this would effectively kill Gamefly as well, which is a service I use quite a bit. That plus trading games with my friends would discourage me from gaming on an Xbox console. I have X amount of money to spend, and I can quite easily spend it on other things. Right now I buy about 6-8 games per year, in addition to renting, because I know that I can get my money back from them and trade them with my friends.

I understand that developers get the shaft a little, but that is no reason to screw the consumer. In the last few months I purchased SR3, Dark Souls, and Skyrim. Next month I'm purchasing Amalur. I'm choosing purchasing over renting because I knew I was going to get my monies worth (I have about 120 hours in Skyrim alone). I will not pay 60 bucks for 8 hours of gaming and that's where the used and rental market comes in. Take that away, you take away half my gaming and most of my incentive to play the lesser titles. I would be all about it if it meant more new and innovative IP's and better overall gaming, but I really doubt that would happen.

I'm quite certain that MS is doing their homework though, so perhaps this is fiscally viable and the market will allow it. I wonder if Sony would follow suit? May be an opening for them to grab some of us die hard Xbox folks

message me if you have it and a price. Thanks!

I loved him in The Proposition and Ravenous, very in for this

that's a good point. It didn't really bother me that much, but I remember my wife commenting on it

buy The Mark of Kri - one of the best games of all time. If Dob Bluth made Conan the Barbarian, it would be this game

Eternal Sonata. The game take place in a fever dream on Chopin's deathbed. It was a wonderful game and a nice entry into JRPG's

A house and a big tv

you may also want to check your local library. Mine has an entire aisle for just graphic novels. That plus interlibrary loan gets me about 80 percent of what I want to read.

They reissued Savage Sword of Conan in omnibus form. I would recommend those, they were a pretty big part of summers during my childhood.

Alan's War and Local.

I just read "The Reapers are the Angels" by Alden Bell. I would compare it to The Road. Excellent read.

my budget was spent, thanks to all

I have a guy that'll do it. If it happens I want in...we have a pretty good beer culture here in the Tampa area, so somebody will be receiving some fine local beer

I sent you a pm

A dremel (or comparable rotary tool). I've found it to be the single biggest help as a homeowner with a surprising amount of uses.

I just bought the LG 55" 5500 for 1100 and couldn't be more happy. I don't use the internet features at all, but the picture is fantastic and the sound is quite good

A buddy of mine is finally stepping up to a 360 and I'm looking to get him some solid older titles on the cheap. Looking for (but not limited to):

GR
GR2
Fallout3 GotY
Fallout:NV
Halo3
any of the Assassin's Creed games
any of the Modern Warfare games
both Bioshock games
Borderlands GotY
RF:Guerilla
Prototype
Enslaved
The Darkness
both Marvel UA games
Just Cause 2
Kameo
Dead Island

I'm on a budget here, so obviously I can only afford a few titles, but if anyone wants to clear out some unused titles on a package deal that would be great.

Biggest surprise for me was probably Alice. I never played the first one and I got this from Gamefly during a lull in my new gaming queue. I was expecting some lame Disney crap and what I received was Psychonauts meets Terry Gilliam. Wonderful.

Biggest disappointment? L.A. Noire. They spent a ton of time crafting a beautiful city and then forgot to fill it with people. The cut scenes were fantastic and the acting superb, but the gameplay bored the crap out of me. I was expecting even more as it was published by Rockstar and my standard for open world games is now RDR.

awesome, thanks for the reply!

Now I need to start saving for some surround sound

The wife and I replaced our aging 32" behemoth with a 55" Led. I really can't believe how much better games look now, we should have done this earlier - I've obviously been missing out

Anyway, is "burn in" a problem with these? I'm letting the signal determine the ratio and i'm a little concerned about the black bars burning into the screen.

I'd like to second Donaldson, that's a good recommendation! I always forget him for some reason. His sci-fi series is really good as well (I think it's called The Gap. The first book is "The Real Story")

     Alastair Reynolds. His stuff can be a little dense, but I've always enjoyed him. "Chasm City" is a really good intro to him, as is The Prefect.

     Peter Hamilton take a really long while to get going on and his endings need work, but it's pretty enjoyable. His book "Fallen Dragon" is a nice stand-alone novel to start with.

Pohl's "Gateway" series is excellent. "Earth" by David Brin was super good. "The Alien Years" by Silverberg. "Dune" by Herbert. "The Forever War" by Haldeman was the first novel I read where the consequences of faster than light travel was treated accordingly."Stranger in a Strange Land" by Heinlein. It's a little hippy-ish, but really good. "Old Man's War" by Scalzi - he's the new Heinlein. "Altered Carbon" by Morgan was a really nice blend of hardboiled and sci-fi. "Hardwired" by Williams is one of the first cyberpunk novels I ever read and "Voice of the Whirlwind" by him was excellent as well. "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon" by Stephenson are top reads. "The Stainless Steel Rat" by Harrison is a really fun read, a little bit of Ocean's Eleven in space. "Stand on Zanzibar" by Brunner is good, but I've always had a soft spot for "The Sheep Look Up" by him - it's particularly appropriate now and in the coming years. And read Alfred Bester - his stuff is a real gold standard for sci-fi.

I had bought a DS when it first came out, but sold it to a buddy awhile back. Kind of regretting it now. As far as portable gaming goes would you guys recommend a DS or PSP? I have no idea what the libraries look like now.

Eh, maybe I'll just break down and buy an IPad anyway.

So, a couple of months later what is everyone's verdict on the 3DS? It's my slow season at work and i'm looking at getting some sort of portable gaming to occupy myself. I might take the plunge on the Ipad next year, but for now some less than 2 bills would be ideal.

Anyhoo, yea or nay?

Darkplace was on Adult Swim a few years ago, so maybe they will replay them.

This might be good for my non-gamer wife. I'll have to order a copy

7ish - listen to podcast while making coffee, puttering about
7:30ish - hang out with dogs in backyard, drinking coffee and reading
8:30ish - evaluate and start chores (sweeping, dusting, yard, cleaning bathroom, etc...)
10ish - play Xbox or go for a bike ride
Noonish - go to work
10ish - come home from work, hang out with the missus, watch tv for an hour
11ish - go to bed

We also have a weekly and monthly schedule. For instance, Sunday nights is usually an evening with friends. Tuesdays the wife and I usually go ride bikes and take in a movie. Wednesday nights is usually a pot luck barbecue, where anywhere from 1 to 5 people are likely to show up. although sometimes it's just us. This week is beef back ribs on the smoker.

We are pushing 40 and childless, so obviously we haven't the pressures of domestic life like most people. If anything our time is too limited, but we try to make the best of it.

Kevin Spacey. He seems like a really interesting cat and dinner would be full of great conversation. My backup would be Wallace Shawn.

I'd like to go out for drinks with Sara Rue

yeah, Under the Dome was pretty underwhelming. It was like Steve watched The Simpsons movies and said "hey, I wonder what what really happen?"

I'd like to see another version of The Stand, that would be cool.

So the wife bought the Weber Performer for me, sort of a belated housewarming/birthday thing. So far I love it! It uses a small propane canister to light the charcoal, burns about 5 minutes and the coals are ready for anything but steak in about 20 minutes. No problem lighting lump charcoal at all. The grate is hinged so you can add more fuel if need be. I had it up to about 500 for searing steaks...could probably get higher if I move the charcoal up closer to the grate.

I've got a Smokenator coming today, so I'm looking forward to trying that one out. I might also step up to some iron grates from Craycort.

Thus far I give it 2 BIG thumbs up....it's not a BGE, but it was signifigantly cheaper and works incredibly well.

Moving day went pretty well.

The cable guy showed up at around 5:30 to hook us up. We go out back to the lines and they had cut them from the pole. That poor fella had to run lines from the pole to the house and then run them into the back bedroom (where our office is). 3 hours and one thunderstorm later it was finished. We still need the tv hooked up, but that's pretty easy provided the cables are still in the walls. Now to clean the old place and unpack.

I have a bottle of Guatemalan rum I bought at the duty free shop waiting to get opened tonight. Pair that with a fine cigar and a Florida sunset and it's going to be a nice evening at the new abode.

Thanks guys...I'm both stoked and nervous as hell. We got it for a steal though, it was quite literally too good to pass up. Gonna be nice to have roots for once.

They are brewing Yuengling over in Tampa and the wife is buying me a kegerator at some point this year, so yes - party at Mike's house. I'm scared of little people though, so leave them at home.

and let me just say, for the record, painting sucks.

Light blue, I declare you my nemesis. I will destroy you.

"I Like Killing Flies" was entertaining. It's a documentary about a greasy spoon in NYC. Apparently the guy who runs it was the inspiration for the Soup Nazi

Oh, and Undead, which is an Australian comedy about zombies. I loved that movie. And if you like that one, go grab Black Sheep, where the sheep are zombies...kind of..maybe

I'm gonna toss Dead Snow (which is foreign...maybe swedish?) and Night of the Creeps into the mix. Oh, and Fido, which is funny and awesome.

Slither is super awesome too and not really zombies (more like body snatchers), but deserves a nod being such a rad film

My wife still can't get over the second bit. She kept saying "oh my god" and wondering why that was funny, which made it even better honestly.

In other news, Wilfred is quite good as well.

I finally got around to watching last weeks "Louie" on the DVR and it may be the darkest piece of comedy I've ever seen. I can't decide if it was brilliant or crassly inappropriate. I'm leaning toward brilliant.

My wife and I have found most of our friends through work. We both loathe crowds which limits our outside social interaction, but have struck a nice balance by hosting game nights and BBQ's at our place. Being almost 40 and having no children complicates things some as well, as neither of us is particularly fond of small children (we aren't child-haters or anything, we just don't really "get" kids). As a result, most of our friends tend to be in the 20-30 range, with a few adults who are similar to us. We tend to look for strays like us and forge something with them.

Also, and this may be just me, but the older I get the more refined my bullshit meter gets. We have a standard of requiring someone be a polite, responsible person in order to be included in the "friend zone". I have no time or energy for drama or inconsiderate behavior. Thus, when we meet someone new I generally like to see which way the wind blows before inviting them into my life.

Our situation is further compounded by the fact that Florida is the armpit of America. I love the weather, but folks are real floaty and transitional here. Is it similar in Arizona? I think it may be the heat - comfort breeds complacency and all that.

We bought a house, so packing while I drink a growler of Keegan "Joe Mama" my buddy brought back from New York for me. I'll probably grill a steak.

I'm reading The Wilding by Benjamin Percy right now and it's the best novel I've read in quite some time.