What evidence do you have that it increases price by this much?

Had no idea it was so hard to find an xbox 360 these days.

Sam's Club, Target, Super Target, EB Games, and Wal-Mart were all sold out. Best Buy had about 10 of them, but I'm going to wait and see if they do some kind of deal on them tomorrow. I'll either buy there tomorrow, or order from Amazon on Tuesday (which is tax free, and should get it here by Friday).

It doesn't -- the Xbox 360 uses software emulation.

Xbox 360 would've launched for $400 even without BC, but it would've been a bad move as they abandoned the original Xbox earlier than most expected. Plus, a lot of Xbox 360 owners didn't have the original (and can't get a new one now), so it opens up a larger library of titles for them (especially family/kids games).

you guys are killing all the fun of trolling people for no reason other than boredom

That's what I thought. It has a different GPU and CPU type and doesn't have BC for the entire library, so it hardly seemed like it was doing anything to cater to compatibility. And yeah, it was a good idea since PS2 soundly beat the Xbox in its late last gen war.

i think i played one psx game on my ps2 since i got it in 2001.

ps2 beat xbox because it had GTA and final fantasy

I didn't mean that BC won it for PS2 (You're right, it was barely an issue), only that the PS2 is owned by vastly more people than the Xbox, so BC on the 360 lets a good slice of people catch up on xbox stuff if they so choose.

eh, i figured that was the case though it seemed pretty out of the blue

so, I'm not a gamer and generally know nothing about any of this stuff including the technology. But we have a PS2 and it's pretty important in our house for the kids. And tonight after the dog knocked it a little walking by, the damn thing stopped working. It seems as if the machine no longer can tell there's a game in there. Like maybe the laser doesn't read properly... maybe it got knocked/moved or something and isn't hitting properly.

Anyway, has anybody else had this happen? Am i Fucked? I really don't want to have to buy a new console. Do I have to? If so, can I get a cheap one somewhere now that it's kinda old technology.

thanks. for the kids.

You might be. At this point, the tech's so cheap that repair isn't really a viable option (might as well replace if necessary). A brand new one is $130; you can get a used older model for probably $80, though.

Ah, my old friend disc read error. Almost every one of my friends and myself suffered this at some point. The PS2 is basically a bucket full of cheap parts, Elco, so I wouldn't hold out much hope. If you see it having much more life with your kids I would splurge on a used newer model. Much more reliable. With the old PS2s I'd say breakdown after even a few months is a legit possibility.

Been playing an online web game called Xeno Tactic lately
http://www.xgenstudios.com/play/xenotactic

i was able to crack open my ps2 years ago and fix the disc read error. basically all i did was turn some thingy in the cd player.

try it out here, it's really not that hard at all, and worth it:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/ps2.ars

Got my 360, and signed up for Live. But for some reason I can't get the blades to load when I sign in from the main dashboard. Although I can play Halo 3 online... what gives?

Dorrrrrrrrrk.

How are you running that, anyway? I'm not keen on the Wii mod scene.

haha, i wish that was me

it's not, just a random screen floating around as of a couple hours ago, hopefully i'll be playing it within the next week though

and i had a wiikey installed.

Snake? Snake!? Snake!!!!

wow....i just beat call of duty 4. either i'm really fucking good or it's way f'n easy.

humor me.

Apparently it is way f'n easy. Anyway i also beat it two weeks ago and it was my first FPS ever ( well, i played quake on dreamcast but it doesn t really count).

Today i beat Marvel Ultimate alliance.

easy? ok try beating it on hard or the level after hard, veteran.
then tell me it's an "easy" game.

Ok my mistake i meant to say short instead of easy.

hard modes dont count thats like saying "you think the game is easy try controlling it with your fingers cut off and your dick glued to your head"

default settings = the game, anything else = bullshit

Truth.

Loads of fun, as in the past.

If I have never played an Advance Wars would I like it? I like strategy games, but I'm not super hardcore into them. I haven't played my DS in awhile, and I would like an excuse to fire it up again. Need to pick up Burnout Paradise too. Jeez it's like November all over again. Not really.

my nigga!

Advance Wars is a pretty basic turn based strategy war game. I don't view it as a hardcore game, although the series has attracted hard core strategy players because the game is so well done and usually has a lot of content. I'm finding in the current version that the main campaign starts pretty easy, so I think someone new to the game will have no problems. There are side missions to the main campaign that are definitely more of a challenge.

I beat Mario Galaxy

now I have to collect purple coins!

beating a game on hard = you're a hardcore gamer. beating it on normal and then tossing the game away is lame IMO.
wow, am I really alone on this one?

if you feel like you want to get your moneys worth, more power to you, but im such a hardcore gamer i always have about 5-7 other games to play and don't feel the need wasting my time going through the exact same game again.

Yeah, I'm way more of a power gamer than hardcore in any way.

I'd rather play a bunch of great games than chug through one or two of them while getting my ass kicked.

Yeah back when i'd only get a game or four a year i'd 100% them.

I just dont have the time anymore, the only game I've 100%'d in recent times is Galaxy, i never even got all the heart pieces in Twilight Princess or Wind Waker.

no shit, it's like guitar hero or rock band on expert, fuck that, i would rather enjoy myself and be awesome on medium.

yeah, true dat.
I have the end of assassins creed to beat plus I need to finish mario, drake's fortune and go through mass effect again. plus I'm gonna rent no more heroes and buy the new burnout..plus I grabbed nitro bike the other day too. (plus I do QA by day.....jesus H )

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3165564

Did you open it yet?

Got this the other day, tried it tonight. Decent game but for some reason my PC doesn't want to play it without lag. Surpasses all requirements but it must have something to do w/ powerISO. Going to hold off until I get my college laptop (same deal with UT3) and can play on max settings. It's cool that they have a bunch of actors, but it was driving me nuts, I can't figure out what else the lady who comes up on the commlink is in.
edit: it's cameron from HouseMD

I heard a bunch of BSG people were in that. True?

I'm usually a Default Man, but GH on medium is a tad too easy. That, and as I recall (been a while) it doesn't even use all the frets for most songs.

Stuff like Gradius V and R Type Final though, default is best.

Also: Sausage, where do you go for games info/shit? Joystiq seems like a decent source, but I can't help feeling I'm missing out on something.

Also also: after my No New Hardware 2007 mission, I am now proper feeling a need to next-gen it. Until I get Disgaea 2 at least...

PSA for XBox360 owners:

Regularly 800 points, Undertow is free of charge beginning 2:00 a.m. PST Wednesday, January 23 and continuing through 11:59 p.m. PST Sunday, January 27.

Disagree. I'm working through GH3 on Hard right now. The leap from Medium to Hard is far more difficult than Easy to Medium, but once you get over the learning curve the game is much more fun. Expert is gonna break me, no doubt, but I'm glad I stuck with it on Hard.

eh, i don't mind messing around on hard every now and then. bass and drums on hard in rock band can be fun. but if i am just looking to mess around, which i usually am, i don't feel up for the challenge. if i want a challenge i suppose i will go elsewhere. it's really no offense to the people who can play guitar hero on expert, you people are just insane and scare the shit out of me.

haha, nintendo power gave it a 3/10
I kinda like it, but yeah the graphics are pretty bad and turning can be a bitch!

dude get me a job at 1up!

Tricia Helfer and Grace Park are in it.

And Billie Dee Williams as Billy Dee Williams.


C&C3 is ok. Feels too antiqued in comparison to Company Of Heroes, Dawn Of War, Supreme Commander or World In Conflict.

i post on a very active gaming forum when i'm not around here, which is where i keep up to date.r

How is this?

My bro in law picked it up, but hated it. He is very into the Total War games, so it wasn't really his thing.

Company of Heroes is phenomenal. The general consensus being that it is the best RTS made since Starcraft. Both in critical and more general fan circles. I have to agree. Though I lean toward a strong preference for the Dawn Of War series, CoH is almost perfect in gameplay terms. It's only flaws being minor MP balancing issues.

Company Of Heroes is also one of the most rigorous and demanding RTS' I ever played. Tends to turn off those that play RTS games at a slower pace.

Any word on No More Heroes on the Wii.

Other than Guitar Hero and Resident Evil, I have stuck to 1st party games on the Wii with Zelda and Mario, but am hearing great things about this and Zack and Wiki. Should I pick them up?

DISPLAY QUESTIONS (HDTV related):

Okay, so I just moved into a new place. Brought my 360 along. I don't have an HDTV and had been using standard resolution tube tvs.

I'd been looking at HDTVs. A smaller one for my room (~20"-24") to hook up the 360 to for games and flicks. Then I noticed that PC monitors were cheaper. And I just noticed also that there's a VGA cable available for the 360! So. What's stopping people from using monitors as HDTVs? Is choosing a monitor a better choice? Will I get HD resolutions for gaming on the monitor? How about DVD watching? I also notice that a few monitors have HDMI inputs. Which is better: the HDMI input or the VGA? And what is a DVI input and is that an option for xbox 360?

Monitor-wise, what are the better brands? I've noticed that Samsung does monitors too. Are they allegedly as good with monitors as they are with the HDTVs?

Also, in the system settings in the Xbox 360, what would I choose as my resolution?

And, 16:9 versus 16:10? What's better? Are there cropping issues?

And can I access the menu and setup on a monitor these days without an actual PC CPU? (haven't done desktop computing in a while.)

Much thanks and any help you can give would be so so swell. (also cross-posting in HDTV discussion)

No More Heroes is receiving (mostly) excellent reviews.
Zack and Wiki is supposed to be a really sharp, creative puzzler.

So yeah, grab 'em -- I will at some point, as well (Z&W is $29.99 now). I played some of Z&W at a press event last spring and didn't get a great feel for it, but I'm still planning on nabbing it.