DISQUS

Update: I poured off half my starter, fed it 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup water and after a day the top was frothy! I stired the froth back in, reserved 1/4 cup, dumped out the rest, and then fed it 1/2 cup flour and about 1/4 cup water. It's now sitting on top of my fridge.

Once it's in the frothy stage, is it "healthy"? Is it ok to bake with? Or do I need to wait for it to get stringy? I think the problem I've always had with starters is that it never got to the stringy stage. It also doesn't seem like my starter grows that much. Certainly not doubling.

BTW, this is all done with King Arthur high gluten flour, if that makes a difference.

Should I feed it and stir it during those days?

I followed the pineapple method and it was going along so well (my starter was already bubbly) that I skipped about a day and during step 2 and just went on to step 3 to feed it. I tasted a bit of it before I fed it and it was SOUR and sharp. I fed it and while it bubbled and smells nice, it didn't double, or get stringy.

Did I ruin my starter? Should I start over or try to save this one?

I'm surprised by all the people playing P3. For all our readers playing it, did you start it because of P4? Or are you just trying to finish it up before diving into P4?

Wow, so many people are playing multiple games at once. I always get confused when I'm in the middle of too many games. I'm glad to see all the Persona love too.

@Ironix: I started SMT:Imagine, but as soon as I got P4, I stopped playing. I may pick it up once I'm done with P4.

@Scott
Oh yeah, I forgot abut Infinite Undiscovery. Maybe I was too sad about it to remember it. I had such high hopes from the same developers that brought us Valkyrie Profile.

As for the readers who are saying Nintendo was the disappointment of the year, I have to agree. While I was writing this feature up, I thought about writing about them being disapointing, but I couldn't really pinpoint anything. I guess it just comes down to the fact that they didn't release anything on the caliber of Super Mario Galaxy is disappointing.

@jarrod You're right, I wouldn't go as far as call TLR buggy. There aren't any game-breaking bugs at all that I've seen.

@jarrod: It's good news that HD installing almost eliminates the loading issue, but one of the main reason I got a console to play games on is so that I don't have to go to the trouble of installing it like I would on a PC. Having to install the entire game onto my HD just so that it can be enjoyable without loading screens is just bad engineering. What about people like me with the 20gb HD model of the Xbox? Or the people with no HD at all?

I think @Jaxel touched on a good point: S-E needs to stand up to Microsoft and just say, "Hey, we just need more time to work out some kinks" in some of their 360 games. I think MS just cares about getting S-E to churn out games for the 360 period to tap into the Japanese market, but S-E needs to put more weight on polishing the game.

Also, while Fallout 3 did have load screens, it was hardly to the point of a load screen for each battle.

@Aoshi00 You're right, loading won't be a problem with a HD in the computer, but I too hope the frame rate gets fixed. I wonder what the specs for the PC version will be. Looking at the visuals, I doubt my 4 year old PC will be able to handle it.

@Chow, when I was doing that mission, Snake asked if I wanted to give over the pixie or just the scales, and I chose scales. That way, you keep the pixie (I suppose they kill it if you give it to them?) but you still fulfill your mission. The pixie seemed happy and gave me a gift after that.

@Buster I tried talking to them at first, but they never wanted to join me. So I did what any other Red Blooded American would do: beat it silly, and then ask if it wanted to join me.

@Chow and @Douglas: Me too! I kept accidentally attacking her too much and killing her. I finally got her with a combination of attacks and Threaten.

@Reflect and @Ryu:
Do you mean the sound quality through the speakers or the DS itself? I haven't found any complaints with sound quality through the DSLite's headphone jack. The speakers might be a bit weak, but I'm pretty happy when I plug my headphones in.

Oh man, this sounds too hardcore for me. I can barely make it through modern-day Castlevanias. But I can't resist the graphics!

@Aoshii00, I feel the same way with owning something tangible. I know it's better for my cluttered house to not HAVE so much physical stuff and game boxes take up a decent amount of space. But at the same time, buying something ethereal like a VC game never seems real.

I'm still amazed at how good some of these screens look. The martial artist reminds me of the protagonist in Avatar.

Hah, I just had the opposite problem on Friday. I was trying to import a CD but wanted it in mp3 format instead of AAC, which I believe is the default for iTunes. I knew there was an options tab about it somewhere, but it still took me a while to find it.

@Cain: Yeah, I totally forgot about the slowdown in the PS1 port of CT. I'm glad that the DS isn't replicating THAT aspect of it.

As for everyone else who's saying that simply porting it doesn't justify the hefty $40 price tag, I might catch a lot of flack for saying this, but it's not like Square Enix is making anyone buy it. I think that $40 is a fair price for someone who has never played the game. It could be new to them.

Like @Aoshi00 says, it's like all the video re-releases on DVD, and Blu-Ray. I think it's good that publishers are re-releasing classics on newer technology when the older consoles can no longer be bought. I'm still bitter that I can't play my original 5.25" floppy disk of Jumpman because newer computers have no floppy drives anymore.

@CRIMExTHINK: I believe if you pre-ordered it from GameStop, it came with a soundtrack? Someone can probably correct me on this. I got mine from a local mom & pop game store and it didn't come with a soundtrack.

Loading it onto the HD is a great idea. I wish I had a HD to use for that though. I'm glad to hear there's no loading times with the HDLoader.

Loading it onto the HD is a great idea. I wish I had a HD to use for that though. I'm glad to hear there's no loading times with the HDLoader.

@scott - If Bandai can localize Sailor Moon into an afternoon kid's cartoon show for NA, Nintendo should have no problem localizing Mother 3 to be more suitable for kids in the States. The trippy mushrooms could be explained away by poison mushrooms and the alcohol could probably be just some random drink that uh...produces strange effects.

@scott - If Bandai can localize Sailor Moon into an afternoon kid's cartoon show for NA, Nintendo should have no problem localizing Mother 3 to be more suitable for kids in the States. The trippy mushrooms could be explained away by poison mushrooms and the alcohol could probably be just some random drink that uh...produces strange effects.

@Hello Hello - You're right, their games aren't that bad without the loading times for fans of the genre. But I don't think that players should have to alter the firmware of their PSP just so they can enjoy the game better.

@Hello Hello - You're right, their games aren't that bad without the loading times for fans of the genre. But I don't think that players should have to alter the firmware of their PSP just so they can enjoy the game better.

@SomeDude - I'm playing on the 2000. The loading mainly comes from the game reading from disc after EVERY SINGLE ACTION you take. Very frustrating.