Freefall1025

Hey guys, I was out shopping for a Vita this weekend and discovered a few things, and I wonder if anyone here has any information to add.

First, I noticed Amazon only has third party Vita's available above 200 bucks, I wonder if it's the OLED screen version or not, but that prompted me to shop around a bit. Otherwise, I'm leaning toward the Borderlands2 bundle. And I guess that's the newer version of the console with a different type of screen?

Anyway, I went to the usual stores: Gamestop, Toys R' Us, Sony, Target etc...

The Toys R Us clerk said they are no longer carrying the system. There was no Vita section and they had 2 games for it. He said the system does not sell, and only has JRPG titles and that kids don't want that. His words, mind you.

Target (went to several): no longer has a Vita section. The prior area has been replaced with a Turtle Beach headphone display and they only have about 5 games for the system.

Gamestop: had one used unit for sale. No new systems currently shipping, only preorders for the Borderlands bundle. The clerk had a few theories: 1. Sony stopped shipping to drum up demand, which seems unlikely, 2. They officially stopped making the old version and the newer version is not ready yet and the Borderlands bundle is the new version or 3. Sony has decided to not make the system in large quantities anymore, or outright discontinue it after the new bundle, which sounds impossible to me. Again, his theories not mine.

Anyone in this community have any insight? There's finally around 12 or so games that I find interesting and I think I'm gonna pick up the new bundle regardless, but I found it shocking that I couldn't go into a retail store and buy one this weekend. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Spoilers ....

If you collect all the space leeches it unlocks the captain's daughter profile in the crew option on the main page. However, it appears that you need to find the captain's "regret" to unlock the other crew profile picture.

I found the clue regarding the ring in the captain's log and you can have the robot place the ring in the crew quarters room with the teddy bear, but there is more to it because that action doesn't appear to have a result. I'm missing a step.

Has any found a way to open up the lockers in the crew quarter's. I thought the captain's ID would do it, but it does not. I'll keep looking, but if anyone can confirm if it is possible or not, that would be great so I don't look for a red herring.

Also, has anyone found out what the extra content is if you have another game saved on the SD card?

@MordeaniisChaos: I was going with the Corsair Vengeance 1600 DDR3 RAM b/c I read that even if the mobo goes higher (1866 or 2133) it doesn't really matter for gaming. Forgot where I read that. Is that wrong? Figure 8 gb 1600 would get the job done and 16 would be probably too much to matter.

As for the GTX 570 I definitely looked at that one but the clock cores were around mid to high 700 mhz and that got me thinking the overclocked 560 ti 2gb was the better way to go and it was $20-30 cheaper.

@MordeaniisChaos: yeah core clock on the 2 gb 384 cuda version is faster at 900 mhz as it comes overclocked already, the core clock on the 448 cuda version was 810. I think your right about the 16 RAM, I probably don't need that much, but it's so cheap. I could probably cut that in half and be fine b/c I'm not doing any video editing stuff, although I like Cakewalk for music recording and thought the extra RAM would help as I ad multiple tracks.

I thought overall the GTX 560 ti was a pretty solid mid-range card not a low tier. The reviews I've read say it can run pretty much everything at medium to high (not ultra) settings with good frame rate, which suits my needs at the moment.

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciated.

Can someone offer an opinion regarding this?

I'm building an i5 2500K with a Z68 chipset/mobo 16 gb RAM and can't decide between the GTX 560 ti with 1gb & 448 cuda cores or the GTX 560 ti with 2gb and 384 cuda cores. I've seen charts that show the 448 core out performs the 1gb 384 version, but what if you put it against a 2gb 384 cuda core version. What is the choice for the better value? I'm leaning toward the 2gb 384 core version as more VRAM might be better for game performance overall. Any thoughts or opinions? Is the higher cuda core more important than a higher memory? About the same?

@Tennmuerti: Good points. Especially how the "clever" ending does not fit the casual approach they've been trying for since ME1. And I actually prefer ME1 to ME2 & ME3.

I'd say we both agree the ending was executed poorly, regardless of whatever it's supposed to mean.

I didn't play DA2. I enjoyed DA, but kept hearing negative things about part 2. It appears, at least on the surface, when EA tookover/bought Bioware things started to change, both the games, culture (heard the new ME book was recalled due to mistakes) and public perception. And now I hear rumblings from developers that the ending was rushed b/c they had to ship the game. Wonder how much of an impact EA really has. Did they push for the multiplayer to be included instead of having the damn mission log update when you found something. Just curious, not making excuses.

@MooseyMcMan: Yes! ROFL.

@TEHMAXXORZ: That's fair, but the lore and how it messes with Liara's head and how she wants to kill Javik on the Normandy afterwards was a pretty awesome moment. I would've been disappointed had I missed it. Does it ruin the game if you miss it? No.

But I can understand how it bothers people and sets a bad precedent moving forward.

@Tennmuerti: I agree with you. The viewpoint of indoctrination theory as belonging to those people who know more about Mass Effect, hence further implying it the correct version is incorrect. Didn't mean for my post to come off that way if it did. I only finished the game over the weekend so the ending discussion is new to me as far as participating. I didn't read the books. Or play the mobile games. Just the main games. My friend and I discussed it along the way like, a book club type thing. It allowed us to really nitpick details. In ME2 Miranda clearly said she wanted to put a control chip in Shep but didn't. So that is where the seed was planted of some kind of mind control or indoctrination since ME2. The blue eyes of the Illusive Man was sort of like a hint to us too. In ME3 Miranda touches on the control chip again during a conversation, but says she didn't, but who the hell knows what the Illusive man really did during the Lazerus project. There is a moment when Miranda questions why she stayed so long with Cerberus implying there was hidden control. The side mission with the ex-Cerberus scientists and Jacob alluded to more mind control/indoctrination. So in general from the beginning of ME3 there were themes of mind control and trust or lack of. Ash didn't trust you yet on Mars. Miranda has an issue with trust and Shep calls her on it later on. The Cerberus soldiers are under mind control. Possibly Udena too, otherwise he was a traitor but then it is a trust issue so either way fits the themes. The experiments at the end mission with Miranda's sister: more indoctrination mind control issues. The Quarians and the Geth missions explained how the creators betrayed the machines and tried to wipe them out so the Geth fought back and don't trust the Quarians anymore. Shep goes on the Geth dreadnaught and the Quarians open fire while he is on the ship! Talk about trust there. Shep trusted the Racchni Queen yet she was indoctrinated and betrayed his trust from ME1. There's some other stuff, but the point is the theme of mind control and trust was being hammered away through out the entire game so we started to think that was going to play a roll. And that's why the indoctrination seems right to me. It fits the whole theme of the entire game. The entire series, really. Saren betrayed the council in ME1 and became indoctrinated. It's the same theme. Do you agree with that? I'm not talking about the kid, I actually thought he was a bad homage to Aliens/Newt at first, and a dumb one. Until the dreams. The dreams are yet another theme of paranoia, doubt, regret, mistrust/mind control especially the last one where Illusive Man calls out to Shepard in the background. So for me, it's not about knowing more back story or anything like that, it's more so that as my friend and I discussed all the things that happened one at a time, the same themes continued to resurface so indoctrination appeared to be the most logical answer. Oh I thought of another: the Salarians try to screw over the Krogan during the genophage mission. Come on Dude, it's too much, the theme runs throughout the entire saga. Bioware practically hits us over the head with it on almost every single mission. Thoughts?

@Tennmuerti :Dude, I'm pretty much agreeing that if Bioware does consider it an indoctrination ending, they did it poorly, I like the idea of it and they placed themes of it way back in ME1 and again in ME2 so it wasn't hard to think/take that route, but the execution for the end had flaws, obviously. Me and my friend discussed the possibility of the Illusive Man being indoctrinated back in ME2 cuz his eyes were glowing blue and shit. So it's not a big leap there. If it wasn't indoctrination, then the ending is a slush pile of nonsense images. Okay. Sure, I get that too. Why rage at me? I didn't imply anything other than that. My main question was why a thread had to begin with "utter bullshit" rage as you eloquently wrote, rather than having a cool discussion about opposing theories about a videogame. You obviously care, b/c you wrote a long response. You care a whole lot judging by your anger, actually. But you don't have to hate on everything or everyone, man. And as for my innitial thought that it was a cliffhanger to another sequel, well, that's pretty much how the industry works, good ending or bad. Halo3 ended a trilogy, no? Come one Dude, lighten up. Have fun discussing a videogame.

@arcadias : Great reply. Great discussion. You are right regarding the potential to release proper endings via DLC as a bad precedent. Isn't that sort of what Asura's Wrath is doing? I was going to pick that game up until I heard that. Episodic DLC could actually be an awesome idea, but only if done properly so the consumer isn't burned. I wonder if From Ashes would've been free had EA not been in the picture given their track record.