mikeszekely

The ARN system is screwed up over this, and some first shipment preorders are getting called and told their's won't be available. If I were you, I'd call and check your place on the list. The DMs should have given all their stores like a master list (which, contrary to rumors, is not based on extra accessories/games reserved, but by date and transaction).

I'm sorry, what planet are you from? Because I'm totally not relating to what you're saying. I was just thinking that it kinda looks like Iron Man.

Really? I heard it was running into issues online. I like the game a lot, but in some ways, it's overrated. Yes, it is the best Mario Kart game so far. But seriously, it's still kart racing. I definately don't think it's the best DS game available... that honor still belongs to Castlevania.

Wired controllers showed up in my store today, so I picked one up. I mean, I know I'll want the wireless that comes with the unit for most of the time, but I kinda passed on those Play and Charge kits. Also, I know I'll have friends over who didn't get a 360, and I know my wife will play Tiger Woods with me. I decided I needed a second controller, and decided to save on a wired one. That way, I can use it on my PC (the drivers are available online), have a backup when my batteries die and I can't find more, and of course, why spring more on a controller that isn't going to see much use?

I think that's why I like it. It gives the article more of an unbiased flavor.

I got laid off from Ames the same year I finished college. I was friends with some of the people there, so I was offered a job where I'd just work maybe a Saturday here and there so that I could get a discount, and so that I could still say that I was employeed while I looked for something better. Unfortunately, I also happened to graduate less than a year after 9/11, so there wasn't much in the way of opportunities. I wound up staying at Gamestop longer than I'd originally planned. What's more, I was a better at both cashiering and customer service than any other non-manager they had. Next thing I know, I was doing 20-25 hour weeks, and that during the slow periods. Then one day, for whatever reasons, I'd come to a point where everyone ahead of me had either quit or been fired. At first, the DM was going to hire outside, but I argued with him, and next thing I knew, I was running the store. Probably not, since Gamestop bought them. By March of 06, their stores will conform to our policies. What's more, if you became an EB employee now, by the end of 06, you could be a Gamestop employee. Honestly? I made a lot of friends and actually have some good memories from Ames, even if the company did drive itself into the ground. I've heard some bad things about Wal-Mart, but if you have a K-Mart or a Target, I'd try there. It'll suck at first, but if you do good, once you turn 18 you could get a department. Mine was, naturally, Electronics. I suppose it depends. A lot of people could probably get by without one... at least until Halo 3 hits. But, despite the derisive remarks by Sony that are constantly being parroted by their fanboys, the Xbox 360 is next-gen, and by the end of 2006, people who are happy with their Xbox will either upgrade out of necessity or be digging through dump bins for some used game they haven't played yet. Or maybe you're like me. I'm a technophile, and have a tendency to buy stuff because it's new and/or cool. I mean, I already have an Xbox, a PS2, a Dreamcast, a GBA SP (the new kind with the better screen), the Gameboy Micro, the DS, and the PSP. I know, I'm missing Gamecube. I had one since launch, but I recently sold it to a friend who wanted it for RE4, because I hadn't touched it forever. If I have a hankering to play a GC game, it'll have to wait until I pick up a Revolution. Oh, as for older systems, I've been gaming since my Magnavox Odyssey. I've just sold off most of my older systems. Unlike some of the other members, I'm not much of a retro gamer, so if there does happen to be an older game I want to play, I'll emulate.

November 15th, huh? Sucks for you guys who have to wait until Tuesday. One of the advantages to being management in a large game retailer is that I recieved an advance copy this weekend. The only difference between it and the retail version is that there's no barcode on the back, and the front says, "Not for Resale." Granted, I haven't been able to put a lot of time into it, but I don't think it'd be unfair to call it the best Mario Kart game so far. It's got tracks and weapons from the previous games, but it's got new stuff, too. Initially, you can only play as Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Boswer, Wario, and Donkey Kong, and each character has two carts... one is actually like a go-kart, and the others are like specialty cars. According to the manual, you can unlock more characters and karts, so that everyone has three total. There's some new weapons too. The most intersting is the bloober. He shoots ink at the other drivers, forcing you to rely on the bottom screen's map to avoid hazards and stay on the road. Aside from Castlevania, I'd definately say it's my favorite game for the DS so far. Pick it up!

Click here for a very interesting look at how Sony might just lose the next round of the console wars, as well as what factors would negate that scenario.

Buy the 360, then sell it to some desperate parent for double. Landscape your yard, and have enough left over to buy another 360 once supply catches up with demand. Ha ha! Guess who's first on his store's list... And that honestly has nothing to do with the fact that I'm an employee, but rather the fact that I was the first to plunk down some money for it. Our store may not do a midnight sale, so you might want to double check with yours. Gamestop is kinda realizing that it's a waste of payroll to open late to sell 20 consoles that will go just as fast at 10:00am. Labor laws differ from area to area, so it's possible to get a work permit at 15 in some places, and not in others. As a rule, Gamestop doesn't hire unless you're 16 or older, and to be honest, we usually run our store with just two people at a time, and can't afford schedule problems, so we actually prefer 18 and up. OT rant, though, you really don't want to work for Gamestop, unless you think 4-8 a week on minimum wage is enough, you like sales goals with no incentives, and/or think getting fired for not meeting said sales goals is alright. Seriously, the only reason I'm still in the company is because they made me a manager, and even then I can't wait for something better to come along. Gamestop is seriously the worst company I've ever worked for, and I worked for Ames. Yeah.

As I recall, they'd already worked out a deal with nVidia. Eh, it's probably a scam to sell more Xboxes this holiday. "Sure, the Xbox 360 plays SOME Xbox games, but not all. At least, not yet. And since the Xbox 360 is in short supply, why not buy an original Xbox to tide you over? Who knows, maybe by the time you can actually get a 360, your favorite Xbox game will work on it."

Everyone's going to have games they wish were on the list. Face it, as awesome as games like Panzer Dragoon Orta or Shenmue II were, they didn't exactly light the retail world on fire. Of course, neither did Barbie Horse Adventure or a lot of the other games on the list... Which is why I have a beef with the list. The first Star Wars Battlefront moved they were just stopping in the store for a visit on the way to some kid's house. The Splinter Cell series is one of the most popular 3rd party franchises on Xbox. And yet, neither Battlefront nor any of the Splinter Cells are on the list? That just doesn't make any sense. In other news, I did some math today (which I normally try to avoid). Now, I've got the Xbox 360 non-shitty version, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Perfect Dark Zero (regular), Tiger Woods 06, and Dead or Alive 4 on reserve. To pay all of that off, I only need $72.33. Or, looking at it another way, DoA4 was delayed. So if I take it (and its reserve credit) out of the equation, I just need $50.08. Of course, I'm pretty much out of trade ins, though. And, I still think I'm gonna want a second controller, because while most of my friends plan on getting a 360, some might now, and they'll want to play when they come down. My wife will play golf with me, too.

Microsoft has a weird definition of "best-selling." Barbie's Horse Adventure, Dinotopia, Curse: Eye of Isis, Kabuki Warriors, Egg Mania, Yourself Fitness, Sneakers, and Volvo: Drive for Life all made the cut. But you'll notice that Mercenaries, Dead or Alive Ultimate, the entire ESPN 2K5 lineup, Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II, Soul Calibur II, and none of the Splinter Cell games are on the list. I'm glad I haven't got rid of my original Xbox. I should hope so.

Robocop, like Predator, isn't even that old, and still stands up well with current films. It's one thing to reach way back and pick up the rights to remake an old film like say, Singing in the Rain. Irritating as it is, I'll even give them the modern movie adaptation of a TV show or the Americanizing of a foreign film. But remaking a film where most of the cast is still acting? What's next? Remaking movies while they're still in their theatrical run? "I just saw this movie, Get Rich or Die Trying, and it hit me! This movie would really speak to today's audience if we replaced 50 Cent's character with a single mother." Robocop is a classic. Any remake is just going to replace Verhoeven's jabs at modern consumerism with over-the-top CGI, and instead of giving the roles to talented actors, they'll just be played by whatever teenagers are popular on the WB curretntly. This movie was destined to be lame before they even set about writing the script.

Well, me personally, I figured that I was jut going to unplug the ethernet from the back of the Xbox, and jam it into the 360. I wouldn't worry too hard about what kind of internet setup you need. I've not heard too many stories of wild disparity between cable or DSL, so go with what works best for you if you haven't gone broadband yet. I'm assuming that you have broadband already, and just need to pick up a router. Most wireless routers support dedicated wired ports, too. Should you go wireless, I believe the official 360 adaptor supports either B or G. Also, since it all works via USB, a less expensive wireless USB adaptor for a PC will work, too. As far as security goes, you should be able to set up your own wireless security. Then it should be as simple as feeding the info into the 360. The only snag is that some routers require you to change port settings on your PC to connect. It's not supposed to be too difficult, though.

I hope DoA Ultimate runs on the Xbox 360, then. (Actually, I hope they all do.) I'd be more dissapointed, but it's only what, two weeks? I have three other launch games to pick up, so that just gives me more time to save for that one. I still need about $160 to pay off my games, so even with a few more trade-ins, I was kinda hoping to grab one game early. One game late works okay for me, too.

I was a huge fan of the original NES Dragon Warrior games. I was pumped for VII, but found that it was kind of a letdown. Too convoluted for my tastes, I suppose. I'm looking forward to VIII, but more cautiously.

Yep, 5 days a week. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...ndpost&p=320971 344073[/snapback] Now see, that show was pretty awesome back when I was a kid, but then it got replaced with the infinitely crappier Conan and the Young Warriors.

Conan: Red Nails There's a chance that it might actually be good, considering that the story is adapted from one of Howard's original stories, plus the voice talent seems okay, the animation director worked on Spider-Man and Ghostbusters, and the guys who do the Conan comic books provide input for the designs.

Considering how much time I spend online, and all the dark corners of the net I've peeked into... I really have to say that scanning and updated DAILY is FAR too excessive. 99% of the time, I've never found a virus doing a routine virus scan, and that's even after going a severely long time without updating. That's why I prefer AntiVir. It only reminds you to update every two weeks, and even then, should you happen to really need to use the computer at the moment, it only ask for permission. What's more important than frequent scans is an anti-virus that runs quietly in the background at all times that can quarantine and kill and infection the moment it gets on the computer, before it spreads. Combine that with JB0's time-tested method of common sense, and updated once a week, every other week, or even just once a month seems okay.

I use the totally free AntiVir Personal, and I do happen to visit some... questionable... websites. I've never had a problem with it (which is more than I can say about Norton). Completely unlike Norton, AntiVir is not resource hog at all. It just runs quietly in the background. And unlike Norton, it isn't denying you access to anything or trying to tell you how to run your computer. Every two weeks, a reminder will come up asking if to update if you haven't recently, and it does a fully system scan once it finishes updating. A full system scan takes about an hour. Should you choose not to update for whatever reason, it will continue to run quietly in the background. As mentioned before, I have been to some shadier websites. Every time, AntiVir has caught an infection at the door and destroyed it before any harm was done. One other minor feature I like is that, when the computer is booting, the umbrella icon on your system tray is closed. It opens when the computer has finished booting. That's when I know I can start to play with the computer after a boot up.

Oh yeah. Looking through the distros at work, Kameo is the first one that will arrive at Gamestop. Can you say "Disc Read Error"? I'm sure I'll wind up with a PS3 at some point, but I'm approaching that one cautiously.

Ah, but using that reasoning, this thread could have been both. Example: Q.) Who is the worst actor of all time? A.) Everyone but Arnold sucks. Movies without are the downfall of civilization, and everyone who isn't Arnold is repeatedly raping my childhood. See? Okay, Ring 2, maybe mediocre (although I really liked it). Dark Water (the original), sure. The Ring Two, definately. And Chaos downright sucked. But Ring was definately NOT mediocre. Perhaps it would be better to say that Nakata is a mediocre director who got lucky with Ring?

Butters, hands down. He plays perfectly off Cartman. For references, check out the episode where they put balls on Butters' chin, the episode where they hit him in the eye with a ninja star, the episode where Cartman pretends to be Awesom-O, the episode where they try to get him fat so he can lose weight and claim it was from eating at City Wok, the episode where he falls in love with a Raisins girl, or the episode where Cartman puts Butters in a bomb shelter so that he can take his place on the trip to Casa Bonita. Kyle place off Cartman pretty well too. Like the bit in a recent episode about Jew Gold.

I'm really not interested in doing a larger upgrade. I think this motherboard and processor should do me fine for awhile, as leaps in processing power kinda petered out around 3GHz (and 2.6GHz isn't all that far off). RAM is simply a given, but like I said, I can go from 512 to 1536 for about $80. And of course, there's the fact that my video card sucks. My reasoning? Well, you kinda said it yourself. Once Vista comes out and everyone is more secure on how to work with multi-core processors... say, two more or years or so... I plan to build a new PC. No sense in spending a ton of money on upgrades for this one, then, especially since almost any upgrades I purchase now wouldn't be worth canabalizing later. I mean, I'd certainly need a new motherboard that supports a multi-core processor, better RAM than the PC2700 stuff that goes in this one, a newer, more advanced video card that probably has a better connection than AGP (which goes back to the motherboard), a higher cap on my max RAM (again, goes back to the motherboard), etc. The only things I think I might be able to canabalize are the hard drive (although I'd probably be better off buying a bigger one, I could still have two) and the optical drives (a DVD burner and a DVD-ROM).

Control is a major issue, and the sad thing is, it could have been less an issue if, like the console version, they give you more freedom in customizing your controls. Instead, they give you three presents, and none of them quite work. It does have me thinking... if so many people are insistant on bringing out shooters for the PSP (Coded Arms, Ghost in the Shell, Battlefront, Infected...), and the prefered method seems to be mapping the left analog stick functions to the left side face buttons, why hasn't any peripheral manufacturer made a stick that clips on the PSP and pushes the needed button when you tilt in the given direction? Anyway, here's hoping the PSP 2 will have two sticks...