DJ_Lae

Lego set is awesome. 
 
And what's that...game studio in Victoria BC? They hiring? Didn't know there was anything like that here.

Turn it off. 
 
I understand why they did it - this generation is full of trigger happy twitch ADD-riddled gamers who can't grasp the basic simulation racer concept of slow in fast out. Most of them think that the e-brake is a car's main brake and only functions to start powerslides.

@Hailinel said:

" @DJ_Lae said:

" How is a $1 iPhone game $5 on Wiiware? "

My guess is it has something to do with the way money is distributed from WiiWare purchases.  I don't know all of the details, but I'm pretty certain that Nintendo gets a cut of the sales on WiiWare up to a point.  Also, maybe WiiWare has a 500 point minimum cost?  I'm just taking random guesses at this point.  Either way, it's a pretty big difference.  Though I guess the iPhone version doesn't have the multiplayer mode. "

My bad, it turns out it's a $2 iPhone game (I must have purchased it on sale). But yeah, it must be a combination of Nintendo profits and a refusal to price anything lower than $5. 
 
And this game needs it - it is fun, in a totally insane sort of way, but not $5 worth.

How is a $1 iPhone game $5 on Wiiware?

Heard it's a blast. 
 
I'm looking forward to trying out the water gush/grenade launcher combo I've heard of. Blasting someone in the air with a jet of water and then blowing them up with a grenade sounds fantastic.

Is he supposed to look and sound like Alistair or is that an oops on Bioware's part?

If we're talking sim-style, I'd go with Forza 3 without hesitation. 
 
If we're just talking 'racing' in a generic way, the original Mario Kart, even if you don't use the mini cheat.

God no. 
 
I've gotten so used to wireless controllers that having anything with a cord tethering me down and tugging (at all) on the controller drives me nuts. If it's a wheel or fighting stick or something that stays put, however, then I don't care, but as soon as it becomes mobile in my hands...fuck no. 
 
Swapping batteries takes all of ten seconds anyway, and is well worth the 20-50 hours of freedom.

They should have pimped the track conditions more, it was the only interesting thing the game had going for it. 
 
Also, that's a pretty terrible title.

If you just want a couple backed up, go to steamapps/common and pick and choose the folders you want. Then when you install Steam on the other computer just dump those back into steamapps/common.

Copy your entire steamapps folder to the drive and then copy it over to the other computer. Steam should automatically repopulate your games list, although it might take a while as it trundles along and verifies them all. 
 
Alternatively you could use Steam's built-in backup function, but it would take a lot longer. 
 
Most saves should be in the steamapps folder, but also copy your CurrentUser/Documents folder as some games dump their save files there.

Thanks! I'm pretty excited.
 
The Revo is fantastic for what it is. I did have it pulling HTPC duty until my girlfriend's laptop died, so we picked up a cheap monitor and bolted that to the back and it became her computer. It is strange having a computer that draws less power than the monitor it's being displayed on, and it's not fantastic when it comes to really CPU hungry stuff, but it's more than sufficient for general use, playing back HD content, and light gaming.

In preparation of the upcoming baby I've been spending more time gaming (because I know my time for that will disappear in two month) and spending time rearranging my already small apartment so we can fit stuff in. One thing that had to shift was my computer desk, to make room for additional shelves to house diapers and bottles and other assorted odds and ends. 
 
So while the main wall in the living room is now more cluttered than it was before, it allowed me to do some good things - one, my PC is now close enough to the TV to connect a permanent HDMI cable for big-screen viewing, whether we're talking iTunes rentals or proper Youtube (not the Wii or PS3 approximations) or games. I also have a wireless receiver so I can use my 360 controllers and wheel, making gaming on the couch with my PC functionally identical to the 360. 
 
Needless to say, I won't be buying any more PC/360 multiplatform games on the 360 unless they have issues on the PC. 


   The only issue with the location of everything is that there's nowhere to put my rear speakers for proper surround. Not that big a deal, though, given that living in an apartment means the volume is always low. It might also be part of the reason why the speaker's amp is still working after 10 years of use where most people's have failed. And I'm glad - I love the speakers. 






I'm looking forward to getting a larger place at some point as well as some more appropriate furniture, but that'll have to wait until the job market picks up and the initial baby costs stop. I also need a new mattress, and $800 takes a big chunk out of my (already little) gaming budget. 
 
What's surprised me the most is how easy it is to keep costs down, by buying older games, sale games, midrange PC parts on sale, and seemingly small things like cables have been solved by Monoprice, which is a godsend given how many HDMI and other cables I've needed to set everything up properly. I also have a small NAS on the other side of the apartment sporting 2TB for backing up both PCs, as I've lost data before and it's by far my biggest worry (especially with the forthcoming rush of baby photos/videos). 
 
But yeah, a bigger place would solve most of the clutter issues. Still, it's functional, and cozy.

Epic.

I've got two (one barely counts): 

MotherBoard:	Gigabyte MA78G something
Processor:	AMD X2-7750 Black
Memory:	4GB Corsair DDR2-800
Hard Drive:	750GB Samsung F1, 1.5TB WD Green, 2x1TB WD Greens
Video Card:	512MB Sapphire Radeon 4830
Monitor:	21.5" Dell SX2210
Sound Card:	Realtek crap (okay, it's not so terrible)
Speakers/Headphones:	Klipsch ProMedia 4.1s, Koss Pros
Keyboard:	Logitech G15 (2nd gen)
Mouse:	Logitech G5
Operating System:	Windows 7  Professional 64 Bit

    
This one barely counts (and the previous one was a $500 budget rig): 

MotherBoard:	No idea
Processor:	Dual-core Atom 330
Memory:	4GB Corsair DDR2-800
Hard Drive:	500GB Hitachi
Video Card:	NVidia ION
Monitor:	23" Samsung 2333HD
Sound Card:	More Realtek
Speakers/Headphones:	some old Altec Lansings
Keyboard:	iRocks wireless (with scissor keys!)
Mouse:	iRocks wireless
Operating System:	Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

    
Why does the crappy computer have a better monitor? It has a VESA mount, the Dell doesn't. The Dell also looks better - far higher contrast ratio, lower response time, and a webcam to capture me tugging my privates after scoring kills.

A happy bug! 
 
Well, happy if you ignore the fact that I earned it while one away from the 10x enchanted achievement.

I picked up Dragon Age: Origins on the PS3 shortly after it released, thanks to a bizarre (but welcome) EA sale here in Canada that put the game at $40, down $30 from the original retail price. While I'm sure everyone who bought it immediately at release was pissed beyond believe, I was a bit happier. 
 
And I loved the game. I'm still working my way through my second playthrough as an evil mage, and none of the supposed issues really bothered me. 
 
Then my cousin gifted me a copy of the PC version on Steam last week.  
 

 
Holy shit. 
 
I don't have a cutting edge PC by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same token I suppose it couldn't be called pathetically slow (X2-7750, 4GB memory, Radeon 4830). Miraculously, it runs Dragon Age at 1920x1080 with everything but AA maxed and pulls over 30fps, which is plenty smooth for the kind of game it is. It's also smoother than the 360 version and (far) smoother than the PS3 version. It looks about ten times better than both, too, which is sort of mind boggling. The load times are far quicker, too, and the save times are MASSIVELY better. The PS3 version takes up to 20 seconds to save, although to its credit at least it pops you back into the game to move around while it finishes the same (with an even further reduced framerate).
 
And then come the interface tweaks. The game can be played like the console version, in a way, but I love the ability to pull back to an Infinity-engine style camera, pause with the spacebar, and issue orders that way. Yes, the command wheel is functional enough and probably the only way you could dig through to so many commands without having a keyboard. But after playing the PC version it goes from functional to clunky as hell. Issuing simple orders, like instructing your entire party to attack a single enemy, requires a few buttons presses on the console version and some arbitrary swooshing of the stick. On the PC version you just click and drag over your party and then right-click on the enemy. 
 
It's no wonder they decided to cut the difficulty on the console versions, as it's a lot harder (or just more awkward) to micromanage your party, and I'd be the first to admit that most of the time I just ran my main guy around instructing him to bash in the nearest enemy skull, and to hell with the rest of my party. If they helped, great, if they died, I'd just mop up the rest. 
 
It also brings to light a bizarre thing I noticed with the console versions - the teeth texture is awfully low res, causing anyone talking to look like they've had their teeth melded together or that they're wearing a mouthguard. It still looks a bit odd on the PC, but it's one of the textures that benefits the most. You can also tell that Morrigans 'beads' are actually a texture, though I'm still not sure if that's supposed to mean they're a tattoo rather than a lazy attempt to make it look like a necklace without rendering polygons. 
 
My only complaint with the PC version is that it's integrated horribly with Steam. Steam achievements would be nice, and the method of linking your EA account to your DLC is a pain in the ass. It was a pain in the ass on the PS3 too, to be fair (and you had to enter two codes instead of one), but at least the PS3 copy never bitched about me not being signed in and locking my DLC out because of it.

Definitely the year of downloadable games, even without Steam and their crazy sales. 
 
But yeah, five of the games on my list were all downloaded (six if I count my PC version of Dragon Age), which is a weird thing to think about. And oddly enough I don't mind it at all.

Nice list. 
 
I don't know if I'd be as harsh on the 360 hardware - I got a lot of hours out of mine before it finally died on me this month (three weeks out of warranty). And believe me, I wanted to kill it. I wanted a replacement so I wouldn't have to put up with the obscenely noisy drive any more. Now, thanks to a cooler Jasper unit, I have a 360 that's quieter (even the drive), uses less power, and has a hard drive big enough I can install more games to for further silence. It's even quieter than my PS3 when its fans kick in. 
 
And lately that seems to happen more frequently. About the only console I have that hasn't been showing signs of imminent death is my Wii, which might also be related to it getting the least use of any of them. 
 
Loving Dragon Age, though. I finished off  the PS3 version and was gifted the PC version today, which I'm sure I'll enjoy even more due to the addition of a traditional Infinity Engine-style camera and controls. I think I might call the console version more inspired by those games and Knights of the Old Republic, which game out prior to FFXII. 
 
Also, totally agreed on Overkill being hilarious. Other than the Monkey Island games it's one of the few games to actually get me to laugh this year, and surprisingly the cutscenes don't wear on me too much with repeat viewings. At least, not until the third time through them. And it's great fun with two players.