gamma_male

@The_Laughing_Man: I can't see what else it could be. Ultimate Team coins are transferable between accounts. If you want you can buy them on eBay. You can even find specific player cards for sale. It's been going on since, I think, FIFA 09 so it's obviously quite a lucrative business. The game itself is quite ingenious. It's a card collection game where you make these virtual coins by playing games with the players in your card deck. FIFA is already a hugely popular game and this adds another incentive for people to play. Like most things, some people don't have the patience to earn the coins themselves so they turn to those people who can in exchange for real-world cash. It's effectively the same gold-farming that blights WoW.

The problem is how to stop it. It's obviously a feature people are very happy with. Do they remove it when most users don't resort to this behaviour?

Do they prevent the transfer of coins between accounts? What do MS do about ensuring our accounts are safe without treating people with legitimate queries like common criminals? It's a complete minefield. I feel sorry for everyone involved, except for the dirty bastards who are stealing from people, natch.

@GenghisJohn: How much would it cost to get that UFC PPV if it weren't free? More or less than the amount you've been charged on your credit card? Either way, this is the advice from GB's article. By the look of this it's not that painful to sort out as long as you can regain control of your Windows Live account.

GB:When they discover an unauthorized purchase or a change of their Avatar or something where they suspect their account has been compromised in some fashion, what is the immediate step they should take to start the process to take their account back to where it was before?

Toulouse: The first thing that they should do is to go to Live.com and try to login and try to change the password on the account. Sometimes the attacker won’t change the password. Once that’s done, they’ve re-assumed control of the account, and they should recover their gamertag to their console--or attempt to. Then, they can dispute the charge with their bank or they can give us a call and we can start the process to refund the points. If they cannot log into Live.com or recover the account, they should immediately call us.

I haven't finished New Vegas yet but I have to say I'm enjoying it a lot more than Fallout 3. I found Fallout 3 a little bit disappointing to be brutally honest. I had no expectations whatsoever for New Vegas so I'm enjoying it more. It plays it much more for laughs than Fallout 3 too. It has a very dark subtle, dark sense of humour that's more in keeping with the original Fallout games.

That said, I didn't hit anywhere near as many brick walls with Fallout 3. I've restarted New Vegas three times now because I've found myself completely unable to progress. First time I got bored. The second I absent-mindedly saved my progress by walking through a door and was basically unable to escape. The third I found myself on the Legion's shitlist and they sent assassins after me. I was nowhere near leveled up enough so they killed me every time and wherever I went, they'd find me. That might be me being shit at games though.

If I had to chooes, I'd go for New Vegas. You don't need to play Fallout 3 to play, there are no backstories that you need to know. That said, Fallout 3 is still a very entertaining game. If you enjoy one, you'll enjoy the other.

@Owlhead: Fair enough. They are usually shit.

/glares angrily at Competition Pro SNES controller

@Jeust: Yeah, it was a great opening.

Shit myself.

If you can find it anywhere, I highly recommend Society. It starts out like a fairly typical late-80s, preppy, suburban US film (it even stars the head pretty-boy from Baywatch). Goes fucking bananas towards the end. It's difficult to find in the UK because, as far as I can tell, no-one went to see it. It may be different where you are so if you get the chance, give it a watch.

Audition is brilliant. Starts very slow but stick with it. It rewards patience.

Switchblade Romance is another good one too. I could go on but that should do for now. If you watch these, like them and want more, feel free to PM me.

@Owlhead: I find this 'that's the price you pay for hiring a dodgy PR company'-approach a tad unfair. No-one in their right mind could expect the company they hire to provide this service to be so completely awful. You don't know what their marketing budget was. This dozy prick might have been the only one they could afford.

As for what the device looks like, who cares? Its functionality is what's important and if this device does, as a few testimonials I've read say it does, actually make it easier or outright possible for someone with disabilities to play video games, then it can look like Justin Bieber for all I care.

And that's the biggest tragedy in all of this. We can all laugh at this PR idiot throwing his credibility down the toilet. It is very funny indeed. But the credibility of the product is going down too. People who may be helped by it, probably won't be able to buy it now. It's a shame.

I have to respectfully disagree with the Best Use of a Licensed Song winner. Holding Out for a Hero in the penultimate level of the very same game had me laughing so hard, a small amount of urine came out. If I hadn't been wearing Tena for Men, it'd have been pretty embarrassing.

@Jeust: Exact opposite for me. Original Dead Space didn't bother me at all. My large intestine nearly prolapsed at least three times in the opening hour of Dead Space 2.

After that it just became a bit too grueling. Not in a scary way. I just couldn't bring myself to finish it for a long time. I got to Chapter 7 in February then didn't put it back in the machine until September. I gave it a second playthrough but I think we've had all the time together that we ever will.

It's strange. I couldn't point to why I don't like it. It looks, feels and sounds great. Every element I can look at objectively and say is excellent. I just can't say I particularly enjoyed it.

@AlisterCat: Yeah, I know you don't have to do those two specific things but that wasn't really the point I was making. I'm 32. I don't need to be told that life is beautiful. Seen it, bought the T-Shirt and watched the Oscar-winning movie of the same name. You're right. The world is a marvel. Genuinely extraordinary. Who needs booze when you've got kittens? But, like I said, that's not the point I was making.

You go out to socialise, and alcohol lubricates that. It's not about how much you spent on the sauce but the life experiences that happen as a result of you going out with your friends. When you get to the end of your life do you want cool stories or Xbox 360 achievements? They're not mutually exclusive, of course, but when I'm a cantankerous old bastard who can't wipe his own arse, you'd better believe that it's the stories I'll be imparting to my loved ones.

tl;dr - It's the stuff that happens while you drink that adds value to the drink.