Nate

I'm on PS3 and have tried yesterday, this morning, and this afternoon several times. Still not getting in any games. Hope it gets working soonish. I'm tempted just to not touch it for another week.

Edit: Also, I find it ironic that the Battlefield 4 beta started yesterday too and I had absolutely no trouble with that. Granted, there's probably more people slamming GTA online all at once. Just found that interesting. Gives me something to play while I wait for GTA online.

I'm on ps3 and have been unable to play. I did create my character, but now when I try to connect it always rejects me right away. "unable to create host" or something. Oh well. Gotta say, all the people pissed off need to realize this is pretty much the way it always is in the first few days of multi player. No surprises. I'll be happy if it's working well in a week.

Good point about that 1 percent. It's always tempting to fixate on the negative and imagine that everyone hates you. I'm a high school teacher and it often only takes one student to ruin a day for me. One negative interaction and I begin to question why I'm doing this and wonder why everyone is out to get me. It's ridiculous, really, and I think it's even more problematic when you are out there on the internet like you are, or like Phil is. It's super important to stay grounded in the positive, and reach into that bag. I always try to smile at someone, compliment someone, and watch them smile in return.

Me too. I remember signing up for my account on day one, and school was still in session (I'm a teacher). I could be wrong, but that would have made it mid June at the latest.

Perhaps when my buddy and I discovered how to PK in the original Diablo. Got our bow and arrow going and couldn't believe the game actually let us kill another player and take their stuff! Madness! We laughed our assess off the whole time.

Tears. . . He will be so missed. Prayers for his wife, family, friends, and the GB community.

Great article, Alex. I agree with a lot of this. The one question that I still am asking, though, is why didn't Microsoft SHOW US the benefits of always online? What is the benefit to the consumer? I believe there are many, and we they only brought up a couple. In other words, why did they completely reverse their policy before even giving a decent attempt at defending how their policy might benefit consumers? Unless their really wasn't much benefit in the first place? In that case, how the hell did they think they could get away with it? I think Cliffy B and other DRM apologists out there are doing a better job of defending Microsofts policy decision than they ever did. What a royal mess.

Man of Steel: $92 million

Monsters U: $89 million

World War Z: $42 million

Total: $223 million

I can't stop watching Smooth McGroove a capella videos. Thanks for that, Patrick. Dude is AMAZING.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is poised to go on sale this Monday on Amazon for 66 percent off. That's 17 bucks, I think. Killer deal, no? I could be wrong, but I think that's the lowest it has been.

This is all hinging on this silly vote over on Amazon's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AmazonVideoGames?v=app_153839431317646&rest=1

You have until Sunday to vote. So far, XCOM is beating Civ V by A LOT. Not surprising.