Online requirement - no problem to me at all.

The Game - great, best thing since sim city 4.

What's my problem? - EA/Origin.

EA are so pig ignorant, they expected to be able to handle launch day with just 2 UK servers .... Despite holding 2 maxed out beta tests, 600k facebook likes, and preorder figures, I have no problem with online requirement, but if they want to use such a system they should have more than enough servers setup to handle it so i'd never notice.

Origin is also complete rubbish, games are overpriced, the friends system is sloppy, and I swear the program gets just as confused as I do during use... Steam is far superior in every way & EA forcing people to use Origin is adding fragmentation to something that really shouldn't be.

Then theres EA's overall customer support etc, which as always is terrible - but they do point out a massive legal flaw in digital sale (the fact its not governed properly, or at all.) and like any rubbish gamer they'll exploit this until its fixed.http://static.gamer.no/images/13/1382/138205/61bbe87891f267ba9e6ccbca4dfe2fa2_easupport2_1306x606.f.png

But, Sim City 4 is a good game - once you get past the EA-speed humps, road blocks, and failures required before you can actually play it.

While its not a xbox game, Spore for PC.. 7 years in the making, hyped up, result.. a game that could of been reproduced using Flash, and could be profressionally put together within a few months, maybe a year with a team of 3.

Poor graphics, poor gameplay, basic missions, no variation from cell level to space phase (kill or ally everything), no story, no real evolution feeling, worst DRM on the face of the planet.

I've used Vista x64 Ultimate since launch (on the pc i built for vista).. and its by far the best OS ive used, would never go back to XP.

As long as you have a good system, Vista shines bright. (This is why alot of people downgrade to XP, off-the-shelve PC's still arent designed for vista, there generally just higher-end XP systems with 3gb ram insted of 2. (I run 8gb)...

For those wanting to goto vista, i reccomend to have atleast a E6600 processor / 4gb ram & use 64bit version of vista. (32bit has ram a 3gb RAM cap[those who say it doesnt, are very wrong.])

Black

Bigger HDD

HDMI

Makes it much better to fit in as a digital-life style bit of kit, i want one for my new setup cause 20gb just isnt upto it.

Hardcore gamer = Someone who spends alot of time & money on games, generally completes games aswell rather than buys it & trades it in the next day cause there bored of it.

People spending £10,000 on a computer setup just means they have alot of money & like the best things. not that there a hardcore gamer as they may have never completed a game in there life.

Alot of people i know buy games, buy the "elite" consoles, play the games for a couple of days, then trade em in for something else... they almost never complete the game, none of them know what the games were about, they all skip the cut sequences, they never learn the special moves, or find the hidden objects... these are not "Hardcore" gamers.

Thats a flight-sim setup, not a really hardcore gamer setup. ;)