# The Inclimate Weather Blues



## Darb

Thought I'd kick off a thread for people to post to who can't shoot due to adverse local weather conditions.

As for myself, last week I was sick as a dog, and this week it's been too cold and wet to shoot (I should probably get around to rigging a new indoor trap). Anyway, I've been spending a little bit of each day slowly working my way though "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I", on my PS3.

PS3 Trophies

After I finish platinum, and if the weather's still cruddy, I'll probably move on to Metal Gear Solid 4.


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## BCLuxor

I have been playing the a** off my 360 due to the cold.... I don't mind the cold but this year its too **** cold. if I'm not on the 360 I play deer hunter 2005 maxed out, I have wasted days on this game its a shame that it is so underrated because once you get familiar with it I find it a good sim, got to love the bullet cam kills


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## mxred91

The weather has definitely cut down on my shooting time. Best distance I can get in my garage with the door shut is about 28 feet. So I have been making more. I think I have like 15, I don't think I really need more. But I get an Idea and have to try it out. Oh well, something to do when the weather isn't cooperative.


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## Darb

Still too cold to shoot here ... 20's at night, 30's day.

I'm just one silver and one bronze trophy away from platinum in Force Unleashed I ... should have them both tomorrow.

Posted a review on amazon.


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## philly

I just built a catch box for indoors, still shooting. Only have about 21 feet but it is nice and warm in the basememt. Scaled down on band weight (single Express band) still have good speed at the shorter range. Also made a new natural in the last couple days. Come on guys, get off the x box and in the workshop. Merry Christmas to all.
Philly


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## Brooklyn00003

For several weeks I have not been able to shoot ,Outside the weather is bad and inside my flatmate does not like the idea of shooting grrr.


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## brockfnsamson

MGS4 is great. Tends to get a little up its own butt with crazy long cut scenes.

Looking at you trophy's reminded me I have to finish GOW3. I got the YLOD on my 1st gen 60gb while playing it [GOW3] and had to do a hot gun fix, lasted two months and locked up again. Bought a new ps3 but totally forgot about GOW, gotta get back to that.

Have you played Unleashed II?


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## Darb

brockfnsamson said:


> MGS4 is great. Tends to get a little up its own butt with crazy long cut scenes.
> 
> Looking at you trophy's reminded me I have to finish GOW3. I got the YLOD on my 1st gen 60gb while playing it [GOW3] and had to do a hot gun fix, lasted two months and locked up again. Bought a new ps3 but totally forgot about GOW, gotta get back to that.
> 
> Have you played Unleashed II?


I have a 120gb PS3, courtesy of some expiring credit card reward points ... would have been nice to have a bigger drive, but the 120 was the only option available via Scorecard at the time. Oh well.

As much as I love the Star Wars universe, Unleashed I pushed the edges of my admittedly low tolerance for poorly designed / underpolished games, and by all counts Unleashed II is significantly worse than Unleashed I, so I'm going to skip it. Wasn't too impressed with the demo - not only did they not fix all the flaws with it's predecessor, they added even more flaws.

BTW, the whole online trophy thing seems to be a relatively new addition to the gaming industry ... I had a lot of PS1 & 2 games that I completed and subsequently resold that it would have been nice to get retroactive tropies for (various titles of prince of persia, tomb raider, assorted racing games, earlier titles of MGS, etc.), but that's not possible.

Anyway, with CERN's LHC on hiatus for the next several weeks, I need to find something to occupy my attention, so it's back to the PS3 for me. After MGS4 I'll probably go back and clean up the arena challenges for GOW1&2 for 2 more platinums (I'm temporarily burned out on GOW), then I'll move on to Heavy Rain. Action games are nice, but as a former penchil & paper RPGer my forte are high-brow RPGs with good writing and a lot of ambiance.

Let me know if you need any GOW3 or SW:TFU1 tips ... happy to help.


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## brockfnsamson

Darb said:


> MGS4 is great. Tends to get a little up its own butt with crazy long cut scenes.
> 
> Looking at you trophy's reminded me I have to finish GOW3. I got the YLOD on my 1st gen 60gb while playing it [GOW3] and had to do a hot gun fix, lasted two months and locked up again. Bought a new ps3 but totally forgot about GOW, gotta get back to that.
> 
> Have you played Unleashed II?


I have a 120gb PS3, courtesy of some expiring credit card reward points ... would have been nice to have a bigger drive, but the 120 was the only option available via Scorecard at the time. Oh well.

As much as I love the Star Wars universe, Unleashed I pushed the edges of my admittedly low tolerance for poorly designed / underpolished games, and by all counts Unleashed II is significantly worse than Unleashed I, so I'm going to skip it. Wasn't too impressed with the demo - not only did they not fix all the flaws with it's predecessor, they added even more flaws.

BTW, the whole online trophy thing seems to be a relatively new addition to the gaming industry ... I had a lot of PS1 & 2 games that I completed and subsequently resold that it would have been nice to get retroactive tropies for (various titles of prince of persia, tomb raider, assorted racing games, earlier titles of MGS, etc.), but that's not possible.

Anyway, with CERN's LHC on hiatus for the next several weeks, I need to find something to occupy my attention, so it's back to the PS3 for me. After MGS4 I'll probably go back and clean up the arena challenges for GOW1&2 for 2 more platinums (I'm temporarily burned out on GOW), then I'll move on to Heavy Rain. Action games are nice, but as a former penchil & paper RPGer my forte are high-brow RPGs with good writing and a lot of ambiance.

Let me know if you need any GOW3 or SW:TFU1 tips ... happy to help.
[/quote]

I'm sure I will hit you up on tips for GOW III, that game is really had for me. I find myself struggling to figure out how to kill some bosses, thank God for You tube.


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## Darb

After getting platinum, I tried to beat GOW3 on basic (no costume bonuses) Chaos mode, and almost made it ... I got as far as the penultimate boss (Scorpius) before my level of frustration finally exceeded my level of fun, and I put the game aside. Scorpius on Titan mode was tedious enough, but Scorpius on Chaos mode was just a joyless trial of endless repetition and failure. I was pretty confident I could have beaten Zeus on Chaos, but I just couldn't get past scorpius.

BTW, don't believe ANYONE who claims to have to have won chaos on a NUR (no upgrade run). You can plainly see in every video that either they're either using a costume (with damage bonuses), they're lying about what difficulty setting they're on (because the primary and secondary foes aren't very aggressive and are easily stunned), or because their health bar is maxed and/or never budges even when they take a hit (which proves they have at least one godly relic enabled).

On REAL Chaos mode, ALL opponents instantly close in and pressure you unrelentingly, they're rarely stunned, and all their hits do triple damage ... even small incidental hits hurt a lot, and big ones kill you outright, so your health bar is NEVER hovering near full by the end of the battle. EVER. Period.

It's pretty sad seeing all those teens lie, and even more sad seeing how many gullible people out there actually believe them, because they're too clueless to figure out how they cheated in their vids.

To win boss battles on chaos mode, you must master all of the following:

* evasion
* blocking/deflection timing (golden fleece)
* counter attack timing
* all attack combos for each weapon
* pacing and battle strategy
* ability to keep track of multiple opponents simultaneously.

One way of telling if you're ready to attempt chaos mode is to go into the combat arena, cue up six gorgons (3 fat ones, three skinny ones), and practice your positional awareness and fleece deflections. If you can't consistently manage at least 6-10 consecutive petrification deflections with the golden fleece, don't bother attempting chaos mode.


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## brockfnsamson

Darb said:


> After getting platinum, I tried to beat GOW3 on basic (no costume bonuses) Chaos mode, and almost made it ... I got as far as the penultimate boss (Scorpius) before my level of frustration finally exceeded my level of fun, and I put the game aside. Scorpius on Titan mode was tedious enough, but Scorpius on Chaos mode was just a joyless trial of endless repetition and failure. I was pretty confident I could have beaten Zeus on Chaos, but I just couldn't get past scorpius.
> 
> BTW, don't believe ANYONE who claims to have to have won chaos on a NUR (no upgrade run). You can plainly see in every video that either they're either using a costume (with damage bonuses), they're lying about what difficulty setting they're on (because the primary and secondary foes aren't very aggressive and are easily stunned), or because their health bar is maxed and/or never budges even when they take a hit (which proves they have at least one godly relic enabled). On REAL Chaos mode, ALL opponents instantly close in and pressure you unrelentingly, they're rarely (or only briefly) stunned, and all their hits do triple damage ... even small incidental hits hurt a lot, and big ones kill you outright.
> 
> It's pretty sad seeing all those teens lie, and even more sad seeing how many gullible people out there actually believe them, because they're too clueless to figure out how they cheated in their vids.
> 
> To win boss battles on chaos mode, you must master all of the following:
> 
> * evasion
> * blocking/deflection timing (golden fleece)
> * counter attack timing
> * all attack combos for each weapon
> * pacing and battle strategy
> * ability to keep track of multiple opponents simultaneously.
> 
> One way of telling if you're ready to attempt chaos mode is to go into the combat arena, cue up six gorgons (3 fat ones, three skinny ones), and practice your positional awareness and fleece deflections. If you can't consistently manage at least 6-10 consecutive petrification deflections with the golden fleece, don't bother attempting chaos mode.


Thanks for the FYI.

Lately Ive be playing a lot of Dead Rising II and COD black opps on pc.


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## Darb

I've been meaning to get Dead Rising ... the reviews are consistently good.

BTW, one last thing on my "pacing" comment above (I'd revised my post after you quoted it): I was referring to when and how much of your magic to use up, and when and how much of your rage of the gods to use up, during a multi-part boss battle ... hence "pacing yourself". Hope that clarifies my otherwise cryptic remark.


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## Darb

Havent uploaded this morning's trophies yet, but I just platinumed in SW:TFU1 core game ... just a few minor loose ends in the DLCs left to clean up to also get 100%, after which I'll either move on to MGS4 or go back and tie up a few loose ends for platinum in GOW1&2.


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## Dayhiker

Well, I practically hate almost everybody and everything that isn't slingshot related. But I usually don't like to have conversations about my bette noires. So I'm staying in character for this foul-weather post.









This is Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010 here in New England. It's kinda cold at around 29 - 30 degrees Fahrenheit. But it's the kind of cold that really penetrates,_ i.e._, damp. Cloudy. Feels like it's going to snow any minute. In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't yet.

I went out back today before noon and shot extensively with two slingshots I've recently been given by members here, namely Gib and Jephroux. Both of these shooters are pocket friendly and finished to the level of the furniture in my living room. No hype. I had fun, but the weather was still casting a mood depressing pall over everything.

So inside I went to spray a couple more coats of varnish on my two ash "Brothers" I made from forks sent to me from The Gopher over in Minnesota. Never used spray-on varnish before, and I'm not very happy with it. I wish I took my time and use just linseed oil like I usually do. But I'm too deep into this now and am nowhere near patient enough to change course now after 5 or 6 coats. And this depresses me even more, because I worked my butt off on those forks.









The wife, an Italian woman who more than lives up to customary expectations of culinary expertise, asked if I wanted her to cook me something. _(God bless her, this is besides what she's already engaged in preparing for Christmas Eve's annual feast.)_. But I declined, knowing what the upcoming holiday meals are going to add to the slow suicide I'm committing every day with the way I eat. I am unfortunately a man of medium stature and huge appetites. Eating usually cheers me up, but I don't feel low enough to be suicidal today.

Checked this forum and found it pretty slow. Everybody must be Christmas shopping and getting read for the holiday. . .

Haven't been getting enough exercise lately, so I set off for a walk in the woods. Wow, what a good choice that was! Almost forgot how much I love the woods in winter, before the snow falls. I perked up immediately once I got deep enough. Took a catty with me and some marbles and the last of the clay balls I rolled a few weeks ago. There's a tall-grass field I know that is just no fun in the summer months, but altogether different in winter. In there I saw a slew of some kind of plants that are sporting these white seed pods or something that are about 2 - 3 inches in diameter and roughly round. Great targets, and sitting at all ranges. Fun! Made me forget my depression.

The season made it possible for me to explore further into the surrounding woods, which are fairly impenetrable in summer. I saw a clump of trees that seemed maybe . . . holy? Sometimes in the woods I feel accompanied by gods and other spirits. And some trees and plants seem to be trying to say something to me. I know some of my friends here experience this. It would be nice if some of you would share what you have known in this vein.

On the rim of this high grass field, I have in the past cut some nice forks. I hold the bushes and trees that bless me thus in high honor. So I visited them. I remembered where each one lives and won't forget. Although at my age I do forget a lot.

One bush -- I call it a bush only because I am admittedly quite inept at being able to name my woodland allies -- warranted extra attention. This particular bush/tree taught me a major lesson last summer about boiling my freshly cut forks. For I cut two very handsome forks from it and boiled them in salt water for only twenty minutes. Both cracked badly. I was sorry and chastised. It is better to boil for an hour or more.

But the same tree called me to itself today and offered me two more forks of fine symmetry to cut. I did cut them for, in addition to my catty, I brought my folding saw and beloved Svord knife from New Zealand. It was very generous and forgiving of that tree. But here there's more. The way in which the tree beckoned was gory and therefore noteworthy. I was actually getting ready to pass by this tree, but there was something unusual-looking near it. When I walked closer, I saw a totally out of the ordinary skeleton - that is, it was way larger than any remains of small game I've ever encountered in the woods hereabouts. At the time of my viewing, I really regretted not having brought my camera. And I still do.

I have never seen such a carcass or skeleton. Though it was picked almost completely of the meat, I could see that what had been gnawed from the bones was recent. Quite red. But what was so unusual and freaky about the thing was the long neck. Not only long was the neck, but still there was gray wolfen- like fur left on it. But the teeth in the mostly-gone jaw were very small. I looked for fangs and saw nowt. Strange, says I.

These gray cold depressing days can turn happy. Later, on a stroll through a different part of the woodland, where normal trees grow, I came on another bush/tree showing a fork not quite perfectly shaped, but with nice potential, so I bent to the job of cutting it with my folding saw. Nearby was a fallen tree with a trunk about 10 inches in diameter to sit upon. Feeling a little tired from walking, I accepted the comfort. Then I drew out my Svord knife and began to carve a fork out of what I'd just cut. I went all the way and completely carved myself a new catty from the green wood. It is the way I like to carve hard wood. Completely green. I think I got a fair to middling catty out of the effort. But the best part is how I forgot about how cold and damp it was for the duration of my activity. I so love this carving and winter weather outdoors that I become oblivious to the "hardships" involved.

My mood was light and happy on the walk home. And I am glad to be alive. If the catty I carved survives, I will post it for you all. I sealed it in a plastic bag upon arriving home deliciously tired, and content.

Climate blues? Naw, just get out there.


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## Darb

Latest tropies uploaded.

PS3 Trophies


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## Darb

Weather's clearing and slightly warmer ... might try shooting tomorrow.

As luck would have it, there's a lunar eclipse occuring early tomorrow morning in the north western hemisphere, which happens to coincide with the ursid meteor shower. Might get up early and try to watch some of it.


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## Darb

It overslept and missed the show last night.









On a good note, I just got a package from Bill Hays ... 2 spiffy shooters, both of them rigged for through-the-forks shooting. Gonna have to get out there and put some BBgs down range.


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## Darb

Brock: I already finished Act 1 of Metal Gear Solid 4 ... it's been a few years since I finished MGS 1 & 2 on the earlier playstations, but it's coming back to me, and I'm making good time. Too bad this game doesn't have trophies ... just some stupid virtual dolls for doing things much harder and less efficiently than needed.

The plot seemed a bit confusing at first, but it's becoming a cake walk as my old shoot/sneak reflexes return.

I'm sure a real life pro like Bill Hayes is probably rolling his eyes at us couch potatoes.


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## NaturalFork

I agree the cold sucks! My xbox crapped the bed. I did get the new Onlive system and have been playing that like crazy. I still shoot outside on the weekends and in the basement during the week.


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## philly

I have been working on my shooting indoors and making a couple new Naturals from Apple and Yew forks I picked up this summer. Meanwhile think spring.
Philly


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## brockfnsamson

Darb said:


> Brock: I already finished Act 1 of Metal Gear Solid 4 ... it's been a few years since I finished MGS 1 & 2 on the earlier playstations, but it's coming back to me, and I'm making good time. Too bad this game doesn't have trophies ... just some stupid virtual dolls for doing things much harder and less efficiently than needed.
> 
> The plot seemed a bit confusing at first, but it's becoming a cake walk as my old shoot/sneak reflexes return.
> 
> I'm sure a real life pro like Bill Hayes is probably rolling his eyes at us couch potatoes.


 The problem I always have is I get use to a certain button layout play a game for a while then switch to a different title, but it funny how quick you get back to the swing especially in metal gear. I'll look for the link to a great time line story break down I found once for metal gear explained. Has to be one of the most convoluted mix of events ever told.
It's been a while for me but the part in the beginning where you a fighting the insurgents in the streets and the side your fighting with starts cheering after you push them back was pretty RAD, gave me goose bumps.

As for couch potatoes what else are we to do, we got about two feet of snow in the last week, its 29deg and that feels like a heat wave. I don't feel bad, winter is a good time to catch up a movies a games.
Kids are now off for Christmas, and the boy is old enough to tend his own fishing lines, the wife and girls can't stand more then a hour on the hard water, but after early ice dies down I going into full hibernation.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> MGS4 is great. Tends to get a little up its own butt with crazy long cut scenes.
> 
> Looking at you trophy's reminded me I have to finish GOW3. I got the YLOD on my 1st gen 60gb while playing it [GOW3] and had to do a hot gun fix, lasted two months and locked up again. Bought a new ps3 but totally forgot about GOW, gotta get back to that.
> 
> Have you played Unleashed II?


I have a 120gb PS3, courtesy of some expiring credit card reward points ... would have been nice to have a bigger drive, but the 120 was the only option available via Scorecard at the time. Oh well.

As much as I love the Star Wars universe, Unleashed I pushed the edges of my admittedly low tolerance for poorly designed / underpolished games, and by all counts Unleashed II is significantly worse than Unleashed I, so I'm going to skip it. Wasn't too impressed with the demo - not only did they not fix all the flaws with it's predecessor, they added even more flaws.

BTW, the whole online trophy thing seems to be a relatively new addition to the gaming industry ... I had a lot of PS1 & 2 games that I completed and subsequently resold that it would have been nice to get retroactive tropies for (various titles of prince of persia, tomb raider, assorted racing games, earlier titles of MGS, etc.), but that's not possible.

Anyway, with CERN's LHC on hiatus for the next several weeks, I need to find something to occupy my attention, so it's back to the PS3 for me. After MGS4 I'll probably go back and clean up the arena challenges for GOW1&2 for 2 more platinums (I'm temporarily burned out on GOW), then I'll move on to Heavy Rain. Action games are nice, but as a former penchil & paper RPGer my forte are high-brow RPGs with good writing and a lot of ambiance.

Let me know if you need any GOW3 or SW:TFU1 tips ... happy to help.
[/quote]

Mate, unlike the Xbox, the PS3's HDD is really easy to replace, any 2.5" SATA HDD will do, you should be able to get a nice 500GB 7,200RPM drive for it for < $100, I would suggest buying a Western Digital personally...


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## brockfnsamson

Sam said:


> MGS4 is great. Tends to get a little up its own butt with crazy long cut scenes.
> 
> Looking at you trophy's reminded me I have to finish GOW3. I got the YLOD on my 1st gen 60gb while playing it [GOW3] and had to do a hot gun fix, lasted two months and locked up again. Bought a new ps3 but totally forgot about GOW, gotta get back to that.
> 
> Have you played Unleashed II?


I have a 120gb PS3, courtesy of some expiring credit card reward points ... would have been nice to have a bigger drive, but the 120 was the only option available via Scorecard at the time. Oh well.

As much as I love the Star Wars universe, Unleashed I pushed the edges of my admittedly low tolerance for poorly designed / underpolished games, and by all counts Unleashed II is significantly worse than Unleashed I, so I'm going to skip it. Wasn't too impressed with the demo - not only did they not fix all the flaws with it's predecessor, they added even more flaws.

BTW, the whole online trophy thing seems to be a relatively new addition to the gaming industry ... I had a lot of PS1 & 2 games that I completed and subsequently resold that it would have been nice to get retroactive tropies for (various titles of prince of persia, tomb raider, assorted racing games, earlier titles of MGS, etc.), but that's not possible.

Anyway, with CERN's LHC on hiatus for the next several weeks, I need to find something to occupy my attention, so it's back to the PS3 for me. After MGS4 I'll probably go back and clean up the arena challenges for GOW1&2 for 2 more platinums (I'm temporarily burned out on GOW), then I'll move on to Heavy Rain. Action games are nice, but as a former penchil & paper RPGer my forte are high-brow RPGs with good writing and a lot of ambiance.

Let me know if you need any GOW3 or SW:TFU1 tips ... happy to help.
[/quote]

Mate, unlike the Xbox, the PS3's HDD is really easy to replace, any 2.5" SATA HDD will do, you should be able to get a nice 500GB 7,200RPM drive for it for < $100, I would suggest buying a Western Digital personally...








[/quote]
Yeh It's pretty easy. The fist gen ps3 was nice cause you could just swap drives and it would auto format and update the drive, the new ones need you to put a file on it and follow a few steps, a hassle but not that difficult.


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## brockfnsamson

Sam said:


> MGS4 is great. Tends to get a little up its own butt with crazy long cut scenes.
> 
> Looking at you trophy's reminded me I have to finish GOW3. I got the YLOD on my 1st gen 60gb while playing it [GOW3] and had to do a hot gun fix, lasted two months and locked up again. Bought a new ps3 but totally forgot about GOW, gotta get back to that.
> 
> Have you played Unleashed II?


I have a 120gb PS3, courtesy of some expiring credit card reward points ... would have been nice to have a bigger drive, but the 120 was the only option available via Scorecard at the time. Oh well.

As much as I love the Star Wars universe, Unleashed I pushed the edges of my admittedly low tolerance for poorly designed / underpolished games, and by all counts Unleashed II is significantly worse than Unleashed I, so I'm going to skip it. Wasn't too impressed with the demo - not only did they not fix all the flaws with it's predecessor, they added even more flaws.

BTW, the whole online trophy thing seems to be a relatively new addition to the gaming industry ... I had a lot of PS1 & 2 games that I completed and subsequently resold that it would have been nice to get retroactive tropies for (various titles of prince of persia, tomb raider, assorted racing games, earlier titles of MGS, etc.), but that's not possible.

Anyway, with CERN's LHC on hiatus for the next several weeks, I need to find something to occupy my attention, so it's back to the PS3 for me. After MGS4 I'll probably go back and clean up the arena challenges for GOW1&2 for 2 more platinums (I'm temporarily burned out on GOW), then I'll move on to Heavy Rain. Action games are nice, but as a former penchil & paper RPGer my forte are high-brow RPGs with good writing and a lot of ambiance.

Let me know if you need any GOW3 or SW:TFU1 tips ... happy to help.
[/quote]

Mate, unlike the Xbox, the PS3's HDD is really easy to replace, any 2.5" SATA HDD will do, you should be able to get a nice 500GB 7,200RPM drive for it for < $100, I would suggest buying a Western Digital personally...








[/quote]
Yeh It's pretty easy. The fist gen ps3 was nice cause you could just swap drives and it would auto format and update the drive, the new ones need you to put a file on it and follow a few steps, a hassle but not that difficult.


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## Sam

brockfnsamson said:


> MGS4 is great. Tends to get a little up its own butt with crazy long cut scenes.
> 
> Looking at you trophy's reminded me I have to finish GOW3. I got the YLOD on my 1st gen 60gb while playing it [GOW3] and had to do a hot gun fix, lasted two months and locked up again. Bought a new ps3 but totally forgot about GOW, gotta get back to that.
> 
> Have you played Unleashed II?


I have a 120gb PS3, courtesy of some expiring credit card reward points ... would have been nice to have a bigger drive, but the 120 was the only option available via Scorecard at the time. Oh well.

As much as I love the Star Wars universe, Unleashed I pushed the edges of my admittedly low tolerance for poorly designed / underpolished games, and by all counts Unleashed II is significantly worse than Unleashed I, so I'm going to skip it. Wasn't too impressed with the demo - not only did they not fix all the flaws with it's predecessor, they added even more flaws.

BTW, the whole online trophy thing seems to be a relatively new addition to the gaming industry ... I had a lot of PS1 & 2 games that I completed and subsequently resold that it would have been nice to get retroactive tropies for (various titles of prince of persia, tomb raider, assorted racing games, earlier titles of MGS, etc.), but that's not possible.

Anyway, with CERN's LHC on hiatus for the next several weeks, I need to find something to occupy my attention, so it's back to the PS3 for me. After MGS4 I'll probably go back and clean up the arena challenges for GOW1&2 for 2 more platinums (I'm temporarily burned out on GOW), then I'll move on to Heavy Rain. Action games are nice, but as a former penchil & paper RPGer my forte are high-brow RPGs with good writing and a lot of ambiance.

Let me know if you need any GOW3 or SW:TFU1 tips ... happy to help.
[/quote]

Mate, unlike the Xbox, the PS3's HDD is really easy to replace, any 2.5" SATA HDD will do, you should be able to get a nice 500GB 7,200RPM drive for it for < $100, I would suggest buying a Western Digital personally...








[/quote]
Yeh It's pretty easy. The fist gen ps3 was nice cause you could just swap drives and it would auto format and update the drive, the new ones need you to put a file on it and follow a few steps, a hassle but not that difficult.
[/quote]
Aye, contrary to the Xbox where you would technically be breaking the law?







I mean £70 for a 5,400 RPM HDD?!


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## Darb

Act 2 done, I sniped all the ambushes, and only needed 3 continues (2 for zombies that kept dragging me off the striker, and mistiming the last kick in the marketplace ... not bad for a first run.

I'm not really loving this game, and since it only cost me $10 this first run will probably be my only runthrough.

Anyway, on to Act 3.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Act 2 done, I sniped all the ambushes, and only needed 3 continues (2 for zombies that kept dragging me off the striker, and mistiming the last kick in the marketplace ... not bad for a first run.
> 
> I'm not really loving this game, and since it only cost me $10 this first run will probably be my only runthrough.
> 
> Anyway, on to Act 3.


What game is this? Do you play Call of Duty at all?


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## Darb

As mentioned a few posts back, it's Metal Gear Solid 4 on PS3.

Nope, haven't done COD, and probably won't ... full on FPS games give me motion sickness and reflux. My brain enjoys FPS games, but my body's autonomic responses don't. I discovered that years ago, back during Quake 1. For that reason, when it comes to game machines, I stick with games focused on ambiance/story, straight forward 3rd person action, RPGs and adventure/puzzle games.


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## brockfnsamson

Darb said:


> As mentioned a few posts back, it's Metal Gear Solid 4 on PS3.
> 
> Nope, haven't done COD, and probably won't ... full on FPS games give me motion sickness and reflux. My brain enjoys FPS games, but my body's autonomic responses don't. I discovered that years ago, back during Quake 1. For that reason, when it comes to game machines, I stick with games focused on ambiance/story, straight forward 3rd person action, RPGs and adventure/puzzle games.


Darb I bet you would love Dead Rising. I don't get sick but man do fps they wind me up, have to take a break after hour of hard play.
Check your friends request on the ps3 I put one up last week.


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## Darb

And Act 3 finished ... no continuations needed.

Boy, talk about overly convoluted plot development and grotesquely long-winded speeches ... the writers should be publically flogged and strung up on piano wire, as a warning to other would-be storytellers who just don't know when to STFU. Less is more !









p.s. Brock ... I'll login the PS3 onto the net sometime tomorrow. I haven't needed/installed WiFi yet, so in order to connect the PS3 I have to manually plug it in with a 25' Cat5e patchcord (and unhook my PC while I'm at it).


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## brockfnsamson

Darb said:


> And Act 3 finished ... no continuations needed.
> 
> Boy, talk about overly convoluted plot development and grotesquely long-winded speeches ... the writers should be publically flogged and strung up on piano wire, as a warning to other would-be storytellers who just don't know when to STFU. Less is more !
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> p.s. Brock ... I'll login the PS3 onto the net sometime tomorrow. I haven't needed/installed WiFi yet, so in order to connect the PS3 I have to manually plug it in with a 25' Cat5e patchcord (and unhook my PC while I'm at it).


 Yeh like I said It's really up it's own butt!

I just assumed you would be running Netfix on your a ps3, I highly recommend it, streaming vids over the ps3 works great. The wife and I watched 5 seasons of Weeds in the last couple weeks.


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## Hrawk

EVE!!!

The only game I have really played in the last 5 years.

Sure it's for people who like spreadsheets and screen savers, but hey, that's me all over.

Also, it is the only true sandbox game that exists today.


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## Darb

> I just assumed you would be running Netfix on your a ps3, I highly recommend it, streaming vids over the ps3 works great. The wife and I watched 5 seasons of Weeds in the last couple weeks.


We probably will as soon as I get around to setting up WiFi.


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## Darb

Brock: Ok, F.R. on PS3 accepted. Cheers.

Hrawk: My old SFF book & RPG club lasted for about 2 decades, before finally scattering to the four winds about 10 years ago. I've never played in an MMOG, but at one time or another I've either played in, or run campaigns in, at least 2 dozen different RPG systems ... all of them pencil, dice and paper. Part of me misses it, and part of me has long since moved on to many other things. I think I'll give EVE a pass.


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## Sam

Hrawk said:


> EVE!!!
> 
> The only game I have really played in the last 5 years.
> 
> Sure it's for people who like spreadsheets and screen savers, but hey, that's me all over.
> 
> Also, it is the only true sandbox game that exists today.


I've always taken RPGs way too seriously, back when I played _World of Warcraft_ I literally made a program that allowed you to hypothetically build characters then calculate their effectiveness! That's forgetting all of the macros I made way back when I played _Runescape_, amazingly I was never caught!


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## Darb

Getting ready to push though the final act (4) of MGS4.

EDIT: Oh my, the writer has a really delusional sense of future reality ... in this game, a young 20-something clumsy Japanese-American girl, straight out of the academy, is somehow appointed Captain of the USS Missouri.


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## Darb

Ok, I finally finished MGS4. What a LONG game ... a full double-sided compressed blueray, over half of it cinematics and long-winded plot explanation and recap speeches.

Accordingly to the game, I did rather well for an initial run. Although I took much longer than was needed, and racked up a higher than desired body count (507), I rarely died ... only 6 continues and 8 recovery items (half the former during the Vamp boss battle, and half the latter just learning how they worked). I'd forgotten that the MGS games prize few alerts, low body count, and speedy completion times. I should have remembered that from MGS1&2.

Anyway, my earned emblems were:
21: Gecko (lots of autocamo wall-hugging)
24: Inchworm (lots of autocamo crouch-walking)
25: Lobster (lots of autocamo crawling)
26: Hyena (400+ pickups)
30: Crocodile (400+ kills)
31: Giant Panda (slow game completion)
37: Panther (lots of alerts, high body count, few deaths/continues)

Near misses:
8: Eagle (150+ headshots) ... I think I missed it by just 5-10 shots.

For me, the hardest boss was Vamp (who I had to kill almost 20 times before I finally figured him out). The second hardest was raging mantis, who actually took longer than vamp but didn't actually require any continues. The easiest was psycho mantis, who I managed to kill instantly (quick thinking and reflexes) without taking a single hit, followed by Liquid (contrary to the cinematics, I totally pwned him, and emerged nearly unscathed).

I'll probably grab Red Dead Redemption next.


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## Darb

Oh joy, we're having a 2-day blizzard that's expected to dump 10-18" in my area.

We just finished covering all our basement casement windows.


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## Darb

Well, so far the Blizzard of 2010 has dumped 18-24" of snow in my area (one of the hardest hit on Long Island), with blowing drifts of 3-4', and another 1-3" on the way. My wife and I are completely snowed in, with a 3-4' drift running the entire length of our 90' driveway, and we have 8'+ drift on the other side of the house.

Photos later, or tomorrow, if/when we actually manage to make it outdoors.


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## The Gopher

DH, great story.

Is that the Svord Peasant that you mentioned? I've been meaning to get one, i've heard great things about them for the price.


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## Darb

Backyard snow is slowly melting, but the lawn is still covered ... I really need to put the garage back in order, and make that indoor backstop.

@BROCK: I've been restless since finishing MGS4 far earlier than expected, and I lost interest in a 2nd runthrough shortly after starting it. I may rent Star Wars Force Unleashed II, and go for another platinum.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Backyard snow is slowly melting, but the lawn is still covered ... I really need to put the garage back in order, and make that indoor backstop.
> 
> @BROCK: I've been restless since finishing MGS4 far earlier than expected, and I lost interest in a 2nd runthrough shortly after starting it. I may rent Star Wars Force Unleashed II, and go for another platinum.


If you haven't played _Red Dead Redemption_ yet you simply must, the level of interactivity with your environment is quite incredible...


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## Darb

Way ahead of ya, Sam ... I tried to rent RDR yesturday (mostly to decide if I want to buy/own it), but all the copies were out (a good sign). However, there were lots of copies of STFU2 sitting on the shelf (not a good sign, esp in light of innumerable poor reviews). The plan was to rent the later (since it's definitely not worth buying/owning) until the former becomes available.

With an acronym like STFU2*, you know a game's got to be pretty bad, clueless, or both.

------------------
* Starwars: The Force Unleashed II


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Way ahead of ya, Sam ... I tried to rent RDR yesturday (mostly to decide if I want to buy/own it), but all the copies were out (a good sign). However, there were lots of copies of STFU2 sitting on the shelf (not a good sign, esp in light of innumerable poor reviews). The plan was to rent the later (since it's definitely not worth buying/owning) until the former becomes available.
> 
> With an acronym like STFU2*, you know a game's got to be pretty bad, clueless, or both.
> 
> ------------------
> * Starwars: The Force Unleashed II


Aye, that was stupid of them!









Yesterday my brother was playing RDR, but it was on a 4:3 TV via a scart cable so the text was illegible, instructions were popping up on the screen guiding him and telling him how he should ride his horse; he pressed the wrong the button putting it into a gallop, the horse tripped over a rock and appeared to be unconscious.
My brother thought the pop-up said "Press Y to revive", he pressed Y and his character pulled out a skinning knife and said "This is gonna get messy!"







LOL


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## Darb

Heh (skinning horse by mistake).

More on STFU2: just started playing it, and it's already living down to my epectations. I also see in the news that Lucas Arts is having a layoff ... I hope the powers that be over there can take a hint and up the quality of their games accordingly. STFU2 is an embarassment.

I'll upload my trophy progress tomorrow. Already finished the first mission in a matter of minutes, and got a handful of disappointingly easy bronze trophies in the process. This game has a major case of trophy bloat ... 65 of them, in a game that's far too short and too easy. Pathetic.

Hopefully the Unleashed difficulty will be a more satisfying and entertaining challenge ... as soon as I unlock it, that'll be next. At the rate I'm going, I'll only need another 5-6 hours of playtime to finish. Pathetic.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Heh (skinning horse by mistake).
> 
> More on STFU2: just started playing it, and it's already living down to my epectations. I also see in the news that Lucas Arts is having a layoff ... I hope the powers that be over there can take a hint and up the quality of their games accordingly. STFU2 is an embarassment.
> 
> I'll upload my trophy progress tomorrow. Already finished the first mission in a matter of minutes, and got a handful of disappointingly easy bronze trophies in the process. This game has a major case of trophy bloat ... 65 of them, in a game that's far too short and too easy. Pathetic.
> 
> Hopefully the Unleashed difficulty will be a more satisfying and entertaining challenge ... as soon as I unlock it, that'll be next. At the rate I'm going, I'll only need another 5-6 hours of playtime to finish. Pathetic.


Yeah, short games also piss me off, I mean over here when they come out they're £50! So you expect some value for money...

On another note I just installed a VGA cable for my brother and I must say the Xbox has surprisingly good graphics!


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## Darb

The PS3 graphics are pretty decent ... I suppose I'm overdue for a TV upgrade. I've got a 23 LCD (properly connected via HDMI), and I'm ready to upgrade to a 46" plasma. I'm sure the games will look a lot nicer on that.

p.s. STFU2 kept crashing on mission 2 ... very annoying.


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## Darb

Ok, finished first runthru of STFU2 ... onward to Unleashed difficulty.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> The PS3 graphics are pretty decent ... I suppose I'm overdue for a TV upgrade. I've got a 23 LCD (properly connected via HDMI), and I'm ready to upgrade to a 46" plasma. I'm sure the games will look a lot nicer on that.
> 
> p.s. STFU2 kept crashing on mission 2 ... very annoying.


Check the resolution of your 23", if it's 1920 x 1080 progressive I personally wouldn't both upgrading mate as all of the detail is there, the only reason I see in investing in a larger screen is if you want to sit far away from it!









The colour quality and contrast ratio of TVs and Monitors though does make a massive difference, but only when you start to really splash the cash so I'm sticking with good old TN LCDs for now...


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## Darb

23's arent made in 1080p ... not the last time I checked anyway. Mine's 720 if I recall. It was a state of the art TV about 5 years or so ago ... but that's ancient in modern tech, and cost as much as a low-mid end 50" does today.

BTW, something wierd happening on PS3 network ... my STFU2 trophies are included in my latest trophy count on their server, but for some odd reason, the STFU title doesnt appear in my list of titles on my trophy display. I can see it on my machine fine, but not on my server trophies by title list. Odd.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> 23's arent made in 1080p ... not the last time I checked anyway. Mine's 720 if I recall. It was a state of the art TV about 5 years or so ago ... but that's ancient in modern tech, and cost as much as a low-mid end 50" does today.
> 
> BTW, something wierd happening on PS3 network ... my STFU2 trophies are included in my latest trophy count on their server, but for some odd reason, the STFU title doesnt appear in my list of titles on my trophy display. I can see it on my machine fine, but not on my server trophies by title list. Odd.


Oh they probably didn't back then but they definitely do now as both TVs and PC Monitors.









That sounds like a syncing problem with the cloud system I imagine the PSN is using, I've experienced similar things with _Steam _when playing _Modern Warfare 2_ and _Counter Strike Source_; did you abruptly turn your PS3 off before it had a chance to sync? For some reason _Steam_ don't sync asynchronously so I'm assuming PSN doesn't either...


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## Darb

A distributed / cloud computing synch issue was my guess too. The program's been crashing a bit on 2 of the game's levels, so a dangling or partial background update may be involved ... something that 1-2 iterations of a full reboot, server login and resynch, and logout, should (hopefully) collectively clear over the course of a few hours of cloud time.

Wow, has it been 29 years already since I did a paper on distributed computing for one of my college classes ? At the time I wrote it (when batch processing was common, and LANs were only starting to come into their own in certain cutting edge companies and colleges), distributed computing was a fairly esoteric theoretical technique that professors occasionally wrote about in trade journals just to make tenure while covering new ground. Now, its not just in practical everyday use, but becoming omnipresent and multi-layered, across all PC's, and even games.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> A distributed / cloud computing synch issue was my guess too. The program's been crashing a bit on 2 of the game's levels, so a dangling or partial background update may be involved ... something that 1-2 iterations of a full reboot, server login and resynch, and logout, should (hopefully) collectively clear over the course of a few hours of cloud time.
> 
> Wow, has it been 29 years already since I did a paper on distributed computing for one of my college classes ? At the time I wrote it (when batch processing was common, and LANs were only starting to come into their own in certain cutting edge companies and colleges), distributed computing was a fairly esoteric theoretical technique that professors occasionally wrote about in trade journals just to make tenure while covering new ground. Now, its not just in practical everyday use, but becoming omnipresent and multi-layered, across all PC's, and even games.


Chrome OS!


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## Darb

Resynch didn't work. Problem reported to PS support.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Resynch didn't work. Problem reported to PS support.


That sucks...


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## Darb

Tried restoring system defaults and deleting and reinstalling the game (while retaining my saves), getting another trophy, and resynching ... no dice. Naturally, Sony Tech Support says it's an issue for Lucas Arts Tech Support, and Lucas Arts says it's an issue for Sony Tech support as it involves the PSN.

I'll be sure to gig the both of them when I do my game review on Amazon.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Tried restoring system defaults and deleting and reinstalling the game (while retaining my saves), getting another trophy, and resynching ... no dice. Naturally, Sony Tech Support says it's an issue for Lucas Arts Tech Support, and Lucas Arts says it's an issue for Sony Tech support as it involves the PSN.
> 
> I'll be sure to gig the both of them when I do my game review on Amazon.


What is it with this abnegation of responsibility?! It infuriates me!









...lol I'm too tired to rant, but seriously companies like that piss me off - I'm getting an Xbox!


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## brockfnsamson

Darb, maybe unleashed II has a updated patch. You should put your ps3 online and see, might stop crashing.


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## Darb

Brock: already have it ... first thing I did even before starting to play the game a few days ago.


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## Darb

Ground still covered in snow, garage too cold, and shooting indoors under 15 feet just doesn't appeal to my sense of challenge. Come on, warmer temps !

SAM+BROCK: After I finished platinum in SW:TFU2, I switched to Red Dead Redemption. Great game. LONG too ... a solid 40+ hours of playtime are needed just to finish the main story in single player, much less go back and get all the trophies - and I haven't even touched the online multiplayer mode yet. You need to be well organized, take notes, and use a checklist, to even *THINK* about going for platinum. I already have about 10x the normal amount of cash most players have in the game (thanks to some quick thinking), but that won't help me get the platinum though.

SAM: my PSN ID is the same as my forum handle on this site, if you want to link to me.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Ground still covered in snow, garage too cold, and shooting indoors under 15 feet just doesn't appeal to my sense of challenge. Come on, warmer temps !
> 
> SAM+BROCK: After I finished platinum in SW:TFU2, I switched to Red Dead Redemption. Great game. LONG too ... a solid 40+ hours of playtime are needed just to finish the main story in single player, much less go back and get all the trophies - and I haven't even touched the online multiplayer mode yet. You need to be well organized, take notes, and use a checklist, to even *THINK* about going for platinum. I already have about 10x the normal amount of cash most players have in the game (thanks to some quick thinking), but that won't help me get the platinum though.
> 
> SAM: my PSN ID is the same as my forum handle on this site, if you want to link to me.


Sweet, I've almost amassed the money to purchase myself either a PS3 or an Xbox 360, I'm still contemplating which to get though; (I really intended to get an air rifle, but my parents won't let me...







)


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## Darb

Too bad you're on the wrong side of the pond ... I could send you some games I've already platted.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> Too bad you're on the wrong side of the pond ... I could send you some games I've already platted.


Ya, although for how long you'll be able to lend games (within your specific region,) like that I don't know, DRM is getting crazy these days...

Another thing that attracts me to the Xbox is that it's relatively easy to develop games for it using Visual Studio, with XNA and Visual C++ or even C#, so I could do pretty much whatever I want with it; oh and there's the new Spelunky!


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## brockfnsamson

Sam said:


> Too bad you're on the wrong side of the pond ... I could send you some games I've already platted.


Ya, although for how long you'll be able to lend games (within your specific region,) like that I don't know, DRM is getting crazy these days...

Another thing that attracts me to the Xbox is that it's relatively easy to develop games for it using Visual Studio, with XNA and Visual C++ or even C#, so I could do pretty much whatever I want with it; oh and there's the new Spelunky!








[/quote]

ps3 is region free


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## Sam

brockfnsamson said:


> Too bad you're on the wrong side of the pond ... I could send you some games I've already platted.


Ya, although for how long you'll be able to lend games (within your specific region,) like that I don't know, DRM is getting crazy these days...

Another thing that attracts me to the Xbox is that it's relatively easy to develop games for it using Visual Studio, with XNA and Visual C++ or even C#, so I could do pretty much whatever I want with it; oh and there's the new Spelunky!








[/quote]

ps3 is region free
[/quote]

My understanding was that the majority of games were region free, but that the PS3 still operated on regions for Bluray movies and DLC...


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## Darb

I swear, this year is the bloody Snowpocalypse in my area ... another 16 inches in my neighborhood last night. My surgically repaired back just can't handle this kind of shovelling.


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## Sam

Darb said:


> I swear, this year is the bloody Snowpocalypse in my area ... another 16 inches in my neighborhood last night. My surgically repaired back just can't handle this kind of shovelling.


We don't tend to get much snow here, but this year we received the most we have for over a century!









I'm sorry to hear about your back, I've a close friend who was born with a bad case of Scoliosis and my mum's been off work for the past month with Sciatica so I have a small idea of how debilitating a bad back can be.


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## Darb

I'll post some snowpocalypse photos later.

Meanwhile, with the bad weather, I'm killing time in Red Dead Redemption.

Say, if anyone else has RDR, it might be fun to form the first official slingshot forum online multiplayer posse, and go kick some butt.









My PSN handle is the same as my forum handle, for anyone that wants to send a friend request ... I'll only accept if "slingshot" is mentioned in the message though, so remember to include that.


----------

