It's a great game.  There were a couple of puzzles that were too long, but beyond that I enjoyed the whole game.  It's sort of a Devil May Cry, God of War, Legend of Zelda mash up.  Unless that sounds awful to you, I don't know why you wouldn't download it for free.

There's a thread in the pc/console gaming section.  Off the top of my head there's Workshop, Inventory, Trading, Movie Making, Wallet, Remote (smartphone) App, Chat, Community Vote (coming soon), Friend Lists, Groups, Community Videos and Screenshots, and there's some sort of summer sale going on.

Weird, the 8GB is in stock and shipping.  The 16GB model can't even be ordered.  You can sign up to be notified when they're taking orders again.  Despite the focus on streaming, I bet they wish they had gone 16GB and 32GB instead.  I'm sure the push for the $199 price point informed that decision.  Still, it's interesting to see where the market is.

No, I live in Houston where Mike used to live.  I don't think I need another drum unless it's a great deal.  I guess I could use more microphones, but I don't remember which games support harmonies.  And, of course, a guitar or bass or both.

Next up are:

Interstate '82

Tomb Raider: Last Revelation plus Chronicles

Also there's a sale on The Witcher Series, 66% off for both or 50% for one.

Majesty +expansion
Zen Pinball
Backstab HD
Canabalt HD
Carcassonne
Shadowgun
Vanessa Saint-Pierre Delacroix

Plus there are tons of other great games that might not benefit as much from the bigger area.  Modern Combat 3 looks good, but it's hard to recommend the gameplay.

You could get her a WOW computer.  It sound kind of like what you want.  Plus you could say Grandma is using Linux.

Did you check out today's Woot:  http://www.woot.com/offers/samsung-15-6-quad-core-laptop?  It looks pretty good at a nice price, but perhaps the experts will chime in.  We liked the last Samsung laptop we had.  There were only two negatives, the sensitive touchpad could be awkward when typing and the battery was not easily replaceable.  It looks like they've redesigned the trackpad since then.

I also had many people mention Sager notebooks when I was shopping.  They have a pretty good range.  Good luck.

Nope, didn't get anything from ya...  Got something from my bro and from EN9

Fixed.

Both of my sons are showing an interest in Lego Rock Band.  I was just going to grab a spare guitar at Gamestop, but they informed me they don't carry them any more.  So is anyone looking to get rid of some old Rock Band peripherals?  I just have the original Rock Band kit so any of the newer stuff would be an upgrade.  I realize shipping might kill any deal, but let me know.  We'll see what we can work out. Thanks.

7-18

Which one of these things is not like the others?  I would have bought Rebellion for $10.  I guess I'll wait since I have enough to play.

Yes, thank you.  I believe I sent you something as well.  In all this excitement, I lost track myself.  So ask yourself a question.  Are you lucky?   

I've sent several gifts to people on my friends list.  Most have said they're paying it forward.  Still a great community around here.

I tried the demo and promptly deleted it.  It was competent but not inspired.  I'm not a huge fan of scrolling shooters though.

Sure I can simulate running Ulm and running the port at Hamburg, but I can't ship my virtual exports from Ulm to Hamburg via a dedicated shipping goods simulator (Suggested name: The Kassel Run).  Maybe someday my dream will come true.

Did you try booting to safe mode and rolling back to a previous system restore point?

Did you try booting to your Windows XP disk and using the repair option?

You could always try booting to Linux on a stick/disk and mounting the drives to save data if all else fails.

Gameplay wise the Kohan games have held up very well since no one has attempted the model again.  Graphically they might be a bit dated, but they all look better than Avernum.  If you have even a passing interest in strategy gaming, you should pick up the Kohan series.  I completed all three games.  That's pretty rare for me.

Just make sure you don't play Ahriman's gift first since it starts out at the end difficulty of Immortal Sovereigns.   Now go buy like a good consumer.

I loved the first one, can't remember if I got the second game or the actual sequel.  I was just worried the interface would feel too clunky nowadays.

Kohan II feels a lot like Warcraft III for the interface.  Take that as you will.

Gameplay wise the Kohan games have held up very well since no one has attempted the model again.  Graphically they might be a bit dated, but they all look better than Avernum.  If you have even a passing interest in strategy gaming, you should pick up the Kohan series.  I completed all three games.  That's pretty rare for me.

Just make sure you don't play Ahriman's gift first since it starts out at the end difficulty of Immortal Sovereigns.   Now go buy like a good consumer.

Self Defense Initiative -- Mainly for the initials.
Personal Protection Program
Situational Awareness Instruction
Group Defense Instruction (or Incorporated)
Defense Training Institute
Primal Defense
Defense Conditioning (DefCon) One
Risk Avoidance Solutions
Hard Target Tactics
Thrust Parry Dodge (just sounds better than Guard Turn Parry Dodge Spin Thrust) or perhaps Thrust Dodge Parry so it sounds less like a car dealer.
Cold Fusion Defense
Cover the Line
First Service Defense
Rogue Spear Services
Angel Investigations
Fight, Fight, Win
Individualized Defense Instruction
Personal Shield Defense
Situation Control Training
Dragonlady Tactics

I'm running out of things to inspire me in my office.  Good luck.

[Spoiler]

I'd disagree.  I thought it was much rougher for children than the Avengers. 

Spoiler for plot:

Just the first scene of Peter's parents abandoning him could cause nightmares.  Then we witness the pretty bloody deaths of Uncle Ben and Capt Stacy both clearly loving father figures.  Add in Gwen's hiding scene and the child nearly consumed in the car fire, I think it's asking too much of a young child.  The movie is much darker than the previous Spiderman movies or the Avengers.

Overall, I was surprised at how effective the movie was.  I'd put it about on par with Thor for modern comic films.  I'd look forward to another entry into this series especially with a more mature and confident (cocky?) Spiderman.

They forgot another NOT reason:

It's hard to milk a game with two or three stand alone expansions if you release the sequel right away.

What do they have that's not on GoG?  I can only handle juggling so many libraries on different sites.

I'd imagine that most states that have a 'use' tax will try to get a deal with Amazon.

BTW, when to Tomes of Blacksmithing/Jewelcrafting start dropping?  Can't upgrade either crafter until I get some but have yet to see one in the wild.

Inferno only

I read somewhere that they can drop in nightmare if you hit level 51.

Wherever I got that was wrong.  I hit level 51 in Nightmare, but tomes didn't start dropping until I started Hell.

I can't help but wonder the type of success they'd have had if they had made Hulk: Ultimate Destruction 2 instead, especially since they could have timed it to release near The Avengers opening.

They don't have the Samsung 9 series monitor in stock yet, so I can't justify that splurge.

It looks sexy.

I couldn't justify it at that price.  I'm sure it will be cheaper by the time I'm getting my new rig in Winter/Spring.  I'm not sure the old one could support that resolution at usable speeds.

Anyone seen one/used one?  Is it really good or am I just falling for marketing?

Texas has a new deal with Amazon to start collecting taxes.  It starts on July 1st.  So I thought I'd ask the hive mind to see if there's anything that needs to be purchased before the deadline.

I doubt I'll actually be changing my online shopping habits that much afterwards.  It will probably just be painful for that first more expensive item.

Any ideas?

I'm glad they took care of you.  That's the way customer service is supposed to work.  I guess it's sad when we're surprised that it actually happens.  Enjoy your new phone.

Great move for Google.  This is something that will actually take sales away from an iPad, I think.

Really?  My first thought was they were aiming at the Kindle Fire or the Fire 2.

I loved Spiderman 2 back in the day.  The Batman: Arkham titles are great.  I enjoyed the Wolverine Origins title quite a lot for what it was.  I played the Superman Returns game because I liked the idea of the city as your health meter, but the execution of that game left much to be desired.  As some here know, I've loved almost all the Marvel pinball tables even though others are getting burned out on them.  I'll even throw in Darksiders as a comic game I loved though I don't know if they ever made a comic out of it.

So with the new Spiderman game out and some of the sales going on, it made me wonder if any of the titles I skipped were worth playing.  I'm thinking of Captain America, Thor, Ironman I & II, Green Lantern, Hellboy and the two previous Spiderman games.  Though I'm open any titles that might fit the mold.  So are there any hidden gems out there, or any that are just worth playing now that they're in the bargain bin?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

BTW, when to Tomes of Blacksmithing/Jewelcrafting start dropping?  Can't upgrade either crafter until I get some but have yet to see one in the wild.

Inferno only

I read somewhere that they can drop in nightmare if you hit level 51.

I've got an extra code if anyone wants the base game for free.  PM me.

Edit: and it's gone.

I admit that I'm surprised that there hasn't been more talk about Silent Storm.  Many people were interested in it at the time it came out but wouldn't buy it due to starforce.  It really deserved the buzz.  It was a great game.  Fortunately, starforce didn't cripple the system I was using at the time.  Now they can get it DRM free.  I guess people have forgotten about it.

I remember one game where we were trying to clear a house.  My team was stacked up by the door.  My team leader opened the door and a bad guy tried to throw a grenade at us.  He missed and bounced the grenade off the wall near the door.  He blew up everyone in the entry way and collapsed the floor and the ceiling so the enemies on the second floor ended up dead in the basement.  Actually, I think the grenade set off some munitions in the basement that caused most of the destruction.  Either way, it made clearing the house much easier.  I might have to play again soon.

and the round 3 winner is Postal 2 Complete, with Serious Sam: The Second Encounter coming in... err.... second.

What happened there?  Did people confuse Postal 2 with Portal 2?

Has anyone read it recently?  Has it actually held up well?  I have a feeling that the 1992 virtual reality/cyber nonsense may feel a bit outdated 20 years later.  Wow, 20 years ago?  

I read it in 2010.  Really the political stuff (corporations taking over the world) seemed more dated than the cyberspace stuff.  I didn't find the virtual world any more absurd than the one in Metagame which was published in 2010.  Of course, Snow Crash is a much better book.

It's not clear if you just go to the auction house, but there are certain requirements to send money to paypal.  Obviously you need a paypal account.  You also need to have all the security features activated on your account.  So you will need the authenticator/mobile authenticator and SMS alerts configured on the battlenet website (under 'account' -> security options).  Then you need to add your paypal account as a method of payment on the battlenet website (under account -> settings -> payment options).  After all that is configured and confirmed, you may set up an auction that pays out to paypal.  The first time each session that you set up a paypal auction you will need to enter the SMS code. So in summary you need:

• Battle.net account with Diablo III activated
• Authenticator/Mobile Authenticator Activated
• SMS Alerts Activated
• Paypal Account added
• Select Paypal at the time of auction creation
• Enter SMS authorization code

Simple, right?  Actually, it's not that hard.  I just wished someone had spelled it out for me, so I spelled it out in case someone else needs it.

Well, you could buy an iphone at full price and activate it.  You could buy a used one and activate it.  You could then sell the RAZR, or if it's really crappy swap it out for the refurb before you activate the replacement and then sell the refurb.  There's almost no chance of getting upgrade pricing out of them so it's probably not worth the frustration of trying.

Which is worse, buying out the ETF or paying full price?

Up next:

Silent Storm Gold  -- DRM free, reminds me of the old starforce arguments.  It had to be a great game though to put up with that.

Runaway 2

GT Link thing

The film is well done, but please change the thread title.  I keep reading it as 'XXXist, a short porno by PR_GMR.'  Thank you.