Posted 08/24/2009 at 02:50:20pm

"If you go to the opera, and notice that the majority of opera-goers are wealthy, it is not a proper conclusion that going to the opera makes you wealthy."

Well said.  

The problem with this study is that even if there is a link between gaming and the stated conditions, you can't simply state that all gamers are fat and depressed or that gaming will make you fat and depressed.  Maybe some of these people have been obese their whole lives, making them unpopular and thus introverted.  Is it not understandable that these people might look to video games as a form of stimulation. 

I have no doubt there is a link between gaming and these conditions, but I've yet to be convinced of a causal relationship.  

Yet another example of the lack of any real information that can be extracted from quantitative research. It just shows a lack of intelligence that we place so much faith in silly numerical data.

 "60 percent of the time, it works every time."

Posted 12/19/2008 at 01:49:22pm

have I been so captivated by a game.  Sure I probably logged many more hours on Morrowind or Ultima VII, but games like this stand out in a way you never seem to forget.  Monolith develops amazing games.  I can't explain why, but somehow they manage to actually create an element of fear for the player.  I can't really think of any other games, or for that matter any movies, that have actually frightened me in recent years.  Doom 3 was a terrible disappointment.  That's right I said it.  Startling me every time I flip a switch is not my idea scary or enjoyable, and I'd been hooked on 3D shooters ever since the original Doom.  In fact it was so annoying, I never played it through.

I also think it's really important that they touched on the open ended vs. linear gameplay.  While I generally much prefer open ended, FEAR was an absolute masterpiece.  I think we'd all agree that Half-Life 2 was an incredible game, but then again I haven't actually had a desire to play it again like I have with FEAR.  

Posted 12/08/2008 at 04:24:33pm

NOTHING!  Back to your turnips!

Posted 11/13/2008 at 06:33:58pm

Again what's with the talk about the 9800 gt. . . is this still being manufactured?  Why is the 9800 gtx+ overlooked?

Posted 11/02/2008 at 09:06:44pm

Is it entirely automated or can you pick and choose.  I've got a lot of live stuff, bootlegs, remixes that I wouldn't want to mess up.  Thanks btw.  I'll check it out.

Posted 10/31/2008 at 12:59:58pm

Yeah I used I tunes once.  Awful product.  I much prefer playlist centric jukebox apps.  Did like the cover flow feature, but that was about it.  Of course I'm one of the few people that think the iPod has the most poorly designed interface ever created.  I can pick up any piece of electronics and figure out how it works in five seconds.  I still struggle with iPods.  And don't even get me started on the touch/iphone, it scrolls the wrong way.  In all the time there have been touch pads you moved your finger down and the page scrolled. . . down.  

As far as music software I'd still use MusicMatch Jukebox Plus if it was still supported.  Hands down best all around music player.  I'm using winamp now.  Hadn't used that since . . . 1999. 

 Anyone know of a really good application to rip CDs and tag mp3s?  What has the best audio quality?  And not one of those that puts the album art in a folder, I want one that completely embeds it into the file.  I've tried media monkey, not bad, but ugly as hell and a bit cumbersome.  

Posted 10/31/2008 at 12:10:38pm

Why is this videocard totally overlooked, even by maxPC?  Performs better in almost all games and almost all resolutions than the 4850, and it's the same price. Plus it has PhysX.  Which may finally  be more than a joke and a card gullible people with too much money add to their rig.

Someone else mentioned the 260.  That might be a good buy too.  For me though it seems a bit much.  I'm debating between the 9800 GTX+ and the 280.  The 9800 GTX+ just seems obvious in terms of performance, price, and power consumption.  I'll will most likely go that approach and then add a second one later.  2 in SLI have put up better scores than the 280 in many games.  That said, I'm still debating it.