Picked it up today, and half the adventure was what happened after I got home: Popped it in the drive, and it updated, but first I decide to check out the newest GoW trailer. Start downloading it and then the screen freezes with random pixels on the screen and I turn off the 360. wait a few minutes, hit the power button... THREE RED LIGHTS  after a moment of cursing, I hop onto google and look up '360 Red Lights'- find the support page and I unplug everything as directed. Turn it back on, and now it's 4 red lights  Reach to the back and realize the video connector isn't all the way in, so I reconnect it and turn it back on (without the HD plugged in). Everything works fine, so I power off and recconect the HD. Starts up no problem, so I go and try grabbing the GoW trailer again. Screen goes black as soon as the download starts and I end up with the 3 red lights again. This time I only remove the HD, power up and everythings fine. Reconnect the HD, and I finally get to start the game.

Single player is pretty cool so far, but then again I liked the original but never got past the CIA HQ mission as I got bored. I got a MP invite from Pete, but at that point I was calling it a night. Hopefully everything is fine tomorrow when I start up again (sounds like the fall update borked alot of peoples 360's, and not just the modded ones).

I feel like people are becoming interested in Resistance by default, there's nothing else whatsoever to get excited about or justify the price tag of the console.

That is YOUR opinion. There are 400,000 other people that would disagree with that.

I think he forgot about the 'big shiny penis' aspect 

One of the local radio stations was playing some X-Mas music today, and they played this song, 'Christmas Shoes' (note: you can ignore the video).  Wow, talk about a song that just hits you in the gut.  I was feeling slightly teary eyed by the time it was over.  I really hope they don't overplay it when they start playing X-mas tunes all the time after Thanksgiving.

Don't forget Sony came up with the console shortages first!!!!  :slywink:

You'll be able to use the camera to put your mug on your Rainbow Six guy in Vegas.

[Spoiler]

ok, someone tell me how to make an avatar, because theres a couple i see that i gotta use for my avatar

well, when a mommy avatar and a daddy avatar love each other very much, they

Spoiler for Hiden:

and 9 months later the stork brings them a baby avatar!


 

I always had you written off as an Xbox 360 whore Hetz! I guess I was wrong.  You're just a corporate whore!

fixed!  

Are there any retailers actually selling blu ray and HD dvd yet?  I haven't seen any at my Wal Mart and we live 50 miles from the nearest Best Buy and Circuit City.

They're everywhere down here.  Even the used CD places have them for sale.  I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the smaller, slimmer boxes though.

hmmmm... the GRAW approach doesn't seem to work very well.  I may have to refine my strategy 

Out

I always knew you'd come out eventually 

Finally got some play time in-  not much but I finished the festival contests.  Combat feels laggy to me, but it could be that I'm not used to the system.  With so many games coming out I'm seeing my previous statement come true about me not really getting into this until early next year during the next release drought.

So many games to choose from I'm not sure what I'll end up playing.  I got NWN2, Yakuza, God of War, Bully, Okami, FFXII, Just Cause and Ultimate Alliance all in various states of completion so I gues it'll be one of those.  I'll also be keeping an eye out for some GRAW action  :slywink:

[DO NOT]

Just remember, whatever you do, DO NOT drop your UMD in the shower 

I second and third Bullwinkle's impressions. Can we say uninspired action gameplay... I remember playing something like this called Lord of the Rings, and it looked and played a lot better.

+4.

depends... what kind of fruity bath oil were you using? 

well EB and Gamestop days are all numbered.  When the next few generations of consoles come out they will have protection built in them which will link a console to a copy.  Meaning the first time you play a game the console will imprint its number on the software and that cd will only be playable in that one system.  Say goodbye to used games sales ( the only thing keeping gamestop in business).  This will help drive new game sales, since used games make no money for the publishers.  This will also change how rented games work. As we have begun to see, in the next generations ( after this ps3 and 360 one) most if not all rented games will be over the net, you will be able to download and play for as many days as you pay for, again all the money goes to sony, microsoft etc instead of blockbuster.

SO within the next 10 years all these niche gaming stores will be gone, a dinosaur, and something you can tell your grandkids about.

what a bunch of bullshit.  The small modding scene will go crazy and piracy will be even more rampant.  I'll have no problem with that happening either.

So my problem, as per usual, is what character to play.

I'm having that problem too.  I usually play a Ranger.  However, I'm a huge fan of speechcraft in games that use those skills and, based on the designers' pedigree, I expect NWN2 to be one of those.  Unfortunately, Rangers really don't have class skills that align with speechcraft so I'm torn on what class to play (I don't like playing mages).  I'm thinking maybe a bard....

Aasimar Paladin!

Great speechcraft and kicks ass in melee.

I created a Tiefling Bard, Chaotic Neutral of course    Now all I need to do is stop futzing with the graphics and actually play the damn thing!

Heh, that motor storm screenshot is the equivalent to taking the most beautiful FPS game to date, taking a screenshot of the character facing a blank wall, then saying you're not impressed with the entirity of the system and its game library based on that one screenshot.

I've seen some pretty realistic looking blank walls and that screenshot doesn't have anything near their quality 

I must have gotten lucky that the Gamestop I previously went to (moved away from it so I had to stop) and my current local EBGames have great staff.  They'll usually ask me if I want to pre-order any games and don't push it.  I haven't had to hear about 'game insurance' for quite some time.  I always try to pre-order as it's the closest video game store to the Ohio State campus and they almost always sell out of the non pre-orders on the first day.

Plus the recently hired a pair of really cute blonde and brunette girls, so shopping there is easy on the eyes 

Does anyone know if this is coming out for the PS2 I show a friend the demo and he wants to know....

I haven't heard anything, but from what I hear they pretty much butchered GRAW for the PS2 so he may want to rent it first if it does come out for it.

No demo impressions yet- I downloaded it and promptly forgot about it.

I may switch to Blockbuster after Netflix started throttling my DVD use.  I was on 8 out at a time, and suddenly my movies started taking an extra day for them to receive.  Then all of a sudden they only received 4 at once.  I figured why should I waste extra money on this (plus I had caught up with most of the TV seasons I wanted to watch) so I switched to 4 at a time.  Now they only seem to recieve exactly 2 of my returns per day and still a day later-  I'm in Columbus OH and they go to Dayton, OH.  I call BS on the 'postal delays' as they put it.

I booted it up last night and just ended up playing with the graphics settings again for the most part.  I made it across the bridge and talked to the guy about the festival contests before stopping to watch Fellowship of the Ring (extended version of course  .  At this rate I should be done by 2050 or so.

One thing I didn't like was that during cinematics and cut scenes, there is a huge black bar at the bottom.  Kind of annoying.  Is this happening with everyone who has 16:9?  Also, the cinematics had black bars on the left and right as well.

Yeah, I get the huge black bar too (46" widescreen).  I don't think they made the cinematics for 16:9.

WORSHIP THE COCK!!!!

Jack Daniels.  I hear it works wonders...

+1.  Alcohol kills germs, so intaking large amounts of Jack Daniels should kill any germs in the body (in theory). 

well crap.  However, towards the end of the article it appears it is not all doom and gloom:

The Future Is OpenAL

The good news for owners of advanced audio cards like SoundBlaster X-Fi is that the developer community has been preparing for this for over 3 years. Hardware audio will not be disappearing with the launch of Windows Vista. Games that support OpenAL today will continue to provide full hardware-enhanced 3D audio under Windows Vista. This includes games such as Battlefield 2, Doom3, Unreal Tournament2k4, Dungeon and Dragons Online, Prey, Quake 4, and many others (a full list can be found at http://www.openal.org/titles.html). These games have complete hardware-based HRTF support for multiple speaker and headphone setups as well as full support for all the different versions of EAX. Also, these games will be able to take advantage of the hardware-accelerated path on supporting hardware for performance and quality increases.

OpenAL support will also be incorporated into the Unreal 3 engine from Epic Games®, the new Doom 3 engine from Id Software® and the new Torque Gaming Engine from Garage Games®. These engines represent literally hundreds of upcoming titles for PC and will provide the majority of upcoming major PC title releases. All of these titles will have OpenAL support at the core and will sound as good as they look in Windows Vista. Other top tier developers including D.I.C.E.®, Turbine®, Bioware® and others are working to ensure their home-grown audio engines fully support OpenAL hardware. For game developers that are serious about the PC platform, OpenAL is presently the only viable option for delivering the 3D audio experience that gamers have come to expect.

OpenAL has an extremely strong future. The OpenAL community has been able to expand its API with new features, and these were delivered in the recent release of OpenAL version 1.1. With the flexible extension mechanism in OpenAL, more and more extensions are being created to handle tasks such as effects processing, multi-channel buffer playback, and support for features like X-RAM™.

Also, OpenAL is working across more platforms than just Windows -- support exists for multiple varieties of Unix®, OS X (from Apple), and Xbox® / Xbox360™ (from Creative Labs).

Windows Vista will be ushering in a new age for PC gaming, with great new graphics, physics and CPU support. When combined with OpenAL and the widespread developer support it is receiving, gamers will also be hearing some of the best audio ever on Windows Vista.

For the PS3, only Lair and Resistance look interesting to me, but not intriguing enough for me to lay down 600 bucks.

+1.  Well, for Lair at least, but I haven't really seen must gameplay for it so my mind could change,  I think the only PS3 title I'm really interested in is a Level 5 game I heard about recently but can't remember the name.  UT2007 will be a PC title for me.

Basically, on my 'must buy big item list', it's a new PC, Wii and finally PS3.  That is, unless I get one of the last 2 for free (gift, contest, falls off the back of a truck...  :slywink:)

Is this from Robin Williams stand up?

No, it's from an email from my wife. 

You're married to Robin Williams?  I never pictured him as a Wiccan. or a her. 

[West]

Could be worse... it could've been West Virginians    He may not be allowed to eat pig but I bet he could squeal like one 

I think Soulchilde needs to upgrade his PC and monitor.  Maybe to one with a dual hamster processor and a Crayola finger paint video card 

Played through the demo.  Of course I've been playing a good amount of battlefield 2 with papa.  Reload is B in BF2.  So of course the first time I wanted to reload I grenaded myself.

Seems to be a common theme 

Even with my current lack of time to play everything I have I grabbed a copy (I hate you Hetz  ) and installed it.  About all that I got done was creating a character and getting to the portion where you meet your two friends.  Most of my time was spent tweaking the graphics settings-  I started with everything maxed out (although it looks like I'm missing Anistropy in one of the setting boxes (can't remember which one and I'm at work) but it's in every other one) and it ran but was a little laggy so I'm still trying to find the sweet spot.  If I'm remembering the options correctly I think it's mainly the shadow options that I have had to turn down for it to be playable.  Currently I'm running a P4 3.2 ghz w/ 1 gig of RAM and a 6800 w/ 256 ram.  I may drop another gig of RAM into the box, but last night I was also looking at parts for my next PC, so by early next year I should be able to play this in all it's glory (and considering my console game backlog I have to be realistic and say chances are that I'll get in any serious playtime with NWN2 before this are pretty slim).

[Spoiler]

Ron put up the GT review, but I'd be careful as there is a nice little spoiler in it (one that I wouldn't have guessed in a million years and I guess will be surprising to others).  It's in the gameplay section, and from what I've heard about the FF series is definitely different from previous games:

Spoiler for Hiden:

As the story progresses you’ll meet up with new characters and eventually Vaan will leave your party.

It's Keith's review, but the thing that is spoiled happens less than 2 hours into the game.  Not a big spoiler really.

It's that quick?  wow, after the end of the tutorial I figured everything would be pretty much set in stone;  definitely different.  I withdraw my comment    BTW Good review Keith.

(also goes to show how little time I've had to play with the game even though I got it just after midnight  )

[Spoiler]

Ron put up the GT review, but I'd be careful as there is a nice little spoiler in it (one that I wouldn't have guessed in a million years and I guess will be surprising to others).  It's in the gameplay section, and from what I've heard about the FF series is definitely different from previous games:

Spoiler for Hiden:

As the story progresses you’ll meet up with new characters and eventually Vaan will leave your party.

I was looking on GoGamer and they only have the cd rom version and the dvd version..no limited edition. I was just curious as to whats in it.

I think there's a bonus feat and a shopkeeper.  I'm not worried about getting the CE as I'm sure they'll find their way onto the net just like the bonus stuff for BG2 did.

Easy solution:  Sony should just take back all the PS3's destined for the US launch and sell them in Japan.  Problem solved.  

No wonder I like shooting you in the back  

we're supposed to have a reason?

Well, my local EB says they'll have this tomorrow.  I can grab it after work, but my gaming group is starting a new campaign tomorrow night also, so I won't even be able to play it.

yep, apparently Direct2Drive has it available.  I'll just wait to get a real copy.

hey, Princess Daisy was HAWT!!!