This is not a new dispute. The Marauder, Warhammer, Phoenix Hawk, Rifleman and a few other IS mechs have been in contention for years. That is why they were removed after Mechwarrior 2. I think they were pulled from Ghot bear legacy as well, but were NOT there in Mercenaries for that very reason. If you go back and look at Robotech series one, you will see that there is NO difference between the Phoenix Hawk and the batteloid mode of a Veritec. Kyron (one of the Zentradi) pilots a mech that looks VERY close to a Marauder. In various scenes you will see mechs on the SDF1 that look like the rifelman, Warhammer, Rhino and others. If I remember correctly, FASA had to pull the designs from its pen and paper games as well and I know that some book covers from he Mechwarrior and Battletech novels had to be changed when reprinted and the mech diagrams in the back had to be removed. Decision at Thundar Rift is a great example. I have a copy with a Marauder on the cover and a spec sheet on it in the back, but later printings have a different cover and no spec sheet, though the mech is still referred to and described the same in the book. Guess the image is copyrighted, and not its description.

please

One thing the author might have wanted to mention is that those IR codes have to be LEASED in order to be used. That is why Vizio and some of the other more budget minded HT equipment does not use them. The manufacture is faced with the choice of adding a bunch of discreet codes at an increased cost to the device, or keep its code base small (and cheaper) but loose functionality that the majority of its customers wont use.
Dont get me wrong, I LOVE discreet codes, I just understand that there are always tradeoffs and reasons behind the decisions that companies like VIZIO make.
What I want is BT as the default means of remote control. Its 2 way, and its also UNLICENSED when it comes to control codes. Manufactures would be free to include ANY command they wanted to. Yes, the additional cost to add BT would be MUCH higher compared to IR, but economies of scale would quickly bring that down.

to answer your question why they suck...1 word......DIVIX.
Not Divix the video codec, but DIVIX the bastard offspring of DVD and DRM run rampant. Those that remember DIVIX have just suppresed a shudder and now smile and know that CC has finally paid the price for arrogance!

nothing stopping you. just slap some extension cables onto the power and data ports, and run them outside your ps3. The power requirements, and connections between 3.5 and 2.5 sata are the same. (or i should say the basic requirements....some 3.5 may require more power, but since we have seen that higher rpm does not matter, then go for a slower sata 3.5 and you should be ok...or go balls out and power with an external power supply)
Once you have everything running, purchase a large roll of black electrical tape and wrap it A-team style....now not only do you have a 3.5 drive, you have a groovy retro A-Team PS3 case mod!

Not sure what the big deal is.
I have the cheapo little IR remote from some nockoff that has the ir/usb stick.
I then programed my harmony. The ONLY thing I can not do is TURN ON the ps3. Does that suck, somewhat, but since I generally leave the ps3 on, its not that big a deal.
Is all the fuss I keep seeing about the ps3 remotes all because of a missing "ps3" button?

Am I the only one reading on my cell phone?
I have been 99% exclusive to ebook reading for going on 5 years now. I read 5-6 novels a month on average, mainly scifi and fantasy, but some best sellers as well. I read them on my TREO. Have since the 600.....650....700....800. I can scale the font up so its easily readable and it goes EVERYWHERE with me. Stuck in line....read a book, business meeting putting me to sleep, pull out the phone and it looks like I am responding to an urgent email while....I read a book.

I like the idea of a kindle or sony reader, but I dont want to carry it everywhere all the time, and I already do that with my phone. Maybe I am just odd......For me its about convenience, and I carry my phone on my hip all the time already, so the drawbacks (small screen) are FAR outweighed by that fact alone.

Someone please speak up and tell me I am not alone!

I need a xbox to know what I would not want to face!!!