking at adding a chat room). The issue that the mod/admins have raised is not a matter of "He who has most posts wins" or that there is a competitve nature to it, but instead that posters on this forum should be mindful of the fact that it is a *forum* and that their posts should reflect that sort of conversation. If you feel that the spamming post was targeted at you, then again, just take it into mind when you are posting. Thats all it is. Well, i think thats about it, Akkh

The bracelet had the initials I.F. on it. In spanish, 'j's are often soft, and pronounced as 'i's. It could well be that the Bracelet is a gift from Jon Fett... Has anyone just tried to force the lock on the saftey deposit box, or tried...bypassing it in other ways. It 's not too difficult to byapss a lock. Hrm. Going to have to think on this one. Oh, I am fine if anyone wishes to search my room. And what do you mean lousy detectives ? I just got on the train and was happy to find something more entertaining than a movie. Also, I think seances are out, I made a promise no to use any psychic powers when I got on the train. Now whether or not I've violated that...you'll only learn when you figure out who the murderer is. Though I have to admit, snefroe's theopry of more than one person doing the killing makes sense. Additionally, the maid that was killed seemed to know that death was intimate. What had she seen or done...who was this gift giver...hrm. Akkh

Let the Belgian Detective stay free for now. His mission is pure, and his thoughts are not clouded with the guilt of murder. Let us instead wonder who would know that Brickster would bring his gun and would arrange a fine time to steal it. Also, though we had talked about it before, its good to remember that the using of the revolver would probably be for framing, and less an indication of preference of weapon. Now if you will pardon, there were some breezy areas of the train I was going to check. This just keeps getting more and more curious. Akkh