Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~

I'm set to receive one of these bad boys as soon as NewEgg has them in stock. I'll stick it in my current system as soon as I get it, but I'll be moving it into a new system as soon as Intel's Ivy Bridge arrives. http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/03/22/nvidia-unveils-the-geforce-gtx-680-massively-multicore-insanely-powerful/

This is my concern about this (or any other) mech game: My introduction to mechs was with FASA's "BattleTech" game back in the mid-1980's. I loved the strategy and tactics of the game: heat management, locational damage, etc. Over the years, a number of mech games have stripped out these elements, making the games more like a typical FPS without any of the tactical/strategic considerations; the upcoming game "Hawken" seems to fit this description. Does anyone know if MWO will stay true to its roots, or will it be just another action shooter?

Many of you have probably already seen this by now, but for those that have not... This looks like an interesting arcade (as opposed to sim) air-combat game. It has 4-player co-op and multi-player for up to 16 people, along with 30 different aircraft. It may or may not be my cup of tea, but I'm sure it will be of interest to more than a few of you. http://store.steampowered.com/app/207790/

Considering all the trouble Origin has given me--first with SW:TOR and now BF3--I am going to avoid all EA games that require Origin. From this point on, that will likely be most of their games.

My additions: Planet of the Apes: The original, natch. Primer: It will bend your mind into a pretzel until you've viewed it at least twice. Inception: My favorite film of the past 10 years. The Andromeda Strain: Crichton's best story and certainly the best film based upon his works. Altered States: Because Blair Brown is hot. Oh, the movie is good, too. Moon: Not recommended if you are claustrophobic. Brazil: Terry Gilliam's masterwork. THX-1138: George Lucas couldn't leave this one alone, either, but the enhanced edition is actually quite good. Equilibrium: Not a great film, but decent, and Christian Bale's action scenes make it worth watching. Children of Men: My second-favorite sci-fi film of the past decade. A Clockwork Orange: Shows the promise Malcom McDowell had before, well, everything he's done since. The Exam: Definitely not for everyone, more of an ensemble character study in a somewhat sci-fi setting. A Boy and His Dog: A great adaptation of Ellison's work. RoboCop: Sci-fi, action, and a great sense of humor. The Handmaid's Tale: Easily the most frightening movie on this list. @ Zeno: Get 2001 on Blu-Ray, the transfer is absolutely pristine. It looks and sounds better than some of the recent releases.

You're only one-half step ahead of Riot Games. The only difference between your policy and the actual policy is that I got to play the tutorials.

Some backstory for those nor familiar with this genre: MOBA, short for Multi-player Online Battle Area, is a RTS sub-genre that has been criticized for communities that consist primarily of douchebags, particularly when it comes to how unwelcoming they are to new players. Me, for example. League of Legends (LoL) is perhaps the most popular of these games, and after watching a few matches at a recent LAN, I decided to give it a go. I played through the tutorials and a couple of bot matches before trying a game with real people. As in any team game, communications are important, but after looking through the keybindings, I did not see any key(s) listed for Chat functions. So, while waiting in the game lobby, I simply asked the other players how to use in-game chat. Not only did I get a barrage of derogatory comments about being a noob, I actually got banned from the game. LoL has a system where players can report other players for things such as aforementioned derogatory comments, quitting games, etc. So, EVERY other player in the lobby (that would be nine people total) reported me for "idling", which is odd because the game had not even started. I was kicked from the lobby and then got the notice that my account had been suspended for two weeks, followed by an email stating that I could contact the game's support team if I had any questions. No need for that, though. As far as I am concerned, being banned from the LoL community is a badge of honor; it means I'm not a complete douchebag.

Best wishes, Batwing! Although I'm sure you and your bride will be wearing traditional clothing at your wedding, in my imagination, you'll both be wearing something akin to superhero costumes and then spend your honeymoon fighting crime together. Congratulations!

Fraps is GREAT for games, but BAD for what you need. Camtasia is good though, and, last time I checked, there was a free version of it out there. The software I have personally been using for what you're doing is HyperCam 2, which is completely free. It looks and works a lot like Camtasia, and the quality settings are very flexible, allowing you to get small files with good quality. Please be aware that I did run into an issue where HyperCam would NOT would not record audio when I was only using my USB headset. When I used my on-board audio (which only required a driver installation), it worked just dandy. HyperCam's UI is not the best available, but it's not hard to figure out if you just spend time poking about all of the options. ** EDIT ** Camtasia has a few extra features that HyperCam does not, such as the ability to highlight the mouse cursor. The UI for Camtasia is probably a bit friendlier. Both do offer mouse-tracking, however--the ability to keep the mouse centered on screen. Hope this helps.

And of course there's a video about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6N9m9P7Z80

I'm not quite certain what you're referring to. If it was the ribbon that popped up on the second-to-last revive, that's just the standard "Medical Efficiency" ribbon. If you're referring to the second award shown during the "after-action" report, it's just a generic ribbon that showed I had 29 total ribbons for the round--too many to cycle through individually, so they just get all lumped together.

No, not YOU, Medic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t8embx6fss

I recommend the G930 as well. It took Logitech some time to sort out drivers issues when they integrated the G930 software into the same package as the software for the G13/G510 (along with a few other things), but they are once again working great. The battery lasts just long enough for a full day of use (up to 12 hours for me in some situations). I just charge it up every night and I am good to go.

Welcome back, bud. I look forward to getting blown up in (virtual) tanks with you soon.

I have to echo the sentiments of Batwing and Durka. I'm ok with some arcade-ish shooters, but the switch to a primarily 3rd-person camera does not sit well with me. Furthermore, I am not a fan of Ubisoft's "always online" DRM. If the company was more reliable with it, it wouldn't be such a big deal to me, but the constant problems that Ubisoft has with their DRM scheme, including this upcoming issue, totally turns me off of their games that use it. I passed on buying HoMM 6 during the Steam Holiday Sale because it.

I tried Chatroulette. That was boring, too. I spiced it up a bit using the same software I use for LiveStreaming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsLaEpf5BNQ

Not if the game requires Origin. If I can get an Origin-free, disc-free version, then yes, I would like to complete the trilogy.

The pill determines the color of your lightsabre.

If you read the sidebar posts, you'll know that I initially had problems getting Origin to recognize that I had purchased SW:TOR. EA fixed the issue, but it has cropped up again. To add insult to injury, EA double-charged me for the purchase of the game, and both transactions have posted to my account. On top of that, I was trying to play BF3 last night, and I kept getting kicked out of games with a "Lost connection to EA issue". For about an hour, Origin kept saying that my login credentials were invalid, then I would be able to login again, then I would get booted with the invalid credentials again. As of this post, I am still unable to login to Origin. I am going to ask EA for a refund on TOR, and I certainly won't be purchasing anything through Origin again.

As promised, here's some footage of that I recorded while playing C.A.R.S. http://youtu.be/S3tmi8C9SLw I'm also going to try Livestreaming some gameplay tomorrow at approximately 2PM Eastern/7PM GMT. Honestly, it just depends on whether or not I'll have to go dig myself out of snow as to what time I'll be starting the stream. ** EDIT **. Duh. I forgot to include the link I use for Livestreaming.

Just for the hell of it, I've thrown some money at Slightly Mad Studios and have been playing Project C.A.R.S. for a couple of hours now. My initial impressions: 1) The game looks as good if not better than what you see in the videos above. Of course, I'm playing with a more recent build than what is shown above. The DX11 version runs just as smooth as the DX9 version, although it's difficult for me to tell the difference between the two while racing; the lighting is noticeably better in DX11, but that's all I could discern while trying to keep my car on the track. 2) The controls are SPOT ON, unlike the issues I had with SHIFT Unleashed. I used both my Logitech MOMO Force and an Xbox 360 gamepad, and the controls seem very responsive. Which is terrible, because now I have only myself to blame when I roll my car off-track. 3) The HUD elements are nearly identical to the SHIFT games, as are the menu option screens. 4) As the developers have taken their lead from the people that are investing in the game, the feel of the game seems to lean much more towards "simulation" than the SHIFT games do. I have yet to try the game with the most difficult settings, but even with various assists and concessions to accessibility, the game difficulty is greater than that of the SHIFT games. At some point here very soon, I'll put up my own video footage of the game and, if my streaming software works with the game, I'll even broadcast a live stream of the game (most likely on Wednesday; I'll test the streaming tonight).

If you value your privacy and prefer not to read your "friends" status updates every time they have a bowel movement, then you have made the right choice. For promotional purposes, however, ties to social media are a requirement these days.

As many of you now know, an illness--and the inability to speak very much--has prevented me from carrying on with the Knights of the CAT Cable podcast. I briefly considered the possibility of doing a podcast by making fart noises with my armpit, but that would only cater to a niche audience at best (primarily PANiC). So, I have decided to try my hand at blogging, the results of which you can see at: thesmokingmouse.com It's nothing of great importance--just my usual rants about gaming.

In the past 2 weeks or so, someone posted a thread with a funny BF3 video, although I can't find it at the moment. If you watch some of the other videos created by that same person, you will see some legitimate long-range sniping--the range is such that the player had to offset his aim by as many as 3 tick marks (or more) to make the kills. Of course, that's no guarantee that you guys were not playing with someone that was cheating, but at least know that such kills are possible. I'm sure there are probably some more videos on YouTube showcasing the same thing.