[still]

D'oh...i figured it out a few minutes after I posted my expasperated cry for help.  It's pretty dang easy, actually.  

The only confusing me now is memory synchronizations.  I've gone back and redone a few that I missed full sync on the first try.  But they still list at 50 percent afterwards, even if I sucessfully complete them (meet the goals the memory has for Ezio).  

Hmm... I haven't ran into this.  I've had two memories now where I failed the 100% sync the first time, and after replaying (and replaying, and replaying, and replaying....) I complete the condition, finish the memory, and get the 100% sync.

Can you give an example of one where you completed the condition, but it still gave you 50%?

I had one instance of that when I first encountered the Followers of Romulus and had to win the fight without taking any damage. went through one, took no damage and was told I failed (trust me, when those guys hit you you know it),  the next try it gave it to me.

speaking of Romulus, I just encountered one of their hideouts where I'm not sure how anyone would make it through in 8 minutes without a map

No map here, but scraped by to get that 100% sync on 5th try with 5 seconds to spare. Was a nail biter, especially when the countdown horn sounded and i still wasn't quite there yet.

Whew

Bosh and James in Miami 

It's no coincidence James is going there also.

Will miss Bosh here in Toronto. The guy was an outstanding contributor to the community. Heat fans must be drooling.

PS3 demo dropping August 20

get your goggles ready

The guy on SimHQ says the Saitek stick is the only flightstick for 360.  Didn't Ace Combat come with a flight stick too?  Or was it HAWX?

Ace Edge for 360
T-Flight Hotas for PS3

according to CVG the demo will be up tomorrow for Xbox Live,no mention of if it will appear on PSN this thursday

twitter announcement coming shortly for PS3 demo

Will have it by Monday

Can't wait

ign hands-on and 3 new vids  

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/100/1005628p1.html

can't wait

SIM mode will be the only one to play for me

Count me in as someone who wasn't really liking Lambert and his over top performances, that is, BEFORE last night. The guy was simply awesome.

Allison was my 2nd fav performance, while Danny just did his thing. Anoop was actually ok, while Lil and Scott made me cringe from the suckage they excuded.

As for Kris, the momentum he had going in was lost.

The ??? of the night for me was Matt. I thought it was mediocre at best, yet the judges loved it. Did i miss something?

Lil or Scott go home tonight.

At this point, the only 3 the judges should ever have to use their save on are Adam, Allison, or Danny.

One has to remember that this is a story driven action game and not really a IL2 wannabe.
IL2 is coming for consoles anway for the hardcore flightsimmers .

IL2 

[Spoiler]

Finally got around to beating all the levels that came with the game.  The Indian-themed stuff was probably my favorite in the game.  I have been putting off trying to create my own stuff, but I think I will take a shot at it soon.

I've tried to get through one of the last Collector levels at least a dozen times. 

Spoiler for Hiden:

The one with the wheel of doom.  Ugh.

I will say that creation, for as big as a pain in the ass as it is, is very satisfying when it comes together.

You'll hate me, but I didn't have that much trouble with it.  I think I made it through the level the first time I tried.

Good going

That section had me close to tears for awhile

It is a tactic I used quite often.   On one map I actually started out with just the tank and a scout.  I found the scout could easily take a camp on the first turn so I saved a lot of CP and got my units into place much faster.


Of course there are also maps where I took all the character who give you CP (Largo, Rosie, Alicia) but never moved Largo at all.  I just wanted the CP. 

Bringing Rosie and Largo along (without using them) for extra CP is also a smart move.

Yeah, that's just the main peeve, the game has a great combat system and interesting tactics, but then they hamstring themselves by making one of the major goals to burn through it as fast as possible by gaming out the combat system.  I'd love for speed to be only one of the factors you can get.

I noticed that at camps you can bring in and out reinforcements yourself.  I need to experiment if that costs CP or not, but I think one way to handle things is to blitz forward a bit with scouts and the tank, but use the camps to "teleport" the slower units forward.

1 CP per retreat and/or calling in reinforcements

Not deploying every asset at the start is a very good tactic for most of the battles. Some of your units take up very valuable CP just to try and get them to catch up to your Scouts and/or Engineers.

Perhaps what we need is a game with this art style, but with a Western developer handling the story and gameplay, but definitely not a shooter.

um, what do you mean 'we', white man? ...

all i need is a sequel (which, owing to poor sales, i doubt I'll ever get, unfortunately)...

No sequel for this gem of a game would make me 

I'm on chapter 15 and this game has exceeded all expectations.

I've left it with the original 1.4 firmware version since 2005, and have never had any problems with wired or wireless. My laptop picks up the signal wherever i am, and my PS3 is 1 floor down.

Maybe the later firmware versions created some hiccups for users?

I'd consider the WRT54GL as the other option

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

I've heard nothing but good things about that Linksys model.

Here's a smokin hot price for you at newegg for the dgl 4300

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127158

I have it, and it's as rock solid as it gets. Never have had to reboot once in over 2 years.

It's the first game that my whole family has enjoyed together, and that's a big plus.

My wife and 4 year old daughter have become big fans, and it was nothing but a blast completing all the story mode levels with them co-op. Some of those levels were damn hard, but always fun for us. My daughter is now working on some level creation that she named 'rocket 3000', and i can't wait to see the finished product.

I don't know how long LBP will keep me interested personally, but as long as my family has fun with it, then it's all good.

Wow, i'm surprised

12 million whacks upside the head, and no shot of daddy 

David A will be yet another winner along the lines of Studdard, Barrino, and Hicks. He will go on to be a ballad pro in the music industry, wow, like we don't have enough of those already.

David C will be more successful, no doubt. The man can actually think for himself, and is already mainstream radio material.

Congrats to David A and his daddy for really surprising us with another stellar night of ballads.

Sayesha is headed straight for Broadway, Castro is headed straight for heavy rotation on your local Starbucks/Borders/Barnes & Noble in-house label, Cook is headed straight for Daughtryland (with more crossover to alt-rock stations) and Archuleta is headed first to a date with Purge's shovel, then straight for irrelevancy  (See Hicks, Taylor) or life on the Grandma circuit (see Groban, Josh, or Aiken, Clay) .

  Good Stuff

Darth A needs the Idol win badly, or maybe daddy does more?

David C is already set, win-win for him.

Steelers getting Davis in the 3rd sets up the future with Woodley as the other bookend in a 3-4.

Solid Pick

Now they need to address their main weaknesses at OL, then DL.

It was one thing to see Mendenhall still available for the Steelers at #23  , but i couldn't believe my eyes to see Sweed still there for the picking at #53 

Very giddy with their picks from day 1

COD4 = WOW 

Wii = 

Big price drop, more quality games = still 4th for PS3 = good luck with that

Where's Unchartered?

I'm done with reading other reviews and wondering how bad the AI will ruin the gaming experience.

Now, i'll be waiting for impressions and a GT review before deciding on a pre-Mass Effect filler. 

I appreciate a reviewer that basically says, "Look - here are the issues you are going to run into.  Decide for yourself if they are 'gamebreakers' for you."

I respected that part of his review the most.

So far it looks like IGN and Eurogamer have the most informative reviews going.

why's that, just because they have it rated lower?  sounds pretty cynical to me

Not because they're lower, but because they go into the issues alot more, which ultimately makes me decide if it's worth my time. I always want to hear the cons, then decide if it's enough to steer me away.

Gamespot's review seems very weak to me. He doesn't go into any detail about the repetitive nature of the missions, NPC phrases, and dumb AI which is so very obvious in the vids i've watched.

Maybe because the GS reviewer didn't think they were issues?  It stands to reason that a 9.0 review is going to have fewer negatives than a 7.7 (frankly the reviewer wouldn't be doing their job otherwise). 

If the AI just stands around oblivious to everything while you kill someone next to him, or patiently waits their turn for you to kill them next in a fight, it then becomes more than a subjective opinion on whether it's an issue or not.

If the reviewer chooses that it doesn't kill the game for him/her, then at least let the readers know the issue exists.

So far it looks like IGN and Eurogamer have the most informative reviews going.

why's that, just because they have it rated lower?  sounds pretty cynical to me

Not because they're lower, but because they go into the issues alot more, which ultimately makes me decide if it's worth my time. I always want to hear the cons, then decide if it's enough to steer me away.

Gamespot's review seems very weak to me. He doesn't go into any detail about the repetitive nature of the missions, NPC phrases, and dumb AI which is so very obvious in the vids i've watched.

So far it looks like IGN and Eurogamer have the most informative reviews going.

Never thought i'd go with an IGN review before Gamespot. It must be a full moon.

These reviews have only helped to confuse me even more.

i have hardly tried this yet,as the lag is terrible,there is a patch for the lag coming,but microsoft are holding it back while they test it

I think this patch is out because I bought it for my son yesterday and it updated when he went to play TF2.  He's been playing all last night and this morning and there is zero lag.  None whatsoever.

yeah i downloaded the same patch friday night,but apparently it isnt the one.....and no,i havent been able to play 1 game yet without lag...some of the worse lag i have seen in a game....nearly as bad as 360s call of duty 2 in the early days before the fix

and Tripwire, i would need two xboxs and two copies of the game wouldnt i for system link?

Go to the main TF2 screen, select "System Link Match", then host it and you'll be good to go on your own.

No need for 2 copies or 2 360's.

i have hardly tried this yet,as the lag is terrible,there is a patch for the lag coming,but microsoft are holding it back while they test it

some offline version could of been handy so i could get used to everything,i dont like just being thrown into an online game not knowing what everything does,controls etc...guess i will stick to player matches until i have them sussed and then go ranked

You could always play a system link game by yourself to learn all the functions and classes.

Sony dominated NA with the PS2 last gen, now they're not even close.

That's a huge problem. If it wasn't, they wouldn't be dropping prices rapidly within the first year of existence, and/or begging 3rd party devs to not abandon them.

I doubt that having Japan as their bread and butter for sales is what matters to them the most. It's a market that they already knew, like everyone else in the gaming world, that MS had no shot against them.

I see that chart again with Japan included to show the "same" growth in their life cycles.

Take Japan out of the equation, then look at it again.

Japan is wholly relevant.

Why would it be?

Japan will never buy into MS, everyone knew that before the console was even released there. NA is where the market is open to any and all. Can't say the same for Japan.

I'd say about 33% more sales is more than just a little far behind.

I see that chart again with Japan included to show the "same" growth in their life cycles.

Take Japan out of the equation, then look at it again.

Here's something to give you guys an idea of my line of thought with the PS3.  It's the sales numbers aligned by launch date and months after launch.

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=All&cons2=PS3&reg2=All&cons3=X360&reg3=All&align=1

It shows that the PS3, one year out of the gate, is on par with how the 360 was one year out.  Yes its true that even though the PS3 launched later, they still have to compete in the here and now markets.  But it's still a worthwhile to note that the 360 didn't get where it is now, or have the games is has now, in just one year on market.  Neither will the PS3.

This is why I say nothing will be decided until late 2008.

You included Japan in the chart, where MS will never have a shot. Select America only on that chart, instead of all, and you'll see it for yourself.

At this same point of their respective life cycles, the 360 had sold over 1 million more here in NA.

[12]

HS bombed on a system with a low attach rate? You'd think the hardcore gamers that own a PS3 would flock to buy an exclusive with little else to play. Sony can drop the price all they want, the fact remains that having a very poor software attach rate coupled with a low user base = death in the console world.

The Wii sales is incredible, especially when you consider that little was out there to push the system (MP3 didn't sell as good as i thought it would). With what software they have coming out in the next couple of months, it's scary to see how far up those sales will rocket to.

Those Halo 3 numbers account for 12 days of sales, it'll be interesting to see how it does for the full month of October, and how much more hardware it can push out with it.

As for Reggie's comments,

Halo 3 software will certainly sell plenty, but it won't necessarily sell consoles for Microsoft, says a confident Reggie Fils-Aime, who asks: "Tell me what's new?"

Halo 3 has been hyped as one of the biggest game releases of all time, but Reggie remains confident that it won't effect Nintendo's position in the console war.

"Will they sell a lot of software? Certainly. Will it sell hardware? I think it's an open question," Reggie commented, going on to explain: "I think that the Halo 3 consumer already has the hardware, because they're playing Bioshock and Crackdown and a variety of games that are, in the end, quite similar: first-person shooter experience, multiplayer capable online. Tell me what's new?"

Are you becoming the new Ken K of this gen?

I think it's more that people want Sony to succeed but we feel that they are screwing up their chances. Who didn't like the PS2? It was by far the most popular system and the majority would agree it's had a great life. We want the same for the PS3. But, in our opinions, Sony has been doing things ass-backwards since last E3. A healthy Sony is good for the consumers.

Very well said

MS without much competition = very bad for gamers 

Just when i was thinking that the price drop would help them in that heated battle with the pesky GBA for sales. 

Did anyone catch the live demo on gamespot tonight?

Heard it was full of awesomeness 

Maybe i'm not understanding what the hype is about?

Animations looked really good, but the low-res textures and lack of mapping stood out.