Yea, the wife spotted the Treo 650 and she thinks she wants one.  Anyone have any experience with the Treo or the other PDA/Phone combos, positive or negative?

Treo's are very, very good.  If they weren't Gigantor (tm), I'd have one.  They're the default phone for my colleagues and no one dislikes them.  They do everything quite well.  The only knocks on them that I've heard are a) a Blackberry does email better, and b) the form factor isn't as nice as a flip phone.  Knock B is the reason I and two other guys I know went with the i500 instead, but that's certainly a personal decision for most.  Knock A is only applicable if you do a shit ton of email.  The Blackberry's are godawful cell phones though.

Also, the Treo is a damn pricey machine.  If you can get past that and the size, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't have one.

gellar

I like the new smartphones.  It takes two things you will probably have and puts it into one device.  Two that I really like are the new Nextel phones (dont know the model, but breifly looked at a friend's), and also the new Treo phones.

Yep... Smartphones are the way to go.  The Treo 600 and 650 both do a whole hell of a lot, but are slightly large in package.  Then again, they have a thumbpad, and with just a tiny bit of practice, that can be nearly as effective as a keyboard.

I don't do a lot of writing on my PDA, so I opted with the Samsung i500 smartphone, which uses a stylus like a regular Palm device would.

gellar

[60 mph curve]

With regards to game sliders, I'm using Pared's on OS. Seems to work really well on All-Star so far.

I'm using those as well.

As far as the thoughest pitcher I've faced... Eric Gagne.  A high 90's fastball followed up with a 60 mph curve is frikkin unhittable.  I look so inept against him.

Which is my my absolutely lucky walk off solo home run with JT Snow in the bottom of the 16th against Gagne just made my night a few days ago

gellar

For a starter in the same vein, try hitting against Zach Greinke. Dude has a 52mph curveball. As someone on OS said, it resembles Bugs Bunny.

The thing with Gagne is... it's not just those two pitches.  Dude has like 3 more he busts out on occassion with too.  It's just not fair.

My strategy facing him is to wait until he throws a fastball, hope it's over the plate, and swing.  All the other pitches are just too wrong for me even to attempt swinging on.

Of course, by the time you recognize the pitch *is* a fastball, you're probably too late to swing.

Fun game.

gellar

I haven't tried to hit against Gagne yet, but does he hide the ball well during his delivery?

As LD mentioned, with hitters eye you can sometimes see the ball prior to release.

He does.  His delivery is very much overhand, and seemingly late (maybe cause he's tall).  I actually don't think I pick up the pitch until well AFTER it leaves his hand, so I have exactly .0000000000001 seconds to decide if a) it's a fastball, and b) if it has a chance at possibly crossing the plate.

gellar

As I tend not to pay any attention to previews, this is the first I've heard about this game.  Looks neat... will have to get it on the PC.  May Gamefly the Xbox version though.

gellar

[60 mph curve]

With regards to game sliders, I'm using Pared's on OS. Seems to work really well on All-Star so far.

I'm using those as well.

As far as the thoughest pitcher I've faced... Eric Gagne.  A high 90's fastball followed up with a 60 mph curve is frikkin unhittable.  I look so inept against him.

Which is my my absolutely lucky walk off solo home run with JT Snow in the bottom of the 16th against Gagne just made my night a few days ago

gellar

For a starter in the same vein, try hitting against Zach Greinke. Dude has a 52mph curveball. As someone on OS said, it resembles Bugs Bunny.

The thing with Gagne is... it's not just those two pitches.  Dude has like 3 more he busts out on occassion with too.  It's just not fair.

My strategy facing him is to wait until he throws a fastball, hope it's over the plate, and swing.  All the other pitches are just too wrong for me even to attempt swinging on.

Of course, by the time you recognize the pitch *is* a fastball, you're probably too late to swing.

Fun game.

gellar

[60 mph curve]

With regards to game sliders, I'm using Pared's on OS. Seems to work really well on All-Star so far.

I'm using those as well.

As far as the thoughest pitcher I've faced... Eric Gagne.  A high 90's fastball followed up with a 60 mph curve is frikkin unhittable.  I look so inept against him.

Which is my my absolutely lucky walk off solo home run with JT Snow in the bottom of the 16th against Gagne just made my night a few days ago

gellar

I posted these over at OO, but I will happily cross post here:

Very similar to my old car... though this one has a much nicer motor


WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


Elise


Mugen S2000 <-- My favorite car so far



gellar

Picked up MVP and played a few games tonight.  Feels pretty good so far.  I like the interface for pitching/fielding.  Makes me feel more in the game.  I'm terrible at fielding though (always have been with baseball games).  The game does indeed run in 720p and looks very, very good.

gellar

I picked up MVP at lunch.  I was torn, but the deciding factor was that I can play the ESPN game next year, while MVP is going to be gone.  One last year of a solid game will be fun.  MVP also supports 720p as well, new for them I think.  I need to play a couple days, then have to challenge some of you .

720p?

Sold... I'll get MVP today.

gellar

Without a doubt i would say GT4 is the best racing sim for consoles released to date.  I'd just rather spend 50 bucks on the Forza demo than GT4 having now played both.  I get that much more excitement and realistic feel out of Forza than GT4.

I honestly believe that Forza has that simness that's never yet been seen on a console and the only reason I find GT4 lacking is because i've played Forza.

I never dreamed it was possible on a current console, but it is.  GT lost its crown to an early bulid of Forza IMHO.

Also, Forza handles spectacularly with the xbox controller.  The feel is pretty darn great with it.

Man... with as much as you guys are talking it up, Forza had damn well be good

As far as handling well with the controller... yeah, that's cool and all, but it's not going to be as fun as a wheel

gellar

Fuzz,

With the wheel... the Force Feedback definitely lets you feel what's wrong with the car.  It's fairly artificial, but better than anything I think you can experience with a controller.

The console just isn't a sim focused world.  I don't really consider GT4 a sim, but more sim-like.  About as simmy as you can get on a console.  I have high hopes for Forza to be similar, but different (both in good ways).  At the same time though, I can't see liking it as much as GT4 since I won't have a good wheel for it.  You can only get so simmy (which is to say, not much at all) with a controller.  Forza should be a ton of fun, but it (and GT4) will never match the sim of say a GTR or Papyrus NASCAR or F1C on the PC.  It's just a different market.

It's still fun though

gellar

The biggest beef I keep hearing about GT4 is that it's just "more of the same (of GT3)".

As someone who has played most other racing games, but has never played a Gran Turismo game, would I enjoy it?

Possibly.  If you like sim-like racers, then yes.  Unfortunately there's nothing on the Console to compare it to.

If you like arcade racers, like everything else on the console, then no... you won't like GT4.

gellar

Gellar, when you're playing, you can hit START and select Screen Options, From there you can select screen brightness and contrast.

I put brightness and contrast both up 1.

It's not the overall brightness I'm having issue with, it's just the dullness of the colors.   Everything looks very... drab.  Not bad, mind you, but just dreary.  Like the entire game was based in Seattle.

gellar

How are you not turning that little table you have for your wheel upside down when you're playing?

Gotta be those thick books on top of it

LOL... yeah, the girlfriend's law school books are good for something .

Also, being a bit of an amateur road racer, I've learned that the gentler I am on the steering wheel, the faster I go.  Of course, I haven't run the rally stuff yet... so who knows what'll happen then.

Some further impressions:

Graphics:  Still pretty blown away that this is coming form a PS2, and it's way better than I expected.  That being said, it's still very dark and I wish it was more vibrant.  Also some textures shimmer a bit, but not horribly so.

Sound:  Very good, I think.  Seemingly accurate, though the music is pretty much garbage (as most music is these days).  I do think that NFSU2 had better sounds, but they weren't exactly going for accuracy, so I think they took some creative license.

Physics:  Improved from GT3, and still the best I've played on a Console.  It's no NASCAR series from Papyrus, Richard Burns Rally, or even F1C, but it's still very good.  I haven't tried the Forza demo, but the general consensus on that from people I've talked to is that it's just as good as GT, but different.  Can't wait to see.

Gameplay:  Nothing groundbreaking, but still good stuff.  Lots of fun.  If you didn't like it before though, I'd stay away.  The AI seems to be *slightly* better this time around.  They definitely go for passes.  It's still very robotic and not very lifelike, but for whatever reason I've been able to forgive that (mostly because I'm used to it).

All in all... it's very much Gran Turismo.  If you weren't a fan of the series before, this isn't going to change your mind.  For those of us who are though, this is a great sequel.  Everything improved, polished to a T, and presented in 1080i.

If Forza's this good... it may pull me away.  However since the XBox has a complete lack of any good wheels for it, and GT4 is running in 1080i, Forza's going to have to do a pretty nifty little dance in order for it to take my time.

gellar

can't wait for Forza

That's cause you don't have a PS2



Today is an excellent day

gellar

Forza is actually my major problem with investing 150 bucks in this wheel.  It won't work on the xbox.

I'm much more interested in Forza than GT4 (GT4 been a tough choice for me but i'll probably get it as a holdover).  I was leaning towards trying the madcatz wheel because of its ability to work on the xbox and ps2....but i dunno, it could end up being a piece of crap and then i wouldn't be happy at all=(

anyone ever tried the madcatz MC2 universal racing wheel setup?

The Mad Catz wheel is godawful.  Seriously bad.  I prefer the XBox controller.

I have the Logitech DFP.  I love it.  It also works on the PC (though w/ no Force Feedback), so that offsets the cost some.

Waiting for 6:30PST to go get my copy of GT4.

gellar

[GT4 will run at HDTV 1080i resolutions with a notable improvement in image quality]

Holy shit.

Well, the rumor is true, GT4 will run at HDTV 1080i resolutions with a notable improvement in image quality. For once, the high resolution, anti-aliased images produced by Sony’s development PS2 systems is close to what the end user can really achieve. Thus, we’ve gone with the USB 1280x960 images from the photo mode for our screenshots. Some of these shots look stunning, and your first question will be to ask if the game really looks like that in real-time.

No fucking way can it run 1080i, can it?  If so... OMGHI2U.

gellar

[I'm getting married in April, no need for it.]

Do you people not download a lot?  I download around 10 gigs a week at least and I would love to have 5mb down.

That's a lot of porn buddy

LOL.  No porn here.  I'm getting married in April, no need for it.  Plus, it's degrading to women and wrong (but thats a topic for another day).

Mainly TV Shows and movies though.

You'll need it come June, that's for sure.

gellar

I'll get all 3.  I just cannot stand being limited and saying "I can't play X game because I don't have X console."  Their launch prices will dictate when I buy them though.

gellar

Jessica Alba..  

That looks to be about the only reason to go see it so far.  And we know how much that did for Elektra.

Dude, Jessica Alba is orders of magnitude hotter than Jennifer Garner.

Word.  For her alone I'll see this.  I was the only white/azn dude in the theater during the opening weekend of Honey, so I'm sure this won't bet that bad.

gellar

They have my actual car too... but I don't think I'll be driving it much in game when the 22B, Spec-C and the Cusco versions are right there.

A plane jane WRX STi just doesn't cut it

gellar

Cars I regularly dream about  that are included in this game:

2003 BMW #43 BMW Motorsport M3-GTR


2005 Chevrolet Corvette C6


2004 Ferrari Challenge Stradale


2005 Ford GT


Just about any version of the R34 Skyline GTR


1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi


And of course, the various Porsche's topped by this little beauty, the Carrera GT


The real question is, will GT4 come out before this and have me enthralled enough to ignore Forza when it first comes out?  Time will tell.  I'm excited though

gellar

EA has just proven that it's about... oh, say 1000000000000x smarter than Sega.

Its not 1000000000000x than Sega, it's 1000000000000x richer.

You mean to tell me Sega couldn't coerce ESPN to sign an exclusive deal prior to this?  Or that the deal was for just 2 years?  Either way, it was dumb.  Thinking the trademark was safe when EA is right there with teh big wallet is horrendously stupid.

gellar

I'd imagine the deal was longer than two years.  However, it's standard in those types of contracts that both sides have opt-out clauses at various points in the term of the contract.  The article makes it sound like ESPN exercised their opt-out after EA's exclusive NFL deal.  I don't think there's any indication of stupidity on Take 2/Sega's part.  They (logically?) assumed that EA couldn't justify spending $300-500 million to get the exclusive license.  Whoops.

I just don't like how they hitched their name to and built on a brand that they didn't have locked up.  All of the price cuts, all of the name recognition that they gained this year are gone for not because ESPN bailed on them.  It was just a poor business strategy.

gellar

Well, if you're coming from a smallish TV to a 44" TV, the XBox games will inherently look worse.  480p is technically not a Hi Def standard, nor does it that good when blown up big.  It looks better than 480i when blown up big, but it's still fairly pixelated.  The smaller TVs hide that better because the pixels are smaller.  720p and 1080i are huge steps up, but very few XBox games support those resolutions.

gellar

[EVERYTHING]

Don't know if its stupid. Does Sega have a reason to continue with ESPN after EA got the NFL. A pro football game with ESPN in the title but with everything else made up doesn't make much sense to me from a marketing standpoint. And with EA maybe going after the NBA and such again the ESPN licsense doesn't have much meaning for them if they loose all of the official deals with the major leagues.

My reading of that article is that now EA owns the right for ESPN EVERYTHING, which is what baffles me about the move.  I agree with you that if it was just football, Sega could've easily let it drop.  But with the other sports... it's just insanely stupid.

gellar

EA has just proven that it's about... oh, say 1000000000000x smarter than Sega.

Its not 1000000000000x than Sega, it's 1000000000000x richer.

You mean to tell me Sega couldn't coerce ESPN to sign an exclusive deal prior to this?  Or that the deal was for just 2 years?  Either way, it was dumb.  Thinking the trademark was safe when EA is right there with teh big wallet is horrendously stupid.

gellar

Thanks to my #gg homie Chris Grenard for this little image:

Hmm how to get Zaxxon to read this thread.... Ahhh I know !!!! Time for a title change!!  :twisted:

I'd suggest posting on OO instead, he frequents there much more than here.

gellar

Holy sweet jesus.

Sega didn't have a long term deal with ESPN?  Their sole and only brand?  MORONS.

EA has just proven that it's about... oh, say 1000000000000x smarter than Sega.

gellar

[NO ONE]

While I convinced myself I wasn't going to argue. this anymore, I want to respond to a couple specific things from Gellar.

"Welcome to the future"
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate people that say, well, your losing your privacy anyway, so you shouldn't fight it?  If Big Brother was to actually happen, I would damn well have to be "re-educated".  I will not go along willingly.   People who accept evil or wrong things being perpetrated are less than human, IMO.  You have a DUTY to stand up and say, 'this isn't right.'.

But again really, I don't care.  If a Company wants me to do X to get their product, I have the option of purchasing it, and I have the option of not.  They aren't "forcing" me to do anything.  I wanted Half Life 2, I didn't mind whatever hoops Valve made me jump through to get it, so I bought it.  Now if they asked me to tame a lion or wear a pink skirt, I may have changed my mind.  You've made your choice too, which is also a perfectly valid one.  What I don't understand is your need to complain about it repeatedly.  It's fair, you don't like it.  This isn't evil, it's business.  NO ONE is forcing you to do anything.  You aren't losing your privacy, you are WILLINGLY letting Valve have whatever data they have said they will glean from your system (which ain't a whole hell of a lot).  No one is "taking" anything because they are "evil."  I have a duty to do whatever the hell I want, not sit around in a tin foil hat all day.

"What the fuck do I have to hide"
You know what the first argument every nutjob evil facist dictator uses?  "If you're innocent, then you have nothing to fear from invasion of your privacy".  THAT IS PURE FUCKING BULLSHIT!  What you may or may not have to hide is completely inconsequential.  The fact is, why should I have to  defend my personal rights from an arrangement that would exist only to benefit a certain person/select group of people?

This has nothing to do with government or dictators.  It has to do WITH A GAME ON MY PC.  I defend my privacy rights when it actually matters.  I don't get bent out of shape about a game, on my PC, which really has nothing I could give two shits about on it.  This is not the start of a grand scheme wherein big brother tracks everything I do.  It's a delivery mechanism for games.  That is all.  Best as I can tell, the government has nothing to do with Valve.

(Please note -  I am not arguing Steam anymore.  I'm only addressing the thoughts processes I can discern behind Gellar's post.)

You actually haven't addressed any points from my post other than making conjecture about how I am willingly going to bend over and let my rights get taken away from me.  I'm not.  Valve has taken no rights from me.

OH, and what's Blizzard's next game?  I want to take you up on that bet that they will come up with a Steam-like client.  Care to attach some stakes to that bet?

Well in theory, Blizzard's last game already did that.  But since it was an MMORPG, I won't argue that point.  It'll be a sequel to Starcraft, I'd venture to bet.  And I will put stakes to it if you wish.  Your call.

gellar

[necessary]

And it's been clear since day 1 that there are a lot of gamers who think that because they make games, Valve isn't a 'corporate entity' (aka, malicious group of people who will willingly kill you if it makes them money (see references under Ford CO.))

I wonder if gamers also believe that all candy companies are run by an oddly funny guy in a top hat who has lots of short musical dwarves doing his bidding.
-------------
Process for Doom3:
INstall
Start playing.

Process for Hl2 (retail release):
Install
activate
Start playing

I had no need to 'activate' Doom3 once it was installed, so no, HL2 wasn't 'as playable as Doom3 out of the box'.  Denying reality does not make it so, LE.

You know, as much as I hate joining the same side of the argument that LE is on, I gotta say, this is one of the more misguided/inane posts I've read.

By your logic, a game with 5 cds is less playable out of the box than a game with 4 cds.  More steps /= less playable.

(Point 1) I've qualified this MANY times before:  no other game companies felt it necessary to do this, so clearly Steam isn't necessary  in order to make a game.  Therefore, for reasons unknown to me, they are trying to force non-game software on me.  And as I've said before, I will always refuse something someone tries to force on me.  If it was good for me (ie Polio Vaccine), then they wouldn't need to force it with insults (Ie, your tinhat picture that you had displayed in other threads the first several times we had this argument.)

(Point 2) Why do you implitly trust them?  Do you work there? Do you know these guys personally?  I assume it's malicious. You assume it's not malicious.  In absence of proof, why is your point more valid than mine?

Valve was the first company with the balls to do it.  Guess what though... I can guarantee the next major releases by the companies who know their product will sell (HELLO BLIZZARD!) will run something similar to Steam.  Valve started a process that will trickle through the rest of the industry.  It may take a year, but it's a coming.  Half Life 2 was successful, Steam was successful.  Welcome to the future.

And it's not that any of us implicitly trust them so to speak.  It's more of a) what the fuck are they going to do with my information that will make it worth the negative press if they get caught and b) what the fuck do I have to hide?

gellar

verbose just means you get the area description every time you enter it.

Maximum verbosity.

Superhiro and Siljanus:

For the life of me I cannot figure out why Sega spends the time to make a very good game, but then absolutely ignores quality control.  I think the only Sega Sports game I've played in recent memory that didn't have very noticeable bugs was the most recent ESPN Baseball.

This game is awesome and does so many things right, but nothing aggrivates me more than the random lockup while simming off days.  It can wipe out a whole game's worth of progress and honestly makes me just want to stop playing.

I know it's just $20, but can't I have less bugs?  Please?

gellar

This may well be the worst thread I've ever read in the history if the internet.

That's some good work boys.

gellar

[console]

Please note that we have 9740 posts in our console gaming section right now compared to 6054 in our PC gaming section and 2905 in our Massive Multiplayer section.  It becomes inaccurate to characterize us as console boards anymore.

By that same token, OO has 11,804 posts in its PC Gaming sections, which is why I think more PC gamers hang out there.  More quantity of discussion.

gellar

I post over there more because I am not a console gamer and the Off Topic is a bit more active on OO, but I visit both. The double posts do get old though. I wish the community would have moved as a whole instead of splitting.

I'd say 90% of my posts are on OO.  Their R&P and EBG section has some very interesting folk and there is a lot of content.  I'm also primarily a PC gamer, so those forums make the most sense for me.  I do stop in over here to visit the gaming sections, but I've found that most of the posts are just duplicated and thus spend more time at OO.

That and there are some folk that are welcome here (and not there) that honestly... drive me to a murderous rage.  It's best I just avoid them altogether

gellar

Update:  I got the Phillips DVD player above and am not entirely happy with the picture quality.  After doing some research on the AVS forums (which I should've done in the first place, but I was just excited to get everything in) it appears it's great for what it does best and that's playing DivX and burned discs.  The price was great on it though so I'll eventually just move it to my upstairs SDTV and get a higher-end upscaling player for my HD set.

Another note for gellar, I was reading on the AVS forums that people are having problems with image ghosting on this set, specifically using the HDMI jack.  I'm ordering satellite HD soon and really hope that it won't be noticable for me.  Have you had any issues with it?

I read about those issues too, and honestly I haven't come across them.  I don't know why, but apparently the "newer" sets don't have the issue.  Strange as that is, I guess I'll just consider myself lucky

gellar

Lucky bastard.  Which mountain?

gellar

You know... I'd actually play this if you guys could make it West Coast (PST) friendly.

If you think that's possible, I call the Kings.

gellar