So, what happened to the union during my absence anyways? Was it Vinnie that deleted all of the old threads?

I feel honoured. =P Well, I'm Muddy, but you guys ought as well just nickname me MIA based on how many times I've went poof from this union. Now, somebody give me back my Officer position so I can make a pointless poll to debate the best enemy in Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, or whatever the latest KH game is since I honestly haven't played a KH game in about two years. *Shot*

You guys never remade the introduction thread? Now I have nowhere to make a dramatic retrun! D:

I am just coming off a hiatus as well, which lasted well over a year. I share a lot of the same memories in unions such as these, having been a young teen when I started using these forums, and it brings back these memories coming back as an adult. It still feels like just yesterday that this place was lively, and although it's sad to see this board practically dead, it still serves as a reminder of the friendships I made, and how much we all grew over the last few years.

I actually purchased a copy of Pro Street a couple of weeks ago. I avoided it when it was initially released, and for a good while had difficulty find a hard copy of the game. I'm hoping to play through it fairly soon. I've heard a wide array of opinions on the game, from the good to the bad, so I'm intrigued to see what the game delivers.

For sure. Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a day one purchase for me, mainly because of how greatly I enjoyed Criterion's take on Hot Pursuit from a couple year's back. The Burnout feeling that Criterion has infused in the NFS series has brought back the thrill of the original games that the series had departed from for quite a while, and has returned the real sensation of what a Need for Speed game should be. Driving exotic cars and breakneck speeds, being chased by dozens of cops, is how I've always known Need for Speed, and it's great to see this being brought back. Although there are those who are disappointed over the lack of visual customization, that's never what I identified a Need for Speed game as. Although games like Underground and Pro Street were fine games on their own right, I've always considered them in their own sub-series, while what Most Wanted brings to the table is the real essence of the NFS series in my opinion. So, I've naturally got high hopes.

I'm most excited for Most Wanted at this point in time (it's actually my most anticipated game of any genre), but I also enjoyed the LittleBigPlanet Karting beta, and I believe it has the potential to be a neat kart racer.

I'm undoubtedly looking forward to the upcoming Most Wanted. It looks to be a fuse of both Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and the Burnout series, both of which I hold in very high regard. I like the structure of the single player, and how leaderboards are integrated into so much of the game, since I'll pour tons of time into improving my leaderboard times and trying to place as high as possible on my fabourite events. My only gripe is how it appears, like Hot Pursuit, there will likely be no world leaderboard to compare yourself to, but the community will likely establish a method of tracking the absolute fastest times and highest scores regardless. I also really like the handling dynamic of the cars from the footage that I've seen, and I'd say it fits the NFS series very well. I'm hoping for big things out of this installment in the series.

Yeah, there has been a lot of discussion on the official forums, and the GameFAQs forum (which is the most active TM board right now), but there has been hardly any response at all from the developers. This is mainly because Eat Sleep Play isn't handling the patches anymore, and it's all in the hands Santa Monica Studios at this point. Since the latest patch, to my knowledge, there hasn't been any more info about the promised balancing patch. It's certainly not like the vehicles are unbalanced to the point where it makes the game particularly frustrating, and there's probably bigger technical issues I'd rather see dealt with (most notably, pickups sometimes not appearing in your inventory, and weapons not registering damage off of clear hits). Even though the game still has issues, and patches likely won't resolve them this late after release, it doesn't take away from the game too much. It's still a very fun and enjoyable game.

I do recall a user saying they solved the problem by pm'img themselves, reading and deleting the message. As for if that works for everyone, I'm unsure.2ndWonder

This solved the issue for me as well. Great catch.