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Halo is coming!

2004-11-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

I like the rest of the world is waiting for Halo 2. Its coming....... in 8 days!

MAKE XBOX 2 BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE!!!

2004-08-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.petitiononline.com/xbox2/petition.html

Sign the petition above!!!!

Make XBOX 2 BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE!

Videos for Halo 2

2004-07-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Videos for Halo 2

Can you say Halo 2 theatrical trailer????

SWEET!

Remember right-click to download!

Japan Defense Paper Issued as Manga

2004-07-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Anime News Network - Japan Defense Paper Issued as Manga: "In addition to the standard version, the Japanese government's annual defense white paper is set to be released in manga format later this summer. The interesting decision was approved by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the hopes that it will help to make politics more interesting with Japans younger adults. A Japanese spokesperson is quoted as saying, 'We'd like to be able to reach the younger generations, those in their 20s and 30s.'

The full white paper features 450 pages, mostly crammed with small print and even smaller footnotes. In order to improve the popularity of the white-paper, this year's version was printed on glossy paper and includes several pages of illustrations and color photographs.

The paper itself warns of an increasing potential threat from China as the Chinese military becomes increasingly high-tech and focuses more on the quality of its forces and not the quantity. According to the paper, Japan must organize its fractured air, sea and ground self def fence forces under one command in order to deal with new threats posed by its Asian neighbors.

Specific details on the manga version are not yet available, it is due to be issued in August.

Japanese voter turn out has been extraordinarily low in recent years, hovering around or under 50% in many districts and across the country. Comparatively, most other countries that use proportional representation typically enjoy voter turn out rates of 70-90%"

World of Warcraft Beta Update!

2004-07-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Last night, Blizzard updated World of Warcraft with a 190MB patch, downloaded via their custom BitTorrent client, and it included some pretty interesting changes. Well, since we're lucky enough to be in the beta, we decided to see what all the hubbub is about.
The coolest addition has got to be the talents. It's only currently implemented for the mage and the warrior, so this will cause some Player versus Player (PvP) imbalance, but hey, it's just beta, it's free, so I'm not gonna push Dan's head through my monitor, as entertaining as that usually is. Although actual documentation on the talents system is virtually non-existent, we've managed to plumb the depths to a reasonable degree. The talents system works like a branching tree similar to the skill tree in Diablo II, where you can put several points into a certain skill and open up the skill after that one. You may have to invest points in two or three different abilities to access a fourth, and other abilities require you to also have a certain number of points invested in that type of talent. Still with me so far? Awesome.
Now, the warrior and mage both have three different types of talents. The warrior has Protection, Fury, and Arms. Since he's generally the guy who soaks up damage and keeps the attention off the casters in a group fight, he'll naturally need additional abilities to defend himself, make efficient and effective use of his Rage, and deal out some damage.
Although at first you can only beef up basic things--like extend the length of your Battle Shout, enable the Enrage skill (which gives you a small chance of doing added damage with increased speed for a short time), and increase your chance to hit with specific weapon types--eventually you'll be able to do things like deal 150% of your weapon damage for eight seconds, make yourself temporarily immune to fear, reduce an enemies heals by 50%, and a "damage over time" attack that hurts your target for 40% of your weapon damage over 12 seconds.
Now, as someone who's been playing beta for a few months now, I can say it's great to have abilities that actually scale according to your level and equipment, rather than buying a spell every several levels that increase your damage or whatnot by a specific range. When you get one spell at, say, level eight, but don't get an upgrade for it until level 20, scaling talents can reduce the anguish of diminishing returns.
For example, the mage has immediate access to a talent that increases his mana regeneration and another that increases mana points according to a percentage of your Arcane Intellect level. So, you put two points in to this last one--called "Improved Arcane Intellect," natch--and, if you're around level twenty, it increase the Arcane Intellect spell from +10 to +15, giving you a bunch more mana without a higher casting cost or price tag. My 21 mage with almost no equipment bonus gets almost 1000 mana--and, thanks to "Arcane Meditation" maxed out to five points, his mana also regenerates 25% faster than before.
Eventually, depending on what talent path you take (since you won't ever have enough to buy all of these perks), you might be able to get "Presence of Mind," which makes your next spell an instant cast, or "Ice Barrier," which absorbs 175 points of damage, last for up to one minute, and prevents your spells from being interrupted--just like the priest's shield spells. Or perhaps you'd prefer "Combustion," which gives your next fire spell cast--any fire spell cast--a 100% chance of earning a critical strike.
It isn't clear at this stage how many of these abilities are "passive" (not requiring you to hit a button to cast them). Some have significant cool downs periods (the time it takes before you're allowed to cast it again) but appear to have no mana cost. Others, like the mage's boosts to mana regeneration and Arcane Intellect, look like they might get re-balanced, as they're pretty powerful for being immediately available. Some talents, only require one point to be put into them, others scale gradually as you put points into them. Arcane Meditation, for example, increases your mana regen by 5% for every point you put into it. Combustion only needs one point to be unlocked.
Anyways, I've found the talent system to be very helpful, as my mage has a vastly reduced casting time on his fireball, a lot more mana, and much faster mana regen. The Blink spell has also been re-introduced, but now it teleports you to a random spot nearby. In exchange, however, it's instant cast, which I don't believe it was before. Those mages who had Sleep will find that removed from their spellbook, and they'll have to go out and buy its new equivalent--Polymorph, which turns the enemy into a sheep. This spell is actually more in line with the Warcraft universe, but there are a couple unique caveats.
One, the sheep can still call out for help. Two, they regenerate health "very quickly." However, the sheep can only walk slowly in a five yard radius, which avoids the problems of the Fear spell (where the enemy could run away and end up coming back with some friends). I think the mage is still a compelling character, especially with the added depth of the talent system.
Some talents are still NYI (Not Yet Implemented), and I suspect we'll see some shuffling here as we have in other parts of the game--so, those of you who are also in beta shouldn't get too attached to any particular perk, because it might disappear or be transferred to another character class. Also, a few talents may be less useful to certain races.
The undead, for example, are already immune to fear, so the "Death Wish" warrior talent, which increases melee damage by 20%, makes you immune to fear, but reduces your defense rating by 20 and lasts one minute, isn't as useful as it could be, and its drawback makes it that much less interesting and useful. We're looking forward to seeing the talents for the other classes, as it really seems to add some depth and fun into the game.
In other news, there's been another change to Rest State system. It sounds better, but the math makes my vision blur. Auction houses are also open, but there have been some reports of bugginess. Guards can now come to the rescue of town non-player characters (NPCs), level cap's been raised to 50, and--well, you can check out the rest of the nitty gritty at the the WoW web site. A ream of character class tweaks, renamed spells, and various bug fixes.
-IGN.com

Bandai Entertainment Cracks Down on DVD Piracy and

2004-07-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

2004 Anime News Service Archives

Cypress, CA (July 7, 2004) —Bandai Entertainment announced today that it has served lawsuits against several retailers for engaging in the duplication, importation, distribution, and/or sale of unauthorized merchandise infringing upon copyrighted and trademarked properties at this year’s Anime Expo convention in Anaheim, California. Defendants in Bandai’s lawsuit include:

Otaku Entertainment, Inc., dba MANGA HOUSE
EJ International, Inc., dba ABCTOY4ME.COM and ANIMECIRCLE.COM
Anime Combo
MTWC Group, Inc., dba Kawaii Anime and Kawaii-Anime.com
John Lo, Inc., dba House of Anime and Houseofanime.com

“The increased proliferation of counterfeit merchandise and DVD piracy of Japanese animated properties has gone on for too long”, states Ken Iyadomi, Executive Vice President of Bandai Entertainment. “The time has come to take a stand against the flood of cheap knockoffs and blatant bootlegs. The vendors who sell pirated merchandise, CDs, and DVDs are causing huge economic losses for legitimate businesses and must be stopped.”

With the full cooperation of all those who participate in the creation and distribution of these products in Japan and elsewhere - Bandai Entertainment aims to aggressively protect its intellectual property rights and licenses through these actions and hopes that these lawsuits will send a clear message to other retailers and distributors that distributing counterfeit or bootleg DVDs and merchandise will not be tolerated.

Consumers and retailers are urged to contact Bandai Entertainment at support@bandai-ent.com to report other distributors suspected of selling counterfeit DVDs and merchandise.

Bandai Entertainment Inc. is the premier distributor of Japanese animation on DVD home video in North America. The company has distributed notable titles like Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Seed, Witch Hunter Robin, and Wolf’s Rain. Bandai Entertainment Inc. is a subsidiary of Bandai America Inc., who makes the toys for the hit television series, Power Rangers, Digimon, and Mobile Suit Gundam. All U.S. operations are headquartered in a large, ultra-modern facility in Cypress, Calif. Bandai Co., Ltd is the third largest toy company in the world comprising 53 subsidiaries in 18 countries. In addition to toys and children's entertainment, Bandai Co.'s global interests include video game software, multimedia, music and full-length feature films, vending machines, trading cards, candies, and licensed apparel. Bandai Entertainment is headquartered in Cypress, California and additional company and product information is available through our website at www.bandai-ent.com.

his Sucks for me because I have purchased some "cheap" anime of ebay. I get the entire series of a show for less than the cost of one DVD oterhwise! SCORE!

New StarCraft Ghost Developer

2004-07-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

"July 07, 2004 - Swingin' Ape Studios, of Metal Arms: Glitch in the System fame, has been appointed by Blizzard to henceforth develop StarCraft: Ghost, the oft delayed third-person action / adventure adaptation of Blizzard's acclaimed RTS franchise.
The news came as somewhat of a shock. Just two weeks earlier it was announced that Nihilistic, Ghost's former developer, would no longer be at the helm of the project. Nihilistic's departure was said to be the result of timing issues. Hours later Blizzard officially stated that the company would first 'evaluate' potential third-party developers before ultimately deciding whether or not to finish the game in-house. That was one hell of an evaluation.
Not only will Swingin' Ape first finish development on StarCraft: Ghost, the agreement states that Swingin' Ape will in the future collaboratively develop multi-platform titles with Blizzard based off Blizzard licenses. This could mean more Diablo, Warcraft, and StarCraft for all platforms.
Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment president and co-founder:
'The team at Swingin' Ape Studios is a very talented group of developers with a proven ability to deliver extraordinary games. We're confident that this partnership will result in titles that achieve the level of quality that players have come to expect from Blizzard products.'
No other new details regarding StarCraft: Ghost, its release date, or these other proposed products have been announced. As always, stay with us for information as it happens. And, if you're a Ghost fan, feel free to add the title to your watched list so that we might be able to email you the latest updates as they happen. "
-IGN.com

Anime Fanatics!

2004-07-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a page of a whole bunch of people dressed up as their favorite anime characters!

Fanatics!

Remember there is more than one page! See if you can guess who they are!

FLCL: Great Anime

2004-07-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

FLCL. Fooly Cooly. Furi Kuri.
Call it what you want but there is no denying that it is a great anime. Infact it is an all-time great. It's action, humor, gundam, and romance wrapped all into one!
I highly recommend this anime! Its only 6 episodes and can be watched in under 3 hours! Its almost like watching a movie!
Anways I highly recommend it! It however is not recommended for first time viewers. you'll either love it or hate it.....

Halo 2: Official Release Date!

2004-07-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

Halo 2 has gotten an official release date!

November 9, 2004!

Mark your calandars!

Counter-Strike: Updated Graphics Mod!

2004-07-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

This is an awesome new mod for Counter-Strike. It adds realism and new models.

-New CT models
-new Terrorist models
-Every gun has a new model
-All new gun reloads
-Sweet new graphics
-It has everything!

Here is the website:

csrealism.com

Best Cowboy Bebop Site

2004-07-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here in my honest unadulterated opinion is THE BEST COWBOY BEBOP SITE!
This is the best site I can find!

Cowboy Bebop is an awesome show, that I would recommend to anyone that is remotely interested in anime. It is considered to be one of the best animes of all time!

It has everything, so no matter what you like I would highly recommend checking it out!

And if your really seriuos about it I recommend going here: http://www.ebay.com and buying the series for 25 bucks!

Thats right the entire series! I own and it's great!

SplinterCell Pandora Tommorrow Review

2004-07-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

Sam Fisher is back. Fisher, a secret agent for the US government stars in the sequel to the original SplinterCell. This sequel to Ubisoft's hit, offers more spectacular single-player stealth action, that was featured in the original game. But this new game also has a new multiplayer mode! The multiplayer mode ties in with the single-player storyline nicely. In fact, both the single-player and multiplayer portions of Pandora Tomorrow are highly impressive and they add up to an experience that will appeal to fans of the first Splinter Cell and anyone interested in a game about high-tech stealth, action, and sabotage.
The title of Pandora Tomorrow refers to a code phrase used by the villain of the game, a guerrilla leader threatening world with a biological weapon. In the single-player portion of the game, you will play the role of Sam Fisher and track this terrorist around the globe. One of Pandora Tomorrow's improvements on its predecessor is how it takes place in more exotic locales. Like Indonesia, on a passenger train, or in a U.S. Embassy. There are only eight levels in total, but most of them are quite long, it took me about 15 hours to beat this game.
The gameplay is very good. You'll sneak your way through the game's scenarios, avoiding, incapacitating or killing any guards or civilians you might encounter who might threaten your mission of secrecy. It's not difficult to alert a passersby to your presence. You can do this by moving too quickly or by running into a well-lit area. However people aren’t the only thing out to get you mines, trip wires, booby traps, motion detectors, security cameras, and many other automated devices may alert others to your presence. However you've got some weapons to help you deal with this threat. Fisher is armed with a silenced pistol as well as his SC20K multipurpose assault rifle, which he can use for some sniping when lethal force is permitted.
Much like the original Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow occasionally delves into trial-and-error gameplay. The missions are completely linear and scripted. If you do happen to fail then you'll just reload from the last checkpoint, and then try again from a previous point. Pandora Tommorrow is an extremely hard game and is not recommended for those who will end up throwing the controlling after failing a mission, because you will most likely break your controller.
Enemy artificial intelligence is O.K.. Guards will patrol in a pattern, giving you the opportunity to sneak up on them or shoot them. If you make too much noise or reveal your position, they'll either come investigate, open fire and/or sound an alarm. But it’s not a good idea to take a lot of damage because Fisher can't sustain much damage.
Pandora Tomorrow's missions, are incredibly slick. Each one features some cool moments. You can snipe your foes, sneak up behind them and knock them out, or distract them by whistling. The gameplay is ultimately skill-based, requiring a delicate touch and careful timing.
The controls are very responsive. Using the Xbox controller, you'll need to gently apply the analog stick in order to move quietly.
Multiplayer Pandora Tomorrow is based on a plot point in the game. A group called Shadownet which consists of spies, much like Fisher. They are charged with sneaking into areas to dispose of biological weapons. An opposing mercenary force tries to prevent the spies from succeeding. The twist here is that mercenary players view the action from a first-person perspective, rather then the third-person view of the spies.
The mercenaries have assault rifles, torch lights, and two special vision modes, which allow them to detect spies in the darkness. The spies, have electromagnetic rifles that are nonlethal but can be used for multiple tasks. Spies also have flashbang grenades, and chaff grenades, and spy bullets. Spies can also creep up behind mercenaries and then knock them out or kill them.
Multiplayer Pandora Tomorrow is a team based game, and it allows verbal communication between teammates via Xbox live headsets. A cool example of this is if a spy grabs hold of a mercenary, the spy can taunt the opponent before knocking him out. Or if you shoot a mercenary with a spy bullet you can intercept the other teams communications. Another Xbox Live innovation! The multiplayer action is limited to just four players at a time.
Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow looks more impressive than its predecessor, which is outstanding. Beautiful lighting effects and animations make this one of the better looking games out there. Some of the new environments are extremely impressive. This is an altogether visually stunning game.
Most of the audio in Pandora Tomorrow is also excellent, especially Sam Fisher's voice-overs. A tense-sounding musical score delves you into the moment and the ambient noises and various footstep sounds are all well done. I think the sounds of a man gagging when you grab his neck from behind and hold him as a hostage are amazing.
Judged only on its single-player offering, Pandora Tomorrow would be a great follow-up to its predecessor. Its missions are packed with action, and stealth. But theres also the amazing multiplayer mode, which makesPandora Tomorrow a longer lasting game. (As long as you have Xbox live)
NOTE: Due to a last minute deal between Ubisoft and Microsoft the game only comes out on Xbox and the PC, however the game will come out on PS2 and GameCube in June. However the game will not include the online multiplayer, or the graphical touches. Just because the Xbox has a much greater graphical processing power than that of its competitors.