Nivash

Still playing from time to time, I'm currently on a bit of binge actually. I don't know what it is with BF3, but I don't really seem to get fully burnt out on it after a couple months like I get with most multiplayer FPS'. Probably the variety. I'm from Sweden so lag and time zones might not be the most compatible with some of you, but my gamertag is Nivash.

@cincaid: Swedish prices doesn't actually convert that easily. Let's compare the price of Crysis 3 for PS3: $59,99 on Amazon, 549-599 SEK in most Swedish retailers. So while the exchange rate is 6,4 Kronor to every Dollar, the comparable price difference is actually closer to 10 Kronor to every Dollar. Going by that, the lower price - which is usually the more correct one with the higher usually being placeholders - would translate to something in the $450 range.

This is probably because the Swedish prices are tied to the European prices, where the Euro hovered around the 10 SEK to every Euro at the start of the latest generation; standardized prices have not adjusted to the exchange rate (a Euro is now worth roughly 8,4 Kronor) and the mischievous gods of gaming are still pretending that a Euro is worth as much as a dollar. In other words: us poor Swedish gamers are paying out the ass for the same shit. $429 is too much? Puh! Welcome to Sweden. $429 for you is over $600 for us.

I got something similar a while back on an Android device, but it seemed rather random. It went away a few minutes later. Not sure what to make of it.

Switched over from W7 a month ago and never looked back. I'm using an aging computer that was really in need of a clean start so I thought, why not? The price was certainly low enough - especially for Windows. It worked wonders - actually better than expected. Everything's running way faster and the experience is smoother than anything else I tried on it before.

The metro interface though? I don't mind it, but I don't really use it all that much. I like the Giantbomb app - those live notifications are actually pretty sweet. The live tile for the mail app is useful but probably not revolutionary. Apart from that, I don't wander into metro all that much. The new search function takes you there through the hotkeys momentarily, but it's only for a fraction of a second or so. In the end I think this has to do with the fact that I never really used the start menu in W7 either. I used search, the keystrokes that take you to the shutdown option and the occasional foray to "My Computer" and the control panel, but I put all those on the desktop in W8 which is easier to get to anyway (which I obviously could have done in W7 as well, but never bothered to) I think metro would have been more of an issue if it hadn't been so damned fast. It loads - and unloads - instantly, save for a nice little animation. Because of this it never really feels like it's in the way. It's a more graphic, more fleshed out start menu - that's it. It stays in the background until you want it.

So what's left? Boot times are a nice bonus, to be sure. The growing integration with devices in the W8 ecosystem is intriguing, if not all that advanved yet - I own a 360 and apps like Smartglass are interesting, but still rather primitive. My cell contract is going to lapse in April and W8 actually made me consider a W8 phone as a replacement, which I'm sure was one of Microsofts goals. I find the notion of a shared ecosystem between devices to be appealing personally, but I guess that's a matter of taste. Likewise for the integrated cloud functions - I like them, but I know some people loathe cloud out of security-based principle.

TL;DR? W8 has worked great for me, and I highly recommend it - the only caveat being if you're really, really attached to the start menu which some people evidently are.

BadFeelingAboutTHis: Feel free to make that assessment when you're capable of showing why all of these awkward people fulfill the same diagnostic criteria, of which not all are related to social interaction. Until then, you're just making shit up as you go.

Also, I move that henceforth we always use "Jeff" as the go-to random pseudonym in articles. In time we won't even know what is about Gerstmann and what is not. It will be glorious.

Signed up for the beta. Hey, it's free - no reason not to see what the fuss is all about.

I still find myself playing CoD BO a lot, although it's rarely my intention when I boot the console. The reason is that I've built up a rather extensive list of friends, both online-only and IRL, around that game. So I boot, see three or for of my friends online playing CoD, so I join them. We play it it mainly to hang out, I guess. Say what you will about CoD - when it comes to laid-back FPS action it's still king.

Because of this I'll probably end up buying both BF3 and MW3 this fall. I now BF3 is a better game and I look forward to it more than MW3, but it's also a different kind of game. Me and my friends are all hard-core gamers - we buy a lot of games from all kinds of genres, but for some reason no other game has so far managed to replicate what CoD does when you play with other people who know what they're doing and your having fun.

I can't put my finger on what, exactly, that is. But it sure is something.