mikeszekely

Ooh, sexy. Dammit, David, you're making me want to buy a new receiver, and I haven't even had mine for a year yet! Well... I'm actually OK for a little while. I've got my 360 hooked up with component/Toslink, and I've got the 360's HD-DVD player for that. I've got my PS3 on HDMI/Toslink for Blu-ray. I've got an upconverting DVD player with HDMI/coax for DVDs and DivX. My bases are really covered. Of course, now I can use the PS3 for upconverting DVDs, and the 360 for DivX, so the DVD player is actually redundant. So what I want to do now is build a Home Theater PC. My friend already gave me a HTPC case with a power supply. Newegg's got a Gigabit mobo that's HDCP-compliant with a HDMI out. If I match that with an LGA 775 Intel processor and some RAM, plus a DVD-ROM I pulled from my main computer, I'll have all the basics except the hard drive for under $200. I can grab a big hard drive when they're on sale cheap, maybe add a low-profile TV tuner card, and I'll be set on that, and since it's HDMI, it'll be as easy as pulling the DVD player and using it's hookups. Plus, after I save a bit more, I can replace the borrowed DVD-ROM with an LG DVD/CD burner Blu-ray/HD-DVD reader.

Spoken like someone who's surprised the PS3 isn't winning just because the PS2 dominated the previous round. Of course, if the one who was on top at one point was always on top, we'd still be playing Ataris. With the possible exception of 1st and 2nd party developers, no one is going to take the time to really tease all the power out of the PS3 that they could (power that, I might add, was was certainly exaggerated by Sony in the first place, and was never likely to "leave the 360 in the dust"). Exclusives are becoming a thing of the past. Hell, even half the Wii games out are dumbed-down ports of the 360/PS3 version with tacked on waggle controls (and of course, without waggle controls, you have a PS2 game, and since the PS2 is still selling, developers keep supporting it). Since the North American market has become the largest market for video games, and the 360 has outsold the PS3 here, it seems like the 360 is their target platform, with the PS3 getting a port. The result? Best case scenario, you have PS3 games that look and play exactly like their Xbox 360 counterpart. Worst case, the PS3 version is plagued with technical issues. Games don't sell a system the way they used to in a market where maybe 1 out of 20 games is an exclusive, so it boils down to price and features. $600 might have been a bargain for a Blu-ray player, but that was a feature that the average gamer didn't really care about, and $600 was too much for a game console when there was already one for $400 with 95% of the same games. By the time they released the $400 40GB PS3, they've already suffered through two years of people buying 360's instead. This is coming from someone who's owned all four of Sony's consoles. I'm disappointed that I don't get more use out of my PS3. But let's face it, Microsoft tried to built the console they thought gamers wanted to play, and gamers bought it. Nintendo wanted to build a console that non-gamers would play, and everyone buys it (although I hear Wii software isn't selling as well). Sony built what they hoped would be a trump card in the Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war, and Sony abused their fan base when they slapped the "PlayStation" brand on a Blu-ray player and expected us to buy it just because it had that "PlayStation" brand.

Prime's and Galvatron's are both really good too, and Kup's was certainly different. The art in Ramjet's was gorgeous; I really like how Robby Musso's art manages to be really detailed while retaining an animated feel. IDW's putting out a second TPB with the Soundwave, Kup, Galvatron, Prime, and Ramjet's Spotlights in February.

Is the PS3 your only system? It's actually worse when you have a 360, too. 9 times out of 10 the PS3 version of a game has technical issues not present in the 360 version, and even when they're equal, I wind up buying the 360 version anyway because Xbox Live and Achievements become the deciding factor. That just leaves the PS3 exclusives, which for the most part have been kind of mediocre. Here's hoping that Ratchet & Clank and Uncharted are a sign that the PS3's exclusives are going to continue to improve.

Y'know, I really had my doubts about IDW. While Furman did write some interesting stories for both Marvel UK and Dreamwave, Marvel still had its share of cheesy stories and Dreamwave was a little disorganized the way it picked up some of the Marvel background while disregarding even more. And Infiltration was a little dull, while Hearts of Steel was a little dumb. But the Spotlights have been fantastic, and Stormbringer and Escalation erased any doubts Infiltration created in Furman's TF relaunch. I'd pretty much given up on comic books, but I'm buying the IDW trades as they come out.

I know I'm a little behind, but I just got Spotlight: Ramjet today. While some characters are true to their G1 looks, I've noticed some characters in the IDW series with Classics designs, and some all-new modernized designs (like Jazz and Prowl as a current model Porsche and 350Z, and the Seekers as F-22s). I would LOVE to see new Classics/Universe figures with those updated models. Speaking of IDW, I noticed they reprinted Dreamwave's War Within series as a new TPB. Does anyone know, did they actually finish it this time?

I thought Giren's Greed saw an actual PSP release?

Well, I love building desktops. I love it so much I'm thinking about grabbing a few certifications and starting my own business custom-building computers for rich kids who want that one-of-a-kind gaming rig but lack the technical know-how to do it themselves. But I personally feel that laptops in general are a pain in the ass to work with. Between that and the fact that I do prefer Mac OS X to any flavor of Windows, I'm happy to have home build desktops (and an HTPC that I also intend to use as a retro gaming box with some emulators), but I really do enjoy Mac laptops. I didn't mean to come down so hard on Linux... I restored an old eMachines my brother threw out with Kubuntu, sold it, restored a Dell my uncle threw out with Vector Linux, sold it, and installed Yellow Dog Linux on my PS3. I had SUSE 10.0 in a virtual machine on my MacBook at one time, but never bothered to reinstall it when I upgraded the hard drive. If I can talk my wife into getting a new computer for herself, I want to take her old one and install something from the Open Solaris kit I ordered, maybe Belenix. I'm really not adverse to open source OSes at all, as I get more of a kick out of installing new software and messing around with it than I do PC gaming. I think my point was really that Linux (with a KDE desktop) is a great alternative to Windows for the computer illiterate for people who want to breathe new life into an old machine and really one want to get on the internet. And yeah, if you really take the time to learn Linux and the Terminal, maybe get Linux certified, Linux distros are remarkably versatile and customizable. The problem is that Linux can be a little unfriendly to someone on a more intermediate level, who is great with computer hardware, has plenty of experience tweaking Windows registries, but hasn't learned Unix. I guess I fall into that group... I want to do more with Linux, stuff that's second nature to me on Windows and Mac, stuff that might be second nature to Linux pros, but I haven't learned the Linux way of doing it. My biggest accomplishments were probably compiling MPlayer for YDL and writing a script that put a PlayStation button on the Dock-thing in YDL that would automatically shut down Linux and reboot back into the PS3s OS when you click on it. As you said, though, the demand for the Linux-certified is pretty good. I think I'll do that after A+. Anyway, you might like Mac OS X more than you think. The Darwin kernel that it's build on is a Unix derivative, complete with Terminal. By default, the highest user account you can create in Mac OS is Administrator; I forget why I did it, but I used the Terminal to grant myself access to the root account.

The "ridiculously overpriced" argument comes up a lot, and it's just not true. I mean, yeah, you could build a solid gaming computer for about a grand less than a Mac Pro, but chances are, you're not building it with the same parts as the Mac Pro. Some magazine tried last year to configure a Dell with parts that were as close to the Mac Pro's as possible, and the resulting Dell was $700 more. I agree, though, that a good home-built desktop is the way to go. If the power supply goes, I want to be able to replace it easily with something off the shelf, not some stupid overpriced, underpowered proprietary unit. But if you want to take that road, it's worth pointing out that HP, Sony, and probably Dell use proprietary parts too. And as far as laptops go, I think we've already pointed out that while you can buy entry-level laptops cheaper than a MacBook, the MacBook Pro is reasonably priced compared to gaming laptops and desktop replacements. As for Linux, people will flaunt the fact that they use it like it's some sort of mark of true geekdom. Frankly, I think it's for two types of people: the computer illiterate and the sadomasochists. The computer illiterate, because most distros come with a web browser, a media player (although they're probably missing codecs), and office software, and if it's probably set out for them in a nice psuedo-windows look they're familiar with. Sadomasochists, because if you really want to get into Linux the way you would with Windows or Mac OS X, you need to learn the Unix Terminal, and you need to learn to compile software for yourself. Honestly, if the Linux people really want to gain grounds against Microsoft, they need to come up with a cross-distro standard equivalent of an exe file.

I don't know about Parallels, but I have VMWare Fusion. One of the advantages is that it can run your Boot Camp partition in a virtual window, so you can have it either way. I think both can run Windows apps through virtualization as if they were native Mac apps. Honestly, aside from games (which work fine with Boot Camp), I think Macs are actually pretty good for software. Pretty much everything I use in Windows has a Mac version or open-source equivalent.

You sure you compared all the specs? You factored in the the built-in webcam and blutooth? RAM speed? Bus speed? And, as previously mentioned, the fastest Vista laptop is a MacBook Pro, which start around $2000. $2000 is entry-level pricing for a gaming laptop; my friend bought an HP laptop for $3500 that's a freaking behemoth. It's true that you can buy laptops for less, and it's also true that depending on what you want to do with your laptop, that cheaper one might meet your needs just as well. But just because it uses a processor from the same family or has the same amount of RAM doesn't mean you're getting the same for less. As for design, you're right, it's not revolutionary. It's a preference, though. I enjoy their minimalist approach. I must not be the only one, as Sony's started selling VAIO notebooks that look an awful lot like MacBooks (not to mention their new line of computer-in-monitor PCs that come with the super slim keyboards ala the iMacs). But what seals the deal for a lot of us is the software. I mean, a lot of us here use Windows. We're used to Windows, and since Windows dominates the market we're confident we can find the software we want for Windows, especially games. For some of us, we even like that Windows PCs can be opened up and have parts replaced fairly easily, like videocards so you can run the newest of said games. But very few people will tell you that they actually like Windows. Many people will tell you that Windows is broken, or tell you about how they have to reformat and do a clean install every so often (I've done it four times on the computer I'm writing this from, for an average of about once a year). The opposite is true for Mac OS X. Yeah, there's talk about the iPod halo effect, and Best Buy is starting to sell Macs, and the number of Mac users is on the rise, but we're not kidding ourselves. Mac users are something like 2% of the market. I've heard (although I don't know if this has changed) that there are more Linux users than Mac users out there. But Mac users continue to buy Apples because we genuinely like the software. Apple's minimalist approach to hardware design also pays off in software. Mac OS is simple and intuitive to use without the hand-holding and babysitting that's a part of Windows XP since SP2 and came with Vista. Subjectively, I think that Mac OS X has a cleaner interface and flat out looks better than even Vista with all it's pretty new visual effects turned on. Objectively, OS X is less resource intensive than Vista and does a better job allocating memory, so a MacBook with OS X tends to run better than a Windows notebook even if the specs are identical. And, if you really can't do without Windows, new Macs that come with the newest version of OS X, Leopard, can dual boot Mac OS and Windows XP or Windows Vista. If you are considering the switch, see if you know someone that has a Mac and will let you play with it. If it's your first time using a Mac since OS X debuted, consider buying a book (I'm not ashamed to admit that I bought Tiger in Easy Steps... Mac OS X and Windows are often very different, and it doesn't hurt to have someone walk you through some of those differences). And finally, if you have some extra hardware (at minimum, a spare hard drive to replace the one you currently have Windows on), it is possible to use modified versions of OS X with certain types of PC hardware. It's not exactly kosher, but I freely admit that I never would have considered buying a Mac if I hadn't tried out Mac OS X first.

I just threw up a little in my mouth. I don't mind a Speed Racer movie, but the races should look more like NASCAR and less like WipEout.

Don't you have any used sellers? Out here, we have a place called CD Warehouse. Their high-def section's getting pretty big, and they always charge $15 for regular movies, and $50 for boxed sets. Aside from 300, TMNT, and the freebies from the Blu-ray offer, I've bought my entire collection there.

Relax. If stand alone players keep dropping as fast as they are, the 360's HD-DVD drive will have to drop to stay competitive. And if not, check Gamestop. I bought a used one there for $130, but if you have an Edge card, you get 15% off. That's how I got mine.

It's bad for everyone (check out Penny Arcade's 12-5-07 cartoon... apparently an Activision exc really did use the word "exploited" in a conference call), but I don't feel as bad about it as I did about EA buying BioWare.

I can't comment on HL2, as I never finished it, nor am I trying to take away from it, but I disagree with you on both ME and Bioshock. Yeah, it's true that all the uncharted planets you can land on are basically a grid of plains broken up by random mountains, but in every other way each one was different. Like one was sunny and green with pollen in the air, one looked kinda like Mars, one had comets streaking through the sky, one had an atmosphere full of swirling dust and a planet hitting its Roche limit dominating the sky, etc. One planet in particular stood out for me, when I drove the Mako up to a high plateau and got out to survey some mineral and paused for a moment to admire the red giant star looming large in the sky. Now, do I think it would have been better if BioWare had made unique maps for each planet to help them stand apart from each other? Sure, but I also wanted to play the game sometime this decade. What's more, I don't think a few hilly grids on planets you don't even have to set foot on to play the game detract from the fact that for a new IP, Mass Effect has a remarkably detailed and fleshed out universe that's on par or better than established sci-fi TV, film, or literary franchises. As for Bioshock, the game fairly reeks of atmosphere. The developers really captured that 1950's vision of what the future would look like in the architecture of Rapture, and the fact that it's run down and abandoned save for gangs of mutants, creepy little girls, and giants in diver's suits with drills on one of their hands really brought a sense of dystopian creepiness. Your complaint about how Bioshock doesn't really mix up the level designs doesn't make the game any less atmospheric. I would imagine that a utopian city built under the sea around one man's vision would be architecturally homogeneous, and too much variety would actually detract from the game's atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, variety helps keep a game fresh. But any game can do the standard fire/ice/water levels. Variety does NOT equate to atmosphere. And while I'm disagreeing in the cases of Mass Effect and Bioshock, I'm agreeing with you fundamentally. For every Bioshock there's a truckload of Maddens, Tony Hawks, GTA clones, and generic JRPG clones. I just feel that this fall has been good to us game-wise.

I find that amusing when the last several pages have been about Mass Effect, and a few months before that it was Bioshock. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of games that are just out to make their publishers a quick buck, but I think there are a lot of developers who take their craft seriously and approaching their games as a serious art and an alternative to traditional television, movies, or books as a means of storytelling. Yeah, I mean, I started playing, I played one mission that was presented as a flashback, and then I needed a break. The firefights are always intense, and even when you're not surrounded by people shooting at you, the game creates a tension that with one wrong move you could walk into an enemy ambush. I wound up going to the store to pick up a game just to play in between COD4 missions.

I'd be more jealous if I knew what kind of Sony TV. For all I know, you're talking about a 25-year old 19" mono sound unit. And I personally like the Harmony series of remotes better than the Prontos. They have a cleaner interface and remotes that look like remotes and not video games. I am a huge fan of Paradigm speakers, though. If I wasn't living in an apartment where neighbors are a concern, I'd have probably sprung for a set by now.

I like COD4, in short bursts. As for Orange Box, I played Half Life 2 when it was on the original Xbox, and didn't like it at all. I can't imagine adding a bunch of content and prettying it up will make me like it any better.

Thank you!

It's possible, but not too likely. I still think it's a bad IDE cable.

I did that too. I decided that, for Achievements, I've decided to continue my previous Shepard to 60 on Hardcore, trying to play as a Paragon this time, I'll take different party members with me, and I'll focus on the shotgun and sniper rifles. Naturally, that'll also give me the Achievement for finishing it twice. That should just leave me with the last two party members, the tech and biotic masteries, the medi-gel, and finishing the game on Insanity. The last two party members will be a simple third time through, probably on Insanity starting with a 60th level Shepard. That'll just leave the tech and biotic masteries, which brings me to a question. As much as I enjoy the game, I don't think I'm looking to do more than three consecutive runs, as I've got Rock Band, Forza 2, Call of Duty 4, and Super Mario Galaxy all begging to be played. Do you actually need to kill with the biotic/tech abilities, or just use them 75 times each? I'm thinking it'd be much easier to create a character, invest in nothing but enough of one skill to unlock a needed one, and fire away on the wall for awhile, right? As for the medi-gel, I figure I'm a long way from getting it, as I probably used the medi-gel maybe a dozen times in my first run through (Tactician Achievement!), but I'll probably need the medi-gel a lot more on Hardcore and Insanity. Does anyone know if that one's cumulative? Like, if I use it 20 times in my first play, 50 times on my second, and 80 times on my third, does that count as 150 times, or do I have to do it all in one run?

Can I get a "meh"? I might pick up the Optimus Prime, if only because I have a tendency to collect Primes and I hadn't picked up the previous Leader-class Prime. Otherwise, I already bought the deluxe and voyagers for the Transformers that were actually in the movie, and that was enough. The movie designs looked great on screen, but I thought they made for kinda crappy toys after coming off the excellent Classics line. I didn't like them enough to buy all the other movie toys, I'm sure as hell not wasting my money on more repaints.

I just finished it a few minutes ago. Definitely the most rewarding experience I've had with my 360 so far. Halo what now? In all honesty, for a new IP, the ME world is remarkably fleshed out. It's definitely a setting I'm looking forward to revisiting, be in in games, novels, movies, or even a good tabletop RPG. Anyway, quick question... in KOTOR and Jade Empire, regardless of how you played most of the game, there were in both games a "point of no return," if you will, where you make a choice that determines your ultimate ending. Am I correct in assuming that

What he said. I think pushing "input" on a TV remote is pretty much just for SDTVs with only two or three inputs, and 1st gen HDTVs. Most HDTVs today have too many inputs to make that practical. My TV has two cable, two component, one HDMI, and two or three S/composite. When you hit "input," the names of all the inputs come up with a number, and you hit a number to go directly to that input. Can't comment on the receiver's remote... I got it open box missing the remote, which was how I got it so cheap. (I made a sales clerk hook everything up so I could make sure that everything was working, though.) On the face of the receiver is a knob that you turn to cycle through, but when I added it to Harmony, Harmony gave it separate buttons for each input. Chances are, if you buy a HTiB that has a dedicated A/V receiver instead of a DVD player you can add some audio inputs too, it's going to have enough options to warrant more than just hitting "input" until you get where you're going. Yeah, you'll pay a little more, but you'll end up with a device that doubles as an input switcher (handy when you start running out of HDMI inputs), the DVD player being a separate unit means you can take it out and replace it with one of your choosing, and chances are it probably has better sound. I'm not knocking the Samsung HTiBs, I bought one myself five years ago and replaced it recently when because I needed more inputs. It was one of the better decisions I made. Oh, and I was getting a little off track, but it's also worth noting that at any time with a Harmony remote, you can hit the "Devices" key to get dedicated controls for a single device. More of a pain than just programing extra buttons on the LCD for an Activity, but less of a pain than carrying a crapload of remotes.