Sure he did...

You signed up in 2006 and call yourself a long time member?

Yeah, you got a problem with that?

This is just my latest account. Unfortunately I've lost access to two or three others over the years as I moved, built new systems, closed e-mail accounts, and/or just forgot the log-in info.

And Blue's profile/account services page is a little less than perfect so even though I remember my other user names and possibly even passwords I can't access those accounts any longer.

But then I could careless. I don't need a date stamp on my account to make me feel special... so stop with all the ass-kissing already!

Hey, Now!

There will be no ass kissing on Blue's News. It has been an unwritten rule among us long time members. Please, refrain from smooching of the booty here... thank you.

Jonny5, Did you mean $150 because the price point between those two cards has never come close to $15... and never will.

You can't find a 8800 GTS 640 for under $375. And I had the 7900 GT myself and know they have been under $200 for quite some time now.

It's possible that somebody could find a retailer who will over charge them for a two year old card (the 7900 GT) but why would you buy it? Make no sense...

This comment was edited on Sep 10, 09:29.

Those videos are clearly staged Hollywood style clips pieced together to get your attention. Just like every game video teaser. They may have used in-game video to make them but the game clearly doesn't look that good or play that well. So I don't know why they always insist on saying it's actual game-play footage. After being misled by so many other statements like that we all become jaded.

I had a pre-order in but I highly doubt I will purchase the game at release. Maybe if I get bored and after the first or second price drop...

Dude is Insane!

There was another 2k office or did they mean Australia?

Jesus Saves... the rest of you take damage!

Just visited the newly remodeled Witcher site and I am very excited and hope they make the Oct 30 release. I have been semi let down on numerous occasions expecting a release that has never come. Hard to believe they were able to take the time they needed and make the game as good as it is. Not sure of any previous projects but they seem to be a small developer relatively unknown until they released the media stating their intentions with Bioware's Aurora Engine. Man they worked miracles with that clunky thing. And this is as far from NWN as it gets. Just hope it is better than it looks. Cause it looks damned good... and sounds like a very ambitious game.

As far as BioShock: I'm just past the Farmers Market and I must say the game is amazing. It has the best pacing ever. Always something new to try out. Another challenge to over-come. And so many options for different play-styles. Not sure if it will have much replay value right after completion but it's an instant classic to revisit every so often that is most definite.

This game has had me waiting.. watching... silently from a distance. Like BioShock I was interested from the first press release but I hung back hoping for a grand return to PC gaming.

BioShock has delivered (though I have yet to finish it due to my video card issue) and somewhat raised the bar again. From the few friends I know who have finished it all are left wanting more. Now they are searching for another game of that caliber. But so far they are left unsatisfied.

Just wondering if anyone else is feeling the same way after finishing BioShock? Guess I will know for myself soon enough.

Anyway I am hoping the Witcher will raise the bar for the RPG genre. Not that it will stop developers from making shallow games with low or little value.

I first played the BioShock 360 demo (twice) before playing the PC version. And though I agree the PC is always better and I will always prefer the mouse & keyboard... with this demo I was feeling quite at home on the 360 game-pad.

When the 360 first came out I joined GameFly and they sent me two games to play before I even had my 360 on launch day.

I didn't make it out of the opening dungeon in Oblivion before going back to my PC to play it there and Gun just felt cheesy. I hate how a lot of console games give you a large hit radius with hand guns. So in the opening tutorial of Gun I was hitting the birds out of the sky even though I could clearly see the aim was not even close to a kill shot. Lame.

But again in BS I never got that feeling. I adapted to the game-pad and very much enjoy the demo. Great game... from what I have seen.

Unfortunately like Blue and a few others I am holding off on playing BS. My 7900 GT is having issues (for a couple months). I was playing LotR Online with max settings and I think it cooked the card.

I started getting a dead pixel effect that would come and go though it was clearly the card not the monitor (Hanns-G HW191D). Then I started getting artifacts and texture tearing. Now the card chokes and causes random weird texture issues. In BioShock I get a lot of black squares that show up and stick in place but will grow or shrink depending on how I move my POV. Or if I just keep moving they sometimes disappear. I also get texture tears.

So I ordered an EVGA 8800 GTS 640. I couldn't really wait for two or three months for the next Nvidia cards to hit the shelves and I didn't want to spend a couple hundred on something that wouldn't last at least a year or two before the new games force me to upgrade again. Hopefully I chose well.

I'm sticking with my AMD 64 X2 4200+ for now though I have an itch to build a new system. My daughters system (an old one of mine) is having issues also. I should be trouble shooting it now. I have a spare video card power supply and hard-drive but I think it's a virus or malware doing it.

It locks up on boot or at the desk-top. But if I wipe the hard drive it will run for hours reformating, reinstalling and updating XP, installing drivers, and programs. But as soon as I installed iTunes and rebooted it locked. I started from scratch again and it worked fine for the whole wipe and reinstall but as soon as she gets onto it (MYSpace is her first stop) it starts locking up again.

If need be I will give her my 4200+ and build myself a new one.

This comment was edited on Sep 2, 12:46.

That was a cheap Fallout 3 shot. F3 is looking FANTASTIC and most of the hardcore fans like myself & fellow NMA members thin there on the right track

Huh? What a complete contradiction in that sentence. To claim to be a "hardcore fan" and say "F3 is looking FANTASTIC"... well that dog don't hunt. They are not making a true sequel and I couldn't care less every-time Bethesda's PR spin makes claims to be doing just that.

If you're a NMA member have even bothered to read their preview post the other day? Sounds more like OWG than a true sequel now doesn't it?

Like many have stated before they should have named it differently from the start. Tactics didn't claim to be 3... nor did BOS. The developers knew better. And this spin-off would have been more easily accepted if not for the 3 and the continued claims that it is a true sequel for the modern age. I say BS...


This comment was edited on Aug 31, 01:57.

They won't talk about it until ME ships. Then a week or two after... between the ME, OMG This IS Hte Best Game EVar! Interviews and Developer diaries they will start dropping hints about their next big game DA. Then the videos and screen-shots will begin to roll out.

What would really be cool is if DA is actually nearing completion and goes gold and ships with little to no pre-release hype. Now that would be a novel approach. The blind-side holiday season RPG release! We really could use another sleeper hit.

Damn Rainier don't you know that karma is a bitch?

Every game Jowood publishes is buggy and unpolished and broken in some way.

They are a bottom of the barrel publisher.

Gothic 4 is going to be the same. Prove me wrong.

Though I agree G3 was pushed out far to early it still gave me more real game-play than others. I have not and may never finish the game but then I rarely finish one that is as long as it.

As far as you being wrong... remember a couple awesome games from Nival? S2, S3, & Night Watch... not to mention a few more that were far from buggy upon release. And I will admit since I am in Cali I don't play a ton of European releases.

Even though this game is smoking my poor 7900 GT and I have to run it on Medium settings to get a smooth experience I can't complain. This game is amazing. I hate the fact I have to get up in five hours to go to work and if I hadn't been out hurt last week I would probably call in sick tomorrow/today so I could play on into the early mourning.

Great game... superb!

Why did you have to post that link to Newegg? Now I want a bigger wide-screen again.

And you are correct. Wide-screen is in. Once you go Wide-screen you can never go back... the urban myth is true. You have all been warned!

Yo, Creston I used to work for USPS before my new career as a technician drone working for the Evil Empire. So I know what you mean but that still doesn't mean it's right.

Either way mine isn't too bad and 2K is going to make good on a return policy which is nice of them.

So if your Big Daddy is busted check back here in a few days to get it replaced.

http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/busted/

Not finding any Nvidia beta drivers for Bioshock or am I totally brain dead this evening?

This comment was edited on Aug 22, 01:08.

Ok, I pick up my CE PC version about 11am. I notice they have four boxes. The manager tries to give me the first box. As he hands it over and places it on the counter top I notice Big Daddy's drill-bit arm is rolling around in the bottom. No thanks this box is dented and the figurine is broken. He hands me another I peer thru the plastic and see what appears to be a nice (whole) Big Daddy. Little PJ is a happy camper... he walks back out to his work van and proceeds to finish his day.

But he's thirsty and has yet to take a lunch break so he hit's 7-11 for some crack in a cup. (Mmm! PowerHorse from the fountain) As he is settling into the driver seat and thinking about his next job and running a remote test via the switch he tell's himself "Fuck'em. I am taking a lunch break... screw the Evil Empire".

He then decides to open the box and get a better look at Big Daddy. It's a great LE or CE either way. The figurine is good enough but with the Making Of and Sound Track discs it's one of the better packages in quite some time.

So I pulled out the inner box to find my Big Daddy has also become a victim of the UPS ass-hat retard's need to throw the customers boxes around not knowing or thinking what is inside or even giving two shits.

http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/busted/

If you got a busted Big Daddy apparently there are quite a few others. I warned my friend in Jersey about the damage due to a poorly designed case and the UPS system. He didn't even have to mention it the EB Games manager gave him a sticker with that URL on it so he could get his replaced free of charge. Told my bro send them your info they will send you a box, mail the busted guy to them, and get a shine new 2nd edition Big Daddy. Or so they say.... No biggie either way. Mine only has a busted cage which I could just clean up and touch up with model paint. But I think I will send it in either way.

{fast forward to being home}

So I set the game to load as I go shower... screw the dogs today. No walk for you. I come back and start up the game to get the same ole V-Sync texture tearing. But not just that the entire game is running choppy now. Not at all like the demo. Nothing has changed on my machine... I held off from the beta drivers because I hate betas.

And to make it worse I can really notice the mouse lag (x10) now were as in the demo I barely noticed it until I read it here first.

As I was playing the first part of the retail version and kicking myself for not ordering that 8800 a few weeks ago I noticed something else just wasn't right. I had the choppy graphics (check). I had the mouse lag (check). I had the texture tearing (check). But what else was it?

It's the freaking cropped wide-screen. Ray is right... once you go wide-screen and play a game like WoW or LotR Online in true wide screen hi-res you can never go back. Well you can. But you will never be truly happy again, ever.

I couldn't put my finger on it until I read it here. But subconsciously I had noticed the FOV was just not right.

So I feel kind of sad right now. It's too late to walk the dogs.... and I got to try to tweak the game to run correctly. Maybe the AMD Dual Core Optimizer will fix it though I doubt it since I already had it install. There is a version packed in the demo download and I'll bet it's on the DVD also.

Anyway have fun. I am envious. Love the game so far just feeling kind of violated after this string of bad mojo.

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT/GTO
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.9371


Going to make a restore point and roll the dice with those Beta Drivers.


This comment was edited on Aug 22, 00:16.

I'm liking the PC demo better... the guns and of course over-all control is just so much tighter on the mouse & key board. I'm not a big 360 shooter fan since they usually have some degree of auto-aim.

And since I have no HD TV attacked to the 360 it looks much better on my PC wide-screen LCD.

Not sure why anyone could hate the demo unless it just won't play on your system... since it has everything a great game needs.

I can't wait until the end of the shift tomorrow. Plan on picking up my copy during work (forgive me Boss) and checking out that Big Daddy figurine. Maybe I should buy a second copy and E-Bay that CE. I'll give you first dibs, Cheese.

Also from what I am seeing it has a fair amount of replay (if you are willing to hear the story again) since the FPS action is so varied depending on how you handle things. Not sure if the story is branching or has any choices that can make it different on the replay but it doesn't really matter at this point. From what I have seen I already know I am going to enjoy the hell out of it for at least twenty hours and that is good enough for me.


This comment was edited on Aug 21, 02:16.