Gwardinen

Desperately want that to be a loot drop.

If it wasn't wiped at the end of the beta, the Idle Thumbs platoon Squid Division created should still exist. I am sort of considering buying this, despite having no money. I played the singleplayer campaign at a friend's and thought it sucked, but the idea of doing Battlefield multiplayer with thumbs is very tempting. I just wonder how much it'd actually happen.

Happy spooky birthday, Jake.

Ah yeah, that happened to me too. That's profoundly stupid and annoying. I dunno, maybe it's been long enough since Black Ops that I'm forgetting that it was more refined, but playing the BF3 campaign really felt exactly the same except with a less interesting plot and better vehicle sequences. Honestly my favourite thing about the campaigns in these games is that they're so simple and short that you can just complete them over a couple days in a relaxed fashion. Maybe that sounds nuts but I sort of appreciate a game that doesn't really expect anything of me occasionally. Particularly after having played Dark Souls, that expects everything, and before playing Skyrim, that will expect ALL TIME.

I just finished the campaign minutes ago, and mostly agree. That said, nothing about the campaign surprised me, good or bad. It's basically the same as the current generation of Call of Duty games' campaigns, so go into it knowing that and you'll get a somewhat entertaining, heavily scripted thrill ride for a few hours. That helicopter example is particularly egregious, and I did run smack into that wall the first time and die too, but again it's to be expected from this subgenre at the moment. If you're used to these games it won't be particularly troublesome for you, but if you go into it thinking that because it's called Battlefield 3 it's going to be different you'll be disappointed.

That's interesting. I can't remember whether it was here or elsewhere but I heard a theory that the 360's RROD problems were caused by cost saving measures put in place because certain metals had suddenly become much more expensive just before the consoles were manufactured. If that is the case, I can definitely see how a contemporary graphics card might have been built the same way and suffer the same problems.

This might actually be more of a tribute to the 8800's popularity and evidence of the way many people end up upgrading their PC at the same time than it is an indictment of its stability. I don't think it's exceptionally stable, but it seemed like it lasted long enough for each of our purposes for the most part. It wouldn't surprise me if 3-4 years was considered the acceptable break point for PC hardware in general from a manufacturer point of view. That's about when people tend to replace it anyway.

I pretty much echo those sentiments. I don't think I'm too deep into the plot, but it does seem exactly like Black Ops without the Cold War lunacy. On the up swing, you do get to play as other characters occasionally, which I'm not sure is true of Black Ops, though it has been the case in other recent Call of Duty games. The vehicle sections are also pretty solid, because it's Battlefield and they do vehicles anyway. I also agree with the sound recommendation - the audio is the most stand out feature of the game so far. I play with the volume higher than usual because it's so good. If you don't have surround sound, I recommend using headphones - and there's even an option in the audio menu that will simulate surround headphones if you don't have them. I think it would also simulate surround sound to an extent if you used it in conjunction with stereo speakers, but I would imagine it wouldn't be nearly as effective.

I had an 8800 die too... not sure on the exact timing now, at least a few months ago, maybe as much as a year. Bought it in late 2006 or early 2007.

That's normal. Blighttown is one of the most complained about areas in the game. For my part, I killed the witch and never looked back (except that actually you have to go back to the area below her later on).

Provided it's still as it was when I last used it, you create a coach and make teams on their website, then for the actual game you go into a relatively basic Java client. It can take a little bit of messing around to understand exactly what is going on, but it's definitely completely playable. All of my teams are in the League division, which is I believe just an unranked area where people can do custom games or tournaments as they see fit. Oh, except for my team that's in the Stunty League... which is sort of an even more comedically insane mode.

In case anyone does use Fumbbl, this is my old coach. Excuse the name, I didn't expect to actually be playing it for very long. I loved some of the teams I made in that, and I've just looked at them and felt the affection again so if anyone fancies a game of it I'd probably be up for it.

I would note if there are Blood Bowl fans who don't own the Cyanide game (such as myself) who want to play it, you can use a website called Fumbbl. When last I checked the ruleset on there was a slightly older version but otherwise it was a good lightweight version of the game. Obviously you don't get the pretty 3D models and animations, though.

Yeah, the parry stance is when they go into a kind of fencing pose with their rapiers (the ones with the larger sword and shield don't do it). If you hit them with a normal attack they'll parry and riposte and you'll regret it. You can, however, hit them with a leaping attack (flicking left stick up at the same time as heavy attack - I don't always manage them, I must admit) or just back off a bit and wait for them to stop. If you do take the right, make use of the amenities in that area but do not try to progress in that direction. Your objective is at the top of the church and trying to go the other way will probably be even harder at this stage. Edit: Also, I'll reiterate there is an elevator system directly across from the right hand door (looking at it from your direction) which will take you down to Firelink, and can be used to go up and down after having been used once.

Something that's definitely worth knowing is that you don't have to fight the drake on the bridge. You can totally ignore it for a good long while... in fact the area beneath it is totally optional for the entire game anyway. As for the archers, I don't know if you noticed or not but there are colonnades on the right as you come into the boar area, and in there are some stairs going up to where the archers are.

I don't think you're thinking of this, but it reminds me of Muzzy, the mascot for BBC's language learning programmes: (He's the green one.)

I'm doing my best to resist the fact that the console version is out now and wait for the PC version. I recently got a new computer that has basically left me at negative amounts of money so I want to use it every chance I can get. Also, it's claimed that the PC version will have some improvements in textures and such. Not sure I actually believe it, but it's probably good for my self control for me to wait anyway.

So I got sorta screwed by the game today. Not in a game breaking way, but in a "I don't get cool shit now" way. After acquiring the Lordvessel, I returned to Firelink Shrine, however the NPC was asleep. I didn't want to hit him because the game has pretty much taught me that you can hit important, peaceful NPCs and screw yourself out of them forever. So I went away for a while. A while back, I came later, but he was still asleep, so I decided to go to an area I had heard was relevant to my stage of the game ( ). However, upon going there and doing the thing I was meant to do at this point, I came back up to Firelink and he now hates me. He basically gave a terse goodbye message and left for good. As far as I know I can still progress in the game, but I will now never get his dialogue, and he's one of the few NPCs in the world that actually has story-relevant information to give you. So, as a warning, once you have the Lordvessel you might want to read what I did in the spoiler tags and not do it. Apparently you actually can whack him to wake him up (not sure if you need to unequip your weapon first so that it just hits him with your first) or if you go far enough or spend long enough away he apparently might just be awake when you come back.

Yeah, to be honest the tone of the Gadget Show has never really impressed me all that much, and their promotional stuff tends to outright irritate me.

Going to London to watch a film would be a rather expensive night out for me. I'll see if I can figure out a way to watch it sometime soon, and I'll try to head for the subtitled version if I do.

Having the same problem. I would definitely try it if I got the chance, just for the experience.

I'm in the UK but I took a look on Amazon and it seemed like there were only region 1 DVD imports?

Yeah, I can confirm this one as it happened to a friend of mine, it can happen after you meet Lautrec if you fight him then and there. Sometimes even if you kill him it will continue. I'm not using spoiler tags here even if it is mildly spoilery because this is such a bad bug - so if you rescue Lautrec of Carim, DO NOT FIGHT HIM. He will show up in the Firelink Shrine area (specifically, down the spiral stairs from the bonfire) and you can fight and kill him then without any problems, as far as I know. But there are definite issues with attacking him the first time you meet. Haha, yeah. I haven't fought any ghosts yet but I hear you're not really meant to until significantly later due to their inability to be targetted unless you are cursed or have a transient curse item or (I think) a divine weapon.

I've been vaguely considering seeing Troll Hunter somewhere, or importing the DVD or something. There is apparently a dubbed version of the film as well as a subtitled version, does anyone have any insight on whether seeing a dubbed version would totally ruin my experience? I don't really have an established position on dubbed/subtitled in general and I don't really know the tone of the film well enough to have any kind of opinion this time so I'd appreciate any information.

If you're near the then you must be in the lower Undead Burg, which is actually where I went after doing the main area of Darkroot Garden and fighting its boss,