Shawn O

"Mojave" showed us that humans are still pretty much pack-focused monkeys that a) come to strong convictions without doing their own research and b) still need to be tricked into any type of independant thought.

How is this is all that different than Unbox? Seems all that's been added is on-demand streaming vs. having to first download it. Whopty Doo! Since I watch all Unbox content via my XBox 360 so I can watch it on my TV vs. a tiny monitor this really doesn't seem like news at all. Maybe a Media Center plug-in or deal like the Netflix one with the 360 would make this actually useful but since you'll have to fully download it anyway to get a decent experience this seems sorta... flat.

Hey, just a few more percentage points and the Zune will have the same marketshare in the PMP market as OS X has in the desktop OS market :)

Of course the real question is... does more objects on screen equal more fun? If so I bet we could make PacMan *really* rock if there were 200 ghosts on the screen at once. Seriously, there are what, 5 at a time now? No wonder it's so boring...

Thanks, I read it too fast and thought he was implying that was strictly the only format, audio or video, it supported. I'm now properly abashed :)

INCORRECT

"...without a video store or the ability to play anything other than WMV..."

Zune also plays MP3 files, the same format that emusic.com and Amazon's new music service. Here are the formats it can play:

MP3, AAC (.m4a), WMA Pro (2-channel), and WMA Standard

I agree with Fedule, #16, if you play the demo through two or three times *AFTER* doing all the tutorials, then it becomes pretty easy. I wouldn't call the control scheme that steep and I actually found this game easier than ArmoredCore4.

I'm glad it's a more hectic-paced game, means you actually have to acquire some skill to play the game, though not a ton considering how badly my twitch skills are in FPS games. I prefer it over a rail-based shooter or something that just requires button mashing.

They could have picked an easier level for the demo but then you'd be able to play through the demo in a few minutes, where's the fun in that? This way the demo can last a few hours at least. You actually get a pretty good feel for what it's capible of.

If you can make it through the tutorials and play through the first mission a few times you'll definitly get the hang of what's going on. I'm an old school gamer, back in the 8-bit days, so if I can figure it out anyone can.

I thought it was a blast, it reminded me of old Robotech or Starblazers cartoons, being plunked into the middle of one of those anime battles with thousands of ships. The fact that at first you don't know what to shoot actually makes the game feel *more* realistic, with so much going on the screen at once.

Tips:

- Use the radar and alternate radar views (down on the d-pad). You will need them.

- Make sure you know how to find the refueling ship (the blue dot, once you figure out the radar it's cake to find).

- Master the A+B combo to auto-rotate your ship to lock onto the closest target.

- After clearing the first wave of fighters go after the big enemy ships (the green ones).

I don't have the best twitch reflexes but found Slypheed pretty easy once you figured out the controls.

Interesting, I didn't realize people still went to Blockbuster or even rental places at all. Huh, learn something new every day.

I thought the same way you did, no problems with my year and half-old 360, until the day it started freezing and refusing to boot. My 360 sits in a huge cube with nothing above, next to, in front of, or below it, pretty much in the wide open. Until you start having friends whose 360 die you tend to think it doesn't happen. I now personally know 4 people whose have died and I've grown a wee bit more understanding.