Just trying to fix my handicapped brothers 360 here, things broken 3x times now with this time being out of warranty. I say he's handicapped to make a point that this is all he has and having the system working means a lot, we dont have much cash to get him a new system right away. With Gamefly he is constantly playing the thing. We had the capability to run it on 720P with this new Lcd we just got but passed to lower heat buildup and (we thought) keep the system running. I set it up good, used a laptop cooler to keep it cool, raised the system and cooler a few inches off the table with 4 rolls of packaging tape on each corner to make sure the airflow was good and that their was lots of space all around the system and after a few years it STILL broke down from overheating! No indicator lights just wont output video.

These junky fragile, tight, "form over function" systems piss me off. I have a home built pc that is one ugly site, its big and well venitlated (but still quiet) with the PSU on the outside to cause less heat build up. I wouldnt recommend that for the 360 but how many here would if given the option buy a bigger uglier 360 that was sufficently ventilated and actually ran better? Maybe they could use old recycled PC housings or first gen Xbox's with more solid cases (for a "greener" model help sell better) they could probably take more of a beating and would definetly run better in less ventilated areas. The hardware would all be the same but i think it would be a great thing if they at least offered that type of model a lot of people dont care what they system looks like as long as its a square shape, has an on/off button, a few usb ports and cd tray theyre good to go.

THey spend far too much time and probably sacrifice performance and definetly reliability to fit that system into such a small box. I would love it if the next model line gave us that option... maybe if it catches on the next model line would focus even more on that, the designers could spend more time giving us the beefiest system specs even possibly make it upgradeable. (doubtful)

just a half baked thought that came to me while trying to fix my brothers system.

Those games occupy a lot of your time and life if you get really into them which a good amount of players do. If most of your free time and social life is spent playing in a fantasy world i could see why employers would not want that type of person. Some of those people are just strange and dont mesh well with other people in the work place. Another thing would be how much time and your life this game occupies when youre not playing. You go on the internet to post on forums about the game, improve your skills within the game, shopping for clothes online for your character is probably the strangest thing i can think of.

I can completely understand why an employer would put up a red flag when they find out youre an MMO player. Video games are different or a lot less extreme then these MMO's. Video games used to be a lot more about challenge, skill and high scores and those are still out there but the shift is increasing more to great storyline's and worlds that suck you in, detailed character and character creation long backstorys explaining the world youre about to enter when you turn on this particular game, almost escaping the reality around you and MMO's are 10x more enveloping and consuming/shaping of a persons persona and free time.

yeah Stalker Clear Sky looks good. I loved Stalker it was so much different then any FPS i have played before i loved the rpg elements of the game. The best part was the game when it was first released was pretty good but player mods have carried this thing the mods have kept the game looking up to date with much improved graphics, tighter code, a better game play experience and fixed a lot of small errors.

What about Turning Point? That was a GREAT game wasnt it?

Hey guys just wondering are we going to see a new batch of good FPS games like last year again? Or were we spoiled by that release of great FPS games, as some game designers have put it. The few new FPS games that have come out havnt been anything great. I just got done playing Frontlines and Turning Point.

Frontlines isnt bad and does have some cool online gameplay its a great game for Battlefield fans. It took Battlefield games and imrpoved on them set in a timeline between 2 & 2142 with decent graphics and fun gameplay.

Turning Point was something else entirely. I cant believe they released this game it honestly felt like i was playing a game that was made 4+ years ago on a PS2. This is what makes me worried that only a few games will live up to their hype. I thought when games came out and set a standard that the games coming out after would have to at least maintain that standard but i guess the TP designers put a good play experience as an afterthought. The graphics were horrible, the gameplay was so incredibly unrealistic and buggy, the enemy AI was non-existent and whole experience was very fake. i had been looking forward to this game for awhile with all the hype surrounding it.

Iwas more upset because it reminded me that games this bad can and do get released and its hard to tell if the game is going to be good until its released because of the hype, and even screenshots dont really reveal how a game will be. Even after its released and gets bad reviews you have a bunch of other people mostly the designers putting spin out there to make it seem like the game is good. TurningPoint designers actually said that 1, we were spoiled by Crysis and COD4 and 2, that this is a "High Concept" game and that most people wouldnt appreciate it. I dont know who this mysterious target audience is but it just seems like some of these people developing these games dont know what makes a good game.

I really hope we see some good FPS games coming soon. ive got a nice fast system now with a new 8800GTS card that i want to really put through its paces. Whats coming down the pipeline? I really like most any kind of FPS, online games like Battlefield2 & 2142, wide open enviroments like Stalker and even linear story driven games like COD4 as long as theyre done right.

Hey guys just got done playing Assassins creed for the past hour, most of the time was spent setting it up and fixing that crash issue. Anyways after playing for just 5 minutes i was stunned. I guess i didnt read the previews enough i just saw the pictures of a man in medieval times hopping along killing targets and being very stealth about it, which seems pretty cool especially when you think of how it will be expanded on and from other things ive seen. Well i had no idea that all this takes place in the mind of someone from the distant future whos being put in a sort of brain analyzer that helps him relive parts of his distant relatives past, he's kind of being forced to do this for some companies benefit.

Very weird game so far, but the production level is very good.

well the graphics are a bit dated, but the gameplay is good and hasnt been duplicated since not even BF2142 really did Bf2 justice. 2142 wasnt even much of a graphics or engine improvement that just made it futuristic which sucks IMO those flying vehicles arent nearly as fun as jet or a helicopter.

The next best thing is Frontlines, it just came out a few weeks ago. Its a little like BF2 and timeline wise is somewhere in between 2 & 2142. Graphics are OK not fantastic but better then Bf2 i like it for a bunch of reasons. One it adds new levels of gameplay and tactics with a few different things one the Frontlines style of gameplay is pretty cool its kinda like CTF but i really like how it works it makes matches fun wether youre the winning team or the losing team. Next is the leveling up and new weapons, its not like Bf2142 where you have to spend months playing to get new unlocks instead you get unlocks on the server youre playing on by stealing so many flags, you keep the level up while on the server until you log off. THe level ups are cool but dont really mis-balance the game too much.

You can choose one of 4 feilds to level up in, 1st field is Recon; 1st level is a r/c copter you can remote control and detonate to kill someone, second is an r/c car that can explode and blow up a tank, final level is a r/c copter with missles. 2nd Field is Airstrikes 1st; tactical 1bomb, 2nd cluster bomb, 3rd ac-130 gunship point and shoot. 3rd field is EMP which is way more useful then most EMP in games im not too sure on the level ups, last (or first) is basic level up. 1st is a gun turret (place it anywhere and you have a mounted gun) 2nd is an auto gun turret place it anywhere and it will guard the area, 3rd is.... i forgot.

So its not the best, but condsidering theirs not much for good military battlefield style games. Ideally i would really like to see a Battlefield 3 with new graphics, slightly futurisitic weapons and tactics but nothing unreal. I think that would be a lot better then 2142.

Its set in 2024, what would happen if the world ran out of oil. The single player campaign is nothing great but i kinda licked it.