FanFiltration said:
Also, I just started "Game of Thrones". Not bad, but they are a little heavy handed with the sexual content.
I am no prude by any means, but I had that exact same thought.
I don't think anyone is fighting.
But obviously I agree that it is all about what works for each person. Someone might say "Sports cars are the only way to go!" Maybe they really like zipping around at illegal speeds, like being able to go from zero to sixty in a matter of as few seconds as possible, and they like to feel really good about the way their car looks. Someone else might say, "Nah, pickups are the only way to go!" Maybe they need to be able to haul stuff around, so a pickup just makes sense to them.
For me both of those are incredibly impractical. A small economical car that gets the best millage as possible is preferable for me, besides saving money on commuting to work daily, I have close friends and acquaintances all over the place and happen to enjoy long road trips. It is hard for me to stay in one place long, and I found taking little trips as often as I can reasonably afford really helps me. If I had a pickup (yeah, they are great for hauling), or a sports car (can't argue with how sleek some sports cars look, nor how great it feels driving them), or a SUV (I love them, love the extra space and the ability to tackle so many different terrains with ease), I wouldn't be able to afford the gas to go on those types of trips.
Even with all that having been said, the pickup and sports car aficionados are still going to be unswayed and still feel their particular preference is "where it's at!", because what works for me isn't going to work for everyone.
A $1000 dollar PC would cost 1/3rd what I paid for my car, and would be extremely impractical for me. I'd have to buy a desk and a desk chair for it too, since I own neither of those. I don't need a computer for anything but word processing and web browsing and I need to be able to take it with me easily, so a laptop is all I need, and I play games on average probably less than two hours a week. It would be silly to keep a thousand dollar machine around for a hobby I spend very little time on. If that were the only option for playing games, I simply wouldn't have any interest in gaming. But since cheap and easy solutions like the 360 exist and let me easily play online with friends who live far away, I jumped at getting one.
I think it is nice we all have options to find things like cars, computers, and gaming devices that best fit our lifestyles.
Tyrphanax said:
I disagree with it in the strongest sense of the word.
I know you do. Because you are only looking at it from your own limited window, and from that limited perspective nothing else but PC gaming makes sense.
$1,000 for a "bleeding-edge" computer vs. a couple of hundred for a gaming console? Hmmm?
I really just have a hard time seeing PC gaming being definitively "where it's at".
No matter how good the computer, sooner or later you're bound to hit some snag that makes you have to go through some kind of a hassle in order to get a certain game to work. It is kind of nice that PC games are usually about ten bucks cheaper than console games these days, but then again you can't resell, trade, or give away most modern games thanks to increasingly strict DRM. The vast majority of my 360 games cost me less than $20 dollars, most commonly I pay in the $8 to $12 dollar range. I also like that I don't have to wait for games to install and that I never have to worry about compatibility, performance, or anything else that might hinder my experience of the game (except in the case of freaking Assassin's Creed II).
I am a big FPS fan and that is mostly what I play, I've never had any complaints with a controller and now the thought of going back to a mouse and wasd keyboard setup is very unappealing. This is really just a matter of personal preference. I would have agreed with you back in the N64 days though, it was really hard to be accurate in games like Goldeneye with the 64's controller. But we've come a long way since then.
I've seen the games I play on my 360 played on high end PCs, and I can't say I feel like I am missing out on that much. If the difference were night and day and I felt really blown away by immensely better frame rates and graphics, then I might break down and agree with you; but really, I just don't see this super duper advantage of PC gaming... Except when it comes to modding, or in the cases like that of Left 4 Dead, free DLC. Modding isn't something I have time for/the slightest interest in (when I was a kid and had a lot of time on my hands I loved it! I even discovered modding on my own by dinking around in my games install folders long before I had the internet and discovered it had a name and thousands of other people did it as well), and while paying five dollars a piece for DLC that is free to PC users is very annoying, it's not really worth getting worked up enough about to run out and buy a $1000 dollar computer for.
For a few years I did all my gaming on the PC and was a pretty big advocate of PC gaming. Back in the mid nineties to the end of the last generation, the console counter parts of PC games didn't even compare in the slightest. The PC version was always going to be better beyond comparison to its PS2 or Xbox counter part, even when my computer got so outdated I had to turn my graphics down all the way, it still looked better than on the PS2. The thing is, that simply isn't true anymore. You really have to have a sharp eye and some decent side by side comparison shots to pick out the differences between the console versions and the PC version of games like Portal 2 or Fallout: New Vegas.
To me, for the difference, I'd rather just have the far more accessible and far more affordable console hooked up to my big screen TV, where I can play it on the comfort of my couch (incidentally TV, couch, and 360 collectively all cost me less than $1,000) rather than play on an expensive machine sitting at a desk on a ridiculously large and expensive monitor that is still smaller than my TV. And as more of a social gamer than anything else, I find I have far more friends playing games like COD or L4D on a 360 than I do on a computer.
Consoles just make more sense for me in every way. The personal advantages of consoles to me are great, and the disadvantages small. Obviously that isn't true for everyone, but I think it is for a lot of us who have many other obligations and only a few hours of (video game) playtime a week.
They look really good.
What are those in the picture? Those aren't the ones you made out of paper are they?
ray_afraid said:
ALSO it ruins the big reveal of who and what Jabba is in Jedi.
It also takes the bite out of Jabba. Originally you got the impression that Jabba was someone you don't mess with and that Han had a total badass gangster out to get him. When we get to ROTJ, besides being surprised at his unexpected appearance, Jabba was portrayed as someone who will feed you to his pets willy nilly just for slightly irritating him. Not the kind of guy you want to take any risks with. Now in the SE we see Han stomping on Jabba's tail and showing us all from the start that Jabba is totally his bitch.
Darth Bizarro said:
I was finally able to convince my sister... to sit down and watch all the Star Wars movies for the first time... in chronological order... the official DVD versions of each film. No original theatricals.
You monster! Is your sister okay? Is she recovering from the trauma?
Coov said:
How do these people function out in the real world?
We function just fine, thank you very much!
I don't know. The wrecked mask doesn't look that bad, I think a bondo repaired one would look worse. Unless you are good enough to make the replaced parts look really good.
It actually looks really cool as a display piece, but just looks stupid if you wear the thing. It also tilts heavily to one side if you try to wear it, because its weight is so out of balance. If it was complete it would be a super awesome really creepy looking mask.
Be curious to know if the ones at your Toys R Us are in as bad of shape as the ones at mine. Three good ones, six broken ones, and one missing from the box entirely is a pretty high failure rate.
xhonzi said:
CP3S said:
They had a ton of the Splicer mask + Little Sister + Omega sets. Took me a while to dig through and find one without a broken mask, but when I did I broke down and bought it.
Whaaaaat? Are you telling me there is a "non-wrecked" variant to the splicer mask?
No. I am saying the wrecked splicer mask is either incredibly fragile or the local TRU employees in my area are extremely rough with the store's merchandise. They had about ten of the sets there, and all but three of the masks were broken into two or more pieces inside the box. After seeing that I treat mine like it is made of glass.
PM'd you my Steam ID.
I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket. Just sayin'.
I also feel this would be an appropriate moment to inform you that you've received the federal funding. You can add another wing.
Yay! Happy Birthday!
Congratulations, you have now crossed the threshold from boyhood to manhood.
Use these powers wisely. Now may you live a thousand years and your beard grow ever longer.
Tyrphanax said:
CP3S said:
Tyrphanax said:
Shoulda bought ASUS laptops.
Haha! My room mate had one of those pieces of shit! I wasn't impressed.
Sure you don't mean Acer?
No, it was an ASUS. My other room mate at that time had an Acer though. Other than the fact that he had to have it sent in to be fixed due to a network card problem while it was still under warranty, and it took them the better part of a month to get it back to him at which point it would no longer even boot up... it wasn't a half bad computer... ah never mind, it was pretty awful. Our room mate helped him sell it on ebay for more than he paid for it (WTF?! I honestly have no idea how he does that) at which point he replaced it with an iPad (which we made fun of him for on as frequent of a basis as we could get away with).
Tyrphanax said:
Shoulda bought ASUS laptops.
Haha! My room mate had one of those pieces of shit! I wasn't impressed. He had a lot of trouble with it. Finally he got so fed up with it he impulsively posted it on ebay with a buy it now price of more than he paid for it, and it sold by the next morning. Crazy. Ended up needed to use my Mac all the time for the next week while he waited for the replacement he ordered to come in. Incidentally, a year later he sold that one for a few dollars more than he paid for it as well. Not sure how he does that.
I had another friend who had a KDS (Korean Data Systems) laptop. Sketchiest thing I'd ever seen. It was really cheap and came without an OS. A month later the paint started flaking off, and all the little trap doors and hinges began breaking off. I loved that computer! It was the most simplistic generic looking laptop I have even seen. Surprisingly, despite little pieced falling off all the time, it actually lasted a good long while.
I dunno what you were doin' to yours, man...
Travel. Lots and lots and lots and lots of travel. Air ports, overhead bins, under seats, trunks, back packs, climbing, falling, lots of running, walking, hiking, being jolted around, and an occasional drunken brawl with my computer.* My computers live an intense life. So far my Mac has been the only one willing to loyally stick by my side for the long haul. When it finally does die, I'll be more than happy to replace it with another MacBook.
*To clarify, that is a drunken brawl against my computer, not a drunken brawl with someone else while my computer is on my person. In these instances, the MacBook has been known to win, however on one occasion I bested it. He (sadly) still has the scars to prove it.
Twister should be pleased to know that I finally finished season two.
I am actually really enjoying it. Season two brought on a lot of silly coincidences with the Orion stuff and Chuck's ex, but that short of thing seems to be the standard for spy shows, and since Chuck is a comedy anyway it is pretty fitting.
Looking forward to jumping into season three sometime soon and maybe eventually catching up with everyone else. I think they did a pretty good job of making season two just enough different from season one to still be able to hold your attention, and from the looks of the end of season two it seems they made a pretty good effort to do the same with the third season at least.
Harmy said:
because they still have some faith in the studio.
Oops.
And lasts five times as long. For a guy who needs a computer for little more than word processing, it is kind of nice being able to throw the thing in a bag and lug it around everywhere I need it without it falling apart on me or breaking every few months. I have a long history of issues with my laptops, Dell, HP, Compaq, Toshiba, I've had a lot of laptops, this Apple is my seventh. Numbers one through 6 didn't make it even 12 months before I had to send them in to be repaired. Not one of them. Not one of those lived over two years, and most had to be sent in multiple times for repairs during their two year life span. I've had my MacBook three years and it has yet to need any repairs whatsoever. To me that is worth a lot.
I hate Apple's over the top, ridiculous and pretentious marketing. It really annoys me. And it annoys me even more that thanks to that pretentious marketing I get given a lot of flak for using what is actually a really well built computer with a really solid and reliable operating system.
You know what is really stupid? iPads. What a ridiculous device with a very limited range of uses.
I'd never say that about Fink! His mum's a bit saggy though (but she's still hot).
Training wheels. I used to have a "real computer", I'm very grateful to have moved on to a computer that always does what I need it to when I want it to.
Baronlando said:
kenkraly2007 said: I just can't understand why the issue of the OOT not being released on blu-ray is a big issue it's not a huge deal for me.
Well, apparently you're not in OMEGA MAN and there are actually other people besides you.
Well, I AM in The Omega Man, there is no one else but me, and I DO want the OOT on blu-ray. Kind of sucks though... being the last man on earth there is no one left to transfer it for me. :(
I love this guy's reasoning. If I walk down the video aisle at the store, there is only a relatively small percentage of movies I'd care to own or even see, it'd be kind of silly for me to think none of those other films have any reason to have been produced in the first place. However, one thing that does have me puzzled... grocery stores! They stock all this food I have no interest in eating. I just can't for the life of me understand why they do that.
xhonzi said:
Whoah, I totally confused Omega with Sigma! How in the world did that happen??!?! The side of the box talked about Lamb sending Omega against Delta as her final attack... which, since I was thinking of Minerva Den's Sigma, really had me scratching my head.
Haha! That is funny. I went through a similar confusing line of thinking before a few days before I read your post.
I was kind of bored earlier in the week and happened to be passing a Toy's R Us, so I pulled in just to browse their Bioshock stuff. They had a ton of the Splicer mask + Little Sister + Omega sets. Took me a while to dig through and find one without a broken mask, but when I did I broke down and bought it. The cashier saying, "Oooh man! That is so sweet looking!" as he looked at the splicer mask reassured me I had made the right choice. So yeah, I bought one. At $20 it was hard not to. They had a Lady Smith Splicer figure there too for $7, which seemed like such a good deal I almost jumped at it, then realized she isn't something I want to have to look at, which kind of defeats the purpose when you're talking about something that's solely intended to be a decoration.
With the Omega/Sigma thing. It has been so long since I played any BS2, I forgot who both of those guys were. I though he was just one of the other random Alpha series Big Daddies you run across in the game. It wasn't until I got it home and read the side of the box that after a few minutes of feeling a bit puzzled I remembered what happened to Augustus Sinclair at the end of the game. That actually made me more fond of the figure (which is much, much, much cooler than I expected him to be. Not a big fan of the Alpha series, but it is a really well made figure. I like his coloring much better than Delta's... though it is still hard not to wish he had a drill). It is funny you (Xhonzi) thought he was Sigma from Minerva's Den, because after realizing he was Sinclair I spent a few moments wishing he was Subject Sigma (if you remember I was a pretty big fan of the Minerva's Den DLC).
I'm a Mac user. Kind of narrows my options. So far every old game I've wanted to play on my Mac I've been able to. System Shock 2, being the one I've wanted to play the most over the last few years, is the only one I have had consistent trouble with. Latest issue is I've made it a ways into the game, saved and quit after over an hour of not saving, loaded that save back up the next day, and discovered all my inventory, stats, logs, and mission objectives had inexplicably vanished. :{
Woooooo!!!
Time to put your troubled souls to ease; after a week away, where I know I was dearly missed, I have returned. Crazy story! I took this trip to China and was surfing the web, and well, turns out OT.com is not a site looked upon fondly by the Chinese government (or maybe it was the Norwegian donkey porn site that got them bent out of shape... hard to say). Anyway, after a few days in a Chinese prison where I was forced to hand paint nerdy video game and comic book based action figures for Americans... All I can say is thank God for international treaties!
And if all that wasn't exciting enough, I went geocaching with SeanWookie today. It was a lot of fun. A lot more exciting than it sounds. The day also involved root beer floats, a fleet of kayaks, and a saggy older middle aged woman in a bikini.