True, but did I ever tell you about my new Matrox Parhelia? Wow, let me tell you, what a video card! Ever since I replaced my trusty GeForce 4 Ti 4400 I've had nothing but one memorable gaming experience after another. All my games run buttery smooth at the highest resolutions that my monitor can support. Even with those great features like Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering turned on! And the Direct X support is second to none, let me tell you. ATI and Nvidia cannot hold a candle to anything that Matrox has out right now - trust me. If you're looking for something outstanding in your next video card, make sure you check out the Matrox Parhelia. All your friends are buying one!

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From the teardown article:

The three teardowns tell the story of GM's plans: Go directly from gasoline to fuel cells with a mere nod to hybrid tech. At the Tokyo auto show in October, GM unveiled its fuel cell-powered Sequel. Larry Burns, GM's vice president for R&D and planning, announced that the company would be able to "design and validate a competitive fuel cell propulsion system by 2010."

Well, now we know why GM isn't offering as many hybrids as the other car companies. I think it won't be long until we see General Motors become a division of Toyota.

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If you look at that list in your second link, you'll notice that 2 of the 4 "new" hybrids are actually Ford Escapes with different badging. Not too encouraging.

I don't understand... what's not encouraging? Ford has committed to offering hybrid versions of its entire product line, and I'm sure other car companies will eventually follow suit. (GM is behind the curve as usual, and I am not surprised.) There aren't many choices at the moment but it will get better. You know, it's all baby steps. I haven't heard much about Dodge hybrids but they're on the way also.

http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/news/ram_contractor.html

Under "More Hybrids Coming Soon", you notice the only pickups are basically the same GM product, and they are still 2 years away.

True, but they're using a more advanced version of the hybrid system intoduced in the same trucks in 2004 (see first link - GM timeline).

Looks like working folk (construction workers, farmers, etc., as opposed to those driving around in little commuter cars) are still going to be waiting for quite a while for anything that helps them out, expecially if you hate GM products.

As Z said, there's always the turbo diesel. Why wait around for a hybrid to come later when you can get a diesel now?:

http://www.bankspower.com/tech_TD-fact-Fiction.cfm

From:
http://www.cummins-sp.com/support/#why_diesel

Why Buy A Diesel?
Fuel Economy: Diesel engines typically get 50-100% better fuel mileage than gasoline engines due to lower engine speeds, high compression ratio, advanced combustion technology, and the higher energy content of diesel fuel vs. gasoline.

This may sound funny coming from a hot-rodder like me, but those people who look at horsepower over fuel economy these days are stupid, IMO. The days of $0.35 gas are gone and they're not coming back. It makes sense to get more for your dollar at the pump. If I can afford it, my next vehicle will definitely be either a hybrid or a turbo diesel. (But I'm not giving up my hot rod dammit!)

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GM has absolutely no hybrid vehicles right now and aren't planning on getting any soon last I read. Toyota and Honda are the leaders here, with some cross licensing to Ford.

http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/adv_tech/300_hybrids/hyb_timeline.html
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_news.shtml

Ford is developing a flex-fuel hybrid:

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=22474

Check out the fuel efficiency on some of the Volkswagon TDI models though -- they make hybrids look piss poor. Of course you won't be winning any drag races in them...

Maybe not in a Volkswagon, but how about a Dodge Ram truck with a Cummins diesel engine? The best run was 12.167 seconds at 115.10mph (quarter mile track). Not too shabby.

http://www.bankspower.com/sidewinder-dragrace.cfm

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http://tmws.themoviesplanet.com/

The 3D model format has recently been cracked, so there's some hope for the mod/machinima scene. I installed the cheat where you can go right into making movies. Unfortunately I haven't had time to sit down and think up what I want to do. I agree with the comment about the "fisher-price interface" and wish they had added more hardcore editing features like controlling camera placement and such (and maybe a switch between "Easy" and "Expert" controls). I also agree that if you don't like tycoon games you will find the "game" part to not be much fun. I'm not regretting buying the game, but it could have turned out better than what it is.

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Internet Explorer 7 public beta!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx

And happy b-day to the Fleshy Gaseous one.

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Maybe it's a MMO for the Phantom console. Your avatar travels with sidekicks who have the IQ of yeast, and together you must battle robotic frogs. Shit, I better get started on the screenplay....

http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/

"Yet before you pull out your violin to help paint the somber portrait of Romero being a game designer misunderstood by his fans, you remember the ads that ran three years ago, the ones that screamed, "John Romero Wants To Make You His Bitch!" Back then Daikatana was billed as the glorious follow-up to Quake that was going to be done in seven months. Now, it's a game that is more than two years late, has gone through five lead programmers, and is produced by a company that has reportedly burned through $30 million in a few short years."

'nuff said.

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Oh well, thats the industry we're in. Which is why, I'm bailing from the PC platform and leaving you bastards to it.

Oh joyous day! I don't think I've ever been so happy in my life!

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/edit: oh, and Bluem add a www.gogamer.com ad somewhere. As much as we talk about it and pruchase from there, I am sure it would be a good thing.

And put up a NewEgg add as well, while we're adding to the wishlist. Blue coulda got credit for my shiny 6800GS I bought.

Just somebody put a nice unobtrusive Paypal link someplace here and see what happens.

Could be done easily enough with Greasemonkey/Firefox, but only those people with that combo will see it.

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But the game was re-rated only after more than 12 million units had been sold, generating about $600 million in retail sales. The city attorney's office estimated that more than 200,000 units have been sold to date in California, generating more than $10 million in retail sales.

Investigation, my ass. They want to shake the money tree, and they don't give a shit about Little Jimmy seeing a bit of T & A.

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Car: 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra, 192 mph during a speed run after installing a chip and Lightning pulleys on a long, straight and flat country road.

cough(bullshit)cough

Not totally... you can get some decent horsepower gains from chips and stuff. FYI a stock 2003 Cobra has 390 HP and tops out at 155 MPH (engine is supercharged). In comparison, my car has 385 HP and I'm not running a supercharger (nor do I have any on-board computers, fuel injection, etc.), but I've only done 110 MPH... so far. [edit: ah yes, Chevy vs. Ford... but we all know Ford sucks...]

As for street racing, the NHRA was formed because of it. You're never going to stop it, but it would be nice if kids could settle shit on the track instead of on a public roadway. When we switch to hydrogen cars, you'll still have 2 kids lined up next to each other at a stoplight.


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This comment was edited on Jan 28, 03:31.

• This game reminds me of Flatout with all the crazy damage.
• Looks very pretty and runs smoothly on my machine (A64 3200+ / GeForce 6800GS / 1GB RAM).
• The gameplay is not bad but I think I'll wait until this hits <$30. This doesn't seem like a game that would hold my interest for very long, but who knows.
• The physics is arcade-ish but felt ok to me. Then again I always use the keyboard, I don't play enough driving games to warrant buying a wheel.

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Then again, once Oblivion arrives it'll slay my poor old GF4 Ti4200... so it's actually good that it might not be here until closer to my birthday, when I might be able to afford a 6600GT (or a 7-line mid-range card, if they're out by then).

No way, you want a 6800GS. Almost the performance of a 6800GT, for <$250. Although if you shop around you might be able to find one around $200, or less.

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Let's see what happens when Derek's forced to narrow the scope of his games, clean up the bugs, and at least attempt to make his games fun for a wider audience. Talk about stuffing 10 pounds of shit into a 5 pound bag...

Yes he has good ideas but his implementation sucks. At least he'll be starting from scratch PR wise - I doubt many console gamers know who the hell Derek Smart is. It's a whole new world for Derek to piss off! And he'll be using a licensed engine and not one of his own.

It will be interesting to say the least.

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Anyway, while the FPS elements were a bit weaker than say, UT or Quake, the teamplay/character elements were cool, and when you actually had a good squad of serious players who understood how the game was meant to be played (defending/attacking bases together, communicating, changing jobs, etc) it provided something no FPS has really done.

Except for Tribes, you mean. No big surprise that Planetside is similar - one of the guys from Dynamix was head of Planetside for a while I believe...

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So fess up to your nerdom!

My computer case is red. It has red cold cathodes in it. The power supply has a red plastic cover. The drive faceplates are red (except for the DVD burner). My last motherboard was a red MSI socket 754. I'm thinking about buying the Saitek keyboard that has the red backlight.

And I'm the only one that sees my computer.

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"In the future we may actually see production houses that have no internal projects at all, but exist only by funding external projects and acting as liaison between the developer and the publisher."

In the future software will be delivered online and there will be no need for publishers.

Oh yeah, and just about when the sun goes nova and the moon plunges into the Earth, Duke Nukem Forever will finally go gold.

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Yes, the Carolina/Chicago game was a good one - I was expecting the Bears to get blown out but they hung in there and kept it close. It was also nice watching the Patriots bungle their way out of the playoffs. I'm not too excited about a loser (3-13) coach like Haslett being interviewed here in Buffalo... let's hope Marv Levy still knows his shit and can turn the Bills into contenders again.

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Dont bother. You dont have the intelligence to handle a sim likfe F4.

Ah yes, another fine graduate of the Derek Smart School of Public Relations. Your honorary PhD is in the mail!

edit: typo
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This comment was edited on Jan 16, 00:46.

Is this game open source? If not should it be?

I'm sure Valve wouldn't like their Source Engine code to be all over the internet... though I guess it already is thanks to the infamous Sept. 30th leak of HL2... but it would be nice if everyone followed id software's example of opening the code to everyone. If the game is obsolete, and you're not making money off it anymore, AND if you are not licensing the game engine (or using a licensed one), then what harm could come from releasing the code? At the very least you don't have to pay a QA department and the developers for bug fixes - the fans can fix things themselves if they choose.

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