Been playing the game for some time now, and have actually managed to max out the stats on each character to 100/100 for each stat, but there is one very difficult one giving me pause - Franklin's strength. While the other two can use tennis to raise it REALLY quickly, Franklin absolutely refuses to play tennis. While golf seems to be an option, playing one full round seems to only yield a very slight increase. I have heard people say to me darts will raise it but tried and found it did not.

In short, is there a way I can do this stat quicker, or am I just going to have to grind it out by getting into fist fights and/or golf?

So I am looking to start the game again after having done all DLC so far and nearly everything in the base game. I was playing as an Argonian before, thoroughly enjoyed sneaking about, but this time I'm looking to be more in their faces, so to speak. I want constant confrontation, so I'm done with the sneaking, but I'd still like to attack from afar.

I was thinking of starting an Orc, purely for their Berserker Rage power. Now from what I've heard about this power, it doesn't affect magic (Obviously) but doubles your melee damage output, and makes you take only 50% of normal damage. What I assume this means is that if you have an axe that can hit for 30 points of base damage, that will be doubled to 60 points of base damage on top of whatever else you have as far as perks go. Same with being hit, if you're hit for 50 points of damage, that will be halved to 25, on top of armor rating.

Now here's what I don't know about: How it affects archery. The first thing I don't understand is, does Berserker Rage actually affect archery damage, since it's not physically swinging a weapon at the enemy? Or does the game actually count it as physical damage anyway, as long as it's not magical?

Plus, I'm a little confused about how perks factor in to it all - my assumption is that Berserker Rage affects the base damage of the weapon without perks and active effects, but is this actually true? On top of that, there are a few archery perks that increase critical chance. How are criticals affected by the power?

Thanks to anyone who can help.

I have played shooters on both the PC and 360, even a few on the PS2, so I'd have to agree with what someone said here - adjust the sensitivity, it helps a great deal.

Also remember that each controller is going to feel different - PC mice in general are made in nearly all shapes and sizes, and keyboards sometimes have different layouts and shapes. (Believe me, I've seen some very wacky ergonomic ones.)

The 360 controller at first was pretty uncomfortable to me as well because I had just come out of PS2 gaming, which has the analog sticks next to each other on the controller. But believe me when I say you WILL get used to it.

Game: Dead Rising
Achievement in question: Saint
What you have to do: Get 50 survivors out of the mall. (Harder than it sounds, trust me)
Gamerscore: 20

I'm pretty proud of that one as I did it without any kind of walkthrough or guide for getting it. It would have been nice if the gamerscore reward were more generous for it, but then again, ALL Dead Rising achievements are 20 each it seems.

Interesting video.

I have my own theory on why people behave this way however.

As Adam Sessler said, he was called a pretty offensive word by someone who sounded like they were 10 years old. 10. Now think about that for a second. That 10 year old probably lives with their parents or some other form of guardian. They're also undoubtedly a minor. Kids tend to rebel against conventional standards that adults and society as a whole consider to be ethical and moral. Either perhaps as a way of getting back, or, here's a good one, it's been pent up in them so long they release it when no one's looking on people online, due to the internet's ability to have you remain "anonymous", as was said.

Now imagine a kid like that saying those things to their mother. They would get a spanking right quick or some other form of punishment. I'd rather not delve into the issue of parenting, but I feel parents these days have gotten really soft. This behavior typically goes unnoticed by the parent, and once they find out they can get away with it, they'll keep doing it. It's well known fact. It's like a criminal: They find they can get away with a crime at the time, they'll keep doing it because they know they won't be caught.

I won't go out of my way to say it's all young kids either doing this, I've heard some pretty nasty talk from 18 year olds, 21 year olds, even people as old as 30, on Xbox Live. These are the people who are supposed to be setting an example for the young people - oh, they're REALLY setting a good example alright. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones causing these kids to do this. It's like saying a racial slur to a young child - you keep saying it in their presence, they'll repeat you later.

At the same time, generalizing all 10 year olds or whatever demographic they are, as ALL like that, is also wrong. This also breeds offensive language, especially in a competitive environment such as online gaming. Which brings me to the whole issue of online gaming: It's not just Xbox Live. It never was. Though the video was about Xbox Live in particular, he made mention of PC gaming, and sadly it's true - it happens just as much with PC gaming and with any other console play I would imagine. Probably even more so with PC gaming, just in a different form. Not everyone may have a headset, but I assure you everyone has a keyboard, and will use that as their insultive weapon.

This is exactly part of the reason I got out of Xbox Live and online gaming in general a while back. If you try to make intelligent conversation with anyone out there, probably 75% of the time they're going to be one of these people. It's a sad but true fact. If I ever do online gaming, I remain totally silent.

Either way, good video, and good post. Brings up a good discussion on a serious issue.

Personally I think the wireless are a lot easier and comfortable to use, but maybe that's just me..bazanger

I wouldn't be too sure about that for everyone... :?

Keeping on topic, I tend to agree with what people say - as far as third party peripherals go for game consoles, avoid them like the plague unless you've read nothing but good reviews on them. They typically aren't well supported and/or can void your game console's warranty if used in conjunction with them.

As for the Gamestop wired controller, I actually read a review on their very own website (In fact it seemed the only one there.) that it has the same problem you described - the controller just wouldn't sync with the Xbox.

You might be interested to know that they DO sell the wired version, however it only comes in white. (The Gamestop one I think comes in either black or white, but what's the point in color choice if the darned thing won't work?) You can buy it online, but you might be hard pressed to find it for in-store pickup. I'm not entirely sure why nobody carries the official wired one anymore, but if you still want to give it a shot, good luck.

I had completed Assassin's Creed quite a while back as well, and thought I'd never play it again. Truth be told, if you look past the repetitiveness of the game, you'll come back to it - I started playing it through again when I had some spare time.

If you feel you'll never play it again, you could sell it or do a trade-in for another game, but if it were me, I'd keep my copy around - there's something to be said about gameplay and graphics like these. Not to mention, it has a story that's a pretty unique idea.

Damn it all - and here I was thinking I just got a bad batch.

Thanks for confirming.

Hi,

Recently bought myself a second 360 controller, and there's been something that has bothered me ever since I started using it...

Sometimes, the directional pad below the left analog stick will sometimes "stiffen" to the point where it won't press correctly, but this only happens on certain directions. I look down at the controller to see what might be wrong, and I see that the d-pad has gone totally off-centered and is brushing up against the d-pad's housing.

Mind you, this is a new unused controller. I've had this problem with the controller that came with my 360 as well, so I don't think it has anything to do with it being new or a possible defect. It seems if a certain direction is pressed frequently on the pad, it off centers in that general direction, causing it to stiffen up and becomes very hard to press. Not impossible, but it may take two presses to get it to register one.

I was just wondering if this was a common thing with 360 controllers, like has anyone else had this happen to them? Is there a fix for it? Or is it just bad design and nothing can be done about it?

so 'jasper' will be an improvement over 'falcon' to prevent RROD etc?33WUPP1

I've heard of theories floating around about this, but I don't think there's any conclusive data to measure failure rate based on chipset. I honestly don't think ANY Xbox will be immune to RROD, regardless of chipset. It may minimize the risk, but hardware is bound to fail sooner or later. It's just the nature of technology.

However, for what it's worth, I have an Elite unit that uses the Falcon chipset, and it's worked fine since late December '07. No slowdowns, no real issues.