Spider

I didn't have problems with traps 8at least not big enough trouble for me to care). Pick-pocketing was borked though. Has that been fixed? has anyone tried the new DLC yet btw? I'm considering picking it up, but haven't decided yet.

I agree completely. The amount of skill points available was just silly.

Most people who complain about the bobbleheads are more like "Stat-boosting items in FO3? How lame." Mostly the complain about them being munchkinny and stuff like that. Hence my response. Your critique is more valid, but I still disagree. I think the bobbleheads as a game mechanic are excellent (a substantial reward for exploration) and they make sense in the over-the-top Fallout-world. The bobbleheads themselves, not the stat-boosting effect. That's just there to reward the player, which I'm fine with. To be honest, I think they're a better fit than the memory modules in FO2. I think FO2 took the science fiction aspect of the game a bit too far at times. It's supposed to be silly, campy 50's sci fi, not melodramatic, dystopian 80's sci fi, where cybernetics and such was a main theme. I don't mind them terribly, because as a gameplay reward for thorough players they're fun.

Meh. I'd prefer stat increases through dialog/quests instead, like in FO1&2. Hopefully they are at least more like memory chips than bobbleheads. you mean like the books and memory modules? Oh, wait...

It's in line with what JE wanted to do for Van Buren, so it makes sense.

Fallout 3 perfectly illustrates what Gromnir is talking about. Hardest difficulty gave an xp boost, resulting in the game becoming much easier much faster, since character level had a large impact on difficulty.

Monitors are a bit tricky that way, especially the larger ones. The more economical ones use a TN Panel, which means the viewing angle won't be perfect and colors tend to not be 100% correct. But instead, response times are better, which makes it good for gaming. If you want to do professional photo editing and want a better viewing angle, then you need to look at ITS (I think) panels. They're more expensive, but better where TN Panels are weak. However, their response times are worse, so they have worse performance in gaming. So as with everything else, it comes down to what your needs are. If you work with design or editing professionally, a TN panel probably is the wrong way to go. But for a gamer (or someone who is neither) it's usually a better deal. I have a TN panel myself and it has not problems with the viewing angle when I'm sitting in front of it. If I stand up, on the other hand, it gets a lot worse. By the way, another reason many websites uses fixed width is to make texts more readable. It's harder to follow text if the lines are very long. There's a reason magazines typically have columns. I think these fora are pretty much a nightmare in that department for instance.

I'm glad you like it. As for the browser thing, try running it in half-width. Makes it a little easier.

Typically, large numbers never require an additional separator. But if you want one, there is always the dot. Why it's written one way in Europe and another in th US I don't know. The US does a lot of things in non-standard ways.

Just thought I'd hsare this, Portal is currently available for free on Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/ Since I've heard such good things about it, I figure it's about time to give it a try. Can't argue with the price.

I thought Shale was the best NPC. Most entertaining and most interesting, as well as the best tank. My party wept whenever I went with Alistair instead of Shale. At least in Origins. The Awakening NPCs were generally better, and I liked the expansion a lot overall. I just wished it hadn't been quite so easy.

I would had agreed with you before I played DA:O and ME2. The DLC is not worth it's price, is basically the "crust" of the game all that got left out of the final cut with new makeup. The game by itself does well but there is no motivation to actually buy them. I do think that their approach is the right one, to reward honesty instead of hurting your customers because of the wrongdoers. But the quality of the content leaves much to be desired, E.G: Awakenings, an expansion that only last 12 hours Yes, but here we are talking about the DLC that you get for free with the game. Like Shale in DA:O. It's not about getting you to pay for more stuff, it's about rewarding customers instead of punishing them. So I also like this scheme very much.

It's a sweet rig. Congrats

Can't there be 6 dimmslots on the mb? So 3x2 + 3x1. That would still be tri-channel, with each channel being 2+1. as long as each channel is the same, it still works I think. At least it works that way for dual channel. (I didn't know there wasn't 3gb sticks though, that's my bad) that being said, I agree with mkreku, getting 8 gb and removing one stick is probably the best solution.

I can't see 9 being anything but tri-channel. But if you can verify it's always good. You know that 8 gb isn't tri-channel since that means you'll have three identical blocks of memory. Since you can't divide 8 with three, it can at best be dual-channel. 9 on the other hand can't be divided by two, so it can't be dual channel. Which is why it only makes sense if it's tri channel.

I'm with Gorth. 6GB will give you better performance over 8GB, since it's tri-channel. So 6 or 9, whichever fits your budget is what I'd recommend. Other than that, it looks very nice.

The transparent taskbar can be turned off though.

Same here. Bioshock was touted as an innovative shooter that more or less would redefine the genre. The problem is, it wasn't even a very good shooter. Sure, the story and atmosphere was stellar, but the gameplay was dull. So after that, there is no way I'll spend anything on that franchise.

If you want price/performance, it's i5 and 5850 that you want. But I don't think either of those is available in the dell configuration he's making, at least not both at the same time. And since g1fted wants to use dell, this is what we've got to work with. To get back under budget, couldn't you go with 6 GB of RAM? I don't think it will have any noticeable difference in performance. Do that and you will have an excellent computer. Compared to the system I put together at newegg, you will have more ram and a better processor (although for gaming, it's pretty much the same as noted above). So yeah, it's a pretty decent deal. Personally, I'd still build it myself, because then I know exactly what components will be in the computer and I can vouch for the quality of every single part. but it's not like a company like Dell has a habit of making computers that break down, so it should be fine. My girlfriend has a Dell, albeit a laptop, and it's been just great. So if you want a prebuilt system, and Dell specifically, I don't see any problems with that build.

I prefer the first system over the second. Tri-channel memory is nicer than dual-channel, if it works within the budget. But the second one also suffers from a not too great graphics card. Since gaming is what will need the most performance, the graphics card is the single most important component in your computer. The configuration you've linked makes more sense in an office environment, where processing power is more important than graphical abilities. The 5450 does outperform the 310 with about 20%, but that's still not really anything to write home about.

Integrated sound is good enough for most people. But you really, really need a better graphics card. If you don't get a Radeon 5850 or 5870 I think you'll regret it. That card won't play many modern games. Especially not on the resolutions a 24" monitor wants. Just to give you an idea on the performance of that card: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-220,2445.html (it says GeForce 210, I know, but the 310 is the exact same card, just renamed to not seem obsolete, which it is). Look at gaming performance, especially at 1920x1080 resolution (which is native for your monitor).

Dragon Age was cracked on Day 1. I'm pretty sure the PC sales for that game were also amazing.

Here's wehat i'd do with that budget: Core i5 processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...5-215-_-Product (200) Radeon 5850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...5-318-_-Product (310) 4 GB RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...5-278-_-Product (115) 1Tb Harddrive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...2-185-_-Product (75) Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...7-172-_-Product (140) Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16824001378 (260) Windows: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...4-_-Product(99) This would cost $1200. Missing here is case and PSU. Unfortunately newegg didn't have the case I'd recommend. Which would be this: http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=51277&am...ractal%20Design The same company also has excellent PSU:s, but I couldn't find those anywhere in the use. But if you get a case and PSU for no more than $200, the above system could be upgraded with a 5870 instead of the 5850 for even better gaming performance and that would land you at 1500 exactly. A few comments on why I went with what I did: As your mainly gaming, the processor won't be that important. The i5 performs just as well 8sometimes better) in games as the i7. You won't need more than 4GB currently. And the i5 is dual channel, so you only need dual channel memory as well. It's very easy to upgrade memory later down the orad, in case you need it. I honestly don't know enough about motherboards, but this one is one I've seen recommended for similar systems. But there are probably other alternatives that will do just as well (or even better?). I have the monitor linked myself and I find it to be just excellent value for the money spent. This is also a spot to cut down costs a bit, since there are cheaper monitors of the same size, as well as the option to get a smaller monitor (but really, you want ot get as large a monitor you can afford). So those are my thoughts.

Can you build it yourself or do you want a pre-built system? What is the primary function of the computer? Is it primarily gaming or is it used for work as well. if it's used for work, is the work it's used for in need of computer performance (ie video editing, 3D modelling, etc)? The Dell computer comes with OS and a Screen, do you need those as well (in case you can build it yourself). How about mouse and keyboard? Edit: I have some thoughts on the package you linked anyway: The graphics card has got to go. When I tried to configure the smae system I could add a Radeon 5870 for 280. If you can do the same, it's actually a pretty good value package. The processor supports tri-channel memory, so you want 6 or 9 GB (or 12) rather than 8. I don't think you'll need more than 6, but it won't hurt either if it's in budget. I'd also consider the monitor to be on the small side, but your mileage my vary. So if you just change the memory and the graphics card, that system will probably work for you. Once I know what the computer is for I can post a suggestion for a build it yourself system if you want.

I'm just curious how that will work. If I buy the game and install it on 5 computers, my activations will be gone. Then I go online and revoke all of them and install again on five different computers. Which basically means this scheme won't stop pirates (they'll crack it) or friend-sharing (I can get as many activations as I need). Maybe it hurts the second hand market, but as long as you get the activation information, not even that will be affected. So it's basically pointless and a waste of money? Or what am I missing?