Raven10

Well if you haven't played any strategy games you could try some of those. The Total War series is pretty great. Galactic Civilizations is a great turn based strategy game, as are Civ IV and V. Some indie games I'd recommend are FTL, Hotline Miami, Antichamber and Amnesia. As far as shooters go, STALKER is a great choice for a PC exclusive series, and the Crysis series is loads better on PC. Evoland is interesting to play. Cool idea. No real replay value and not super long but really cool for what it is. Cart Life, To The Moon, and Kentucky Route Zero are really cool story based games. By that I mean they don't have much in the way of traditional gameplay but they tell really interesting stories.

I'd also highly recommend playing The Witcher and The Witcher 2. These are story based RPG's that build off each other. It would be like playing Mass Effect 3 without playing the first two. Yea you would have fun, but you'd miss a ton of what makes these games special. I would note that The Witcher 2 is a really horribly optimized game so if you don't have at least a semi-decent computer I would maybe hold off.

Dude, trust me when I say that girls who are impressed that you have a car are probably not worth your time. There is this thing called a compatible personality that won't be a factor for a girl who only wants a guy with money. Just get something reliable, safe, and spacious. It is much better if you can, for example, drive her to that concert she really wants to go to. That's an actual action and display of affection, which will probably mean a lot more to her than your money. As long as you don't go for a mini-van you are probably safe as far as style goes.

In that case you are fucked. I would advise transferring as soon as possible.

Where did you see those charts? Individual SKU numbers are not released in either the US or UK as far as I know. If you want a very vague estimate, VGChartz lists Tomb Raider PC as having sold 150,000 units compared to a bit over 1 million on both consoles. So about 5%. I also checked Black Ops 2 and it is listed as having sold 900,000 units on PC compared to about 10 million each for the console games. Far Cry 3, a game that is vastly superior on PC sold 500,000 units total compared to about 5 million between the consoles. Again, these aren't official numbers and are probably off by as much as a couple hundred thousand units, but even in that case, the results are pretty obvious. About 5% for Tomb Raider and Black Ops 2 and 10% for Far Cry 3.

@duskvamp: As someone who lived in Chicago for five years, I have to say that the only time I've ever felt unsafe was in San Fransisco at night. The homeless in Chicago aren't nearly as desperate as some of the people in San Fransisco. I was staying in a hotel just a couple streets down from a Hilton and I'm pretty sure at least one person got murdered on the street below me during my stay.

My advice for Chicago - never ride on the red line past Roosevelt at any time. Never ride past Jackson past dark. Don't carry enough money to buy any drugs unless you are actually planning on buying drugs. The best way to get a drug dealer to leave you alone at 3 in the morning is to really not have the money for the drugs. There is a homeless dude on the blue line who rides it every day all day. He always has the best stories about how terrible his life is, complete with props. He is not actually going to die anytime soon, or at least he hasn't died over the past six years. Just ignore him and anyone else who solicits you on public transportation. It is illegal. Finally, some homeless will try and help you get a taxi or carry your bag into a taxi. This is especially true around big train stations. They will ask for a tip once they have helped you. Don't give them one. What they are doing is illegal but feel free to let them carry your bag and hail a taxi for you. They won't steal your stuff and the look on their faces when you ignore their demand for payment is priceless.

Also, eat at Harold's Chicken Shack at least once. Also eat at The Longman and Eagle at least once. The latter is one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the world and it is actually not that expensive. There is a movie theater close by to that which still shows movies on a film projector from the 60's or so. There is only one screen and it is one of the coolest little theaters I have ever been to. Since it will most likely be closed down next year when studios switch to full digital projection you should try and get there before it is gone. If Wicked is still playing at the Oriental Theater you should see it. Amazing musical.

@nivash: You are vastly over estimating the percentage of sales that come from the PC versions of games. I don't know the exact figures but generally I've heard from developers at GDC and the like that they get around 10% of their sales from the PC versions of games. In certain cases that number may be a bit higher, but in the case of something like Tomb Raider I would bet about 300,000 sales were from the PC version at most. Tomb Raider isn't really in a standard PC genre so those numbers could be even less. Maybe no more than 200,000. So saying that maybe 1.5 million people pirated it is not a huge leap.

Well I could see that being an issue depending on where you live. In some Southern states it is still a commonly used term and I could definitely see people getting offended without realizing the context. In the Northeast Coon most commonly is used to refer to a raccoon among hunters. In the rest of the country I don't think I've heard the term used at all. I think it's a silly complaint, but honestly better safe than sorry.

Actually those numbers are pretty standard across all PC games. About 90-95%. This includes major AAA games, highly hyped indie games, and relatively unknown titles like this. I know, for example, that World of Goo had about a 90% piracy rate and it was talked about by all major websites and was on Steam. It is a really sad state of affairs, especially considering there are blogs like this that think this is an exception to the rule.

@wrighteous86: Well I don't know how I managed to write that but I think it is a quite nice name myself.

You survived Chicago so I can't imagine Oakland being any worse. My advice after living on the South Side of Chicago:

1. Always make sure you walk with Wrighthouse. Don't under any circumstance walk alone at night, either in Oakland or San Fransisco.

2. If you use a smartphone or other expensive electronic device don't use it while walking at night.

3. Don't walk with headphones on.

4. Most importantly, if someone demands your wallet or any other possession give it to them. Nothing you own is worth dying for. It can all be replaced.

And, yea, there are a ton of homeless people in both San Fransisco and Chicago. Just be polite to them if they insist on talking to you. Your best bet is just to completely ignore them. Avoid eye contact at all costs. Once you lock eyes with them they know you have seen them. Just stare ahead and keep walking and most will move on.