Hurlshort

Agreed, parents are the ones that need to be regulated. I do think the gaming industry needs to be more responsible for what it puts on the shelves though. There are just too many violent games out there. It would be nice to see the industry try and branch out from that. It's boring. Just because horror movies sell well doesn't mean all of Hollywood is focused entirely on them.

Nah, Toskala is just starting to hit his stride. It seems like the Leafs are going to get better as the season goes along. Plus, it sounds like (from the opponents you've mentioned) their early schedule was pretty tough.

It's pretty sad that folks give negative reviews just for being bad at a game. I better stay away from Halo 3, if that's the case.

I also hear it's fairly mediocre. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it on my Christmas list anymore. Kor, the next game we play is huge! Series is knotted up 1-1. I was looking at the stats, and man, you basically blew me out in the 3rd. I think you had 20 shots.

Wait a sec, every place except Neverwinter you mentioned is more of a town or village than a city. Plus, have you even played Mass Effect? Why are you talking about it like an expert?

They have pretty much put there eggs in the console basket, so I'd definitely avoid them unless you own a console. Still, Rainbow Six Vegas is a better multiplayer game for my money than Halo 3. More tactics and use of cover make it a tad more believable than the run and gun titles.

Hippy

Eh, I can see that back in the days when console games were fairly simplistic, but today console titles are extremely complex. There shouldn't be any game stopping bugs, but these bugs still leave the game very playable.

$1500 will get you very close to top of the line buying components. Paying an extra $1500 to have it ready to go vs. two hours to unpack and assemble plus however long it takes you to partition drives and install an OS (you can have any number of live cd Linux OSs up in a minute )...I don't think I'd call that laziness. Well, you figure it's about a day of work for someone without a lot of experience building systems. I've built a few PC's in my life, and one thing that can be gauranteed is that I'll run into a few technical issues that will be tough for e to figure out. I can typically get it to run, but there will always be a hiccup here and there. At some point, you have to weigh what time you have available, the possible frustration levels, and how much money you have on hand. Going off the fact that a good PC boutique will charge you about $1000 more than putting it together yourself, it might be worth the extra cost depensing on what your life is like.

Eh, the whole console vs. PC argument has been done to death. I just bought a new PC for quite a bit of money, but I also love my 360. They are very different beasts. If Sand wants a new PC, that's great. Hopefully he'll have the funds available someday to grab a 360 and join us on Live.

Yes, religion belongs in Social Science, which is the class formally known as Social Studies.

There's a pretty good sized group on the 360 right now, and I'm having a blast playing with everyone. Llyr and I got killed in NHL 08 by some ringer this morning playing in team mode, and then Nick won a game of Carcassone against the two of us. The voice chat is solid, there are just a ton of classic games to play on Xbox Live Arcade, and there's usually someone online to get a game going with.

Wow, those are all very recent Tom Cruise flicks. Top Gun, that bartending one, Interview with a Vampire, The Firm... Actually, A Few Good Men is one of my favorite movies ever. I can understand having issues with Tom Cruise as a person, he seems pretty whacko, but as an actor he's got a pretty solid resume.

Yeah, hopefully I can figure out how to play against more than one person. I was watching a movie tonight with my wife, so I couldn't join y'all. What does it say I'm doing when I have a movie in?

Well, Bioware releases one large RPG every few years, and most people tend to love them, so I guess it makes sense.

I like how in the Witcher, the dark is actually dark, and you really can't be expected to go into a crypt without a cat eyes potion or a torch.

Dang, I need to grab Halo, since all 6 guys on are currently playing it.

I actually enjoy the single player of Crackdown a lot. I've probably played it more than any other 360 game since release. It's basically a very solid GTA clone, with a bit of crazy 3D jumping thrown in.

I can see where Sand is coming from, this is an adult who knowingly targeted a child, and it ended tragically. While there is no precedent for holding the adult responsible for the suicide, I think there should be a way to discourage anyone from targeting another online and bullying them. Not necessarily criminal proceedings, but some way to discourage this behavior should exist.

So two humans can play against a computer opponent online? Yeah, you can even play with 5 human players against the computer team, or up to 4 vs. 4 human players. I'm not sure how well it works, but I read up a bit on it and it sounds cool. I'll have to try it out when I get a chance.

Oops, I was thinking of Adaptation, which is a movie about orchids. Dang flowers.

Actually, there are plenty of steroids in cream form. The whole "illegal substance" debate is extremely complicated. When an athlete gets injured, he needs to rehab, but he can't use just anything because of league rules. When I had an asthma attack last year, my doctor prescribed an inhaler. It also contains a steroid. When my daughter got a daiper rash a few months ago, we got a prescription for a steroid cream. Bonds is saying he didn't knowingly take any illegal substances. That seems pretty impossible to prove, but I guess we'll see in the coming months whether the prosecution has actual evidence that he understood he was taking an illegal substance. Until then, he's innocent.

Nick, NHL 08 has online team play. I assume that's what you are looking for in coop. Anybody have Crackdown? I'd be interested to see how that plays online.

That's Nicholas Cage, not Tom Cruise

Kor won the first game, 4-1, with his Ducks beating my Bruins. I don't think it counted as a league game though, so we can rematch with the Oilers later.