mikeszekely

Here you go, David. Microsoft charges $50 a year for their Xbox Live Gold service. That's money in Microsoft's pocket. PC MMO's cost, on average, around $15 a month. That goes to the publishers. I don't know why anyone would expect that an MMO on Live wouldn't have the usual subscription fees just because it's on Live instead of a PC. Although, for the record, $15 a month to play a game I already own IS complete crap. That's why I don't play any MMOs. Really? That game just came out! I'll have to swing by Best Buy later.

1. You will need an SLI compatible motherboard, but AFAIK, you can get Intel or AMD motherboards that are SLI compatible. Nvidia makes graphics chipsets, after all, not CPUs. The Core 2 Duo line is an excellent line, but the Core 2 Extreme and the Quad Extreme aren't really worth the price tag, IMHO. 2.) Windows cannot do dual screens with two cards in SLI mode, but you can have two cards WITHOUT them in SLI mode. That'll let you run two displays fine. 3.) Sorry, I don't know enough to answer your last question.

Thanks, David, I got all the anniversary wallpapers from the official Japanese site. As for why there's no MMX Zero, my guess is that they're only showing the title characters. Van and Aile were both Model X/ZA, and Grey and Ashe were both model A. Zero, despite being the character Inafune wanted to focus on, wasn't actually a title character in Megaman X.

But the thing is, the results have been good for games like Wii Sports, fine for games like Super Mario Galaxy, and passable to unplayable for a lot of games. My complaint with the Wiimote isn't that it wasn't designed well for motion-sensing, but that too many games aren't designed for it. Thank goodness Smash Bros is going to support the Classic controller.

Isn't Ultra class the class that's one step bigger than Leader? Because I can't see myself buying Onslaught if it's anything bigger than Voyager.

Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make it a good idea. Yeah, it works great for a couple of Wii games. But I actually replaced my SIXAXIS with a Logitech that swapped motion sensing for rumble.

How does the whole NTSC vs. PAL thing affect HDTVs? I'd guess the TV would upscale either resolution to its own native resolution, but aren't there still differences in frame rate and refresh rate?

Seeing Onslaught was a little weird, because most of the other Classics are quickly identified because they're at least colored similarly to their G1 counterparts. Even as far as shape goes, only Megatron and Grimlock were radically different. To me, that Onslaught just didn't look like enough like Onslaught that he was instantly recognizable to me. Besides, the one I really want to see is Sideswipe, since he was the first Transformer I ever owned. Oh, and I know I'm late to the party, but I finally watched TF Animated last night. I was, admittedly, put off by the art when I first saw it, but it looks a lot better in action. We haven't got much characterization for any of the Decepticons save Starscream yet, but the Autobots are all well-developed characters. And Starscream is simply the best Starscream since G1. Overall, I think this might be the best Transformers cartoon since G1.

I buy what I like, but I can't honestly say I trust any company. When you're out to make a buck, it only stands to reason that you're going to try to manufacture your product as cheaply as possible. I mean, I like my 360. Mass Effect is my favorite game of the current generation of consoles. That said, especially because it's a launch unit, every time I play a game on it I do so in fear that today will be the day I get the Red Rings of Death. Is Sony better? The PS3 certainly seems solid, but I'm not going to forget the PS2s that were lost to Disc Read Error. And I suppose it's rare, but a friend of mine had a Gamecube that just quit working one day. Heck, even Apple had Random Shutdown Syndrome affect a whole batch of MacBooks. But I still bought a PS3 and a Wii, I'll still buy whatever Microsoft eventually replaces the 360 with, and I can't imagine using a laptop that isn't a Mac now. I just love video games, and I prefer Mac OS to Windows. Actually, Windows is probably one of the more broken products out there, like you said. I still use it for my desktops, though, because I like to build them myself, and so far you can't technically build a Mac. (OK, I did build a Hackintosh once. It worked well enough to inspire me to buy my MacBook, but not well enough to keep me from putting Windows back on it.)

Cheapest I've seen is $150 at Wal-Mart, but they don't have any at my local Wal-Mart. For some reason, I'm loathe to order one online from them.

That's actually the DVD player I have in my living room. It's played everything I've thrown at it, it's picked up on .srt subtitle files, and it's never stuttered or had audio/video syncing issues. I like it fine, but I'm actually going to replace it with an HTPC. I have a DVP3960 in the bedroom, too, but it's honestly not as good. There's not much, but I've had a few Divx discs that played fine in the 5960 that the 3960 didn't like.

Well, I'm not actually interested in getting a HTPC to do everything that the PS3 does. It's going in along side the PS3. I'm mostly interested in having my iTunes library, a variety of emulators for older systems so I can put said systems in the closet, and a media player that will play the odd formats that you sometimes come across. I'll still be using the PS3 for Blu-ray and regular DVDs, and the 360 for HD-DVDs. For now, then, I already have a 500GB hard drive and a spare DVD-ROM, so I'm just going to order a case, some RAM, an HDCP-compliant motherboard with HDMI out (the board has an nVidia chipset that'll work, so I don't have to splurge on a low-profile graphics card), and a cheap LGA 775 Celeron. When I have more money, I'll replace the Celeron with a Core 2 Duo E6650 (the minimum recommended for 1080p), and I'll wait and see if LG's combo HD-DVD player/Blu-ray burner drops in price.

I never intentionally bought a region-free DVD player. But it turns out that I was able to use codes to reset the region on both of my Philips DVD players to "0".

If you can't figure that a list of other devices that play Divx files followed by a statement that I therefore use an inexpensive removable media used by all four devices is a reason to use said media instead of a hard drive, I do apologize, and will try to make my statements more blindingly obvious in the future. Why don't you just admit that you saw "Xbox 360" in the PS3 thread and, despite the fact that I was also talking about DVD players and in no way implied that the 360 is superior, assumed that I was a 360 fanboy. Why? The only reason I can think of is that you assume only Xbox fanboys would own an Xbox 360. Well, actually Mass Effect, Bioshock, Project Gotham, Ace Combat 6, etc are the reason I own an Xbox 360. Similarly, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid 4, etc are the reasons I own a PS3, and Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime, etc are the reason I own a Wii. Love of games, not loyalty to brands. On the flip side, explaining that you like having all of your media in one place and find discs to be extra clutter is a much better reason for upgrading your PS3s hard drive than "Fanboy!" Personally, I don't see them as being clutter, as I have mine neatly organized and stored alphabetically in faux-leather boxes. What's more, I'm sure I have more than 300GB of divx files, as I've rather taken to ripping my DVD TV box sets and putting the original DVDs in storage to make room on my DVD shelf for more games, blu-rays, and HD-DVDs. And, as I've already mentioned, I have multiple devices that play Divx files. It's convenient if I'm watching a show in the living room and I get tired, because I can take the disc out and put it in the DVD player in the bedroom. Ultimately, although I do find the PS3's media capabilities to be top-notch, I'm going to build a home-theater PC. Better for the odd mkv file. And it's not that I'm a PC fanboy, it's just that the PS3 doesn't play back mkv files.

Fanboyism? My reply has everything to do with why a 300GB upgrade is entirely unnecessary. If I burn my Divx files to a disc, not only am I saving money (because blank DVDs are hella cheaper than SATA notebook HDDs), they're not tied to the PS3. I can watch them on my PS3, my desktop PC, my MacBook, my Xbox 360, or either of my DVD players. That's a pretty compelling reason not to waste money on a new HDD for the PS3, if you ask me. 60GB will do. Honestly, DA, I'm the last person you want to mistake for a fanboy. I've owned every console since the Dreamcast (including an N-Gage), and the only reason I missed a few before it was because I didn't have the money for a CD-I, a 3D0, or a Neo Geo. If you think a legitimate reason not to use DVDs instead of upgrading the PS3s hard drive is somehow an attack on your personal console of choice, you might want to take a look in the mirror before you start throwing around the fanboy label.

Never said you were. I was just pointing out that you can fine tune a Harmony and it'll learn IR commands for unsupported devices. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Prontos OR the Harmony 1000, as I'm not a fan of remotes that look like TV Guides. I also don't like how nearly all of the functions of the Harmony 1000 are stuck on the touch screen. Truthfully, I'm not even a fan of the peanut-shaped Harmonies. I've been using the one for the 360 since it came out, and although it's really hard to find now, what I really want is the 720.

So does my Xbox 360 and both of my DVD players. Which is why I put all my Divx files on DVDs.

Harmonies do all that too. If you buy a device that isn't directly supported, every command from the original remote can be learned by the Harmony. Harmonies are very easy to set up, but customizing commands for individual devices and setting up activities can be time consuming. The plus side to that, though, is that you can really fine tune the way an activity behaves and how the remote controls the devices used in the activity.

Agree, but what I want to know is why we didn't get that one in the first place. There's plenty of safety orange on it still... you're really telling me that every other Classics toy was colored very similarly to their original G1 selves except Megatron? (OK, and Astrotrain, but I like him in white.)

Where do you live? Microsoft recently launched the Video Marketplace in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, and Canada. And no, you don't need a Media Center PC to get it to work. You don't need a PC period, just an Xbox 360, a broadband internet connection, and Microsoft Points. You get the content directly from the 360 on the Marketplace blade in the Dashboard. You buy TV shows, but AFAIK, movies are rentals.

It's kind of like video games. Y'know, back in the day, you stuffed a game in the NES, turned on the power, and BAM! There was the title screen. Now you have to wait for the console to boot. It takes more processing power to decode HD than SD, so it takes longer for the players to boot. As manufacturing costs come down, that should improve. I know my friend has both an HD-A1 and an HD-A2, and the A2 is much faster. I haven't messed with his equipment much, but I've skipped around plenty on the PS3 and the Xbox 360. The PS3 takes longer to boot than the 360, but I think it loads movies faster. Once they're going, both skip as quick and easy as a regular DVD in a regular DVD player.

I was online earlier in the week, so whatever the problem is, it's recent. Personally, I got connected, but not until the third try.

Except Bluegrass actually kicks ass with it.

Yep, that's the new KITT we've been griping about for the last several pages. And all I can say is, I'd rather gave the grappling hook than the stereo system.

Is the VAIO laptop very old? Perhaps you need a new CMOS battery. If the hard drive works without a hitch connected to another computer, I'd guess that you're having problems with the laptop's motherboard. If the hard drive is still flaky on another computer, it's definitely the hard drive, and the laptop's probably OK, although you're probably still going to have the problem with the BIOS. Here. AFAIK, Nvidia's M series aren't quite equal to their same-numbered desktop cousins. That said, I think the 8600M GT isn't exactly NVidia's top-of-the-line mobile chipset, but it's still a solid performer. You should be able to run most recent games at acceptable frame rates and resolutions, unless you want to play Crysis.