Vilge Duin

Um... How? We both have paid subscriptions and are being fucked over for a month of it because their system is faulty. I see not how wanting to be effectively reimbursed for something we're not gettinng is being greedy.

Ah, thanks for the warranty info. And, yeah the guy on the phone mentioned a month free of Live to my girlfriend. Is that just for the one of us? We both have it and even if one of us gets it, I'd still feel ripped off. It definitely shouldn't happen. I've never had anything of the sort happen. It's especially bothersome considering how many games we've gotten for it recently. I'm going to be paranoid after this though. Eh.

So yeah, somewhat coincidentally I convinced my one friend to go purchase a 360 considering how much fun I've had with ours... Well, it died last night. Don't care why, but I'm quite annoyed. I turned it on and downloaded the update. I was looking at what might have been added and while looking at the Xbox Originals thing I tried backing out. Damn thing froze on me, making a high pitched whining noise from the TV and checkering the screen. Turned it off and then back on (having no clue why it did that), same thing happened again instantly. I again, tried turning it back on... 3 red lights. We let it sit for a few minutes and in some vain hope tried it again... And it fucking worked. We sign in, and go to play some Smackdown... freezes again. Suffice to say that time was it. We called, did the trouble shoot, address clarification, etc. I was mainly wondering if anyone (Canadian obviously) knows how Purolator works? They said a box would come in 3-5 business days via Purolator, we send it back and we'll get a new 360 (since apparently they don't repair them for Canadians, we get a new system). Do we have to be home or something or do we pick it up at the post office? Does this affect our Warranty and registry of our original system? Since they'll be giving us a new 360 it'll likely have a new serial number. Only 4 months fucking old too...

I at first never got the appeal of achievements... Then I actually got a 360. In a lot of cases they've provided me with some random reasons to do stuff I never would have bothered with. That said, I find I hate most achievement distributions. Like you said, some are wholly generic while others are actually clever, and others simply difficult to get for the sake of it. I like Call of Duty 4's. I'll never remotely get half of the points (the "Beat ____ level on Veteran" ones) but they are actual achievements. Wow you looked at something stupid in a game and got 30 points. Hey you played one round of an online game, you got 50 points. Oh yeah, well I completed Ultimatum in CoD4 and got my 40 points, beat that. I HATE achievements that are seemingly online multi-player exclusive. They're alienating and in many cases unachievable for idiotic reasons. Meanwhile CoD4, anyone who buys the game for just the single player and has no Xbox Live Gold can get everything out of it. I just think achievements should be strictly in regards to the single player experience, even if the multiplayer is a large component. Unless the game is entirely online only (a la PS3's Warhawk). I also avoid looking at achievement lists or "how to get ____" stuff generally as I like seeing what they are as they pop up. Makes it more fun.

I don't get how this makes them the biggest publisher... Um they're still well behind EA. EA's acquired Origin Systems, Bullfrog Maxis, Tiburon and Westwood in the past, with Criterion and Digital Illisions not that long ago... With BioWare and Pandemic just recently. That's not counting all EA's umpteen dozens of other studios and the different things they have their fingers in. Especially their growing exclusive deals and such, like with Valve. Sure Activision was fairly big, but EA dwarfed them along with everyone else before, and just by adding Blizzard doesn't exactly make them instantly become #1.

Just looking over things... Zero, could you add my gamertag to the first post? You must have missed it before. It's same as here, Vilge Duin

He didn't play the game though. When the review came out numerous people caught on to the fact that his gamertag only had the first level complete... And lo and behold, the video review only had footage from the first level. Most of his complaints were arbitrarily retarded too (they swear too much, the characters are unlikable, and his personally problems with the cover system and shooting). I've never liked the man's reviews, and very much can't stand him either (having watched his video reviews, read his blogs, etc.) as I find him to be a jackass. That said... I doubt he was fired over this though. Hell Kasavin's review of Shenmue caused far more problems and actually required them to re-review that game, and he was there for years after. It's more likely that Gamespot's gone down the shitter the past year that Gerstmann's been in charge. Extremely late reviews, review scores way off the average, reviews being oddly short, lack of content and the seemingly predisposed fact that anything not on the Xbox (barring Mario Galaxy which was reviewed by Navarro anyways) can't seemingly be praised. Good riddance either way.

Yet another picture... Spoiler: Click here to view My only problem with the way he looks is the smudged black parts mixed into the white make up. I don't like that. I have no problem if it occurs after some punching (a la smudging) or what not, but it seems like it's deliberate. I get the whole gritty thing but at least make the white, white. Otherwise I can't wait to see this movie.

Um... Can someone explain what the hell happened with the end of Vaughan's run on Runways into the beginning of Whedon's? Spoiler: Click here to viewSo the I finished reading the third Hardcover and have the 4 following single issues (3 left to read)... Iron Man shows up in their hostel with a bunch of goons and then it shows Alex in what appears to be limbo... Next thing I know, they're having a meal with Kingpin in New York. Am I missing something or did Whedon completely skip over the previous issue entirely... I'm literally confused. How did they get away from Iron Man? Why are they in New York anyways and how did they get there? And why the hell are they meeting with Kingpin?

Rocky III is my personal favourite. The best would probably go to the first obviously, but the third is my absolute favourite. It just feels like the culmination of the Rocky story to me. The first is a classic "David vs. Goliath" style story with a bum low life fighter taking on the World Champ, and almost coming away with the title but more importantly winning his love. The second obvious continues thematically with a rags to riches storyline along with the birth of their Adrian and Rocky's son and Rocky finally besting Apollo to prove he actually is that good. But the third is the culmination of the themes of the first two for me... Rocky resting on his laurels and achieving success, finally at a high in his life that he never thought he'd imagine... Only to have Mickey tell him he never fought anyone of worth and only lucked out against Apollo, to then have Mickey's die and be beaten into submission by Clubber. To then grudgingly seek guidance from his former foe and learn what it means to be a true fighter, to find his Eye of the Tiger, forging a friendship from a rivalry and then to kick Lang's ass and prove once and for all that he actually is that good. Plus Hulk Hogan. It's just an awesome movie and I love it. The first two are tremendous as well, but I love the third. I use to love the fourth too, "I will break you", but I grew up to realize how horrible the whole East vs. West, Soviets vs. Americans thing was. And Apollo's death really seemed like shock value for the sake of it instead of building into the story. That and I was just pissed that they killed him off. Apollo is awesome and his entrance proves it. 5 I actually don't mind, it's a flawed movie no doubt but it's not bad to mindlessly watch. Own Balboa but haven't had a chance to actually sit down and watch it yet, so I have no opinion on that.

If you want to present a full list of what Batman you have I can help you to read them in Chronological order, but Batman Year One comes before The Long Halloween, and are to be read in that order.

People misunderstood me earlier, what with my poor wording. If you liked Freedom Fighters, you'll like this as it is effectively Freedom Fighters 2 both in spirit and literally. The original sequel was scrapped and turned into Kane & Lynch. Everything is the same in co-op, except easier obviously. The multi-player was fun but the infrastructure of it all sucks. Connecting to a game is horrible, people who simply disconnect sucks badly (especially since it's only by people who die while hosting), and if you get a connection error you get booted out to the main menu of the game. Lack of variety also kills it (few weapons and only four maps...) while "early traitors" ruin the spirit of the game. But it can be fun, I had a blast with a group of guys and we made a big deal about it... but again, annoyance crops up because you have no option to keep playing with the same group, you must start up a new game and invite everyone each time. Wasted potential really.

Yeah, I haven't cared about comics for months now, but my local comic shop dropped all their prices down to the US cover price which is just damn sexy, especially considering they're having a sale (10th Anniversary Marvels looks sexy... Original Canadian price = $80, currently 30). And in the spirit of things I picked up a bunch of stuff today. Namely speaking of Batman. What's a good order to read trades of his various stories? I picked up Year One and The Long Halloween. I don't know a single thing about DC besides what I know from the DCAU, and considering how many Batman books I know are out there I don't know a proper "order" to read anything. So anyone have any suggestions? Also what issue is Astonishing X-Men up to? I picked up the second and third trades but am uncertain what the most recent issue, and considering it's sporadic release schedule I don't feel like sifting through Diamond's shipping archives... And as always, Fables and Walking Dead continue to be class.

If anyone wants to play the first 3 Hitman games for free, just head over to Gametap. They're on the front page. Plus Psychonauts.

I'd assume you would save it to your computer and then transfer it to the PS3 either by USB or a memory stick or something.

Wow... We only got 5 movies we had to mail in for... It as always comes down to the games, if any in the future appeal to you. The only exclusives of mention at the moment are Resistance, Motorstorm, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted and soon Unreal Tournament III. With Haze, LittleBigPlanet, Infamous, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2 coming out next year (with stuff like God of War III and Final Fantasy coming whenever). Plus the typical multi-platform stuff... which with a 360 aren't that big of a deal. I think it's worth having as some of the games are tremendous and the future looks extremely bright, but I personally wouldn't go for the 40 GB model (less space, less hardware and no backwards compatibility are a big turn off). But the 15 movies... Heck, get them and if you don't want them sell them. That should make a big chunk of it back right there.

Nope. All levels are linear. Some of the levels are more open, but going out in the open in them usually spells death. It's pretty much Freedom Fighters 2, if you ever played that you'll know what to expect.

Hey! You try holding a camera up while pressing multiple buttons and a stick. I am but a simple man, I can only do so much.

So yeah... Have to head off to EB to get another copy I suppose. I figured I'd make a video as I found it amusing at first... until it kept screwing up. Edit: Having looked into it, found out it occurs if you have a second controller on. So if you want to do it deliberately you can try. And with that said... What an utterly dull and rushed ending.

Please tell me 47 doesn't have a romance with the dark haired chick... Please tell me he's not at all cheery and in "good guy action hero" mode... He kills horrible people, but he's still a cold blooded merciless killer. Which is something that looks like is absent from his characterization in the movie.

XII was good, not what a lot of people expected (the tumultuous development cycle lead to that), but very enjoyable if you could get into it. The story and game in general pick up near the end, but within an hour or two it's effectively over. The end makes Judge Gabranth one of my favourite Final Fantasy characters and outright badass though.