metadigital

If it takes a while (half-an-hour from boot) to crash, and when you restart the game straight away, there is no problem for a similar amount of time, then it is probably driver-related. Otherewise, it is probably temperature-governed. NVidia have some weird FEAR driver issues, I was reading, like it is the only game that has a working profile for Quad-SLI (that is faster than ordinary SLI), so I wouldn't be surprised if their drivers are a little wonky at the moment. Still, there shouldn't be issues with the DVD ... you might want to try the "no-CD" crack, or copy the entire DVD to a new partition in your harddrive ...

You can buy temperature probes and an auto-fan speed kit for the box.

Well, I would contend that the consoles aren't primarily game machines in this generation: they are more the interface between the tv and the internet: streaming movies and music and whatever other entertainment into the living room. Sure people (in the target demographic) will buy games to play, but the primary box-shifting impetus is the FIRST: set-top broadband management facilities (Xbox 360 running Windows Media Centre Edition versus PS3 running Linux) and SECOND: next gen storage format (blu-Ray, HD-DVD) and THIRD: games. Alienating how? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Gimping the game inteface to win over people who have never played a game, rather than beat up the other consoles and take their lunch money. I commend it for business acumen: finding new markets, less competition, better return on investment, etc. I just don't get how (if what I understand is true) the fan base will be pleased to use a wand instead of a joypad to control four instead of fourteen controls. Sure, Mario 3D was a new (and arguably) more advanced game ... but it sucked. I am not convinced that the very thing that demarcates the Wii from the competition isn't the biggest reason for fans to leave. Not that I am advocating graphics whoring, or pimping consoles for the sake of it: I am quite happy to play a text adventure, for example. I guess what I am saying is that the wii looks like step backwards, not forwards, to pick up new gamers (and hope that the older ones don't notice). I just think that the new controller sounds pretty lame, and that Ninty have done a Double-Plus-Microsoft marketing effort.

Hoff: the shock troops of awe!

I think it is entirely possible that all the damage Jean Grey did as Phoenix may very well have been (conveniently partially) reversed with her death.

I would get new locks. Also a scutcheon plate. And a CCTV camera/proximity sensor with hidden off-switch, hooked up to a 10000 volt actuator on your door.

Or maybe Christianity proved worhtless to those people under their distress, so they needed a better religion.

Nope. Unless the laptop was stolen, then he has willingly given his private information to the buyer.

You should be more worried about bees. (They kill 40 times more people every year!) I heard about some old fish ... they don't have an official expirey date or maximum size: they just keep growing (metabolism slows down incredibly, though). There are local legends about fish that live in lakes and aren't seen for years at a time, then something rouses them (hunger?) and they eat a swan or something (whole) then go back to sleep in the mud for another year or so. I was trying to find the Sharks' world record for eating the most amount of people, but I gave up. I think it was the one in 1914 that Jaws was loosely based on ... though that could have been multiple sharks, rather than just one rogue.

I heard about some critical chemical reaction in the atmosphere that keeps the basic, fundamental chemistry of life working (can't remember details now: it was in New Scientist about ten years ago) that breaks down at an (unknown) higher temperature ... something about convection and ions and gases or somesuch. Colron, I have a (very intelligent) friend who is adamant that global Warming is a myth: he has recetly bought me The Skeptical Environmentalist and State of Fear to read (yes, I pointed out that the latter book is fiction: it was the source of much merriment on my part. ) I'll let you know what I think when I've read it; my understanding (which I would say with as little hubris as possible is far superior to his) is that there is a consensus that the Earth is warming, and that human activity has some impact on it: the magnitude of the impact (and the underlying warming trend, which may or may not be completely natural and many measures of magnitude larger than the human contribution) are yet to be determined. He still argues that theworld is not warmer than it was, which I dispute. No-one can say for certain what has caused any warming, with any certainty, yet.

There is some evidence to support the conjecture that (the arbitrary distinction between the two species of) human and chimpanzees interbred for a period of time, before they eventually "diversified" completely ...

There was a Xmen 1.5 (which I bought as a double with 2), which includes all the deleted and extra scenes from both films (IIRC) ... even rated M (instead of PG, like the film) because there is an extra-revealing shot with Mystique walking away from the low-mounted camera ... So I guess there will be a 3.5. And a 4. I just hope they don't decide to go cheap and cheerful and make it like Police Academy. There's good mileage to be had out of the franchise, but it behooves the producers to invest significantly to reap the benefits. Which is not always a foregone conclusion, unfortately ...

You're definition. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am not! (That might even be a compliment; but, still, an undeserved one.) ... ... Waits for the penny to drop ...

Yeah, that's my (hopefully correct!) recollection, too. The competing producers put out a film that would steal the others' thunder (using a big name on the marquee), with a quick and dirty immitation of their more considered work. Business is war. If you win the business, then winners can behave as magnanimously (or otherwise) as they want; the trick is to win, first. Basically I think Kaftan needs a paradigm shift: perhaps being (or pretending to be) the person who funds a game might give some perpective on their wants, needs, biases, fears and goals. As I said earlier, I have no problem with middle-men; typically that is what capitalism is all about. Normally, however, the middlemen must contribute some value in proportion to their return ... with game publishers (except for special cases) the publishers take the cake and leave just enough crumbs to prevent the developers from expiring. They take the initial sum they loaned, the interest, the expenses they incurred to loan, publish and produce the game, any incidental expenses towards that, AND the IP and all future rights to the IP. That's not fair. I don't need someone to loan me money to buy a watch, whilst they wear my watch, AND charge me to tell the time. usury Just like to point out I called it. Why must I enjoy things that fail? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Schadenfreude

Mr Hunter, you might want to take a breath so that your ranting becomes less comical. Here's how it works: Person decides to make a mod of a game. Mod is distributed free. If people like the mod, then they contribute to the modder in some way (gasp! cash) After a certain critical point, the modder is able to charge for the (current or future) mod, like an expansion pack. If this all sounds familiar that's because the methodology has been used before: it is the basic underpinning of shareware, and was the marketing vector for the original Doom. Now, you are guilty of many logical fallacies in your argument, but one of the major ones is POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC (after this, therefore because of this): meaning that just because (in this instance, Gary) can charge for the mod, therfore DD is eeeeeevil because it caused him to charge for the mod. Secondly, as has been pointed out numerous times, Gary was not going to extend his mod past version 9.04. Which is still available for free. If you want to support him and his efforts, then you can do so VOLUNTARILY by purchasing his official, later version. (That's called a free market.) I don't know why you have decided that your warped interpretation of the marketplace is the only version permissible. Perhaps if you were a modder, you might have a different attitude.

Saw X3. Everyone is right.

From memory, you don't want your HD temp to raise above 55ish ... at 60

Actually, it's the fans that make a console a success No matter how good the system is, and no matter how good the games are.... it'll fail if no one buys it <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I don't get the Ninty fan-base support ... especially with their overt manoeuvres to alienate their existing customers in the headlong rush for new gamers, from the population of those who have never gamed before (as opposed to the customers of other consoles).

Ah! I almost read that and spoiled the game! Make sure to give us a report ..!

With rideable horsies?

Just don't buy a steel case. 15kg > you.

*looks up Maunder minimum. Thanks! Also things like Krakatoa had an impact ...

*chuckles* teenage angst ...

Walk the Line. Joaquin Phoenix was brilliant. Reece Witherspoon was better. The fact that they both sang and were very close to the legendary voices of Johnny and June. Highly recommended.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race