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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    I actually bought my first set of eneloops recently, and I've been using them with the 360 controller for Windows. I've been pretty happy with them, but I'm not ready to go all eneloop yet. I have A LOT of devices that take AAs... I go through probably 2 36 packs a year, and if a lot of things run out at once I've been known to open a pack and immediately put 8-12 into use.
  2. mikeszekely
    Not that huge. If I played videogames that long in a single day anyway, my wife would divorce me! And unlike the PS3, the PS4 can charge the controllers while it's on standby. So play awhile, and plug the controller in to charge overnight. Better than buying AAs all the time (which I already do anyway). I don't know if I've got a gadget addiction or what, but I'm kind of starting to want to buy both. The PS4 because I like the hardware better, the Xbone to play Forza.
  3. mikeszekely
    Does she need a new monitor? You'd have some money left over if you got that Lenovo I linked to you for $280. But while it's possible to get a computer and a monitor for $400, you're not likely to find a good one.As for all-in-ones they're not all terrible. There's a few things to remember, though. 1. They're really laptops. They use laptop parts, and they're harder to upgrade or repair. 2. If it's under $500, yes, it is terrible. Most in that price range use AMD E series CPUs or Pentium Dual Cores. I remember Samsung had a pretty nice one with a Core i5, but it was $800 on sale. 3. Touchscreens cost extra. 4. If the screen goes, you're SOL.
  4. mikeszekely
    I can't say for sure how it'll work exactly for your mom's Facebook games, because there's a number of factors going into it. I can say that, in general, the computer will be slow. It's not even much of an upgrade. I couldn't find the model you listed, but a Pentium D @ 3.2GHz scores around a 714 on PassMark, and a Pentium D @ 3.4GHz scores 753 (higher is better). An E1-1500 gets a 746. To keep things in perspective, I have a tablet/notebook hybrid that struggles with YouTube sometimes. It runs an Atom Z2760, and even that scores a 679. The lowest benchmark I could find for a Core i3 is nearly 1200. If you're just looking to replace a tower, and you're not partial to any particular brand, you should be able to a lot better than an E1-1500 on $400. I'll look around. EDIT: You might want to see if your local Staples has any of these Lenovo PCs in stock. 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive is pretty low-end these days, but adequate, and the AMD A4 5000 CPU gets a PassMark score of 1909. Pretty good for under $300. Not sure how long the sale will last.
  5. mikeszekely
    Failure in 1 out of 100 laptops is an imperfect reality. Hell, 1 in 20 is an imperfect reality. 1 in 4 are cheap parts being assembled half-arsed by a Chinese fellow at the tail end of an 18 hour shift for 100 yuan a week.
  6. mikeszekely
    Kind of sort of. Its more like we've become accustomed to our electronics being cheap, and we accept shoddy quality as a side effect of borderline Chinese slave labor.
  7. mikeszekely
    Short answer, no. AMD's E series is junk. It is commonly found in notebooks, yes, but even then cheap budget ones. Under AMD's simplified naming conventions, The A series is their main line, with bigger numbers telling you that one is better than another (ex. A10 is better than A4). The E series doesn't even qualify to be an A anything. What is your mom's price range? I'd be happy to keep an eye out for any deals.
  8. mikeszekely
    Not exactly. At the start of the last console generation, I liked the Xbox 360 hardware. The controller was and still is miles better than the Sixaxis or Dual Shock 3. I liked the original 360 Dashboard, with the blades, and I've only every thought of the XMB as functional at best. Despite Sony's claim of having the most powerful hardware, the PS3 was a pain to develop for and lacked RAM, leading to the 360 version of multiplatform games often turning out to be the superior version (not counting PC). MS had better hardware and games, Sony just had an obscene price tag. At some point during the last seven years, PS3s became affordable, the combination of blu-ray, DivX, mp4, and Netflix (without an XBL sub) made in the centerpiece of my entertainment center, and most of the best MS exclusives went mulitplatform or at the very least PC, while Sony started to develop a string of good 1st party games like Uncharted, inFAMOUS, God of War, etc. I went from playing 360 everyday to going months without turning it on, while my PS3 was getting daily use (although not always for gaming). When I wanted a game that wasn't on PC, I began to prefer the PS3 version. This time, the PS4 is both less expensive and better hardware. Multiplatform games like CoD and Battlefield 4 are already looking better on it. Sony's just suffering from a weak launch lineup because a lot of high-profile games like inFAMOUS and Watch_Dogs were delayed. I think Sony's going to continue to have better 1st party software. While I give MS credit for trying to do something new, the mandatory Kinect is jacking the price up, their disastrous E3 showing seems to have forced them to make some OS revisions in a short time, resulting in a product that's launching unfinished, and unless Microsoft keeps throwing money around exclusives like Dead Rising and Titanfall are attempts at Microsoft to buy momentum, not the norm. MS has a better launch lineup, but unless you're really into Halo, I think Sony has better 1st party games, and there will be fewer third party exclusives as time goes on. All that being said, I plan on buying a PS4, and soon. It's cheaper, it seems like a safer choice in the long run, it's got remote play to the Vita I already own, and I definitely want inFAMOUS when it comes out in March. I don't think the Xbone or the Kinect is worth the extra Benjamin, and I loathe Metro with every fiber of my human interface and usability design-trained body. I want to play Forza 5 (and the inevitable sequels), I want to play Dead Rising 3, and I'm sure there will be other Xbone games I want to play down the road. If future updates improve the functionality and the price comes down, I'd be happy to make room for it in my entertainment center.
  9. mikeszekely
    Must not have got that far. I don't recall seeing him.
  10. mikeszekely
    Fun fact: the failure rate for most brands of laptop is 15-25%. That's not a typo, I'm not missing a decimal point, and that does include Apple. (Super full disclosure for conspiracy theorists: those numbers come from a study by Square Trade, who benefit from higher failure rates.)
  11. mikeszekely
    No. I can't even think of how I would. My consoles are hooked up to a receiver, which in turn goes to the TV. It's like 20' from where I usually sit on the sofa to the receiver. Hey, I'm all for options, and for those of you who wanted this one, I'm sorry you can't have it. It's impossible for me to muster any outrage over it, though. As the hardware and software reviews are starting to come in, I'm starting to see the PS4 vs Xbone as awesome console with no games vs. crap console with games I'd want to play. If it weren't for the fact that I've grown to REALLY hate Metro, Forza 5 and Dead Rising 3 would almost tempt me into the Microsoft camp.
  12. mikeszekely
    God Ginrai is from Masterforce. That should be the second Japanese series. If you're asking about Star Saber (aka the guy getting an MP), he's from Transformers Victory, which is the series after Masterforce. If you're asking about Dai Atlas (who I mentioned), he's from Transformers Zone, which is a bizarre movie that takes place after Victory.
  13. mikeszekely
    I collect three types of Transformers... Classics/Universe/Generations updates of G1 characters, Masterpieces (although I haven't bothered to buy any non-US MPs besides Megatron), and Optimus Primes. If they made an MP Fire Convoy, Super Ginrai, or even Armada Prime, I'd have bought it. Heck, I've stated before and will say again if they release an MP-10 repaint of Pepsi Convoy I'll import it. You're right, the G1 cartoon was pretty dumb at times... but the Japanese sequels took it to whole new levels of bad. And for what it's worth, I didn't like the Headmaster designs any more than I like Star Saber's. Might as well say it now, I don't like Dai Atlas, either.
  14. mikeszekely
    Maybe...? It looks like retooling of RotF Leader Prime, who is probably one of the best movie-line Transformers to date. Good as he is, he's not perfect, and he's no Masterpiece. I got the battle-damaged one with the hooks at Ross or something for $25; that was worth it. I personally wouldn't pay $99, but it's a good representation of the character in a big toy. As for Star Saber... I really can't think of a good reason why I'd want an MP of him. He's a character from a bad Japanese G1 show, in an era when Takara had pretty much given up on making Transformers that actually turned into anything remotely resembling anything but bricks that turned into robo-bricks. Making an MP of him will make for a more articulated brick, but I don't see how it can improve the character's underlying piss-poor design. Personally, I was hoping Fire Convoy would have won. An awesome MP-quality version of him would be the bee's knees, since he's my favorite non-G1 Prime.
  15. mikeszekely
    I wonder if it really took them 24 hours to sell that many? Seems like all the stores in my area were sold out before I even woke up.
  16. mikeszekely
    If you're on a budget, skip the 256GB and go for the 128. I have Windows 7 Pro, Chrome and Firefox (I use both, ok?), Microsoft Security Essentials, Office 2013 Professional, Visio 2013 Professional, Project 2013 Professional, 7-Zip, and Foxit installed on mine, and I've got some room to spare. Just make sure you create folders on the traditional drive for the stuff that usually goes in your personal folder (the stuff under C:\Users\YourName, like Documents, Videos, Downloads, Pictures, etc). Then you can use Windows 7's libraries feature to not just include those folders, but make them the default save locations. If you're really on a budget, you can go smaller and just put Windows and your AV software on the SSD It really makes a big difference, though. From the time I hit power until all background processes were loaded and you could open a web browser was around 2 minutes on a 1TB WD Black 7200RPM drive. With a 128GB Kingston SSD, it's under 30 seconds.
  17. mikeszekely
    You could wait and see for awhile. I doubt the Rockstar Social Club is going anywhere, but Microsoft is canning GFWL. Some developers are switching their games over to Steam. It's already been done for Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Bioshock 2, and DiRT 3 is being ported now. I'm hoping more games make the switch, because I have a few more like Bulletstorm, Dawn of War II, and a handful of Capcom games that Steam just had on sale like a month ago.
  18. mikeszekely
    The biggest issue seems to be with a bent pin in the HDMI port. From what I've read, it's supposed to be a pretty easy fix, too.
  19. mikeszekely
    That's basically me, except that enough games come out on console that I really want to play that I still wind up buying a console for a few games. For the PS3, for example, that's pretty much just Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, and God of War, plus a few sports games EA won't release on Origin (really just golf and hockey). For the Wii U, it was New Super Mario Bros U, and next week Super Mario 3D World.
  20. mikeszekely
    It seems like developers tend to optimize more for Nvidia cards these days than AMD, plus having a GeForce card will potentially give you Shield streaming options, should you decide to go that route ever. Personally, I've been using Nvidia cards for as long as I've been PC gaming. I only used a Radeon once, and I really didn't care for it or the Catalyst software that went with it. Rather than save a little and get a Radeon, I might suggest you skimp on the CPU and actually spend a little more on the GPU. If Battlefield's your thing, I've read that the best bang/buck ratio is the GTX 760.
  21. mikeszekely
    Not a fan of Grimlock's platform shoes. While an argument could be made that Grimlock is big, and needed to be taller than he was so he can be taller than Prime, I'm more concerned about Grimlock's size vs. the other Dinobots. In my mind/remembrances, Grimlock was the biggest (though an argument could be made for Sludge). The fact they Grimmy needs an add-on to be as tall as their Slag tells me their Slag is too big.
  22. mikeszekely
    Yep. I have mixed feelings about it. It's cooperative, not PVP, which I dig, and a third-person shooter. You play as some kind of space ninja. You get a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, and a melee weapon. You're character isn't actually a character, but a "frame." You can pick from three frames to start, and they have different special abilities, speed, shields, and health. Whatever you pick, you're kind of locked into. I say kind of, because you can't roll a new character with a different frame, but you can buy or build other frames (there are 18 total). Whatever frame you pick, you start with an assault rifle for a main, a pistol for a secondary, and a sword for your primary. You can run, jump, slide, wall run, etc, as you shoot and slash away at your enemies. You can also attack while doing those sort of acrobatic moves. Levels are randomly generated, and they have some kind of objective. You might have to assassinate a target, steal a data device, rescue a prisoner, defend a target, or fight a boss. You can play solo, which is tough, or you can form squads of up to four people online. By default, the game will try to auto fill all four slots, depending on who's online. Most games, I've wound up with four, but there were times when it was just me and my one buddy. You can also set your game to private or invite only. As you play, enemies will sometimes drop mods, credits, or blueprints. As a F2P game, you can buy Platinum with real money, then spend the platinum on just about everything from frames to weapons to more inventory slots and so on. The dollars-to-platinum rate makes a new frame run around $20. However, if it's expensive there's a good chance you can get in in-game if you don't mind farming and grinding. Things that you can't buy without platinum, like inventory slots, are much cheaper. If you go the grinding route, though, it can take some time. For instance, I'm working on getting a new frame. To get that frame, I have to collect blueprints for a helmet, a chassis, and a system. There's a boss that's supposed to drop those blueprints. After three runs through that mission, which takes around 15 minutes with a full squad of appropriately-leveled frames, I've got three chassis blueprints. Crafting a chassis requires materials, the other in game currency (credits), and 12 hours real time. Of course, I still have to find the other blueprints. Once I have all three parts, then I need to buy another blueprint for the whole frame, probably more materials, and 3 days real time for crafting. You can keep doing missions while the items are crafting. Aside from frames, you can find blueprints for new weapons. Like frames, you'll need money, a blueprint, and the right materials. Unlike a frame, though, a lot of weapons can be bought outright for credits. Thing is, most weapons run 30,000+, and an average run through a mission might net you 1000. If you get stuff you don't want, like extra chassis blueprints, you can sell them. You'll also get XP as you play. XP will level up your frame, giving you more health and shields, but it'll also level up your weapons. The higher a weapon's level, the more mod slots it has. Mods can do things like increase the damage, the fire rate, the recoil, the crit chance, give a weapon elemental damage, increase the clip, etc. Although it's a shooter, like Borderlands, it's got its RPG elements. You and the enemies both have HP, and shooting an enemy will cause floating numbers to indicate how much damage you've done. A headshot's not an instant-kill, but it does do a lot more damage than shooting a leg or a chest. Per day, you get 4 or 5 revives. Shields will recharge, but HP doesn't (it only heals when you find red orbs). If your HP reaches 0, like CoD, you can fire your pistol until you bleed out. If you have teammates, they can rescue you, which takes a few moments during which they will be vulnerable. If they fail to save you, or you're playing solo, you'll be offered a chance to spend a revive, which instantly restores your health and shields to full in the spot where you fell, to continue the mission. If you run out, or don't want to spend a review, you can forfeit. The mission will end in failure, and any credits, mods, or other items you picked up will be lost. However, you'll just be taken back to the mission selection screen, and you'll keep any XP you gained. Overall, I'd say Warframe can be a little repetitive and not at all fun to solo. It's so-so playing with strangers. If you can get a group of friends to play with you, though, it's pretty fun. Mission levels are big, the action is frantic and fluid, and the game's F2P economy is pretty fair. Plus, since it's coop, you run into a lot less arseholes. It's definitely worth trying.
  23. mikeszekely
    Can bag on the game, but can't bag on you for having fun with friends. Two of my friends and I stayed up until 2:00am playing Warframe, after all.
  24. mikeszekely
    Fixed. CoD was fun for awhile, but Activision's insistence on whoring out their franchises annually has resulted in a lot of vapid, uninspired sequels endlessly mimicking the first Modern Warfare. If you and your friends have fun playing it, more power to you, but it is what it is.
  25. mikeszekely
    Well, I'm pretty early in both games (just after the museum in TLoU and at my second stint of "shoot arrows at wolves" in TR. But I'm not particularly enamored with either yet. TLoU seems to be a pretty interesting story, but the gameplay is tedious. TR is a better game mechanically, but so far the story hasn't grabbed me and Lara seems really irritating. Bioshock Infinite, on the the other hand, was solid gameplay set in a world I loved exploring and a story that was both engaging and a total mind-frak.
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