WSGEXE

Removing comments would only create an echo chamber a la Tumblr. Where only the original poster is allowed an opinion and everyone is assumed to approve because dissent through comments is not allowed.

Twitter has safeguards in place to prevent harassment. And so does Giant Bomb. Letting a few bad apples spoil the bunch is hardly a solution to anything.

@Turtlebird95 Thanks so much!

Hello all.

Just this past month I bought an Xbox 360. I'm a little late to the party, you might say. Prior to that, my most recent console was a Nintendo Wii which I used mostly for Virtual Console and whatever downloadable oddities caught my eye.

Anyway, I have a few questions that I can't find satisfactory answers to elsewhere. I hoped some of you might be willing to indulge me.

Gamer Pics. I understand some of them are free and have located a few by scrolling through an enormous list.

1. It seems the free ones are almost if not entirely related to movies or advertisers. Is this accurate?

2. Is there a quick way to view all free Gamer Pics or do you just have to scroll through the list?

3. Is there a way to preview Gamer Pics before purchase? For instance, I might like Transformers but "Transformers 5 Pack" doesn't tell me if it contains pictures of Shockwave, Laserbeak, Hound, Soundwave and Bumblebee or 5 pics of Optimus Prime flexing. Do people really just purchase these packs blind and hope for the best?

Downloads. I occasionally receive notifications while playing a game or sitting on the dashboard that random things like "Optional Media Update" have downloaded. I never requested such an update. What is it? Why did I get it? I turned off "Auto-Downloads" but this option seems to be limited to updates for existing installed products. Which leads me to my next question.

I bought several sale games through the desktop Xbox website and then later turned on my console to play Far Cry 2. While I'm driving across all of Africa I receive a notification that one of the games I purchased has finished downloading(?) Yet I never initiated a download and since I don't have any immediate interest in playing these games, I don't particularly want them putting down roots on my hard drive.

3. Is there any way to turn these automatic background downloads off or at least view what downloads are currently in progress?

4. I don't have any Xbox Live friends. If you want to add me and do whatever Xbox friends do, feel free. My name on Xbox Live is also WSGEXE.

5. Bonus question: Avatars seem a bit stupid. Can I opt out of them entirely?

Thanks all!

All the proof you need: @unastrike has "Video guy for __________, lover of media, and fighter of streets." as his Twitter bio. The blank spaces equal 10 characters. "Giant Bomb" is 10 characters. Code cracked.

@cloudymusic: I'm not part of anyone's camp, as it happens. I appreciate that you attempted to vet me however.

No more WWII games please.

This year was a bit of a wet fart, to be honest. But Alien Isolation looks like the dog's bollocks. Excellent write-up, @Alex.