LostStraw

So laptops in general are more stable than desktops? Yes they're easier to QA but in my experience stability problems come from cheap components rather than because it's not a closed system. The problems with the white macbook were not extremely rare. I would love some evidence that macs are somehow rugged but all I've found is the opposite. http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-not...y-macbooks.html

How does the macs design consistancy relate to stability? Apple computers are known for being rugged? http://i.gizmodo.com/5204395/apple-private...s-crack-problem

I thought FF12 had the best battle system of the entire series. It cut down on a lot of the tedium of battle after battle entering in the exact same combinations ad nausium. I only had to set the gambits up and tweak them from time to time. It was also nice not having to wait for the battle screen to load up because all the battles happened in the world space. Too bad FF13 is going back to the silly battle transisitions. I also thought the characters were well done FF12 -- unlike the ones introduced in 9, 10, and 10-2 ( I never got into 7 or 8 ). I liked the more serious tone as well. From what I've seen in the videos the FF13 characters look rather boring. Seemingly right now the only thing that can save FF13 for me is if it has a great job system because everything else about it looks rather drab.

Some forum goers were discussing thin client gaming a while back and the general consensus was that it wouldn't work. Well OnLive [video interview at gametrailers.com] is taking a stab at it. They claim to have solved the latency issues -- in the video interview it's all hand waiving though and sounds rather magical so I'm not holding my breath. It's supposed to come out in Winter of this year so it wont take too long to see how it turns out (crosses fingers). Imagines playing Crysis at Bok's settings here's part two of the interview [gametrailers.com]

Windows Server editions support other software RAID options like mirroring, otherwise it's as Gorth said. Software raid can be more of a pain to set up and manage than hardware raid. Here are some old instructions to set up RAID 0 in XP/2000 but I think they would generally apply to Vista as well (I'm not too sure): http://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=149 and you can also find more information in your 'Computer Management' help menu. I don't think dynamic discs/striped volumes can even be created in the lower end versions of Vista (starter, home and premium) so it might be for naught anyway depending on what version you have.

Linux is not an OS. there are lots of OSs based on Linux though. The different Linux based OSs do things differently, some install a lot, some install very little and some run off a USB drive. The user friendly distributions, like Ubuntu, tend to install more programs by default to make the OS easier to install and use for those who are less experienced or those that don't want to bother with the details. Although, thinking about it, Ubuntu really doesn't come with too many more bundled apps than Windows does.

I think he meant DRM.. maybe Some programs with DRM will work under Wine. For programs that dont work under Wine you can run Windows as a guest virtual machine. Though the performance will take a hit, especially if your hardware doesn't support virtualization, and you can pretty much forget about any applications that make significant use of graphics card.

I refute your point about it not being rated: http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=26469 I do agree that it not being in stores probably does allow them more affordances with the content though. I hope it doesn't get cut and that more parents start to realize that an M rated game, like an R rated movie, may not be suitable for their kids.

2007 benchmarks - Linux vs Windows Doom 3: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=arti...m=897&num=2 Quake Wars: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=arti...m=897&num=3 It really depends on the drivers as to how well the game will run. As a gaming platform Linux based operating systems suck because they simply don't have the support that Windows does.

Chronicles of Riddick -- and Painkiller as well.

To me it looks like it should be pronounced "wreck-yhl." It's hard to say with such a random sounding name though. I do agree that it's a rather poor choice -- it doesn't have a very nice sound to it (no matter which way I try to pronounce it) and it's not tangible unless one knows its Swedish meaning.

@Krezack In Fallout 2 the bonus HtH attacks was actually a level 15 perk (changed from Fallout 1).

There's no reason why the children deaths would have to be gory like the others -- or even have any blood effects at all for that matter. Some people would still complain but they would be fewer in number I'm sure. Arguing that you wanted to see some child's headless body spurting blood everywhere wouldn't win you any popularity contests. I'm actually against the excessive gore found in Fallout 3. Some of the trailers have even made me feel a bit queasy.

Heres a followup to the first opinion article I linked to earlier about the Juggalo culture -- for anyone who's interested: http://bygonebureau.com/2008/06/02/reconsi...e-clown-effect/

An article about Juggalos: http://bygonebureau.com/2007/07/02/misogyn...c-in-heartland/ Definitions from the article:

I haven't played Fallout 3 yet so I wont vote but I have been re-playing Fallout 2 and it's definitely not as good as I remember -- particularly the combat.

I'll guess it's an add for a clothing company -- maybe Abercrombie & Fitch who are known for their racey ads. Edit: Just noticed the filename of the ad pictured is "fitch.jpg" so.. yea.. it probably is.

It's like Bob's Iguana Bits from Fallout 1 Speaking of which there was also Chip's spleen in Fallout 2

Fallout 2 -- because I can't afford Fallout 3

Gametrailers has their video review of Fallout 3 up: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/42125.html

The character model on the background of your Dell Inspiron Mini 9 wouldn't be from a game Obsidian is producing would it? How easy is it to type on the netbooks? The keyboards look a little cramped due to the small size.

What do we have? WoW and Guild Wars? Two games. WoWsers! That is a high percentage of sucessful MMO's out of how many that has been made? Right! Only two successful MMORPGs -- because obviously all these other ones must be loosing money for the people producing/running them: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm

I wonder how much this service will be abused. Perhaps a better option would be for hospitals/doctors to offer (and advertise) these kinds of services to their patients. But maybe I'm being alarmist and people will respect the service and use it for its intended purpose.

The cartoonish look is what they're going for, so I guess it's part of that. Why do MMOs have to be cartoony? Gritty can totally work as well. I can't speak for the KotOR MMO but WoW went with stylized graphics for performance reasons and lasting/broad appeal. Realistic/gritty graphics tend to not have the same appeal and get dated faster as well as require more processing power to achieve good results (according to Blizzard). Other MMOs have probably done the same for similar reasons.

If it does appeal to those who played KotOR 1 + 2 then I'll probably take a nibble when it comes out. I am a little sad it's not KotOR 3 but -- meh -- not like I can change the fates. I'm also one who doesn't really like the graphics. It's not that they're "cartoony" but rather how they're styled.