Anonymous Rep

I do so love when people misspell something that COMPLETELY changes what they meant to say - it really lightens up the mood.

"Militant Atheists do not burn people at the steak."

Does that mean that they burn their steaks, instead? Would you like yours rare, or perhaps medium-well? And is that beef, or is that smell coming from the barbeque pork?

Now, if you were to burn a person at the stake - also known as a pole - then I would have to say that it's probably pork. (There's a reason why people are called long pig - and no, apparently we don't taste like chicken.)

Keep the following two things in mind regarding the actual lawsuit, as reported:

"According to the suit, the wiring that connected the Xbox 360 to an electrical outlet became so hot that it started a "catastrophic" fire at a house in Warsaw, Ill. The victim, an infant named Wade Kline, perished in the inferno."

First off, the Xbox 360 wasn't out then, so that's immediate grounds for dismissal of the lawsuit - it's physically impossible for the 360 to have caused the fire. (I know it's a legal technical blurb, but you know there's a lawyer somewhere going, "DOH!" and trying to file an amended case file.)

Second, the only way the cords themselves actually got hot was if someone didn't seat them properly on the Xbox. That was a problem that they had - if the cord wasn't pushed all the way on, then there could be a bad connection between the cord and the internal power supply, which could cause the power supply to get hot. But to actually get these things up to the ignition temperature of anythind surrounding is practically impossible. You'd almost have to have bare wires sitting on top of newspaper for this to happen - which wouldn't be impossible, of course, but would hardly be the blame of Microsoft or Wal-Mart.

For that matter, even when we were posting all of our recall information and replacing the power cords in all the interactives around the country, we never admitted at any time that they could start a fire - merely that there could be a potential for a burn. Heck, ANY transformer can get hot enough to cause a burn.

Now - who remembers the PS2 paper that was up at about the same time? Where they STATED on the paper that the PS2 power supply caused fires? Hmmmm???? Bueller? Anyone?

I'm not defending the companies here per se - just that waiting two years (the suit was filed in December of 2006) and STILL getting your facts wrong is inexcusable and the damages are unspecified but IN EXCESS of $50,000 - which means the lawyer wants to get before a jury and have them award the estate a few million dollars.

I agree that Dead Rising has replayability. When I was first playing the game I was quite annoyed at the save system - then I started figuring out how to make it work to my advantage. Let's face it - to achieve the BEST ending, this game is basically unbeatable without dying and restarting at least once.

That doesn't mean that you can't actually get an ending - they do have several different endings built into the game. It's only if you actually do everything - complete the plot - that you can get the overtime and then free play mode. You know you don't even actually have to sit in the security room - if you get onto one of the signs in the entrance lobby and just sit there, you can watch the zombies run around below you, take some pictures, and basically kill time until the 72 hours is up. (I kept one of the initial people in the entrance alive for 6 game hours that way - he was back by the lowered fence, and the zombies were all chasing after me - so he just stood back there.)

I mostly just enjoy the sandbox mode of the game now that I've beaten it several times - there's just something quite satisfying - albeit disturbing - about jamming a shower head into the zombies.

And the special forces aren't really that much of a hassle - get the book that lets you keep your blades longer, and then chop 'em with the katana.

Oh, and by the way - I don't know the price, but Best Buy has the wireless controller WITH the black battery and black play'n'charge kit already bundled together. Saw some in the back room last week - they hadn't gotten their Elites in yet, but they had their accessories. (And they ARE authorized and allowed to sell the accessories now - just no consoles until the 29th.)

This one is pushing one of my hot buttons.

Kite - FoxNews, as far as NEWS reporting is concerned, actually is trustworthy. What happens is that people confuse Shephard Smith reporting simply what happened with Bill O'Reilly reporting his opinions, and then simply lump everything together. There IS a difference.

It's also entirely possible that NegativeCool read a book about Islam Fascism - because that does also exist, in addition to Islamic Fanaticism.

Use a nuke - right... You apparently have no real concept of JUST how much gets broken when one of those goes off. Now - if there was a war between the U.S. and China or Russia and China, then probably there would be nukes going off. But all a nuke does is kill a lot of people all at once, and destroy a lot of things VERY quickly. That's doesn't actually defeat the enemy if that's your purpose. The ONLY way to that is to put troops on the ground and then hold it. You can use a nuke to break their will to fight, especially if they're war-weary in the first place, but you don't really defeat them that way.

Shmil - there are people still signing up for the military every day. We just buried a soldier that was killed from here last week - and more kids are signing up now than ever before. They recognize something that you don't, or perhaps it's just part of being from a conservative part of the country.

Oh, and yes, I would sign up if I could - and in fact, I AM prior service, as is most of my family. About the only ones who aren't prior service are my kids - because they're currently IN the U.S. military.

What does Jankow want us to do? Have compulsory military service? That was called the draft, by the way. Don't watch the movie - go READ the book 'Starship Troopers' by Robert Heinlein. THEN go read 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman. Understand WHY soldiers volunteer to save their countries and societies from the barbarians - and after you read a bit of John Ringo as well, you'll realize that our barbarians today are alive and well.

It would be nice if we could all live in peace. When we as human beings finally evolve enough, then that may actually happen. Until then, if you would have peace, then be prepared for war. (Okay, I freely admit I stole that last one from Larry Niven.)

37. If the drives retail for $100, you can guarantee M$ wont pay more than $60 for it,

Really?

And just exactly where is YOUR proof of your comment? First off, there's not ALWAYS that much of a quantity discount - especially since we're only talking about an initial run of about 400,000 units or so. Regular HD's for your PC are running, at retail, around $1 - $1.25 per GB, so that would put a regular 120 GB HD at $120 - $150.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7955304&st=120+GB+HD&type=product&id=1153997598155

Yep, that's Best Buy, which is a standard retailer. NOW - Microsoft has some other wonderful costs. They have to put the HD into that slick plastic case and surround it with assorted foam so that when your little brother comes along and pulls the HD off your 360 and uses it as a hammer, the HD ought to still work. (Or when you drop your 360 onto it's side from vertical to horizontal.) Net result - the case and other items add a few bucks to the cost, so $150 - $160 for the item wouldn't be too out of line.

NOW - how are most of the HD's made actually sold? WITH the unit - which means they've got to factor in that there will not be as much of an individual market for the HD. In fact, the philosophy on pricing for the HD was directly related to the price of the core unit. The core is $300, the premium is $400, so the 20 GB was $100. The core is $300, the Elite is $480, so the HD is $180. That way, quite frankly, there's no advantage to buying a core and then picking up the 120 GB HD separately - you just buy the Elite as a package.

NOW - when (and I'm speaking strictly on my own here, nothing official) the price comes down across the board this holiday, then you may see the pricing change on some things.

At the same time, I'm certainly not going to complain about Microsoft making a profit - not when that's who pays me.

6. What does "Dukakis" mean? i've heard it from other people too.

You are kidding, right?

Olympia Dukakis, academy award winning actress, and related to former governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis?

The recent thread in Sluggy Freelance, where Aylee and Torg are in a mall full of ghouls, along with Pete' overt homage to Dead Rising, has ALL of these comics beat.

http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=070418

And the joke punch line

http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=070416

beats everything listed, too.

@32. Canberra, Australia.

That's the national captial(NOT Sydney) for those of you who are geologically challenged.

Posted at 9:33PM on Apr 14th 2007 by BrotherEstapol

Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, "the earth") and λογος (logos, "word", "reason")) is the science and study of the solid matter of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history and the processes that shape it.

Geography (from the Greek words Geo (γη) or Gaea (γαια), both meaning "Earth", and graphein (γραφειν) meaning "to describe" or "to write"or "to map") is the study of the earth and its features and of the distribution of life on the Earth.

You know - it's been quite a while since I've had the fortune of being able to point out something like this. Thanks for showing that your command of the language is somewhat less than average.

And I voted for rpg-tv. I have a positive IQ already, so Slackerz didn't do much for me.

People are still wondering about the core system for Microsoft. Here's the story on that.

There are, amazing as it may sound to some of you, a LOT of people in this country that still live in areas where there is no broadband internet service. The core system is a way of getting the 360 into their hands cheaper, because they really don't have much need at this point for a HD, Wi-Fi, or anything else. Chances are they've also got a standard def TV, which is why the core comes with regular cables. Buy a memory card (now for $29) and you do your game saves. I've helped sell several cores to people just for those reasons.

Now, the OTHER reason behind the core is simple. Say you bought your system on launch, and it's now 2008 - your console dies for some reason that is NOT due to Microsoft. (Your kids pull it off the shelf and bust it open, whatever...) Go buy a new core, swap your HD, and you're good to go again.

If - and I'm saying it this way because I AM a rep - there is a price drop this holiday, that also makes the core system a value way of getting a 360 into peoples homes. Then they can add accessories as needed. (For example, I've got wireless controllers - but I actually prefer using wired - but I'm weird like that.)