hansolo77

Guess whos gonna get this when it's done? <--- THIS GUY!!

Yeah I totally feel the same way. I'm probably going to get an unlimited plan for a flat rate price, I'm just not sure what a good carrier would be, and what phone I should get. I have an iPod touch, and I think it's great but it seems like Apple just wants to gouge the market with their phone. Plus, I heard some horror stories about the carrier they offer.

Hey guys! Christmas is right around the corner, and I'm in the market for a new cell phone. In my history, I've only ever had 2. The first one was a 'gift' from a coworker who got a new one and let me have hers. I only had it for a month then dropped the service cause I lost my job. That was like 15 years ago. More recently (about 5 years) I had a no-contract flip phone I got from Walmart. It was ok, just had basic calls and a built in market you could by stuff like ring tones through, but no texting. I stopped using it because I discovered they not only charged 10c a minute for calls, but they also charged 99c a day just to have it active. A total ripoff. I put 5 dollars on it and didn't use it for a week, then I found there were no minutes left; I was like WHAT?! When I figured out about the 99c daily charge, I stopped adding money to it. When we had our fire a few years back, I actually lost the phone buried under a pile of burnt debris. So I haven't had a cell phone since. Now I'm wanting to get another one. I know what features I'm looking for, but not sure what I should get as far as service plans and stuff. I want a smartphone, capable of texting, talking, playing games (of course!) and web browsing. I know there are phones out there that have no contract (but you drop $300 for the phone) and there are phones that offer unlimited service plans. I'm just not sure what exactly I want. My brother bought an iPhone a few months ago and still uses it even though he doesn't have a contract. He can talk/text via an app he downloaded, but he needs to be near a wi-fi source. I like Apple's i-devices like the phone/pod/tab but I'm not sure if it's worth the price. Plus you're limited to Apple marketplace. There are other phones that are Android OS, which I'd be willing to give a go if it was cheap enough. So I'm basically asking what's a good smartphone with a fair priced service plan. No contract would be preferred just incase I lose my job (thats why I had the other one), but I don't want to have it use up all my money I added to it to be used just to have it active. So whats good? Also, I work at Kroger (Grocery Store Chain) only part-time so I can't really have the latest greatest. One advantage from working there though is I get a discount on their iWireless display which has phones and (unlimited) plans. Does anybody use them, are they any good?

Nice update Tom!

Watch out for Mr. Krabs in Mario Bros! HHAHA. These are all looking great! Keep up the good work.

I always planned on developing a section of my setup to have MUGEN also, but I never really got anywhere. I spent a lot of time downloading all the contents (characters, backgrounds, etc) and then never actually got around to putting them all together. I did get 1 or 2 premade games, like an X-Men one and a Mortal Kombat one. When I had the fire though my drive died and I lost those things. I never got back the urge to try again. Part of me just feels it was just way to much effort to try and build your own, so I agree that the a premade set is probably the best bet at first. If you got a lot of free time, it would be worth it to learn all the ins and outs and try constructing your own though.

Hehe I saw the same thing! Good news Tom, Black Friday came early this year for ya!

I just noticed something in your Donkey Kong 3; did they replace Mario in that one? Never noticed it before.

Take a break Tom! Thats like one a day for a week straight! Nice update though, should solve a few problems.

Cool Thanks!

Thats great, thanks guys!

Sweet thanks!

If I ever build my own cab, this would be how I would set it up too; using that smart power strip. Ingenius idea.

I agree with Null on this. Its a sad thing to hear, but I'm glad you were able to find out. He and his family are in my prayers. You will be missed.

Is it bad that I donated $20 to the Red Cross because of this? I mean, when we had our fire a few years, everybody had a place to stay but us. So the Red Cross put dad and me up in a hotel for 3 days, gave us $100 or so for food and clothes. I mean, all things considered, I'm really grateful theres people out there that want to help those in need. I gave them like $5 after I got my job post-fire, but felt like it wasn't enough (no where near the $100 plus 3 days hotel stay). Now that I get paid a little more, I feel I can give a little more. When you think about all those people who don't have power, and then a fricken winter storm comes in, you KNOW they're suffering. They don't even have gasoline to help fuel their generators! I even donated to Red Cross back in 2001 (World Trade Center) when I was just a kid because I know how desperate people can be for any kind of help.

I actually like that post..nice pretty yellow haha

I know, just don't get me started on Star Wars.. I will debate it till the world ends...

You guys are crazy. George Lucas is the one who was milking Star Wars. Disney has owned Marvel for a few years now, and they're doing nothing but great things. I was doubtful for a while too, but with what they've done with Avengers, Iron Man, etc, it's nice to have a mature company taking over George's works. As far as stories go, George already had in his mind a full trilogy of trilogies, and 7-9 was already in the plans. He just got bashed so much from fans when he went back to tweak 4-6, and when he re-released in 3-D, that he just got fed up with it and said "No More Movies". He always wanted to keep Star Wars alive, and passing the reigns on to somebody else is a good way to get that done. He's still being kept on as the consultant, and Disney's not going to be making it all kiddy and stuff (they didn't with Pirates of the Caribbean or the Marvel movies did they?). In fact, in a recent interview since the announcment, George said he originally had plans of 7-9 to take place some 30 years after Return of the Jedi, which would place those original actors at just the right age for them to return in the sequel trilogy. He said he had told Mark Hamill after filming that if he would ever make a part 7, he would definetly have a part if he was old enough (hence the 30 years since, and Mark is now 30 years older!). So I highly doubt Zac Efron would portray him. The only things missing perhaps would be the Emperor and Darth Vader. Has anybody played any of the Knights of the Old Republic games? There's that guy Darth Malak who existed pre-Emperor, so theres still Sith's out there. Also, in the books we know other possible stories that can be fleshed out into movies; Han and Leia get married, have twins, then another kid, Anakin, who becomes Sith... Luke trains Jedi but eventually turns to the darkside.... The Emporer returns as a clone.. etc.. lots of goodies. So theres a lot of material that can be made and there's no reason to think just because Disney now owns the companies that the movies are suddenly going to be crap. In fact, there's already rumors going around that they might get Steven Spielberg to direct 7. There are other projects in the works too, LucasArts is still going to exist as a subsidery of Disney thus all those awesome games will still be made. LucasFilm itself isn't disappearing, and Indiana Jones is still very much going to be made (although people are hoping to see Harrison Ford retire, and I MYSELF hope they don't have Shia Labeouf take over). ILM/Skywalker Sound/etc have been used for all kinds of companies, Paramount, Warner Brothers, New Line, and so on...so it's not like Disney's buying up a monopoly and suddenly nobody will be able to make good movies anymore. All in all, people just need to relax and look at the big picture. When Star Wars was originally being made, George Lucas pitched the idea to Disney first for the money to make the movie, but they at the time didnt think it would be a good investment. If you look at the long term history of Disney, they're a very mature company with apparently no limit to money and quality. I'm willing to bet that when 7 finally comes out, you won't even know it's Disney accept for maybe some mention in the credits.

When I first heard this, my mouth dropped and I was in utter shock. Now that I've had time to let it sink in, and really think about it, I think I'm ok with it. I mean, when you get down to it, Disney and Lucas have been sleeping together for a long time now. Disney parks have always had their Star Wars weekends, and they got that Star Tours ride. In a way, you could say it was inevitable. The nice thing about the aquisitions is that George Lucas is now out the picture as far as production, so hopefully we won't be seeing anymore stupid re-re-re-release crap edits of his movies that he was doing to gouge the market and make more money. Disney, so far, has done great things with Marvel. And I look at it now as a chance for us to finally get to see more Star Wars. The announcement stated that Disney is already working on Star Wars VII, a continuation of the adventures of Luke Skywalker, as well a full trilogy set. Once that's done, they plan to release more movies every few years. WOOT!

Least they could have tried to match with Luigi's green colors. Stil, looks amazing!

I think I had this same gun before the fire. What you need to do is have the proper drivers installed. It comes with a utility that lets you configure the buttons. Just map them to keyboard keys, and then you can map MAME to those keys. I miss my gun, although I only used it a few times just for fun. Worked really good too. Hope you can figure it out.

OOh I like the 2nd one even more! Good work!

If you can play MAME outside of GameEx, there's a problem with your config somewhere.. perhaps you have it setup to hide the desktop, and that HideOS is taking over as the top window. As everybody else says, post ini's and we'll know more.

Looks good, although confusing seeing sunny and 83-degrees when it's snowing HEHE I like it.

I would only upgrade to Windows 8 if I saw there was a marked improvement with the Media Center. I only have 1 computer in my room, which I use as a DVR. I only upgraded from XP Media Center to Vista because of the new DRM "requirement" to do so. Then I upgraded to Windows 7 because I wanted to use Media Browser (http://www.mediabrowser.tv/) which "required" Windows 7 Media Center. So for me personally, I won't be upgrading unless the Media Center is a better interface, and if some new app for it becomes available that is 8-necessary.