WP7 and iOS apps...what about Android?

I think it was a really neat idea for an episode from an artistic standpoint, and all the different styles were cool to see, but the story behind it all could have been better.  I think cramming all that stuff into a one-off special holiday episode was the perfect way for them to get it out there though.

Personally, I thought the pull-string joke and stop-motion segment were the highlights

Komrade Kermit?

(sorry, went for alliteration)

I don't want to take this thread down a R&P path, but I saw this a couple days ago and think it's the most ridiculous bunch of BS I've seen on any "news" channel in quite a while...totally ridiculous

I've always wondered whether you could drink slowly enough, and eliminate fast enough, that you just sort of peed continuously. But I'm afraid to try because I worry someone might call while I'm doing it and ask what I'm up to, and I won't be able to think of a lie.

It did take like 2 months for them to get it to me.

Unfortunately, that is pretty much the normal turnaround time on those discs.  Mine took about seven weeks.  I've never understood why rebates and mail-in offers take so long, but I don't think it's anything we're going to see change any time soon...

Salvation's late cameo by you know who (or at least his visage -- was that CGI?) was fun.

They pulled that off by putting a CGI head on an actual actor/bodybuilder's body...didn't look completely real, but it wasn't bad.

Skyrim...I'm an addict...

[Spoiler]

Wow,  not that was a mid-season finale. I can't believe we don't get another episode until February. 

And if you

Spoiler for Hiden:

were sick of Sophie's storyline, they fixed THAT, huh?

Comic Spoiler!!!!! 

Spoiler for Hiden:

Can't remember the details, but I am pretty sure Sophie lasted a lot longer in the comic... Even into the prison.... I was a little surprised at that... Plus I wasn't even sick of the Sophie story yet... what seems like a long time to us was only about a week in characters time right? Not really sure though...

Spoiler for Hiden:

I'm up to #84 in the comic and she's still alive, although her family situation has changed considerably since the start of the story...

The SLS head engineer plans to invite Shania Twain to stand under the completed prototype, then tell her, 'I don't expect you to date me just because I'm a rocket scientist, but you've gotta admit--this is pretty fucking impressive.'

1 minute to load?  That's crazy.  Thankfully the game loads quickly on my pc.

For the record, my load times on the 360 are nowhere close to that, even without it installed to the HD due to the texture glitch that this patch supposedly fixed.  Seeing that makes me very glad to have the 360 version over the PS3...

I'm sure Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are ecstatic about the way EA is treating their company these days.

Complaining all the way to the bank, no doubt...

That's an incredible amount of great gaming for only $20...wish I could go back and play them all for the first time again

from Kotaku

What do you hoard in Skyrim?


 

Cabbage!


Unfortunately, I can't take credit for that one though...got it from Felicia Day's Google+ feed

That checkerboard floor is actually some sort of floor covering so when the car hit the brakes it also shifted the surface those people were standing on.

Exactly...the flooring is a mat, and the car stops so suddenly that it pulls the floor out from under them.  Oops!

New trailer!

While it's still really early to tell, this looks promising

Skyrim!

I finally saw Cars 2 a couple weeks ago.  This was the first Pixar movie that I hadn't seen in a theater in a very long time, but I bought the 3D bluray to keep my Pixar collection complete.  While I do think that's it's one of their weakest films primariliy because it lacks the emotion that really makes so many of their other works shine, I really don't understand all the hatred.  They chose to make a spy movie using the Cars cast to broaden the scope of the franchise, and I think it worked pretty well.  It may not have the depth of their other films, but I found Cars 2 to be very entertaining and still enjoyed it more than a lot of the other crap that's been released over the last year.  I think we've all just gotten used to such great things from Pixar that we forget that even something not up to their usual standards is still better than most of what's available.  To each his own though...

I wound up fixing the problem by installing an aftermarket cooler...cheaper than buying a new card, and gets me away from the stock cooler that is apparently notorious for fan bearing failures.  I installed an Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro and it works great...easy to install, virtually silent, and cools significantly better than the stock HSF.  Not only did the new cooler fix the noise problem, but it's a noticeable upgrade to the system as a whole.  My rig has always been very quiet, but having a graphics card cooler that is virtually silent means that I can't hear the system running at all even under heavy load, and everything stays impressively cool

I finished tonight and loved it from beginning to end...took me 10:40 because I did stop to take in the fantastic scenery pretty often.  The game is exactly what I expected from the next Uncharted game, with incredible level/setpiece design, an interesting story, and great character acting.  The number of standout fantastic moments far outnumber any complaints I might have, which are surprisingly few.  A lot has been said about the feel of the shooting this time, and while I do think that it has a different feel that made combat a little challenging at first, it didn't take long to adapt and I was having no trouble at all with aiming after a couple hours.  The only other criticism I'll mention is that I did find the ending to be a little anticlimactic.  The story was good, but the final level didn't have the epic sense of scale and intense action that I was expecting based on the earlier parts of the game.  After seeing so many cool things earlier in the game, the final level, while very good, didn't blow me away like a few earlier scenes.  I do like that they didn't go crazy with some 'supernatural' enemy in the late-game this time, and the final boss fight was much better than UC2, but I felt like the ending as a whole just didn't push the envelope like earlier chapters.  Uncharted 3 is still an awesome game and a great addition to the series  

And now a few words about the graphics...

I played through the entirety of UC3 in 3D and it made for an incredible gaming experience.  The graphics and cinematic style of the UC series have always been impressive, but I think they've done something very special with their 3D implementation.  I've been waiting to see someone effectively implement 3D in a game, and I think that UC3 finally proves that it can be done in a way that really benefits the game and adds to the experience.  I think that's largely due to the cinematic approach taken by ND.  Their cutscene style and use of camera angles go a long way toward making 3D work.  They've also managed to make UC3 one of the best looking games I've played despite any sacrifices in level detail or resolution to make 3D run smoothly.  If the game looks even better in 2D, it must be absolutely spectacular.

However, I hate what they did with the disc. I got the blu ray version, and it lists the 'extended cut' on the main menu. I clicked on it only to get a message that basically said 'if you want the extras but the movie'. First time I have had something like that pop up, but if they weren't going to include the extras why list them only to say 'not for you!'?  I think I'm going to have to track down a used copy and by it that way just on general principle.

This is something that I've come across with several movies I've gotten from Netflix recently.  You get a disc that is labeled for 'Rental Use' and it's missing the special features...menu options are there, but you try to select them and get a message telling you to buy the movie.  I think the studio is to blame because the three times I've seen it have all been recent releases from Universal.  While I do understand that they're trying to encourage sales of the discs, it's more than a little annoying that we're now expected to wait 30 days for a new release to be available outside of retail, then receive a crippled copy once it's out

I don't usually buy strategy guides but damn! That is one helluva guide.

I don't normally buy guides either, but I did get the one for Oblivion and it was very helpful...great way to keep track of visited areas and quests in such a massive game.  It was good enough that I'm really tempted to pick up the guide for Skyrim from the start.

I finally had a chance to get started on this tonight and wound up playing for almost three hours...long enough to reach the beginning of chapter 8, and I'm loving the game so far.  It has been a little of a slow start, but the action is so good when it kicks in that I really don't mind.  As others have mentioned, the shooting controls do seem to be a little off, but it's not been a major issue so far.  I think it has something to do with a low default sensitivity and too much of a deadspot in the aiming stick that makes fine movements tricky. Everything else about the game plays so well so far that I'm not going to get hung up on the flaws of the gunplay at this point.

As for the graphics, I've been playing in 3D and the game looks absolutely incredible.  The Uncharted series has always looked good, but some of the scenes that have already been pulled off in UC3 are just breathtaking, and that is due in no small part to the fantastic 3D effects.  There were some moments in the final sequence of chapter 7 (leaving the chateau) that are easily some of the best looking graphics I've seen in a console game.  The way they've used lighting, camera angles, and depth really is a sight to behold.  I tried the 3D in Arkham City, but found it to be a little distracting just because there's so much going on as you move through the city, but it works perfectly for the environments of Uncharted. I wondered when a game would come out that really does 3D right, and I think this is the one  

Uncharted 3 and Rocksmith...should be an fun weekend!

I might be interested...been looking into upgrading my old keyboard (an almost 10-year old Logitech that's full of buttons that aren't supported by Win7) recently and did come across the Das Keyboard as a very highly recommended option.  If you don't mind my asking, what is it that you didn't like after giving it a try?

I have a friend list full of people from both here and OO, but there a lot that I don't know any more because names have changed over time.  I definitely agree that it can be confusing, and I have removed people in the past just because I don't know who they are and we haven't played together for a long time.  Personally, I have no desire to make a significant change in my gamertag and don't think that I ever will...with the exception of a small change to rid my name of the numbers I've tacked on to the end if 'disarm' ever becomes available again.  I had to tack something extra onto my gamertag because the plain name is still linked to someone from the original Xbox Live service despite it never being used on the 360

I keep waiting for 3 to show up on Netflix instant, probably should just get the discs.

I'm pretty sure Netflix lost their streaming deal with Showtime back in the spring, so they won't be getting access to any more seasons of Dexter. The only way you'll get them is on disc at this point, but it's totally worth it.  Dexter is one if the few shows I've seen that really does get better every season.  I haven't gotten started on the current season yet, but four and five are awesome.

I got incredibly lucky and didn't lose power in all this mess, but I'm in a serious minority here in CT.  Most people I know have been out since late Saturday or early Sunday, and the power companies are saying it may be Sunday or later before they're back on the grid.  That's a week or more without electricity, heat, or hot water at a time when it's only 50 degrees during the day and near freezing at night.  Some people have checked into the scattered hotels that are actually open, but rooms are scarce...other option is bundling up to sleep in a house that's 50 or colder and getting worse each night. Combine that with roads that are impassable due to fallen trees or power lines and people getting into fights over their spot in line at the few open gas stations, and  it's really not a fun time right now.

My biggest annoyance is three days so far without cable TV or internet, but waiting for that to be restored seems pretty damn minor in comparison to what most of my friends are going through...

Uncharted 3

With electricity at my home but no cable TV or internet access, I've been gaming a lot over the last couple days to pass time...could use an awesome new game

Hopefully my ability to participate won't be screwed up by the fact that I'm in CT where the recent snow disaster has wiped my internet out for three days now, with no indications of it being restored any time soon. I know I'm lucky just to have electricity and heat though...most people I know are stuck in the dark without heat or hot water and near-freezing temps at night...

I'm not up on all the latest CPU and mobo options, but I will say that you might benefit from holding off a little while if you don't absolutely need a new system right now.  All of the current video cards are running on tech that has been out for a while and is due to be replaced sometime in the coming months.  You can definitely get good performance with the current generation, but even the most high-end cards  (like the GTX 580) have GPUs that were introduced a year ago.  There hasn't been any word on exactly when nVidia or AMD might release their new tech, but it's expected to be early next year and could be a significant leap beyond the current options thanks to new 28nm construction...

Important update regarding my audio lag issues...it's fixed!

The RCA/TOSLINK audio adapter that I ordered from Monoprice arrived yesterday, I hooked it up to my 360 tonight, and the audio lag is almost eliminated.  There's still a very slight delay, but it's really not noticeable unless I focus on hearing it, and it's definitely not enough to be a distraction while playing any longer.  Getting away from the digital audio signal has improved my Rocksmith dramatically and I can't wait to spend more time with the game now.  In fact, I've been playing for about the last hour, made it through the second performance (with an encore song that I'd never even heard before), and unlocked Master level for my first song ('Go With the Flow').  Granted that song is just strumming power chords like a mad man for three minutes, but I can now do it at the highest level with 99% accuracy thanks to a little practice and audio that's in sync with my playing

So for those curious about my audio setup now, I have my 360 connected to my Onkyo receiver via HDMI, as well as analog audio cables using the adapter.  The video goes from the receiver to my TV over HDMI, and the analog audio is output through my home theater speakers.  I don't have to switch any cables to use analog audio for Rocksmith and Dolby Digital for everything else...just have to tell my receiver to use the analog input whenever I play Rocksmith, and that only takes a few seconds with the remote.  The 360 apparently puts out both audio signals simultaneously, so I can switch between them very easily.  Switching to analog audio makes all the difference, and it was fixed for less than $5 thanks to Monoprice

If you sign in to the Connect.microsoft.com website now, you can find out if you made it into the latest update preview.  I'm in for another round, but there's no more information yet about when the preview will go live

Thanks for the input...no surprising news, but I thought I would open things up to any suggestions that hadn't crossed my mind yet.  Now an update...

I called Powercolor today about a warranty claim, and the guy did agree to cut me some slack and RMA the card if I wanted to go that route despite it technically being a couple days out of warranty.  The catch is that he said it will take 3-4 weeks and I'll wind up getting a re-manufactured card from them as a replacement that would likely not be identical to the one I have now...most likely a non-reference design, although that shouldn't be a big deal as long as it works.  The other catch aside from turnover time is that it would be single-time offer because I am out of warranty...have another failure and I'm on my own for a fix, this time with a non-reference design that may not be compatible with an aftermarket cooler.

With that in mind, I think I'm still leaning toward fixing it on my own.  If I'm definitely not going the RMA route, I can open up the card and give it a good cleaning without concern for voiding my warranty.  If that doesn't help, I can then replace the cooler.  I've looked online more since posting yesterday and the reference 5870 cooler is very easy to remove and replace...definitely within my comfort zone given my experience with assembling multiple systems of my own over the years.

Now I just have to make up my mind about what I want to do...

The naan, OTOH, seems to be one lower (it seems to be one naan shy of a theme).

I thought the same thing initially and almost mentioned it, but then I noticed that the last two are stacked almost directly on top of each other, making it easy to miss one 

I'm talking about things like: IVs don't last more than a day and leaving a dry IV in, can kill you.

I know this doesn't really have anything significant to do with the show, but I just have to jump in here and say that this comment is blatantly wrong.  An IV catheter can be left in place for extended periods of time and still function perfectly fine.  Most hospitals (including the one where I work) do impose a limit on how long a particular IV is left in place to minimize the risk of infection or phlebitis, switching to a new site every few days, but there's no extreme danger in leaving one for a longer period of time.  As far as leaving a "dry IV," this also doesn't pose any particular risk.  Leaving an IV catheter in place without any fluids running does dramatically increase the chances that blood near the tip may clot and occlude the line, but that's not a life threatening issue.  If you're referring to the chances of air entering the venous system through the IV and causing a dangerous venous air embolism, there are two problems with that idea.  It takes a sizable volume of intravenous air to cause a physiologically significant air embolism; somewhere in the 30mL (2 tablespoon) range introduced in a short period of time for an average person, and that has to all become trapped in the heart or a pulmonary artery to be immediately life threatening.  With that fact in mind, you then have to consider how that volume of air could enter the circulation through a peripheral IV.  Anyone who has ever managed an IV line can tell you that air stops moving through the IV tubing well before it reaches the patient when a fluid bag goes empty.  The pressure in the patient's venous system and resistance in the IV tubing are great enough to overcome atmospheric pressure driving air toward the patient and prevent it from flowing spontaneously into a peripheral vein.

You can still find a lot of holes in the show if you go searching, but this isn't one of them

Although they don't present any evidence to back it up, Kotaku is claiming to have word from an insider that GTA V will be set in Los Angeles and may feature more than one playable character over the course of the story.  It's all strictly rumor though...

I've been running a Radeon HD5870 for the last two years and it's been a fantastic video card.  Unfortunately, it has started to have intermittent problems with the cooling fan (noise, varying speed) that lead me to believe that it's on the verge of failure.  My initial thoughts were to just replace the card with the latest and greatest, but the surprising truth is that even the fastest new video cards are based off of year-old technology and don't provide a dramatic performance improvement relative to the cost.  I could spend $300 on a quality Radeon 6950 and unlock it to get 6970 performance, or drop $400-500 for a competing nVidia card, but that's a fair amount of money to spend for technology that's not dramatically better than what I already have and is also due to be surpassed in the coming months.  It really stinks that my 5870 is failing at a time when the graphics card market is on the verge of the 'next big thing' without any real information released yet, or even an estimate of when those products will be available...maybe not until early next year?

With that in mind, I'm looking at a couple options...

#1 - Check with Powercolor to see if they'll honor the warranty on my current card and give me a repair or replacement.  The big downside here is that it's a process that requires me to send them my failing card and will likely leave me without a video card for anywhere from 4-8 weeks while they decide if they'll help.  Obviously, I'm not crazy about being without my desktop at full-speed for two months, especially with all the upcoming game releases.  There's also the catch that my 2-year warranty technically expired yesterday, two days after my 5870 started to cause trouble, so I may be out of luck with Powercolor anyway.

#2 - Purchase and install an aftermarket GPU cooler to replace the failing fan on my 5870.  This would mean a cost of around $30-50 for a quality cooler, followed by dismantling my current card to completely replace the cooling system.  I don't think it would be difficult based on my limited research so far, but it is new territory despite my otherwise-considerable PC building experience.

At this point, I'm leaning strongly toward installing a new cooler just to keep my current card functional until I can upgrade it with new tech early next year.  I'm just curious if anyone has experience with aftermarket GPU coolers...any thoughts or recommendations? 

With Batman:Arkham City, Rage, and Rocksmith all sharing my very limited time right now, I'm really glad to say that I'm not picking up anything new this week.  I might actually have a chance at knocking one or two of those off my list before Uncharted 3 and Skyrim hit in a few weeks...

There couldn't be any lag adjustment that they could have used to compensate?

In this case, I really don't think there is anything that they could have done.  The audio delay that I'm talking about is the time between when you pluck a string on the guitar and when you hear that sound through your speakers.  If you're using analog audio, the only significant delay that occurs is that due to the signal processing that occurs within the Rocksmith cable and your gaming console.  The amount of time it takes to transmit an analog audio signal to your speakers is insignificant, as evidenced by the fact that all guitar amp systems use analog signals without any noticeable delay.  

For Rocksmith, Ubisoft constructed the cable and programmed the game to minimize the delay between a note being played and when that sound is output from your console (in any format).  I've read estimates around the 'net that put this delay at somewhere around 30ms, an amount of time that is so small that's it's unimportant, and why you can get a good experience with analog audio.  The real problem occurs when the audio is output from your console in a digital format.  This digital signal leaves the console and goes to your playback device, which must then decode the audio before sending it to your speakers.  All digital audio decoders take a small amount of time to convert the digital signal, and in some cases this time is enough to cause a significant lag between playing a note and hearing it through your speakers.  It's a problem that occurs outside of the game and your console, making it something that Ubisoft can't control.  It gets even more complicated when you consider that not all devices cause a signficant delay.  In my case, the audio processing in my Onkyo receiver is slow enough that it makes for an inferior gameplay experience.

This is shitty, stupid and Nintendo-Like.

Here's a game that came out last week that wants me to use tech that I've left behind for 10 years, re-arrange my audio system and buy adapters to get it to work right.

Unacceptable.

If the game knowingly was released with a problem using HDMI, include all adapters to bring your system back to 1996, and tell people with HDMI not to buy it.

I'm pissed.

The catch with this problem is that it really isn't Ubisoft's fault.  The audio lag occurs because of the time delay present when any external digital audio decoder (receiver, TV, etc) processes your console's digital audio output.  This delay happens all the time (with sources other than Rocksmith) and is why modern receivers have an A/V sync adjustment, but it's not usually noticeable in other situations because you're not paying so much attention.  If you play RB3, you can notice the same audio lag when you freestyle on the drums (as in the fill sections), but it doesn't affect gameplay in that case because your drum hits are still registered on time and the recorded track plays appropriately...lag only affects the drum sounds you hear outside of the game's recorded tracks.  There is really nothing that Ubisoft could have done to eliminate the lag because it's a problem inherent to digital audio processing and originates from the device decodes the audio rather than the game itself.  

This whole situation makes Ubisoft look bad if you don't take the real source of the problem into account, but it happens because of factors outside of their control.  There is no way they could have coded the game differently to eliminate the audio lag.