ColdPhone

Hey, duders! Some of you folks first took an interest in Fox (my band) over the summer when we posted this thread the day it was announced Ryan passed. Our band was scheduled to play a live set on the radio that day. Finding out just a few hours beforehand, we got together and figured out a little jam on the Bombcast theme to play as a tribute to Ryan. The original link was to the full show, but we now have a higher quality, isolated version of the song which is embedded below (you can also download the song for free here).

We've been pretty busy since then! We recorded our first two EPs over the course of the spring and summer and recently released both of them as a double/full release. The first is self-titled and is a mix of songs written by each of us wherein we swap instruments between songs. The second EP is titled Chris Sinclair after our band member who wrote it. That one is more of a concept album, with each track sort of flowing into the next. Both released our available for streaming and download:

Fox EP - SoundCloud, bandcamp, YouTube

Chris Sinclair EP - SoundCloud, bandcamp, YouTube

You can also download them as a single release on both Amazon and iTunes (though, if you actually want to download them, I would do it on bandcamp because it's free/pay what you want!)

We also just made our first music video for our song High Tide Rising from the first EP. It is embedded below:

Thanks for taking the time to listen, and we'd really love to hear what you all think! I'll be heading to work shortly, but I'll be back on here later this evening if any of you have any questions or comments. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter (SO MANY LINKS, I KNOW. I'M SORRY). But really, we can't tell you how much we appreciate the support that we've gotten from you duders!

For good measure, here's a photo of John (my bandmate or @johnny_goober), our friend @jakethesnakeyea, and me with Patrick when he was in Michigan for his TEDx talk (looks like there's some bonus @pseg behind me!):

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/31/playstation-plus-november-preview/

It was great meeting all of you folks! @johnny_goober, @jakethesnakeyea, and I were the three crazy dudes who drove out from Kalamazoo.

I'll be there with bells on. Literal or figurative, I'm not sure yet.

@hom3r: Ah, I missed that, thanks! Yeah, it sounds pretty crazy. Hopefully it lives up to all of this hype!

CVG got 50 minutes hands-on with GTA Online and recounted their experience here. I made a list of the info:

• Characters from GTA V will appear in GTA Online
• GTA Online will not always be limited to Los Santos; additional locations are in the works
• CVG says you can do anything in GTA Online that you can do in GTA V. They list the following: heists, co-op missions, gang attacks, death matches, impromptu deathmatch, races, tennis, golf, base jumping, shooting range, ambient events (hold ups of stores, armored van robberies, crate drops, import/export missions involving car theft, bounties that you can set on other players and people can claim), betting
• If you are killed while holding money (CVG says 1million as an example) you will lose a large portion of it, and others can steal it. Use banks to keep money safe
• An in-game smartphone can call your friends whether they are in GTA Online or GTA V. You can also use this to set waypoints for your friends. While using the phone, your avatar moves their lips with yours.
• While you are driving, you can choose to grant someone else permission over the radio
• In-game AI will respond to how aggressive you are on your mic (as in, if you're shouting during a robbery, the AI will react and speed up/become more frightened)
• Whoever sets up a heist decides who gets what cut of the final money when that money is obtained
• Garages range from two car ports to 10 car ports
• Cars can have retractable roofs controlled by the player
• Missions can be accessed by physical markers or through a quickmatch sort of menu
• User-made missions can be favorited and rated
• You can assign other players certain roles in missions based on the particular abilities they have leveled up
• You can share cash and ammunition with other players
• There are stealth kill animations, possibly with a knife. The game tracks the amount of noise your character is making, and the AI will respond accordingly
• You can steal physical items. During the demo, a mission was done in which a bike warehouse was robbed. The bikes had to be transported out in a large truck
• "RP" are the points you get to level up your character
• You can use physical gestures, such as flipping the bird
• All of your info/communications in the game appear in the "Feed." Rockstar mentioned this as a sort of Twitter for GTA Online
• You can purchase insurance for your car. By insuring your vehicle, if it gets destroyed or stolen, you can have it replaced by paying a small premium
• Police helicopters have cameras mounted to the front of them. In real time, you can watch on live TV (on the news channel in your apartment) players with a high wanted level being chased by the police. There are additional channels with programs such as a crime noir show
• Heists can have up to 20 different components. A heist is mentioned where a Titan (largest aircraft) is guarded by "Maryweather" (sp?). The Titan is indeed a flyable aircraft
• There is a heli-pad on the roof of (at least) the largest AmmuNation and the store can also be accessed from there
• Off the west coast of Los Santos, there is an another island with lots of buildings. This has not been seen before, but the folks at CVG saw it from afar
• There is a "passive" mode where you cannot shoot or be shot

@oursin_360: You're right. Maybe he thought "this game is really terrible, I think I'll just give it a 4/5."

Yeah, I noticed that, too. I was planning on getting Saint's Row IV next week, but I think I might wait on that and pick up Blacklist instead. Part of that might be nostalgia considering that Spies v. Mercs in Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory has been my favorite multiplayer experience, but Sessler's review (above) sold me pretty hard, too.

Thanks for the input, everybody. I'll probably get this on PC. I've played SR 1-3 on consoles, but I built my first PC in January and I'd like to make the switch.

After reading the review and watching the Quick Look, I'd really like to play this on my PC instead of my PS3. I'm just not sure how well the PC would do. Here are some specs:

Processor: AMD A10-5800K APU

Graphics: Running dual graphics with integrated 7660D + an HD 6670

Memory: 8GB (1600 speed, I believe) Corsair Vengeance

MoBo: Asus F2-A55

What do you think? I installed Sleeping Dogs recently. The game is playable but looks a bit funky, even on low. It can load even some of the higher textures okay, but the frame rate dips in dense places, and overall, there camera movement looks odd (tearing, maybe?). I'm bad at articulating it.