DJJoeJoe

I could have sworn on some video content it was mentioned that Drew had compiled a google doc or something of all the discs they'd received so far, I'm wondering where that is or if I am out of my mind. I'd hate to be sending them stuff they already have, on top of the fact that they will probably never end up getting to most of the discs anyways (seems like they have received dozens already)

DJJoeJoe

Currently blasting through rifts with random peeps, so keeping it short!

@ll_exile_ll: I'm aware of that, Halo 4 does however have the exact same combat model as the past Halo games... it's a Halo game. The combat is what I was talking about.

I was hoping regardless of the cap that it would be slow, but it seems that won't be the case for the first 20 levels. I wonder how fast it will be to get levels of 'light', and it seems they come via turn ins with that vendor but also maybe on gear too? Interesting stuff, gearing for levels possibly :)

Considering all you seem to get with levels is 'new' abilities unlocked and all the stats come puring from gear this isn't exactly that crazy, if anything the game could have had zero levels and just unlock abilities based on number of enemies kills or even go deeper and have a system like the new wolfy game where you do specific actions to unlock perks, silent takedown 20 dudes for a whatever whatever.

I didn't play Halo 4 so it was a long time since I enjoyed the dynamics of a Bungie shooter, the way they do combat situations is so much fun for me and I missed it. The beta showed me that the fun I had in the past is in their formula still, plus it has some lovely mechanics from other games I love (the loot and it's reliance on co-op at a fairly core level) so the recipe they are making their game from is something I'm salivating over already. I look forward to having fun with my friends via this game, and I'm glad it's already as popular as it seems to be (almost 5mil folks checked out the dang beta) so that future content is vastly secured.

@mb: Ah, thanks I only glanced through the first few paragraphs of the press release, didn't notice any FAQ section :S

I'd have to imagine it won't require Xbox Live Gold considering their recent move to REmove lots of stuff from the paywall, this is on EAs end though it does require tapping into the official store on probably both the store.xbox.com site ANY the console Store app... so there's some deep integration/authentication that will need to happen to get people those discounts and trial access stuff. I'd say it's above 50/50 that it won't require gold... but who doesn't have gold at this point? As far as I look at it both gold and psplus are basically required when you invest in a console, specifically because most people only get 1 console (I can see maybe a person who bought both would maybe only subscribe to 1 service).

Is it really such a huge drop for the annual model? Save $20 off the monthly price by going annual for $30, I didn't see any mention of the $30 annual fee on the official announcement from EA, yet it's everywhere else on the net. EA is mostly pushing the monthly fee only, even though the annual is a vastly better deal and way more interesting, if true.

In my life I've played roughly ~700 video games, about ~400 of those have been on a computer and just a little less than that are all tied to my Steam account (steam says 377). :)

http://darkadia.com/member/djjoejoe

I've always just bought the 12month+1month cards either from stores or online, I did this because at the time of starting xbox live (what... like over a decade ago?) I didn't have a credit card, but now that I do I still wouldn't use it for this cause it's so easy to just use paypal or cards to charge up the account as I go.. and not worry about it and let it expire if I lose interest in it's services without having to always remind myself that it's auto sucking money from a card that can fuck me if I don't pay it off etc. Xbox Live is one of those services that is fire and forget, you shouldn't have it tied to something that you need to manage closely like a CC.

Paypal has always had complaints with how it handles stuff, usually cause it's not easy to do a lot of stuff with it and they are way over careful to the point of screwing people over in some situations. I've never had issues with auto-payments with xbox live through paypal but also I've never had to stop or change things up, paypal is really good if you set it up and don't bother it for long periods of time, haha.

I have never hunted for achievements, but actually I care more about then today that I did in the past. Because I view them more as a helpful guideline to possibly extend my enjoyment of something, or an excuse to play a game in a way that might be fun. Because of this sort of way of thinking I found myself looking at the stuff for some of the apps and while it ended up not making me use the apps more it did make me think, "hrm watch X amount of twitch, or watch a twitch stream with X amount of subs". I don't subscribe to most of the content apps anyways though so things like netflix or hulu are kinda off my radar anyways, I live in canada and the selection for that kinda stuff is sadly terrible.

I'm in favor of having achievements for apps though cause they are nothing but possible ways to get people using something more, and that's cool. Kinda a 'why not' situation. It's ok for things to exist, you don't have to label everything dumb if it doesn't revolutionize you mind etc. :)

I have the play/charge kit (because I had it for the past system, and because you need a cord to use the controller on PC) and it works fine for me, in theory I prefer that to a built in battery that when it fails I am out a controller while it flies away to get replaced or whatever. I viewed the kit as kinda a required purchase because of my heavy use of it for the 360, and it's requirement for use of the pad with a PC (which I have been loving almost everyday since)

I'm still cumbersome with the new shoulder buttons, they are weird and I wonder if that was an oversight for the team. They seem like 20% harder to consistently press, and often when I hold it to hold open a radial menu (mostly what it's used for now) I accidently loosen just enough pressure that the menu pops off... it's just not as consistent to use as the past shoulder buttons of the 360 controller, and that's sad making. Everything else about the controller is rad though, and I especially like the re-worked analog sticks... noticed them a bit at first but definitely noticeable when having used my 360 pad for PC games a month ago and feeling the stark difference. Poor 360 pad, I swear it felt like the 360pad aged a decade right before my eyes when I did that :(

I have a weird set up, I hook my Xbox One to my PC which means I have to break out almost all of it's outputs and individually convert them to usable inputs for my screens and speakers. Was nerve raking at launch since that sort of advanced set up stuff is impossible to find information on... even the 360 took months to release a VGA adapter which I eventually used, and the Xbox One will never have that since most monitors have hdmi... though most pc speakers do not have optical inputs really, so you still have to convert that somehow to whatever you'r working with.