Alright, I've probably asked this before, but... what are all the things you need to scan in order to get 100% of the game finished? I'm guessing that all you really need to scan are all the creatures/mini-bosses/bosses, research entries, chozo lores, and space pirate logs, along with gathering all the upgrades of artilery/armor and missiles, powerbombs, energy tanks, etc. This is all you need to accomplish, though, in order to finish the game 100%, right?
Quote:The online import shop NCS is reporting than a new handheld is coming out soon: The Game Theory Admiral.
The Game Theory Admirial, according to the report, is from an Asian manufacturer called "Mystery", and is a portable Famicom clone that accepts Japanese carts. It will be compatible with American and European carts once an adapter is made available. At $53 US, it's definitely the right price, but how is the quality? We're not sure as of yet. We'll look for more onfo on this and report back when we can.
If you're interested in the Game Theory Admiral, check out the link here, which also includes a photo of the unit.
Quote:An Asian manufacturer named "Mystery" has started offering a portable Nintendo Famicom clone which accepts Japanese cartridges. The promotional flyer touts future compatibility with USA and European NES cartridges once an adapter is made available for distribution. Pricing is tentative at US$53 - Email inquiries welcome. The features of the Game Theory Admiral include:
1- Built-in 2" backlit TFT screen.
2- Composite output to TV via supplied AV cable.
3- NTSC or PAL version available. The PAL version is colored blue, the NTSC version is pink. No, we didn't decide the color schemes.
4- Operates on 3 AA batteries.
Just look at this totally rad, super-innovative device! I want one NOW!
That "evidence" is of course the "mobile weapons lab trailers"
"But", you say, "what about those plans for and/or centrifuges found buried in a scientists' yard?"
That stuff was buried in 1991 during or after the first Gulf War. And stayed there until the guy dug it up for us. Sorry, but pre-Gulf War "evidence" is stupid because back then he actually had a chem/bio program... unlike now. And I'd say that they are actually more proof that he had nothing now-- they were still in the ground!
Since no one here bothered to do the FREE SIGNUP required to read the NY Times site, I'll post the whole thing.
Quote:Iraqi Trailers Said to Make Hydrogen, Not Biological Arms
By DOUGLAS JEHL
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 — Engineering experts from the Defense Intelligence Agency have come to believe that the most likely use for two mysterious trailers found in Iraq was to produce hydrogen for weather balloons rather than to make biological weapons, government officials say.
The classified findings by a majority of the engineering experts differ from the view put forward in a white paper made public on May 28 by the C.I.A. and the Defense Intelligence Agency, which said that the trailers were for making biological weapons.
That report had dismissed as a "cover story" claims by senior Iraqi scientists that the trailers were used to make hydrogen for the weather balloons that were then used in artillery practice.
A Defense Department official said the alternative views expressed by members of the engineering team, not yet spelled out in a formal report, had prompted the Defense Intelligence Agency to "pursue additional information" to determine whether those Iraqi claims were indeed accurate.
Officials at the C.I.A. and the Defense Department said today that the two intelligence agencies still stood by the May 28 finding, which President Bush has cited as evidence that Iraq had a biological weapons program. The engineering teams' findings, which officials from the Defense Department and other agencies would discuss only on the condition of anonymity, add a new layer to disputes within the intelligence community about the trailers found by allied forces in Iraq in April and May.
The State Department's intelligence branch, which was not invited to take part in the initial review, disputed the findings in a memorandum on June 2. The fact that American and British intelligence analysts with direct access to the evidence were disputing the claims included in the C.I.A. white paper was first reported in June, along with the analysts' concern that the evaluation of the mobile units had been marred by a rush to judgment.
But it had not previously been known that a majority of the Defense Intelligence Agency's engineering team had come to disagree with the central finding of the white paper: that the trailers were used for making biological weapons.
"The team has decided that in their minds, there could be another use, for inefficient hydrogen production, most likely for balloons," a Defense Department official said.
The Defense Intelligence Agency's engineering teams had not concluded their work in Iraq at the time the white paper was drafted, and so their views were not taken into account at that time, the government officials said. They said the engineering teams had discussed their findings in meetings in Washington in June and again last month.
"We stand by the white paper," the Defense Department official said. "But based on the assessment of the engineering team, it has caused us to pursue additional information about possible alternative uses for the trailers."
A C.I.A. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the agency was "continuing to gather more information about the labs, but we stand behind the white paper."
Since the white paper was made public in May, new information suggesting that the trailers might have been used for making hydrogen has come from Iraqi officials interrogated by American military officers in Iraq, a military officer said today. Those Iraqi officials have repeated the claims of Iraqi scientists that the trailers were used to fill weather balloons, said the officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Another government official from a different agency said the issue of the trailers had prompted deep divisions within the Defense Intelligence Agency. The official said members of the engineering team had been angry that the agency issued the joint white paper with the C.I.A. before their own work was completed.
The official said the question of how that had happened was being examined by the defense agency's inspector general as part of a broader inquiry that began in June.
A spokesman for the intelligence agency, Don Black, said he could not comment on the work of the inspector general.
The Bush administration has said the two trailers are evidence that Saddam Hussein was hiding a program for biological warfare. In the white paper made public in May, it detailed its case even while conceding discrepancies in the evidence and a lack of hard proof.
Senior administration officials have acknowledged that the United States has found neither biological agents nor undisputed evidence that the trailers were used to make such arms. They have said that intelligence analysts in Washington and Baghdad reached their conclusion about the trailers after analyzing, and rejecting, alternative theories of how they could have been used.
That view, described as a consensus of opinion with the C.I.A. and the Defense Intelligence Agency, was presented to the White House before it was made public.
At that time, a senior official who examined the evidence in detail and concluded that the trailers were used for biological weapons said, "The experts who have crawled over this again and again can come up with no other plausible legitimate use."
That official said the agencies had rejected the theory put forward by Iraqi scientists who said one of the units was used to produce hydrogen.
Today, a Defense Department official said of Iraq, "There is not doubt in our minds that they had mobile biological weapons trailers." But the official said there was disagreement within the Defense Intelligence Agency about whether those found so far were used to produce biological weapons or hydrogen.
The engineering team that has come to believe the trailers were used to produce hydrogen includes experts whose task was to assess the trailers from a purely technical standpoint, as opposed to one based on other sources of intelligence. Skeptical experts had previously cited a lack of equipment in the trailers for steam sterilization, normally a prerequisite for any kind of biological production.
Bush administration officials have said the most compelling information that the trailers were used for making biological weapons has come from a human source, an Iraqi scientist who described the trailers and what he said was their weapon-making role to American experts months before the trailers were discovered.
The six-page report that was made public in May, "Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants," called discovery of the trailers "the strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program."
Senior administration officials have said repeatedly that the White House has not put pressure on the intelligence community in any way on the content of its white paper, or on the timing of its release.
Summary: Iraqi leadership has, since discovery of said trailers, said they were for hydrogen production for weather balloons. US scientists now think they were telling the truth all along.
And there goes the one shred of "proof" Bush ever found.
Now if only the idiotic American people would wake up and realize how badly their president lied to their faces for well over a year.
Quote:The multiplatform 3D follow-up to Tim Schafer's classic adventure game is no longer in production.
In a very brief statement, LucasArts has announced that it has stopped production on Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels. "We do not want to disappoint the many fans of Full Throttle, and hope everyone can understand how committed we are to delivering the best-quality gaming experience that we possibly can," said Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts.
The follow-up to Tim Schafer's 1995 adventure game Full Throttle made its last public appearance in May at E3 2003. To get a look at the work in progress, check out our previous coverage of Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels.
Dissapointing, but if it was, as I suspect, an average 3d beat-em-up, it might have been for the best.
Quote:At Nintendo's news conference today, President Satoru Iwata announced the company is planning a new gaming product which would "give a fresh surprise to consumers." No specific details were given about the product, only that more information would be announced in the Spring of 2004. As to whether or not the product would be a rival to Sony's PSP, Iwata had this to say: "Basically I believe Sony's multi-function handheld device will not have big impact on our business, but we are, whether Sony releases a new product or not, preparing for our future... and we'll be able to tell you specifics next spring." Iwata declined to comment on whether the product would be hardware or software, and also had no information on when said product would hit the market. He did, however, confirm that Nintendo would be releasing it's new home console in 2005 or 2006.
Iwata also announced a new program called 'Club Nintendo', in which gamers can accumulate points by buying Nintendo games. These points can be saved up in order to earn Nintendo related products. "We plan to begin the new program in Japan and the United States by the end of this year. We aim to have 300,000-500,000 users to sign up for the program in the first year after release," he told the press. No details were given as to the nature of the products earned with the point system.
A mystery product? Time to start guessing what it is!!
I like the idea of a reward program, because I buy Nintendo games all the time.
All along I've been intrested in this game... it looks like it'll be a nice improvement over XG3, which is nice. XG3 was fun but badly lacking in some ways, especially when compared to XG2. :)
But this one looks better... better weapon system, better track designs and look, better bikes, more tracks, etc... it sounds like a great racer in many ways.
XG3 has a clumsy system where you switch weapons with Z or the d-pad... from a list you predetermine before the race depending on which you choose/can afford. Its quite hard to switch weapons at high speeds and many of the weapons are just completely impractical for use on the high speed classes.
XGRA changes that to one where you, like XG3, have a predetermined list of weapons before the race... but you have just one loaded on your car at any given time and switch them by going over weapon change/powerup spots on the track. Closer to XG1/2's 'pick up single-use special weapons on the track' system, which is good. :)
It also has only one bike model, and the various teams you choose from have the sole purpose of changing your car color... they have NO gameplay impact.
XG3 has three bike types, each quite different... I think the teams might even modify the performance of bikes some now too, adding two layers there. :)
Etc.
These shots are really nice... and really confirm how much progress they have made since XG3 (which, it was VERY clear, wasn't made by the same team as XG2).
... but you don't care about the gameplay system and just want to see shots, right?
Oh shut up. Anyhow, in today's ign cube rumor section they offered a very interesting theory on why Dead Phoenix hasn't been seen since it was first shown last year, and it makes perfect sense especially when one considers the recent rumor that Capcom is working on a Nintendo franchise.
Quote:One of the initial Capcom titles announced for GameCube was Dead Phoenix, a third-person flight game in which players controlled an angelic, winged man armed to the teeth with massive guns -- and not afraid to use them. The action title looked to take inspiration from some of developer Treasure's classic shooters, except in full 3D and with full freedom of movement. The game has never been shown in playable form and was mysteriously absent from this year's Electronics Entertainment Expo 2003. Even Killer 7 was present on video. The game's producer, who last referred to the title as "Little Phoenix," refused to discuss the reason for the game's absence when questioned at E3. Naturally, none of this bodes well for the game's future. Couple all of the above with reports that Capcom had decided to cancel some of its 2003/2004 games and there's a strong chance that Dead Phoenix is in fact dead.
The other possibility is that it's quietly being transformed into an official Kid Icarus sequel. This, too, would also make sense. The angelic main character would be the perfect fit and the game's dark, edgy style would instantly transform the aged Nintendo franchise into something far more hip. We're keeping our fingers crossed, of course.
Damnit I hope they're right! Kid Icarus is loooooooooooooooooooooong overdue for a sequel.
