I'm not sure what all this needler discussion is about. I just did some basic tests on easy between CE on oXbox and CEA on 360, and:
1. When putting needles into a grunt at close range, the time-to-detonate seems identical. Every time, in both games, firing from roughly the same distance, the detonation happened with roughly the same number of remaining needles in magazine. And considering that CEA seems to be a port of HPC, I'd guess that you'd wind up with the same results if you tested CEA against HPC.
2. I didn't test range, but at least on easy and in terms of damage to player, the actual damage inflicted by the needler explosions is the same.
I admit I was testing some specific cases and may have missed things, but I have to wonder if you guys actually made careful comparative tests before claiming that the mechanics differ.
When I claimed in my CEA review that the mechanics of the banshee FRG differ from the original game, it was a distinction that I first *felt* in normal gameplay. But I wouldn't have made claims about those particular details had I not gotten out a stopwatch, or made some other clear and easily reproduceable result (like firing a banshee FRG downward and falling in a banshee after it), to make sure. Aesthetics, even just different control schemes or different sounds, can have an enormous effect on how something is perceived.
[Edited on 04.28.2012 2:04 PM PDT]