My DK has picked up Epic Flight last night...5K gold and now I am broke across 7 toons LOL

Btw, What server is everyone on?  I'm still on Whisperwind Horde

I think they are reducing epic flight to like 900g or something.

WTH!!! 

To make Soulchilde feel better: reduced cost for epic flight is pure speculation
To make Soulchilde feel worse: you could have gotten epic flight for 4k with the right faction

My DK got epic flight earlier this week. It's my first epic flyer, yay. Borrowed 900g to do it but that has already been repaid from quest reward money and vendored green drop money. Tonight I'll hit 80 for the first time ever and then start figuring out what to do next.

I admit it is a little disconcerting to see Linda looking so... old.

She looks her age and I can totally respect that. The show has eye-candy covered already, no need to go overboard.

c) asylum from a brutal dictatorship

Anyone else see this heading for R&P?

$65 lol

What's so funny about a $65 MSRP?  The standard controller has an MSRP of $50, and a Play & Charge Kit is $20, so you're saving $5 with this new super special controller.  Assuming you ignore the fact that you can get controllers for quite a bit less than MSRP.

What's funny is they want me to spend $15 on a play and charge kit that a hate. I guess it gets me another rechargeable battery, but the play and charge side of it is garbage. I find the standalone charger to be far more reliable.

I can't think of any. If a game hasn't aged well, then most likely its main selling point was 'graphics'.

X-Com.

Somehow I missed out on X-Com, I have no idea why. It would have been right up my alley and graphics certainly wasn't it's main selling point. The problem I have trying to play X-Com now is the terrible interface by today's standards. yes, the graphics are terrible, but the interface is painful. I also have less time now and I don't want to spend it fighting the interface.

do you play like 5 mins a day? lol

LOL.  pretty much at the same time I re-subbed to WoW I got back into Torchlight.  it was a foolish mistake.

I think CK started his hunter the same time I started my DK... I have grandmaster mining, fishing (well 9 points shy right now) and cooking and have still leveled a DK from 55 to 73 playing pretty casually in the time he has gotten a hunter to almost 10. Yeah, the pre-pet levels are a real grind.

When Cataclysm comes out I am sure I'm going to be starting a Worgen hunter. I'm hoping I can get my DK to 80 so I can start working on BoA gear for the hunter. If I was smart I'd do something other than DPS so I can actually get into instances, but I'm not smart. I'm a terrible tank and I'd have to imagine I'd be a pretty bad healer as well.

They had plenty of lifetime subscribers 

 

Defeated the big bad this evening. FWIW, you will require at least two people because of the last few puzzles.

Congrats one of these days I'll get back, I guess my timing was bad for restarting WoW.

If I were single and without children this is what I would be buying:
Fable 3
Two Worlds 2
Rock Band 3
Fallout New Vegas
Dead Rising 2
Assassins Creed Brotherhood
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions
DC Universe Online
Civ V
WoW: Cataclysm
Gran Turismo 4

Since I am not, this is what I will likely get:
WoW: Cataclysm
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (racing game, yay for kid friendly)
Gran Turismo 4 (racing game, yay for kid friendly)

I still have God of War 2 and 3, Gears of War 1 and 2, Just Cause 2, Red Dead Redemption, Resistance 1 and 2, Little Big Planet and many more all waiting for me to spend some quality time with. I'm also #1 in the queue for these games on goozex which I have on hold because I don't have any time: Bayonetta, Blur, Modern Warfare 2, Crackdown 2, Darksiders, Heavy Rain, The Show 2010, Monster Hunter Tri, Split Second, UFC 2010...

[Mafia 2]

Mafia 2 and World of Warcraft. If there's any time left over i plan on taking over the world.

can someone smarter than I figure out what 7.3litres / 100km equals out to in US? Maffs is not my friendz.

A hair over 32 mpg.

Ack! You tricked me into clicking a front page link... you bastard!

It sounds cool, but it looks like it has a multi focus which puts it really low on my list.

If I try really hard I can get over 20 mpg. I don't generally try that hard and typically end up around 17 mpg. 2009 G37 Sedan.

So do you guys subscribe or pay by area?

I bought the year for $60 last year. I think it's running out soon. I'm not sure if I'll renew as I'm back into WoW now. When my son gets older I'll probably reconsider for him. I have one end-game character and a couple lower levels.  I didn't do the math on the unlocks, but $60 for a year of access to everything seems very reasonable to me.

So yesterday I was trying to decide if I could sneak out of work at lunch to start the download... now that I'm downloading already, I'm starting to think about what my calendar looks like for the afternoon. Maybe it's a good day to cut out at lunch.  Downloading at 1.3MB/s, I've never had steam download so fast.

[World of Warcraft]

More World of Warcraft for me. Made it to Northrend for the first time this week. I may also play a bit more Mafia in prep for the sequel.

No Mafia, pure WoW all weekend.

I think the 3xx series are just the older devices. I have a 305 and think it's great. It is kinda big, but not *that* big, especially if you are concerned about the cost the 305 is a fraction of the price of the newer models without missing any key functionality.

No, the 205 and 305 are the old models (I think the 205 went away). The 405 and 310 are the newer advanced watches and the 110 is the newest release which is supposed to be a smaller, easier to use with less options model.

BTW the only difference between the 405 and 405CX is the way it computes calories burned. Well that and the 405 comes in different colors while the CX only comes in blue.

I knew the 305 was old, but awesome. Actually now you have me curious about the 405s. I can't seem to get calories based on time and heart rate from the 305, it requires me to actually travel (run). that means I don't see calories burned for Insanity workouts. Can the 405s do that?

[Mafia 2]

Mafia 2 has been on my must have list for a long time so my return to WoW will be set aside for the next week as I devour Mafia 2! Yes, it probably will take me a week as my devouring time is limited.

I think the 3xx series are just the older devices. I have a 305 and think it's great. It is kinda big, but not *that* big, especially if you are concerned about the cost the 305 is a fraction of the price of the newer models without missing any key functionality.

[World of Warcraft]

More World of Warcraft for me. Made it to Northrend for the first time this week. I may also play a bit more Mafia in prep for the sequel.

Looks great. I'm in.

I thought the 3 was too small for a car seat, I can't imagine the 135 working. Are you guys 5'2"? It's a tight squeeze in my G37 sedan with two car seats. I had to turn off the auto-pushback on the drivers seat when you turn the car off as it was crushing my 4 year old's feet. The 3 feels even smaller to me.

it is 10 and you get it from your trainer. so you basically gotta be hellen keller to miss it.

or CeeKay 

I was thinking it, but didn't want to type it. I always thought the first 9 levels as a hunter were cruel and unusual punishment. I guess they go a lot faster now. I haven't made a level 1 anything in a long time. Cataclysm will be my first time in about 3 years with my new Worgen... I think it will be my 3rd hunter.

Thanks guys. Grabbed the control panel, quest helper, bartender and this one called Titan panel. Now for a potentially stupid question: at what level does the hunter get their first pet?  I'm hoping I didn't miss some quest for it, I'm at level 6 or 7 currently.

I think it was at 10 when I did it. Impossible to miss the quest as I recall (been a LONG time).

Don't forget, once you finish the game (Mafia 1) there is Free Ride, where you can drive the cab around and pick up passengers. Better yet is Free Ride Extreme, which is a lot of fun. You may have to drive from one end of the city to the other in a time limit and under a certain speed, or drive a certain course and avoid bombs dropped from above. I wonder if Mafia 2 will have extra material like that.

Extreme mode sounds unf.

I remember some of those challenges. Some of them were good fun and there was a way you could make some of the shooting challenges easier too by stockpiling the weapons you got during others. For example, one challenge gave you a sniper rifle. Once you finished that, I went back to the house you spawn at and dropped the rifle inside. It stayed permanent, as did any special cars you got

My son was on my lap begging for me to play a game so I didn't have time to add any actual comments to my results. It took 11.5 weeks to get through the 9 week program, I did 8 "bonus" workouts during that time. DId the first week, got strep the next week and then started over. My wife got sick during week 7 and she skipped two workouts and insisted I do them with her after the program was over and I caved, so finally last night I finished it.

I have to see from a fitness test standpoint, I'm thrilled. From a weight standpoint, I with I had followed any kind of diet. I bet 5 fewer pounds would make a would of difference in the appearance of my lower abs and obliques.

I have no idea what I'm going to do rfom this point, but it sure feels good to be done. I'll get the "after" pics tongiht and decide if I'm willing to post them. 

Code:

Exercise           Before    After
Switch kicks       34        57 (sets of 2)
Power Jacks        33        49
Power Knees        52       101
Power Jumps        25        60
Globe Jumps        6         10
Suicide Jumps      6         18
Push-up Jacks      11        26
Low Plank Obliques 21        31 (sets of 2)

I wouldn't call APB a vehicular MMO. A persistent shooter that happens to have vehicles maybe. Vehicles certainly aren't the focus like Auto Assault.

Someday devs will learn that spending zillions of dollars on MMOs with very nichey appeal isn't probably the path to, well remaining solvent, much less thriving. 

If it was a better game I don't think it would have been all that nichey.

[WoW]

The last 3 days of my 10 day WoW trial is this weekend. I'll probably subscribe at the end, but I'm getting everything I can out of the trial.

Pete, I'd venture to say that the Godfather game drew heavily from mechanics from the original Mafia. The gameplay is very similar between the two (basically GTA-like, with small variations), but what elevated the original Mafia to an all-time great in my mind was the wonderful setting full of nice touches and detail, great characterization and script, and an unforgettable ending.

Note that The Godfather was open world and Mafia really wasn't. Technically, yes, you had the whole city to drive around in, but the only time you were in the city was on a mission, ignoring the Free Ride side of things which was completely separate from the storyline. Mafia was very linear.

I'm on my 5th playthrough now, so I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's an important distinction between Mafia and The Godfather though. The only optional/side quest in Mafia was the Bertone missions and they were sparse and didn't really have any impact other than giving you more car options.

In fact, thinking about it, that's about the only freedom you had in the game, the choice of cars from your garage to take out on a mission.

Did cars even have seatbelts in the 50s?

I feel like I'm doing Isgrimnur's job here but...

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_seat_belts.htm

Volvo had the first safety belts in 1849.

The first U.S. patent for automobile seat beats was issued to Edward J. Claghorn of New York, New York on February 10, 1885.

From wikipedia:

American car manufacturers Nash (in 1949) and Ford (in 1955) offered seat belts as options, while Swedish Saab first introduced seat belts as standard in 1958.[16] After the Saab GT 750 was introduced at the New York motor show in 1958 with safety belts fitted as standard, the practice became commonplace.[17]

However, the first modern three point seat belt (the so-called CIR-Griswold restraint) used in most consumer vehicles today was patented in 1951 by the Americans Roger W. Griswold and Hugh De Haven,[18] and developed to its modern form by Nils Bohlin for Swedish manufacturer Volvo—who introduced it in 1959 as standard equipment.

at least from the first mafia, your friends would fire back when you drove, but i don't remember being able to do that myself.  it would be nice if you could at least use the pistol to fire back.  

In the original you could fire a one hand weapon (pistol) while driving.

So end of May my account was hacked, used for goldspamming and temp-banned.I changed the password as soon as I saw the temp ban. A week or two later I got a note my account was in chargeback status because whoever hackedit probably used a stolen credit card. I didn't bother to do anything at the time as I wasn't interested in playing WoW. The chatter here about Vorret's wife/girlfriend playing got me interested again and I tried for a while to get throguh on the phone to clear up the issue and finally sent an email to WoW billing. The next morning I had an email in my inbox saying they unlocked the account and to change my password again. I was good to go.

I signed up for the WotLK 10 day trial and logged into my highest guy, level 62 warrior from the Burning Crusade trial (ha!). I couldn't decide what to do so I went to create a new character instead... I was clicking around with out much interest, then noticed the Deathknight, I created one and went through the pretty awesome starting area and ended the day (saturday) at level 60. I didn't have as much time to play on Sunday, but I still squeezed in a few hours and now my Deathknight is the same level as my highest character.  She'll pass him as soon as I get another couple hours to play. Holy cow the DK is awesome.

Anyhow, I think they are scaring me into getting an authenticator since they say another hack/chargeback could have my account closed permanently.

We're gonna play again about 9:30 pm central tonight. Hopefully we'll catch each other ten.

Sorry we got in late Saturday and still had to workout before bed. For the next 9 days I am finishing up the Insanity workout program and that takes most of my free time before bed. After that I should have more time... unless I reopen my WoW account.

I don't care about support at all (never used it in my life).  I can maintain a machine just fine, but I'm exceedingly lazy/unknowledgeable about current hardware and putting together something from scratch.

In that case, pick up a magazine and check out some of the pre-built powerhouses that you can find in there.   The two that come to mind are:

http://www.falcon-nw.com/
http://www.ibuypower.com/

Any special reason you aren't looking to build one?  I KNOW I can beat their prices with something I build...

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ is my go to place if I'm feeling lazy and I know other here/OO have used them, though I did build my own last time. Their prices are generally pretty close to the cost of components on newegg.

Nobody with a $1k budget should be anywhere near Falcon NW.

[Mafia]

Finish up Mafia in preparation for Mafia 2. Trying to get my WoW account unlocked post-hack as well. Not sure what else. I have Starcraft 2 but haven't started it yet.

I think I may have done one mission in Mafia friday night, then saturday morning I got the email that my WoW account was unlocked and it was an all-WoW weekend from there on out. I probably played WoW for 14 hours of the weekend which is probably 3 times as much as I've played any game in a weekend in a couple years. I'm on the WotLK 10 day trial and abusing it fully. No idea if I will subscribe if I am done, but I'm enjoying it while I have it.

Still haven't seen any part of starcraft beyond the intro video.

[Mafia]

Finish up Mafia in preparation for Mafia 2. Trying to get my WoW account unlocked post-hack as well. Not sure what else. I have Starcraft 2 but haven't started it yet.

[the]

We went in together a few minutes ago.(2 of us)  Got past the first 3groups; Storm Lord really helps.  lost at the boss fight when we got hit with meteors to the tune of 9000 +\-.  the lesson is take out the henchman.

Actually the lesson should be to kill the boss in one hit. I read up on this a little bit and it looks to be pretty hardcore. That wasn't the boss, it was the first boss.

Couldn't make it past the second level and the first level was a crapshoot solo. I was trying it with scarecrows though, I think with pure wraiths I'd stand a decent chance. On the second level the first scarecrow doesn't take anyone out and getting beat on by all 4 mobs for 8 rounds is too much, especially with mobs casting the ice 50% shield.