Tiberius Jones

"Going Gold" is when the code for the game is finalized and made into the final master disc that will be used to produce the game discs for shipping.

That master disc is often a gold colored disc. This is where the term "Going Gold" comes from.

Really the point is, I can CHOOSE to buy the HD-DVD add on, or CHOOSE not to.

This is America, the Land of the Free. Do the Japanese not value the freedom of choice? With Sony extorting us into buying their proprietary format, I can't tell.

The point of releasing Gears of War days before the PS3's launch isn't to keep people from buying Sony's new console...at least not directly. It is a foregone conclusion that the PS3 will sell out its anticipated miniscule launch shipment.

But when gamers walk into stores and see "Gears" on screen, no PS3's in sight and an Xbox360 sitting right there on the shelf, ripe for the picking...THAT'S when Microsoft's strategy pays off.

Gears of War is a killer app poised to sell their beefier-than-once-thought console.

Now, bring on Bioshock!

Stupid SHOULD be a sin, and Homosexuality should be ignored. Then a lot of these posts would improve by leaps and bounds.

Have to go now, need to check on the ETA of my copy of Duke Nukem Forever.

;0-)

#30 - Your comments are SPOT ON!

What does $599 get you with the PS3?

#1 - Sony Blu-Ray marketing and hardware to market insertion costs.

#2 - Cell processor. Which, according to Steve Jobs, is less powerful than a Power PC. And, as a result, #3 below.

#3 - A hard-to-program-for (in comparison to Xbox360 or PC) gaming console, meaning less games released more slowly than their primary competition's offering.

#4 - Overall graphics performance approximately 3% more powerful than XBox360 (at best according to the latest released specs).

#5 - A poor-man's Wii controller. Now that's innovation!

#6 - Hardware shortages as bad or worse than what was experienced at the 360's launch.

#7 - A poor online gaming experience. Same ole' same ole'.

#8 - hype, marketing BS and flat-lies (like dual 1080p display support - haha, what a joke!)

In other words - more of the same.

First of all, Sony has not said that online gaming would be completely free. And even if it is free, it is still in the hands of developers and not run by Sony, so the same things that made the PS2's onling gaming inferior to the Xbox will remain true. Overburdened, undermaintained servers, poor matchmaking and lag galore.

In the States, Xbox Live is $49.99 for 13 months. That's $3.80 a month for a fantastic online gaming experience. I will gladly give up one large Mocha from Starbucks per month for that kind of value.

Blu-Ray is only included in the PS3 to help Sony launch their proprietary format. It does not improve gaming AT ALL, and likely won't until the NEXT generation of gaming (2010-2011). Games simply don't need that much space at this point.

By latest accounts on IGN/Gamespot etc, Microsoft is expected to sell the HD-DVD add-on for $150 or less. The key being it is an OPTION. They are not forcing us to buy one, and in turn increasing the price of everyone's Xbox360.

On top of all that, Sony's E3 showing was utterly disappointing while Microsoft's was utterly impressive. The PS3 is only marginally (if at all) more powerful than the 360. It is MUCH less powerful than they touted last year and has much less hardware than was originally announced. Worse yet, their "retard pack" (please excuse the political incorrectness) is even worse than that of Xbox360. $600 for games that don;t look as good (in most cases) as what's currently available on the 360 is simply overestimating the present value of your past market dominance.

Of course, we should not be surprised by any of these developments when you consider Sony's past track record. They did the exact same thing when they announced the PS2. Overpromised and under-delivered. The difference then was they knew they were about to crush an already financially staggered Sega. The same can't be said for their battle with Microsoft. MS proved at E3 '06 that they aren't just a financial force, but a gaming force to be reckoned with. From Gears of War, Mass Effect and Bioshock to Live anywhere and the GTA4 announcement, Microsoft stole what little thunder Sony had and then made some noise of their own.

Don't get me wrong, I've bought every major (ie those from Nintendo, Sony, Sega and MS) new console at launch since the PS1. But I won't be in line for a PS3. I will however, be in line for a Wii to go with my 360. That is, assuming the Wii comes in at $199 or less.

The Linksys wrt54g wireless router is only $59.99 and it is easy (like Forest Gump easy) to set up and works for wireless B and G. I run this router and it works great for my psp, 360, desktop and laptop.

You can get a new wireless A/B/G router, but they are running around $160 since it's new technology. Wireless A is the new standard and the fastest wireless available, but G is very fast...54 MBPS.

Still loving my Xbox360.

Oblivion is nuts. And looks significantly better on my 52 inch hi def TV than my friends PC at the highest resolution. Only the 360 version supports full screen AA and HDR lighting simultaneously, and it definitely makes a difference.

GRAW is great too, but I can't pull myself away from Oblivion right now to play it, damnit!!

Since there won't be enough PS3's in North America to stock more than 3 Wally Worlds until sometime in LATE 2007, I'm good.

Stop looking at me like that. Really, I'm good.

THE MONEY GLITCH ONLY WORKS ONCE!

I did it with my first character. Racked up over 200,000 gold then went around buying better armor and a couple cool weapons.

I made a new character because my original caught vampirism. When I went to try the money glitch with the new character it didn't work. Was a patch released without me knowing? I did boot the game while watching tv so I didn't notice if a patch was applied. The reason I think so, is because Dorian's (the guy you kill for the gold) gold amount was different this time. It was 9 instead of 26.

Anyway, I'm actually my second charater more. I made it a woman, and she's a bad-ass little "Stealth Fighter-Mage", my own custom class.

On a side note. Now that I'm playing a second character I'm really seeing just how open-ended this game really is. I'm doing things completely differently than my first time through. What a blast this game is!

Don't hesitate to buy it if you haven't already.

When I read reviews, I sometimes wonder if the reviewer played the same game I did. This is one of those cases.

The one thing I agree with is the night levels don't feature the same level of detail as the daytime levels. Especially when it comes to textures on buildings. Some of the nightime buildings almost look like stylized cartton buildings from Spiderman or Superman comics. But its a very small gripe.

I never experienced ANY pop-up and I finished the entire single-player campaign. I liked the crosscom, my only complaint with it would be in multi-player. Your teammates are represented by colored diamonds on the field map, but their names are NOT labeled. The crosscom has the power to show you realtime video from each player, and their positions on the map but not to label their diamond with their name? This may be a small gripe but it makes it very difficult when you're playing a commander type role, and trying to set waypoints for a specific teammate to head to to engage the enemy, and you can't tell WHICH friendly is the one a block away from the enemy or all the way across the map. A simple patch could fix this and allow gamertags to be labeled on the map.

Otherwise, I like the multiplayer game very much. I hope they release more co-op campaign levels though, they are a blast and for the most part quite challenging but there's only 4 of them at this time.

Player match making is great, but ranked match making is clumsy and unintuitive. Again, a patch can easily resolve these issues.

I must be the luckiest Xbox360 gamer on the planet because I've never had any overheating issues. I experienced lock-ups with DOA4, but I heard thats an Xbox Live issue. They can patch that, and they may have already...I haven't played since the second DOA4 patch arrived. But I never saw a flying in the dark glitch, or disappearing heads or pop-up or pop-in during my time with this game, which is going on 60+ hours now. 11hr 45m 32 sec to complete single player on normal and at least 5 hours a day on multiplayer since its launch two wednesdays ago.

Final analysis?

Gameplay tastes are subjective. If you are only a Halo or Quake/Unreal freak, this is not the game for you. However if you like your combat a bit more cerebral, then this game will amaze with you its graphics and surprise you with its depth.

It goes without saying, if you're a graphics whore, you MUST own this game.

My one suggestion for beating the single player without frustration is to use your squad and keep them behind you when scouting enemies and then send them in front of you for engaging enemies. They are surprisingly effective fighters.

Buy this game, it is not a rental.