I feel exclusives are more important then ever, because exclusives drive sales of consoles. I bought an Xbox 360 Elite just for Halo 3. No joke. Sure, I'm gonna really enjoy other great games for the 360, like Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Lost Planet, Gears of War, Call of Duty 4, etc. But mainly Halo. Lemme tell you, if Halo 3 had been on the PS3, then I'd have bought a PS3. Plain and simple.

It's a lot better for gamers in general when there are a lot of multiplatform games out there, but I feel that for the platforms' sakes there should be more exclusives, if only to make the PS3/Xbox 360 people feel better about their investments. However, we'll just have to see I guess.

I just feel that the PC is a terrible platform for gaming. It was never designed to be a gaming platform. Sure it can do it, just that it wasn't designed for it. A PC's purpose was to be the all-round do-everything handyman kind of machine. Check your email, browse the web, do spreadsheets and word processing, do computing, and oh yeah, play games too, on the side. On the other hand, consoles are designed to play games. They don't do anything else; only recently has consoles spread to other functions, like the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player. Because consoles are designed with gaming in mind you're probably getting much better value for your dollar getting a console if all you want to do is game. To get a gaming rig for the PC that runs all the latest, most graphically intensive games, you'd have to spend nearly $2,000. Maybe 1.5k if you're building it yourself. But even the over-priced PS3 is only $600.

In my opinion PC gaming is relagated to the "me too" status. If you can game on the PC, awesome (especially if you happen to not own an Xbox since many Xbox games share with the PC since it would probably run Windows which both are made by Micro$oft). But I feel that true gaming is best done on a platform designed for gaming.

So I've just been wondering that. I thought, personally, that I got my money's worth (especially since I bought one of the no longer being made 60gb versions), but I'd like to know why. Would people buy a PS3 if the following happened:

Price: reduced to $350
Memory: 80gb
HDMI capable
Wifi capable
Comes with Rumble-pack SIXAXIS
Removed internal Blu-Ray player
Removed compact flash ports

Would you buy this version of the PS3? Or would the console's current roster of games still deter you anyway? I mean, unlike the 360, PS3's definately have a good track record of not breaking, or getting anything similar to the RROD, that counts for something, doesn't it?

It really depends on what you want. I hate choices like these because it's comparing apples to oranges. It's like asking whether I'd rather lose my arm or my eye. I'd rather not lose either, but for different reasons.

Warhawk isn't the Halo of the PS3, but it's close. It's definately one of, if not simply the best multiplayer game in a very long time, perhaps since Halo 2. That said, yes this is colored by the fact that I happen to be a Halo fan, but then again, for a die-hard Halo fan to compare Warhawk so favorably to Halo ... if the 360 fanboys were here they'd stab me to death for blasphemy.

Heavenly Sword's probably the most beautiful game I've seen in a long time. Graphically, it's as impressive as Gears of War (but for different reasons, Gears is gritty, but this game has some amazing vistas and background scenery). It's got a great story, nearly as good as God of War, and it's really, really fun. Some say it's short; that's only if you don't attempt to get all the glyph points and unlock all the bonus material. Personally, I got it at launch and I'm still playing it. And enjoying it to boot.

So what do you want? If you want a multiplayer romp, where you could shoot people on foot, or run over guys in a tank, or drive around in a jeep, or fly around in a hovercraft/warplane, then Warhawk's for you. That game has some of the most amazing multiplayer I've ever seen. It should, since it doesn't have single player. If you want to have a great single player romp, then I'd suggest Heavenly Sword. It has great single player, which it should. Since it doesn't have multiplayer.

Well despite what Opalescent, Ahsan_Jadi_1, Grampy_Bonehave said, alot of people still likeLAIR along with myself. Like those three people mentioned, they will probably never embrace change quite as easily like the rest of us nor master the sixaxis controls because they don't have the patience to do so as well. I grasped the controls quite easily like a few others and was playing like a pro. If the three mentioned were at my house looking at how I was playing, they would be saying ," Dude, how the **** are you doing that?" Some of us love change and learning new ways to play a game, some people will prefer classic controls we've been using for 10+ years now (we've been using analogs forever, I'm sure people wanted something new and Sony gave it to us.) Personal Preference of course but alot of us are good with the Sixaxis controls, some people will probably will never be good at using the sixaxis controls. Anyway, I loved LAIR, Beat it, and currently trying to get the gold medals... what does that tell you, the controls suck right? You casual gamers who say the controls suck make me laugh. All I got to say is I guess this game isn't for everyone. If you just flat out don't have the patience to learn the controls, don't go buy Flow either, it's a great game (gamespot gave it a 7 or something)but force you to use the sixaxis controller like LAIR. I'm not saying you suck at playing games, I'm just saying you are probably part of the Casual gamer group. We hardcore gamers take the time to learn and play a game that introduces something new to playing ground. I mean, haven't you seen the threads on this forum and other forums, alot of people are actually enjoyingLAIR and find that the controls aren't hard at all (maybe a t first). There are a very few amount of people complaing on how they think the game is bad, their probelms are probably because:

1) They are 360 fans and just bash a PS3 game nonetheless.

2) Don't have patience to learn anything new and expect to jump into a game with no experience whatsoever.

3) Sixaxis wise, If it isn't asintuitive asthe wii controller or doesn't turn on a dime, it just sucks.

4) Didn't play the game long enough to enjoy it.

5) Don't own the game at all and just base their opinions of others (bad reviews).

Whatever the case, go ahead and don't like the game. Your opinion is not going to change my mind, nor others who enjoyed the game as well, that this is a bad game. I thoroughly loved it along with others and see that LAIR was an excellent game that was released. Scores don't matter, I could care less about reviews anymore and I just go buy a game that I see that I could enjoy, LAIR was one of them and is one them! LAIR was great nonetheless and a good release by Factor 5 and I applaud their efforts. Maybe just to make the few of you casual gamers happy,Factor 5could release a patch down the road to allow you to use the analogs and make the game seem less like you are flying a big behemoth. Whatever, I beat the game already and I could care less if a patch was released, I believe the controls felt realistic and worked and otherswill agree with me. LAIR may have not been the most fantastic game released this year, I can agree with you on that but it was a very good game release no matter what anyone believes or says. For those who beat it and say it was great, may itbe remembered in our hearts as we head unto the next AA game (or to some of us AAA) , Heavenly Sword. May a LAIR 2 or another game made by Facotr 5 be made down the road for us Hardcore gamers!

da1writer

Well, you were right about me being a casual gamer, because I am. That's true enough. Nonetheless I found the SIXAXIS controls to be awkward at best and frankly couldn't be bothered to learn them. I buy games to have fun, da1writer, not to be frustrated. I get frustration plenty at work I don't need any when I come home. If being "hardcore" means purchasing a game and sticking to it, even if it's frustrating as hell and you'd rather remove your eyeballs via corkscrew, then I'd much rather be casual, thank you very much.

As for your list, I don't fall under any of those catagories. I fall under the catagory of a PS3 owner, who heard bad reviews from Gamespot as well as other review sites, as well as word of mouth from both my friends and from the clerks at my game store. Despite all that negative feedback I still went out and rented it from my local Blockbuster. And I feel that those $8 were wasted.

Maybe you're right about one thing: just because the controls don't match my taste doesn't neccessarily make Lair a bad game. But it definately makes a bad game for me, and that's really all that matters to me. If you like it, more power to you! But just as my opinion isn't going to make you hate Lair, yours isn't going to make me like it.

Sony pretty much doesn't have anything under $600, so if you're looking to spend around $400, I wouldn't go with Sony. Yes, their TVs are very good quality, but that doesn't mean that anybody who isn't Sony can't make good TVs. I just have to warn you that a $400 TV from some unknown company just isn't going to be as good as a $600 Sony. It just won't. But if you can live with that, then that's cool. I just thought you should be aware of that fact. And you're right, at under 40", 1080p isn't all that different from 720p (although it's slightly noticeable on my 32", but maybe that's just a trick of the light). It's definately not noticeable at 20", but I should just say that it would seem all of Sony's TVs, of any size, appear to be 1080p capable - at least all the Sony TVs that I've seen.

My best advice to you: check out Google products to see a ballpark of the kinds of 20" HDTVs you can probably get for $300-$400. With that in hand, click on each one and check out each of the TV's specifications. Does it have any HDMI inputs? Warranties? Check out customer reviews, too. Once you've picked out a few, I'd suggest trying to locate a brick and mortar store that sells those TVs, and go there to check them out yourself. A picture is no match for real-life, you really should see the TV for yourself before buying it.

However, I don't suggest buying it at the store. I've seen TVs selling for $500 on Google Products that cost nearly $700 at an actual physical store. Sometimes the price differential is huge. But if the TV sells at $400 at the store as well, go ahead and buy it; at least you could bring it home right away.

Don't play on Xbox LIVE much, do you? If you play Halo 2 on XBL a lot you get thick skin, because you hear everything there. All kinds of swears and little Halo kiddies spouting their mouths about the smallest little thing. Honestly, just ignore them, because 99.999% of the time they are ignorant pricks who don't have the guts or ability to back up what they're saying. Trust me, the really dangerous sort are the ones who don't spout, until they snap.

Look, if he had said, "I could seriously mess you up. Right now, I'm gonna pop the tray out, just to show you," and then the game tray actually DID pop out, you'd have a problem. Basically, if they could prove they could hack you, by making the tray pop out, by signing you out of Xbox LIVE, or something like that, then you should be worried. But then again if they could do that, you'd have actionable evidence to bring to Micro$oft, who would probably ban them from Xbox LIVE. And if they actually went for your credit cards, you'd be OK because credit cards are among the safest things in the world. Just call your credit card company (it's on the back of the card) and they'll put your money back. If you really wanted to, you could probably sue them for hacking into your credit card; but that's only if you have solid evidence that it was them who hacked the card (hacking into a bank's financial database is a federal offense, I think).

20 Gigabytes is more than enough if all you do is play games. Game data isn't big, you can hold dozens of games easily. However if you feel you're running out of room, delete game data for those games you don't play, and sell/trade in those games. Most people don't ever play more than 5-6 games at any given time anyway.

If you're on Xbox LIVE a lot, downloading content, movies, TV shows, demos, and arcade games (and never delete them), then 20GB will fill up pretty quickly. There usually isn't any reason to keep demos on your Xbox after you've finished them, because they're just there to help you decide if you wanna buy the game or not, but some people like to keep 'em. If you're one of those kinds of people then, yeah, you should go Elite. Also, TV shows, once downloaded, are yours for good, unlike movies. So if you download "Heroes", you can watch it any time, as opposed to "300", which expires by next year I think. Because TV shows don't expire most people don't delete them (why would you?) and if you (like me) like to watch TV shows downloaded from Xbox LIVE, then you'll be appreciative of the extra space that the Elite provides.

If you're not sure, I'd say go Premium. The newer ones are just as good as the Elite, except they don't have the matte black finish and the 120GB hard drive. Use it for a few months. If you find you're constantly out of space, you can purchase the hard drive seperately. Yes, it'd be more expensive than just buying the Elite, but in the probable chance that you don't run out of space, you'd be saving $100.

I should also mention that the Elite happens to come with an HDMI cable (and the premium does not), so if you want to take advantage of the HDMI port that the newer Premiums come with, you'd have to purchase an HDMI cable seperately. I'd suggest a $20 one from Walmart or something, but still, that's $20 that you have to spend when with the Elite you do not have to.

By the way, I might also say that I happen to have the Xbox 360 Elite myself; it is the best Xbox if you happen to have the money. The key is if you can afford it. If you can't, I wouldn't suggest stretching your funds for the extra space, 20GB is enough to survive on. Don't send yourself into debt for this!