Ladyfox

You know I could have swore I've seen something similar to this already. Oh, here it is, it's called Zoids:

http://www.pheno.zoids.org.uk/empire/ez018saicurtis.htm

http://zoidsfan.jerrystoys.com/images/emz-18.jpg

You know I really have to wonder, especially considering the previous post noting how many Engadget writers purchased an iPhone, why the heck some of you would drop "three months' pay to play with Apple's new hotness" instead of doing the smart thing and trying it out before buying it? Heck, for that matter, I have to wonder if this was not done on purpose as a way of generating news and/or "stirring a hornet's nest" with posts like this.

And while we are on the topic I have to wonder about Engadget's hiring practices by having a writer on-staff that was bright enough to spend their rent money on something they could have tried for free at the store. I for one would tend to take any posts from this person with a grain of salt since they do not appear to be that terribly bright especially for Engadget.

/agree with you completely

The biggest problem here is not so much the lock itself but the curiosity of the child involved. I never have, nor will never agree with, the need to use technology and/or gadgets as a safety net at the expense of, or without any, education to back it up. The fact that our current society advocates and promotes this mindset is turning our children into mental infants frustrates me to an extreme but that is another topic and not the point here.

Granted those children under say the age of 5 years would have a difficult time being taught about firearms. However, in those those circumstances you keep the majority in your safe and the one you would use at home on your person. We were taught at a rather early age respect for firearms and there are only two places it should be; in the safe or on your person. Period.

Just to lay a firearm about with just a lock, and not in a safe, combined without any training and/or education is just asking for trouble.

t_m wrote,

"Still, i'm much happier now that we have decided that freedom isn't worth the price.

Who cares if we have cameras on every corner, wiretap every conversation, and detention without trial? Not me. I'd rather not have freedom if it means a few people might have the chance to do something stupid, thanks."

You know, it is comments like this that really and truly scare me more than anything I can imagine. Goddess help us if our children or our children's children wind up beliving this with every fiber of their being since we will then have a real-life version of V for Vendetta: U.S. edition. *shudder*

Thank goodness my brother has already agreed to pull my niece and nephew out of school and do home schooling if their school ever turns into something like this. Take your frigging brainwashing elsewhere we'd like our future to be something more than Sheeple thankyouverymuch.

Speaking as woman, and one happily married to a gamer I might add, any relationship built upon lies and/or sneaking around is one doomed to failure to begin with. Granted, there is a very fine line between being the poster child for an otaku, gamer or otherwise, but come on. A few figures on a shelf is a turn off? Who are you Paris Hilton or something? If you are that shallow to be hung up on something like that rather than oh I do not know trying to get to know the person then you have a serious problem girlfriend.

@J.Goodwin,

I think the game you are thinking of is called T-Mek which you can see here: http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=T&game_id=9992

The only other 4-person, two-stick, game I could think of would be

I'm definatly with CC on this one.

I usually love shopping for clothes but the part I dread the most is when I shop for bras. I'm a 38A and it is a royal PITA to try and find a bra that is'nt made for teenagers or is just flat-out uncomfortable. I mean, I should not be made to feel that unless I'm a pixie or naturally well-endowed that I have to get implants just to find a nice bra that fits. -_-

If anyone here has any suggestions, beyond buying a bunch of different extenders, to find a proper 38A bra I'd definatly love to hear them.

Lost_Canadian wrote:

"Intel might not be _killing_ PC gaming per se, but they do make it a pain in the ass for graphics software developers (like myself). I don't think you guys realize that it's not just a performance issue - the integrated Intel graphics cards out there simply aren't up to par compatibility-wise with other cards. At my company, we have to keep writing special cases in certain sections of the graphics code because the Intel hardware (or maybe the driver?) is crap. Not only is Intel slowing down development by forcing software to work around the various compatibility issues, they're also causing people to blame software for issues caused by the hardware.

I don't doubt his integrated graphics figures - almost every customer we deal with seems to have an integrated Intel card, and it's a pain convincing them to upgrade. If Intel hadn't created their shitty integrated solutions, the computer would already contain a better-supported ATI or NVIDIA card."

I think this was EXACTLY the point that he was trying to make but wound up making himself look like a doofus instead. :P

Integrated graphics chips, mainly Intel's but any that go into the "thin and light" notebooks and/or cheapie PC boxes, are the bane of any game developer's existance. I speak of this from personal experience not only from a person who does compatibility testing for PC games but as one who has had to also support said games.

Say "nobody plays games on these" all you like but the evidence is out there if you look for it. Just follow the screams of yet another unhappy customer who cheaped out and/or bought the sales pitch by Dell at any game developer's support forum.

There is really no reason or excuse whatsoever why Intel, ATI, or Nvidia can not provide an inexpensive integrated 3D graphics chip. Intel came very close this time with their next-gen chipset but killed it, yet again, with their goofy emulation scheme.

As far as cost goes, how difficult is it really to tweak say a Radeon Mobility 9500, integrate it with a motherboard chipset, and sell it for the same cost? Nobody is asking for cutting-edge graphics here but it would not kill them to have hardware Vertex and Shader support. -_-

Ryan posts:

"It's yet to be finalized and pushed through for future revisions of the HD DVD spec, but don't be surprised if your net-connected HD DVD player all of a sudden obtains the region code "feature."

And this is the part that, ever since the beginning, has bothered me about the entire HD-DVD/Poo-Ray format war; forced firmware updates. Of course, people will start saying "The hackers will save us!" and they may be right in that someone may find a way to stay out of a Federal prison and create a way to bypass the security lockouts on these formats. However, does it not bother anyone that our rights are slowly being eroded by a bunch of old farts smoking $100 bills that we gave them?

I mean, come on, I'm all for protecting your IP but this is really starting to get a bit much.

Eric (aka post #9) wrote:

"Now, look at the advantages of HD DVD and Blu ray over normal DVD: Better pic, better sound, possibly more content. These few advantages will not motivate Average Joe CRT to drop hundreds possibly thousands of dollars."

And this has been what I've been saying about this for months yet everyone STILL seems to be overly dazzled by the entire "ooooh, SHINY!" factor. Early-adopters can preach all they want about the "oooh, SHINY!" factor but bottom line there just is not enough reason to get one of these over any of the upconverting DVD decks available for a 1/3 of the cost.

That being said, why has'nt anyone really done a side-by-side comparison using Serenity and The Last Samauri on one of these versus an Oppo OPDV971H; IMHO one of the best current gen upscaling DVD players out on the market?