Humanoid

I think those things overclocked to 3GHz+ easily (setting FSB to 333MHz will get to 3GHz on the dot). That's assuming it's an original 2006 model with stock at 2.4GHz, not the 2010 ones which came at 3.06GHz.

On the other hand, US hardware prices are cheap so you'll get maybe 50% more machine for the same money. Even better if Bulldozer which will be out by then is a hit and provides a viable all-round alternative to Intel. Might even see the 28nm graphics chips launching by then.

I love junk - the various cheap tatty T-shirts, VHS tapes, jewelery and useless lumps of plastic and metal. The bigger and tackier, the better. Even devices with no discernable use aside from annoying the user when they want to play - codewheels, schematics and obscure background texts. I even keep registration cards.

Well, procrastinating has ended up making my decision for me - with the inflated download price I went for the physical CE instead from the UK. After spending $200-odd on GoG over Christmas there's really nothing much store credit will do for me. Should come to a 'lil bit over $90AUD when it's dispatched, though admittedly the dollar is a bit unstable. 59.85GBP from TheHut with free shipping (after 5GBP code - MAY5). If you're after the standard edition, code MAY2 discount comes to 21.85 pounds (or try dvd.co.uk 22.18GBP if that code expires).

Maybe in 2022, but trying it in 2012 would lock out most of the world. One of the few things I'm prepared to praise Sony about is the ease of installing third-party hard drives in the PS3, unlike the proprietary-only approach of Microsoft. Hopefully we'll see something similar at least assuming the base storage rumour has any truth to it - SSD awareness would be a big plus (though SSDs cost about the same as a console at the moment - I just bought $800 worth of SSD goodness)

Pondering whether to go ahead with the pre-order (~$42 as above), or import a physical copy from the UK for ~$34. Was prepared to pay a little extra for launch day access and no DRM, but I get irritated at the principle of getting 'less' (sure I won't even notice the cut, but still).

Well there is one reason, if you happen to want a lifesize Geralt head.

At increasing price points I feel the best options for the time being are: GTX460 1GB (not the SE model), HD6850/70, HD6950 (2GB useful for resolutions over 1080p).

I think it was the first game's quicksave feature that didn't distinguish between quicksaves and regular saves and used a new slot every time? Swamped my SSD full of hundreds of saved games.

I guess there's less value in it because unlike the later games, the first two Monkey Island games were not voiced. I see a lot less to be gained by remaking the later fully voiced games, and indeed redoing their quirky and charming art styles might be a net negative. I suppose this applies to the CD releases of Loom and Indy4 as well, although in those cases there's a bit more room for movement on the graphics front. Slightly less popular suggestion, but I'd like to play the Heroes Chronicles series one day - on release it was viewed as cheap opportunistic tripe I know, but the more HoMM3-engined campaigns I can play, the better.

How good or bad combat mechanics are is far less relevant than how fast you can blow past it to get to the real game goodness underneath. Obviously some games have nothing underneath and can be safely discarded, but from my admittedly foggy recollection of Arcanum, combat went by in the blink of an eye so I enjoyed it no matter how unbalanced and unengaging the mechanics technically were. Not that I finished the game - I rarely do any game - but felt I got my money's worth.

I think all WMP does in that capacity is write the playlist file (which is a plain old file, .m3u most common I think) to the device. With Apple devices again being an exception, you can view the internal storage of just about any player as it was a regular drive, so it's trivial to select the music files that have already been copied to the player to create a playlist which is then saved manually onto the player (probably in the base music directory). Failing all other options, the agricultural one would be to just stick the music files on the player into regular folders and play by folder which most players can do easily enough. This would mean duplicating some tracks if you want them in more than one playlist however so it not a preferred option. I haven't used any of the proprietary software that ships with any player to manage my music so I can't say much about them, bulk copy+paste is all I need.

The Avatar is an obvious one in every edition of Ultima after U4, excluding U8.

I don't use playlists personally, I sort by album (relying on the embedded metadata in each track) since I'm an album listener - but playlists are generic formats and pretty much any media software can create them. My desktop music player of choice is the wonderfully customisable Foobar, and it certainly does create and handle playlists.

Well, down the checklist for Apple's players: Audio quality: middle of the road at best Supported formats: limited, no FLAC or OGG expandable memory: nope software tie-in: haha, itunes On a tangent, but I've yet to see any device ship with decent earphones yet so my position is buying third-party ones is a must. I use Koss PortaPros myself.

Late I know but basically there are only two portable music players I'd recommend to anyone which between them cover all the bases. Both are selected with audio quality first and foremost, followed by a wide range of supported formats (I use a mix of FLAC and OGG), expandable memory (extra 32GB microSDHC) and no software tie-in. Sansa Clip+ is the first, and one I think everyone should own. Tiny matchbox-sized player with minimalistic interface, infinitely usable, rugged and cheap as chips - perfect outdoors/gym player. Cowon J3 is the other, and is the complete player and the best sound quality, and indeed video quality in the market bar none. The best of the best.

Then what is a Black Box? Only the best CRPG of all time.

I'm still cursing Microsoft for discontinuing gameport support in the latest Windows - every now and then I wax nostalgic about the good times when all you needed was a simple stick with 4 buttons and a hat switch, and the intense rivalry between Thrustmaster's F-4 based precision and CH Products' more genteel sticks. Gaming PCs almost by definition would be attached to a stick of some sort - such as the awesomely versatile and nigh-indestructible Gravis joystick. Mind you, a significant proportion of Wing Commander players were strictly keyboard only and swear by it. For me, it's not necessarily the most effective playstyle that matters, but the most engaging. But I digress - Privateer is indeed awesome and is always in my top 5 when those silly "Best Game Ever" threads come along. Privateer 2's combat kind of sucked, but on the other hand it had an great live action cast (I would argue the best ever assembled for a video game) and some psychedelic design. There have been multiple fan attempts to remake Privateer - the most successful being Gemini Gold - but I don't really know how they play. Launched it for the remade intro (and Privateer does have an awesome intro sequence) but didn't bother playing it. Slightly tangential, but jettisoning the space combat aspect, the relatively recent remake of Pirates! (or indeed the originals) make for many an hour of good explorey tradey goodness.

Vaguely on the topic of sequels, it's interesting to see how the expectations shift from 17 years ago to now. Wing Commander CIC has republished an 1994 article covering the making of Privateer - remembering by this stage Origin was well and truly EA's property. Of note is the final note regarding sales - 50,000 units to that point had already guaranteed that there be a follow-up, either an expansion or likely a sequel. (As it happens, both, sort of) http://www.wcnews.com/articles/art64.shtml

Only restating what's been shown earlier in this thread, but every single NPC in Oblivion (and for the most part, Morrowind). But then the ready availability of a certain kind of mod proves the other competing developers right. Though fairly simple, I like how Ultima handled the Avatar's companions. Of course, they were pretty much facsimiles of Garriott's real life colleagues/friends (also 50:50 gender split). Jaana the druid, Julia the tinker, Katrina the shepherd, and Mariah the mage.

HTPCs cost something in that range generally, and this essentially is a HTPC in a cheap plastic case - though not sure how Atom does with HD video. I'd go Zacate or even full Sandy Bridge once we hit the upper end of that price scale.

It was passable once you realise that you can jog away leisurely from just about any monster with no real trouble. They give up pretty easily. Not that running long distance across bleak murky terrain is much better - ends up being similar to most WoW zones actually.

All I remember of the M&M6 combat was equipping the whole party with bows and firing away while backpedalling. I think I played the in-game card-game in M&M7 more than the game proper.

Yeah, but the Deep Roads also won that award. Witcher swamp vs Deep Roads, go.

An AMD Llano-based one might be interesting on the other hand. But yeah, you can stick a mini-ITX motherboard in just about any retro/oddball chassis for novelty these days.