Rome is the best out of those- easily.

The original Medieval: TW was pretty good as well though. It was held back by technical limitations and a dated engine unfortunately. It was certainly more challenging than Rome was though.

Empire: TW is by far my least favorite- it's god-awful AI ruins the single player almost completely. (The naval battles can be fun in single player- but that's it. The land battles are never worth doing in Empire's single player)

Oh yes- it's most definitely beatable.

I haven't beaten it yet myself- but I can TASTE it... I only have 3 levels left to do and I'll have won... :) (I have 1-4, 3-2, and 3-3 left to do)

We'll see how long it takes me though- 3-2 is proving to be quite tedious... It almost drove me away from the game (not because of difficulty, but because of how tedious it's level design is...), but yesterday I came back and did some invading there to rekindle my interest in the game... :twisted:

I even got to play as the old monk once... :D (I ultimately lost that battle- but only because I was like "OK, this battle has gone on for too long... I'm not gonna waste any more healing items- so I'll let you win buddy...")

Thing is- I'm not sure if I'm willing to brave NG+... :? I'll probably get to it with my Royal eventually- but I was thinking I'd do another normal new game with a Temple Knight, Priest, or Barbarian first.

Well...

My favorites include: (in no particular order)

• Link
• Sonic
• Ganondorf
• Fox
• Mario

I even know my brothers favorites- he tends to use: (in order of who he's most effective with/uses most often)

1. Lucario
2. Falco
3. Toon Link

I wouldn't worry too much- Sony's still backing the PSP- and they will be for quite a while longer (since the PSP 4000 is rumored to be on the way)

I wouldn't expect an actual PSP2 until 2012- at the very earliest.

If this rumor is true- it'll be the PSP-4000. This wouldn't be surprising, since from what I've heard- the PSP Go's sales have apparently been disappointing in several areas (particularly Japan).

We probably won't be seeing a PSP2 until 2012- at the earliest I think.

Not sure if this is the right forum... But here goes...

My desktop PC has started having random lock-ups 2 days ago. They've been becoming more frequent as well. When it occurs- the computer can't do anything- but the mouse still moves. (Ctrl-alt-delete does NOT work)

What would be potential causes for this?

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention this- but another thing that started yesterday. Sometimes- when we try to start the computer- it just gives an immediate blue screen. An immediate restart afterwards however normally gets to XP.

I might try it eventually...

But not right now.

No, I haven't played them. But that is the one I came across most when I was looking myself. It looks cool, but you can never tell about a game from the company's website. Does your post mean that you payed it? Did you like it? My one concern was the mix of turn-based and real-time play. Can you turn off the real-time battles? Or at least avoid them if you want?Sharky94

I actually must recommend AGAINST Empire... :? The AI in the land battles is horrifically bad- gravely crippling any real challenge and enjoyment/sense of acomplishment the single player campaign can offer (Unless- your brand new to the series- though even then, you'll probably find the normal and hard AIs to be abominably disorganized).

If you want to get into the Total War games- you should definitely go with Rome: Total War instead- it's the best entry in the series so far IMO.

You don't like real-time battles though or want to avoid them though? You're basically out of luck in Total War then- they're the series' bread and butter.

You CAN autocalculate them- but you won't get too far in a campaign that way... Total War has always been all about the real-time battles, so playing them might as well be a requirement. Unless you absolutely detest real-time strategy gameplay in general though- Total War's battles are generally quite enjoyable, control well, and aren't too hard to learn.

-----

Anyway- I actually am seeking recommendations myself really. :) I've been given a $25 Best-buy gift card... So I've been looking on their website for a game I could get from them.

I've noticed games like:

1. Burnout: Paradise
2. Lord of the Rings: Conquest

I'm currently leaning towards LotR: Conquest- but I might already be getting it for Christmas... :| I'm also not positive if Burnout: Paradise would be a good pick (though I've heard nothing but good stuff about it).

How much content does Burnout: Paradise really have (Is the variety of events/modes limited at all?)?

It must be really good given that IGN gave it an award on the PC this year- even though it's a 2008 game... :?

[QUOTE="InsaneBasura"]

360 story : Batman: Arkham Asylum
PC story : Dragon Age Origins

So which has the stronger story? Apparently they both beat each other. I'm confused. In any case Infamous beats them both, which is ridiculous. Played the first five hours or something and what little story there is is rather dull, the characters annoying and the world about as convincing as an inflatable anchor.Supafly1

Probably because multiple people gave their opinions about which game had the best story. Maybe they tried to be original and not pick the same game for all platforms and so they chose different ones which of course is obviously just plain silly since Batman and Dragon Age are multiplatform games.

These two games won those categories primairly because IGN has separate groups picking for each console. So IGN's PC editors picked Dragon Age- while IGN's 360 editors chose Batman: AA.

Might as well have some fun with this... :P

I'll go over the awards I saw that surprised/disappointed me... :P

• PC Best racing game:Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box:shock:

So... A 2007 game won over a 2009 game? :? This is what Gamespot almost did last year with Bioshock's PS3 release... :evil: Only IGN has now taken it to the next level- giving an award to a game that was released 2 YEARS AGO...

• PC Strategy game of the year:Empire: Total War:evil:

Not surprising in the slightest- but I am still disappointed. It just goes to show that IGN doesn't care about AI quality- when it can make or break a game like this. This is because Empire's single player was almost complete garbage due to an AI that was utter trash (Well- at least the naval battles were still surprisingly good- but the single player land battles sucked oh so horribly). Why most critics continue to ignore OBVIOUS flaws like this baffle me.

• PSP action game of the year:Patapon 2:|

Well- we all know IGN adores Patapon... But- can it really be considered as an action game? I'm personally led to believe that it shouldn't have been nominated for this one... I'm betting they just nominated it so it could win another award other than PSP game of the year (which was even less surprising- but I'm not gonna complain about that one).

• PSP fighting game of the year: Tekken 6

I'm not complaining on who won this one- what I am complaining on is the nomination decisions... Observe their nominations list and figure out what was left out:

1. Tekken 6
2. Fate/Unlimited Codes
3. Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny

Where's Dissidia? :| It WAS nominated for best action game weirdly enough- but I personally feel that Dissidia belongs in the fighting category- not action.

Anyway- I'm done having fun ranting on my oh-so-unimportant-opinion... :P Which of the other awards do people think were given weird results? :D (This should be fun... :P )