Prey was extremely underrated, I didn't give the MP mode a try but I thought the SP game rocked and had many unique aspects that put it ahead of a bunch of the FPSes that were rated higher including Gears of War and so on. Seriously, $8 is a steal, it was just as worth full retail price as any other game was.

I went to try MP, but all the servers were empty.

Just for shits and giggles I accessed the MP last night and experienced the same thing; many servers but not a single player.

My impressions of the solo campaign so far is after about an hour in I'm quite impressed. I'm not minding the whole Cherokee/Native American overaly much at all and if anything it's quite original. I'm loving the messed up gravity play mechanics; they may not be as impressive as Portal, but impressive none the less. I've got to give a nod to the developer's use of the game engine; it looks and sounds impressive on my low -to- mid spec'd gaming rig and the framerate so far is very smooth. 

I just picked this up a month or so ago.  If you are playing on Vista 32 how's it working out for you?

CG
OO
Something Awful
The Smoking Gun
CNN
Quarter to 3

My online banking site

Mostly lots of legal websites.  The above get a quick turn over the lunch hour.

A tablet called "Airborne" developed by a school teacher that kept getting colds from the little ones.

You have to take it at the first sign of a cold coming on.  It's basically a whopper mix of vitamins and herbs that should help fight the cold in the beginning.

Also take this before going on a airplane or other enclosed place where lots of sick folks will be close by for hours.

You can get it at most any pharmacy.

I've been with the same firm for the past 20 years as their senior litigation paralegal.  Our firm handles large corporate reorganizations and bankruptcies.

I'm involved in the litigation side.  Down side:  I have to travel way too much.  Up side:  Bankruptcy is way more fascinating that you'd ever believe and every day is an adventure.  I love trial work.

I'm not into this myself, but I have noticed that some folks are having a hard time finding WOW in stock in their part of the woods.

EB Games had this available when I checked a few minutes ago (1/28 at 9:30 CST)

Definitely CivIII.  It's still on my HD and I just started up another quick game a couple of days ago.

Morrowing is a close second. On my 7th or 8th character.

Kermy, I ordered Planescape on Jan 19.  It arrived 2 day Fed Exp this morning.

check out Go Gamer Madness sale starting today.

Fallout 1 & 2
Planescape Torment & Soulbringer
Rage of Mages 1 & 2

Each for $2.90

Heck, sell them on ebay and make a profit if you've already enjoyed them.

I hear you on the heat factor.  I found a really neat, light-weight lap protector which keeps the heat off my legs and provides some ridges the laptop sits on to keep the vents open.  If I can find the web site I'll post it. I'm seriously thinking of selling my 2 yr old Dell Tower because this has it beat to all get out.

By the way, this notebook weighs in at over 10 lb.  (One and 1/2 gallon milk jugs)

Grab the 20" Dell immediately.  I got mine about 7 months ago and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I think I shelled out $750 for the small business price.

I just ordered a new toy, the Inspiron XPS notebook.

P4, 1GB SDRAM, 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9800 AGP 8x Graphics card.

Although I'll use it for work, I'm thinking it might just be pretty adequate for some serious gaming.

Anyone used one of these for gaming?  I think the battery life will suck big time.  Is the fan adequate?  How noisy?

Mytocles, I so much appreciate your kind and considerate offer of a replacement console and some games.  You're proof of my basic belief that most people are nothing like the selfish thieving rats that took off with my toys.

I will eventually replace my consoles, but I'm just going to take my time and not rush into anything for now.  I did replace my laptop 'cause I need it for work, but I may wait just wait to see what the next gen XBox looks like.  Game Cubes are dirt cheap and I may pick up one of those within the next month or so.

To tell the truth, I had about 6 or 7 games saved in one stage or another and I don't have the heart to start some of them over again.


But I do thank your for your kind offer.


Knightshade, I should be getting some figures from my insurance company shortly.  I sent in my claim for 38 games.  My insurance company, USAA, is a very reputable one.  I don't know what formula they will use to determine "replacement" value.  It may interest some CG readers to know what an insurance company figures their games and consoles to be worth and I will share that info when I hear something.

Of course I won't replace all the games.  Some of them were real dogs, but I image I will be able to replace the ones that I really enjoyed.  Thanks for your interest.

Hey, THANKS for all the kind words and sympathy.

I decided the only way I was going to get over this trauma was to go into deep therapy.

So, with part of the insurance money I ordered a Dell Inspiron XPS notebook (P4, 1GB SDRAM, 256MB ATI Radeon 9800).  I feel so much better now.

I'll be SO cured when it arrives next week.  :lol:

(And the alarm system helps)

9:30 a.m. on New Year's Day.  I come home to find a broken window and my home burgled.   :cry:

The rats took my XBox, Game Cube and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY CONSOLE GAMES....in addition to the laptop, all my DVDs, digital camera, printer and a bunch of other stuff I haven't even noticed yet.  Apparently the thugs aren't into PC gaming cause they didn't touch any of that pile.

Anyone else suffered this kind of violation?  Man, I still feel rotten.  I know insurance will cover some (less the $1,200 deduction!), but it won't cover the feeling that I've been assaulted in my own home.  

Wonder what kind of "replacement" cost the insurance company will give me.  Bet it's less than half of what I paid.

I do feel lucky that my home wasn't trashed and that I wasn't home when it happened.

Guess who's getting an alarm system installed next week!!!

10/22/45   :shock:

It appears I'm into my 60th year.  Now, be nice to granny.

Now playing:  System Shock II, Planescape Torment and Morrowind (4th character).

Planescape: Torment

Planescape
Knights

NV
Civilization

Right:

Baldur's Gate 2
Knights of the Old Republic

+ one for Ascendent.  He sent me a free game just 'cause I showed some interest on the forum.  What a guy!!   Even footed the postage.  

First impressions only:

I'm an old city builder from way back to Caesar days.  If that's what you're looking for in CotN then don't waste your money.

I'm still in the tutorials, but in my opinion this game is starting to feel like "Tropico" moved to Egypt.  Maybe once I spend some more time in the actual scenarios I'll be more impressed.  Tropico was indeed a fun little game, but that hasn't seen my HD for years.  I still have Pharaoh installed.

I'll put in a few more hours today but so far I'm not overly impressed.  I guess I'm just a "path finder" "walker" sort of gal.

Round 4 Matchups:

Left:

nv
nv
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Planescape: Torment

Right:

Baldur's Gate 2
Diablo 2
Knights of the Old Republic
Alpha Centauri

Need verification.  Gwen - now as then.  Email [email protected]

NV
NV
Thief: The Dark Project
Age of Wonders 2
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Civilization
Planescape: Torment
NV

Right Side:

NV
System Shock 2
Gothic 2
Grim Fandango
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Knights of the Old Republic
Civilization 2
Alpha Centauri

+ 1 to Andy 22.  Thanks.

NV
NV
Europa Universalis
NV
NV
NV
NV
Sanitarium
NV
NV
Civilization 3
NV
NV
Age of Wonders
NV
NV
Railroad Tycoon  
NV
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Rise of Nations
NV
Gothic
Pharaoh
Planescape: Torment
Diablo
NV
NV
NV
NV

Lucidsmoke, I meant to add...nice post.

I finished this one just this weekend.  The original Myst still stands out in my mind because I was so new to gaming and I was just blown away by the graphics and the story.  The sequels I finished, but not so enthralled.

I truly enjoyed #4.  The puzzles were very intuitive and fresh (for the most part), and the story line continued to my satisfaction.  The graphics were very beautiful.  My copy came with Myst III.  I may fire it up again.

If you like puzzle/adventure games, treat yourself to this one.  Makes the Dreamcast adventure type  games  pale in comparison.   I image you can pick this up for around $20 somewhere sometime soon.

   Games finished in 2004:

PC:
Gothic II
Uru
Divine Divinity
Beyond Divinity
Syberia
Myst IV
NWN and expansions
Sacred
Sim2 (I made a baby and quit)

XBox:
KoTOR

 :lol: Actively playing:

PC:
Planescape: Torment
SS2

XBox:
Sphinx
Fable

:oops: Out of the shrink wrap just to feel and smell the CD and read the manual but not even installed: (I'm so pathetic)  
Rise of Nations
Kohan
Beyond Good and Evil
Baldur's Gate II
Diablo II
Galactic Civilizations

 :shock: Games I've only played a short while and know will never darken my computer again:

When I have a spare day or so I'll make a trade/sell list.

Totally game-driven

Cube:  Zelda
XBox: Halo

That was about 30 games ago.  I'm about 70/30 percent,  with the majority of my time on the PC.

YGM

OK, here's my list from the old PIFF:

Karma, Curse of the 12 Caves (PC/MAC)
Dracula, the Last Sanctuary (PC)
Trade Empires
Nightfall (MAC)
SimCity 2000 (PC)
Capitalism II (PC)
Beyond Time (PC)

Karma +7

Cool beans!

Warm fuzzies  

So glad to see this started again.  I'll put up my list from GG when I get home tonight.

I'm going to uninstall McAfee first and substitute with Avast.  If that doesn't work I'll crank up Doom3 and Morrowind at the same time and try the heat test.

By the way when I tried to do a defrag it aborted and it told me I had some inconsistencies in my system and told me to use chkdsk or scandsk.  I didn't have time to try that before I left for work so that will be the first step.

Grim Fandango works on XP?

Damn, and I gave my copy away years ago.  I'd really like to replay that one.

Never played one of the Pokes

So, If I really liked Animal House on the cube would this appeal to me?  Harvest Moon has been fun but tedious on my SP.

I assume this is a P2 only?  

I'd like to try it but that is one console I don't have.

Thanks all.  I'll try some of your suggestions and let you know how things turn out.

egrudzin, thanks for responding.

I did a google for "blue screen of death" and have been reading since I posted.  I am trying a few diagnostics and now realize that this not a question that can be answered simply.

I'm running XP on a Dell Dimension 8250.  The blue screen comes up after loading.  Sometimes within a few minutes, sometimes within hours, and it has happened several times within the last 2 months.  I have a feeling it may be a heat thing cause my fan is running big time.  Could also be a memory problem.  

If it's the fan I'll call India cause I still have the inhome warranty for my system and Dell had to replace my hard drive about 6 months ago.

I did a search on for "MpFirewall.sys" since that showed up on the bluescreen and I can't find this in my device manager but it appears to be McAfee related.  I think I'll try and disable McAfee.  

The computer still functions most of the time,but the blue screen scares me, and it seems to be arbitrary.  I just installed  a Logitech mouse, but the blue screen was there before hand.

You're a nice guy to show interest.