Daeval

There should be a step between private and public where your own damn competitors can't buy you out.

I'd say she owes him bigtime, but he didn't want any to begin with.

The even scarier thing is that Microsoft is still powerful enough to BUY EA. Or AOL/TW could for that matter. All three are scary beasts in our world though.

no you have to bring the first sets of turrets that you get with you, all the way to that point. not the ones they supply you in that part of the level. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Y'know, I was thinking I did bring the first one in, but now I remember I had to leave it outside the big metal door that alyx shuts just before you get into that room.

Weird, I had turrets out at that spot and they didn't turn on him..

The Sims has its merits, which are far greater than those of reality TV. That said, I'm not sure how a combination of the two is going to be that much more entertaining than watching over someone's shoulder as they giggle like a schoolboy the first time they make a sim piss.

I once read a story about an old lady unknowingly picking up the holy grail at a thrift store and keeping it as a mantle-piece. I've found some pretty neat stuff at them myself. Among my favorites are some black pants with a million pockets labelled "soviet" (never heard of the brand otherwise) and an old Clerks t-shirt that was in relatively unworn condition.

Interesting.. I was ready to skip over this one but I might have to give it a try. Companies will slap "open-ended" on anything that has two doors into the same room these days.

I was pretty sure I knew how all these things worked, but I don't know anymore... I like that you have a tiny vice on your computer desk. That screams "things you shouldn't be doing near computer equipment" to me. hehehe.. And the cheapest "incence burner" I've ever seen made was a crushed coke can with a hole in it. Unless you count aluminum foil sculpture.

Before K'dash scares you off, where do you get your source artwork? That's an awfully high-res image of fur, for example. Are you using a stock-photo site/cd or something? And just for the record, I don't think it's all that bad. A little random maybe but definately not bad.

The 1st Resident Evil movie was at least as good as any contemporary action thriller. Of course, maybe that's just because it had milla jovovich in it.. And Mortal Kombat 1 wasn't god awful (though still kinda silly). They should make an actual Final Fantasy movie based on the old fantasy plots, like FF2's (with Kain and Cecil), and make a LOTR size epic. Hehehe..

I don't think a government-level cap would happen in the states, primarily because no one; consumers, tech companies, media providers, etc, would let it happen. As bandwidth is easier to obtain, more and new uses for the internet become available. This means more innovation, new products, and more cash flow. File Sharing is a side effect that will have to be dealt with in its own way. File Sharing is particularly cool because, I hope, it's going to force companies to think in different ways. Eventually, someone will realize that it will probably be more cost-effective to change the way they distribute than to try and track down everyone who file shares. Valve's Steam (used for Half-Life 2) is an interesting, if sometimes annoying, step in that direction.

It looks nice, obviously some high quality sources. But I don't get the tiger print? Does that have some relation to Akuma? And what's with the pink?

The Rock is still in it, but he's supposed to be supporting cast, not the lead. He's listed on the IMDB if you click on the (more) link.

It's not bad, especially with a decent joystick, but there's not a lot to it and it's kind of the epitome of "grinding" for the next level.

Command and Conquer: Generals - in Skirmish Mode It's fun but the sides seem kind of imbalanced. And the terrorists are WAY not politically correct, I found that amusing.

Amen. Password recovery is serious stuff when you're dealing with money like that. Just go to a copy place where they have a fax machine (we have Kinko's where I'm at, dunno what chains are elsewhere). I don't think you can make a new account without changing bank accounts or something.

Seriously, just talk to your neighbor. If they don't do anything, start peeing in their yard.

You hear this paraphrased ALL THE TYME when you're doing tech support, because people hear all sorts of horror stories about windows "going bad" and stuff. Don't get yourself hung up on it. Those stories are largely left over from Windows 95/98/ME and happen rather rarely in 2000 and XP. Most of the time, the problem is not on the "my operating system is rotting on my hard drive" scale. If the symptoms don't match your diagnosis (and they don't really in this case) then look for another diagnosis. What software or even hardware have you installed since then? Even stuff you might have downloaded for a day and then uninstalled? Are you running or did you ever install any software firewalls (like zonealarm, blackice, etc) or spyware/adware scanners or blockers? Do you have the XP firewall disabled? It's more likely to be something like that that's messing you up. For your hosts file, check here (assuming you're using XP): C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\ Open hosts in notepad. There really should only be one entry, a line that says "127.0.0.1 localhost". Anything else is potentially blocking connections. It should be safe to delete all but that line, save, and then reboot the system to stop blocking whatever else is in there. Ultimately, a format and reinstall might fix your problem, but it's probably not the Windows install itself that has gone bad.

The hosting stuff, if you're referring to hosting games and things over the internet, is also if not especially related to your connection. The vast majority of that stuff could be caused by your router if it isn't set up properly, a poorly configured software firewall such as zonealarm, or even the Windows XP firewall if you're using that (you may not even KNOW you're using that, it's sneaky). You need to get the right ports forwarded and triggered for different programs. The FTP program issue could be the programs responding ungracefully because they can't get through port 21 (I think it's 21 for FTP, it's been a while). Other than that, I can't think of anything that would cause multiple FTP programs to screw up. The.tk thing is odd, but might have to do with a bad hosts file somewhere on your system. Try traceroute-ing to a.tk and see what happens. At any rate, none of the things you listed sound like the telltale symptoms of a windows install gone rogue. It sounds more like your internet connection is f-ed up somewhere along the line to me.

Right, I agree wholeheartedly! I didn't mean to say that it's a bad thing, but it IS a world apart from what newer gamers are used to. I could see if they would make a nice distraction once in a while, but I certainly wouldn't expect a younger gamer to hold them in the divine regard we geezers have them in.

Since all your problems seem to be internet-related, what kind of connection are you using, are you using any firewall software or a router, etc?

This article wasn't as good as the first one. The kids in this one were far more respectful, and I think a little older, and I don't remember the magazine asking so many stupid leading questions in the first one. It's hard to say this, because I was raised on Atari and Commodore 64 so these old games are my classics, but I honestly wouldn't expect someone raised on PS2 games to get more than a passing kick out of older games like this. For us older folk, they have "retro" or "roots" value, but compared to the reward structure and level of complexity in today's games, they're just too different. Some of the newer games in that article, like Gunstar Heroes and GTA, those that have more modern gameplay aspects, mostly got decent reviews from the kids. The graphics were a point of contention, and let's face it, they aren't up to snuff by today's standards, but there were kids there who could see past that because of the gameplay. The older games though, like pong or galaga, just aren't like anything recently made. Doing the exact same, relatively simple task for as long as possible just to see your initials above everyone elses just isn't a gameplay/reward structure that anyone shoots for anymore.

Actually, the servers are hosted on a user's XBox, from what I understand. What's revolutionary is to be charged extra fees for a matchmaking service.

I guess the pirate book was appropriate, because while I didn't get the video card I was expecting, I did make out like some kind of bandit this Christmas. The whole list: - Under the Black Flag - a book on pirates - Tub of chocolate covered pretzels - Chez Grunt - A card game / addon to Chez Geek by Steve Jackson games. - $15 Gift Cert to GameStop - Spindle of CD-Rs, which was ironic because I got... - 16x Dual-Layer DVD Burner from another person, and no media. - Long sleeved shirt / sweater thing - A "Quesadilla Maker," which I'm told does more than it sounds like. - Set of bedsheets/comforter, etc. - Black Leather Jacket - clean and formal looking - Angels and Visitations - book signed by Neil Gaiman - H.R. Giger Calendar (random gift, may be too weird for me) - The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology - Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution (which I alread had, was supposed to be CFE but the clerk apparently couldn't read) - Vanilla scented candle - About $275 in cash/checks.