David

Yeah, somewhat. They both involve commanding an empire through the ages. It's a a turn-based strategy game, while Age of Empires is real-time. It's pretty much the king its genre.

I received the following email: What does this mean for us? Well, on the bright side, since people will be RUNNING LIKE MAD away from their hosting now, I doubt the downtime (all those 11-12pm blacouts that can last until about 1:15am) we've experienced will be quite so bad... At least, I hope so, because the losses are substantial.Here is the list of banned modifications: · Manage Inactive Members · BouncyMail · Unreal Portal (uPortal) · (SOS32) Total Topics in Subforums · (SOS32) Topics Being Viewed Now · (SOS32) TOP 20 Reputation Points · (SOS32) Show Unread Posts in Board · (SOS32) Top Posters 2.0.1 · (SOS32) Topic Viewed by Users 3.0.0 · Awards mod · ibArcade · ibEconomy The mods listed in green are things we use extensively, and are going to (probably) have to remove. The yellow mods are things that we have installed, and may/may not have to remove. The saddest thing about this is that InvisionPowers 3rd part developer community - the guys who make all the cool add-ons we can use - is getting totally fucked by this. Imagine donating hundreds of hours of your own free time to provide FREE software that ends up in the hands of a company that indirectly profits off your work. After years of helping them, they ban your work. o.O

It seems people either love or hate platformers. Me? I. Hate. Them. The tedious jumping, poorly immersed puzzles... It's just... All so redundant in my opinion. What's yours?Don't get me wrong, there are some classics I enjoy such as Mario. But anything after Super Mario that's not on a handheld or 2D has jumped the shark for me.

My first gaming system ever was a Gameboy Color. From there, I had a Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance SP (congrats Nintendo you fucked my young mind with your marketing), and finally a PSP (I believe it was a 2000). Haven't used any since as smartphones are more of the thing for my age now.

It doesn't have to be an instant, whenever reset though. Plenty of RPG's, like Dragon Age (and even Demon Souls to an extent) offered the possibility of re-leveling if your made a mistake. In Dragon Age you get 1 tome or something once in the game that allows you to reset all of your skills. Something like that would probably be the best method.

I was just wondering. One of my friends always ends up playing as a female and I can't understand it for the life of me. It just seems like it would be easier to relate to a character of the same gender.

10,000. *waits for something to explode*

9,997...

I just based that off of what people suggested on other sites, now that I've played the game more, I'd have to say the following for sure (for a mage build...):100 Enchanting w/ Extra Effect - take the middle path with insightful enchanter.100 Conjuration w/ twin souls - take the far left path. You get atronarchs +50% more powerful, and the ability to summon two at once. Unbelievable when you partner it with zero magicka cost; you can permanetly have two storm atronarchs if you buy the thrall spells with no time limits. You can also summon dead NPC's to fight with you permantly - if you choose two summoners, you're looking at your own army. 6+ if you bring a companion.

Ha, I've had the same thing happen to me with a dragon before. It was weird as hell, because I fast traveled to some random dungeon and there were 2 dragons right in the vicinity capable of attacking me, and a 3rd a bit farther away that was visible and glitching (hovering in one spot). One of the dragons instantly died in front of me and the other circled a few times and then flew away even though I was trying to engage it.@anti-complaint for destruction - Oblivion's destruction combat system was shit but because you could make your own spells you could essentially become a god and wreck everything at will. Skyrim has a better, sexier, more fun/interesting system, but the damage output at high levels is HORRIBLE. It's fine at the beginning, but at my level (40) I will have to spam (zero magicka cost) 5+ fireballs at even weak enemies to do any damage at all - and this is on adept. Meanwhile, with my level 35 one-handed skill, I can kill them in about 3 hits. Note my character is supposed to be a mage build and his destruction is like 65 or something. It doesn't scale as you level.New Complaint1. I'm glad they removed the stamina/acrobatics skills, but man, I wish my character could run faster/longer.... One or the other would be great.

Haven't you been promoted every time you've applied for something?

Well deserved. Don't let us down now!

I can't comment on MW2 or 3, but I thought Black Ops was absolutely awful. Horribly glitchy, no dedicated servers and the resulting always horrible connections, poor graphics... the CoD franchise has been floating on its name for awhile now imo. There are better shooters out there.

Newegg - Gaming Link $15 Batman: AA GOTY Yakuza 4 $16 Resonance Of Fate GOW III GOW Collection Valkyria Chronicles Killzone 2 NIER Bayonetta Tomb Raider Trilogy InFamous MGS 4 Uncharted 2 GotY Ratchet & Clank: Tools Of Destruction Heavenly Sword Star Ocean: Last Hope International $20 Killzone 3 Star Wars: TFU 2 Collector's Edition

You can't count browser or emulator based games though. At that point the only difference is software, since the 360 and PS3 have capable hardware for such things. If I wanted to play RuneScape on my PS3 I could in theory.

I don't get all the hate for PS3's online. I can't imagine having to pay extra just to use a feature that's already pre-installed on the hardware. It's like paying for access to the internet when you already have the connection. When people claim it's "better" I can only assume they mean people are banned more frequently since that's the only difference (360 has more support). The players aren't worse, either, if anything there are less 12 year olds shouting poorly thought-out obsenities at you during CoD (there are still a lot, though...).

That's a hell of a school laptop. And you get to bring them home, install your own programs, and what-not?

Might upload the psd's for people that are interested in attempting their own. Anyone interested? It's practically pre-done, you just have to add your own image and then apply a transparency gradient.

You don't have Skyrim yet? o_O

Note: We've released a new Leveling Guide detailing the best and fastest leveling methods for every skill in Skyrim. 04/08/12 NOTE: As of the v1.5 patch, Smithing is changed to give experience based on the value of the item you create. This will make it similar to most other skills, and eliminates the efficiency of the iron dagger method. We'll post more information soon after some testing. Initial feedback has suggested that crafting jewelry with the "Transmute Mineral Ore" spell via iron ore is the new fastest method. If you have not installed patch 1.5, the dagger method will still be the best route. Enchanting remains unchanged. Background After a relatively short amount of time, I have achieved 100 (Master level) smithing, enchanting, and conjuration. My process was simple and they were all achieved in under a day; I promise this won't take too long if you do it correctly! When I claim I achieved this under a day, I'm not trying to be cute by literally meaning "under 24 hours of playing." This was done in under 5 hours. Note that the only major questline I had completed at this point was the College of Winterhold, which helps for gathering items but is not necessary (will get into this later). Five things in one guide? Isn't that excessive? Perhaps. It's important to note that this guide is just going to provide a general explanation of how I achieved mastery level of these three skills in a short amount of time. If you're interested in an in-depth explanation of EVERY method of training EACH of these skills individually, you'll have to read the skill-specific guides (which will be linked to in this guide as well, when completed). However, I promise that the following is the only method you really need if your only intention is to max the skill fast. If you have any questions you can post on the forum or in the comments. Initial Preparation Gathering Supplies All you have to do is travel between merchants that sell iron ore, iron ingots, and lesser/petty soul gems (filled or unfilled) while purchasing all that you find. The towns and locations with the highest number of merchants selling these items will be listed below (this list is not all-inclusive and does not include General Merchants who may have the items as well in lower quantities) - click "Show" to view the list. I personally traveled in a loop between the College of Winterhold (~4 merchants all sell several soul gems, including Tolfdir, Phinis Gestor, Enthir, and Drevis Neloren), Markarth (Calcelmo in the Underground sells soul gems; general trader for ingots/ore), and Whiterun (Farengar for gems and the TWO blacksmith/armor merchants right by Breezehome). Note that this was before we had this handy table of dozens of merchants; I'm not claiming this is the most efficient route. In addition to the iron you will need leather and leather strips for smithing; each piece of leather makes 4 leather strips. Buying full leather pieces is more economical than purchasing strips since you can just craft the strips yourself using a tanning rack (located with all of the other blacksmith things in Whiterun), although it's quite cheap either way. Since most merchants that sell iron also sell 10-20 leather pieces (which turn into 4 strips), you should be well on your way to having enough strips before you have nearly enough iron. Note: It takes 2 in-game days for a store to reset its stock and the merchant's gold. This is offset by fast traveling between different towns in a loop (fast traveling causes time to pass in the game but you don't realize it). Maintaining Profits and Cost Effectiveness The following three guide sections (smithing, filling gems, and enchanting) don't have to be done in order. You'll probably have to do a certain number of gems and enchanted daggers at a time before your gold runs out. By enchanting and selling a number daggers every so often, your gold cache doesn't deplete so you can still go around buying gems/iron. Since the enchanted daggers will be rather expensive and you'll have more than any merchant can buy, it's convenient to sell a few at every place you purchase supplies from. To maintain a profit, you should only be buying petty and lesser soul gems, as higher level gems will cost more than the enchanted daggers can be sold for after a certain point (as you craft more the items value decreases). Smithing Leveling Smithing After you have your ore and gems, all you have to do is use the blacksmith forge to craft hundreds of iron daggers. I used Whiterun as the forge and tanning rack are right next to the fast travel point, two blacksmith/armor merchants that sell several of the items you need, and Breezehome for storage. It goes very fast; just 1 click per dagger without any menu movement. Think about how fast leveling Alchemy was in Oblivion with duped ingredients - it's about like that, assuming you have the materials. Enchanting - Soul Gems & Unlimited Magicka Filling Soul Gems Enchanting's Perk Tree The easiest way to fill soul gems involves an exploit(?) with companions. Give your campanion a weapon with Soul Trap (1 second is enough unless you're going to be helping kill the target, in which case ~3 works). Put ALL of the unfilled soul gems into your companion's inventory. The final step is killing NPC's that have the appropriate soul level for the gems you're trying to fill. Since petty/lesser gems are what we're using, you just need to kill creatures such as deer (petty) or basic enemies (lesser). The exploit works since when your companion soul traps and then kills a creature, EVERY unfilled soul gem of the appropriate level will be filled in his/her inventory. For example, having 50 unfilled lesser gems and 50 unfilled petty gems just requires killing two NPC's as opposed to 100 the normal way. Note: If the above doesn't work (only one soul gem is filled at a time), a fix is taking your follower's entire inventory out and putting it back in after starting new conversation. This method is confirmed to be working as of the PS3's v1.2 patch. Leveling Enchanting After you have the daggers, you'll have to use them with filled soul gems at an Arcane Enchanter. The closest one in Whiterun is in Dragonsreach by the mage (Farengar). Select the gem, a dagger, and your enchantment. In order to maximize your profits you should at first switch between all of your available enchantments to find the one that results in the dagger having the highest value. Select craft, and repeat the process. Since we're just power-leveling, the level of the gem you're using doesn't matter. Petty gives the same amount of enchanting experience as grand; the only difference is the quality of the enchantment (and we don't care, because we're making shitty daggers for experience). Enchanting Armor to Achieve Unlimited Magicka (Zero Spell Cost) Now that you have 100 Enchanting, you can use the perk system's "Extra Effect" to be able to enchant two enchantments into every piece of armor! It is generally agreed that the best route to take to get this perk is by venturing up the center of the tree; refer to the right-hand image for more information. Recommended Perks [*]Enchanter (x5) - new enchantments are 20% stronger. [*]Insightful Enchanter - skill enchantments on armor are 25% stronger. [*]Corpus Enchanter - health, magicka and stamina enchantments on armor are 25% stronge. [*]Extra Effect - can put two enchantments on the same item. By using the "Fortify *Magic School*" enchantment, you will be able to achieve -25% cost on four pieces of apparel (chest, ring, necklace, and helm) for two schools of magic. The net result is -100% magicka cost (ZERO!) for two schools! This makes power-leveling all of your magic schools a matter of 10-20 minutes for level 100. Conjuration Leveling Conjuration This is the easy part. All you have to do now is take the spell, soul trap, and find some dead remains of some NPC. I went to Labyrinthian (the dungeon from the Winterhold's College questline) and cast it on the dead skeleton remains right near the entrance. The corpse of any NPC will do - you can even go out and kill a nearby Skeever. By dual wielding soul trap, you can cast it twice as fast and in a matter of around (or under) one second per cast if you can time it right. Since you never run out of magicka to fuel this, you can cruise to 100 conjuration in probably 15 minutes Note: I've been made aware that you are also able to cast Soul Trap repeatedly on Shadowmere (the horse you receive from the Dark Brotherhood). If you have Shadowmere, this will probably be more convenient than tracking down corpses. Other Magic Skills You don't need to stop at Conjuration; with zero spell costs, leveling every magicka-dependent skill is ridiculously easy and fast. For more information on the other Magic skills (and others), you can check out our Leveling Guide. Click here to view the article

Civ5 - does anyone own it? I've been thinking about buying it for quite awhile now, and the price has dropped to around $20. Is it worth it? I'm a fan of the series, and I've talked to people who absolutely love the changes V brings and others who abhor them.

At the moment I'm sitting at my 3 year old laptop. Not a gaming PC by any means but it was quite nice compared to the rest of the market when I originally bought it.Pretty sure my graphics driver is fucked, so the score is a bit lower than it probably would be otherwise (although the card is still shit).Note this is all copied from Control Panel --> Performance and Information Tools --> View and Print Detailed System InformationComponent Details Subscore Base scoreProcessor Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz 6.2 4.8 Determined by lowest subscoreMemory (RAM) 4.00 GB 6.2Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 4.8Gaming graphics 2287 MB Total available graphics memory 6.2Primary hard disk 224GB Free (288GB Total) 5.3Windows 7 Home PremiumSystem -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Model HP HDX18 Notebook PC Total amount of system memory 4.00 GB RAM System type 64-bit operating system Number of processor cores 2Storage -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total size of hard disk(s) 298 GB Disk partition (C:) 224 GB Free (288 GB Total) Disk partition (D:) 1 GB Free (10 GB Total) Media drive (E:) CD/DVD Disk partition (F:) 72 MB Free (100 MB Total)Graphics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT Total available graphics memory 2287 MB Dedicated graphics memory 512 MB Dedicated system memory 0 MB Shared system memory 1775 MB Display adapter driver version 8.17.12.6658 Primary monitor resolution 1920x1080 DirectX version DirectX 10Network -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Network Adapter Intel® WiFi Link 5100 AGN Network Adapter Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

Agree with all your points, except that PC has the widest range of games (it doesn't unless you count older games, much fewer new releases compared to the consoles) and the controllers.I prefer the console control method; it gives me a reason to spread out on a bed/couch and play in comfort. For PCs I tend to sit upright in a chair and it gets annoying after awhile. Graphics on the PC are definitely better, but it could cost you $2,000 too, which isn't really comparable to what you get for $200 with a console. Mods are HUGE though, unbelievable how much they make every game better.

This would be hilarious going around on a serious CoD forum with. I have a class specifically for when I get pissed off; hardline, silenced Spaz, noob tube, the whole 9 yards. Hilarious.Does Ireland have an FBI?