ThunderPeel2001

Well, I updated and there's Psychonauts... YAY! Except... it's a 5.3gig install. Nearly half of my "20"gig harddrive In fact, there's not enough space on my HD to install two or three of these games... ARGH! What's the point with such a tiny HD??

Step back? In what way? It's superior in nearly every way... (Rather than get OT, maybe we should continue this via PMs if you like?) Peter Bright did a great job explaining the changes and rational behind Vista. Well worth a read if you're interested: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/pretty-vista.ars http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/vista-under-the-hood.ars

Not seen it all yet, but I will do when I get home. The thing about Microsoft is that they might not get it right straight away, but give them some time and they'll get around to fixing it It's happened with the Zune, it happened with Windows and now it's happened with the XBox 360... I hope!

I should probably add that there's different amounts of referrals needed for each one... although they're not that different, surprisingly. XBox Elite: 12 Referrals Nintendo Wii: 8 Referrals PS3: 10 Referrals The thing is: I'm highly unlikely to buy a Wii. I just can't see myself sinking money into it, when I might not play it. So I guess it's a toss up, in terms of quality more than cost, between the PS3 and the Wii (XBox Elite is off the menu - thanks Thrik, that makes sense). So which is the best in terms of... enjoyment? Edit: If anyone is likely to sign up to LOVEFILM soon, then could you be a kind soul and use this link? Thank you! http://NextGen.Giveaway.co.uk/index.php?referral=225584

Blizzardvision Activard

Hmmm... Can't believe I'm saying this but... I'm think I'm bored of GH3... Is it just me? It's weird, but by having such "great" and recognisable songs, I think I've gotten bored of them quicker. I don't know for sure if that's what it is, but I'm bored either way. Strange

I can't say I noticed that Deux Ex seemed empty, myself. It's one of the best games I've ever played

It's cool they still do Consolvania for fun inbetween series.

Yeah, I do recall that you have to play the game quite quickly to really appreciate the plot, otherwise it's easy to forget who's said what.

Just watched that video... I'm surprised how entertaining it was. Wonderful voice she's got there! Wow!

Yep, I think Chart Track (or whoever does the official games chart) is the only way you'll get this information... and the data should be pretty solid, too.

Is this the same guys who do Consolevania?

Overall it sounds like a lot of positive responses! Looking forward to this one! From RockBand.com:

The delay between the US and European release of Guitar Hero 3 isn't that different.

I've noticed that quite a few of us have GH3, so I thought I'd help advertise the Idle Thumbs Tour Group that n0wak set up: http://www.guitarhero.com/tour_groups/204945 To join you just need to register on the site and then go into Guitar Hero III > Options > Select "www . guitarhero . com" and you'll get a 12 digit code to enter into the website. This will link your online account with your XBL account. We're currently ranked 2,635, but if Miffy links his account we'll probably be second, or something.

Yeah, but that's the nature of competition. You couldn't have a bowling team where one team had 1,565 players, and as such, 1,565 goes each turn, versus a team with 4 players, who had four goes each turn. It makes competition pointless. Competition will never be 100% fair, but it can be made more even so you are rewarded by getting better at playing the game. I also found out that the single player rankings on the website are based on how many times you play GH3 rather than your score...

Hmmm. I don't know. All the scores are a bit confusing to say the least. That group with 1,565 members has a groupie score of 4,000,000... how does that work? I'm currently trying to get one of the moderators to consider changing the way the rankings are organized, or at least have a separate table where the score is divided by its members...

Hurrah! I know there's others here, too... Anyone else want to join? The whole ranking system is a bit retarded, though. There's 1,565 members of the number one tour group, so no wonder they've got 4,000,000 groupies. Pretty stupid if you ask me. They should divide it by the number of members so it's even. Fools Still, saying that, looking at the other teams, I think we could crack the top 1000, maybe even 500... but they should really sort out the leader board so that number of members doesn't guarantee you a top ranking.

Well I've not heard bad anything so far... hopefully it will be fine! Guitar Hero 3 had a lot of reports of people with poorly put together guitars with damaged contacts and sticking buttons etc, but obviously on the whole it's been good. I imagine (or hope) that Rock Band will be the same.

Have to say to all those who gave KOTOR a wide birth that it's a brilliant game. An utterly, wonderful, brilliant game. I'm not remotely interested in Extended Universe stuff, it was just a brilliantly crafted game. Mass Effect feels a LOT like KOTOR, but much bigger. So far I'm not really sure what the point of adding all the space is, though. I never got lost in KOTOR, and that was nice. I don't remember thinking "ooh, I wish I had more space to wander around", so it's odd that they've made the Citadel so big.... and yet so BORING and generic. There is hardly ANY variety in the architecture or decoration, no matter where you are. In KOTOR at least there was variations and, I think I actually preferred the overall look, too (although the graphics, technically, weren't a patch on Mass Effects' stunning visuals). There's a ton of references to sci-fi stuff (intentional or not I don't know). The idea of an "above the law" bunch of assassins sounds like an interesting take on Star Wars' Jedi, especially the idea of a rogue one. The Citadel's design makes me think of Neuromancer. Some of the background story reminds me of The Forever War. The idea of consorts been given a lot of respect is, of course, similar to Japanese Geishas, but is also straight out of Firefly. But mostly it seems like a darker, more "grown up" re-imagining of the Star Wars universe. Speaking of the consort. She's supposed to be this regal, incredibly important, elusive figure. You would imagine her to be the embodiment of beauty, charm and elegance. Geisha style. (Like the the same character was portrayed in Firefly.) But when she appears, she is identical (IDENTICAL - right down the to clothes she's wearing) to her assistant on the door...! When you enter her room which, considering the importance of the people she supposedly entertains, you would imagine would give the impression of elegance, opulence and taste, it looks like someone's house from Star Wars Galaxies: A generic room with bare walls and one unique item. (In this case a tasteless purple, round bed... that is barely large enough for her, let alone anyone she's entertaining.) I can imagine that if there's a Special Edition that this will be one of the things they add, but it's surprising, considering how much detail is visible elsewhere in the game, to see such a jarring "unfinished bit" so early on. (Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of the rooms I've visited in the Citadel have that "unfinished" look to them. Hmmm.) So far the blandness of the environment in the Citadel is beginning to grate, something that was never a problem in the smaller, more refined KOTOR, but I will perservere, as I'm sure it will improve! Plus, since I enjoyed KOTOR so much, I'm hoping it will get as enjoyable as that was, at some point.

Cool!

Well, just completed it on my second sitting. I even beat the devil on my first go (great idea for a last level, shame the design of the level was so terrible -- It didn't look anything like Hell... What was that animatronic retard doing in the background?). The track listing was perfect, though, all that "classic rock" stuff. (Seems to cross over with Brutal Legend in some ways.) Not sure what the point of the battles are, though? On Medium they're insanely easy: Collect three powerups, wait for a section with lots of notes and deploy them one after the other (for Slash, just wait until the end). Anyways, some SUPERB tunes. I'm glad I picked it up! If GH2 had had the same amount of money behind it, and thus a track listing of similar quality, I probably would have married it. Thanks for the kind words, Miffy. We'll have to see if Harmonix can recapture the same amount of soul with Rock Band!

Yep, it does. It's all playable out of the box.

All the PS3s in Europe support backwards compatibility except the cheaper 40GB version that was recently released. The more expensive 60GB version has the backwards compatibility. We have always had backwards compatibility, too, but just less than Japan and the US (but only by a handful of titles). No idea about the "hardware versus software" mention, though. I don't see why they'd change it unless they were going to do the same with all future PS3s. This is just what I've heard through people, you should probably do some research to make sure I'm right before making an purchases! You could do what I did though: Buy a 360 and then get a PS2 on the cheap.

Argh! You're kidding me?! I could have had GH3 when it came out in the US!!! Doh! Thanks for the link!