Review of Microsoft Monster Truck Madness 2 - PC

Customer Ratings:

After playing with the game demo (downloadable at Microsoft.com/games) I had to get this game, esp. at such an attractive price. The system requirements are a bit steep, but if your computer can handle the game, you'll find this an extremely fun game to play. The graphics is superb, but the best part is the game play. You can just go totally wild, driving these monstrous vehicles anywhere you want to go. Race or just drive around, the experience is absolutely fun... (I also like Midtown Madness 2 a lot.) You don't need a reason to play the game. Unlike Midtown Madness 2, I haven't experienced a single crash of this one on my Win2k system.

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Monster Truck Madness 2 (MTM2) is a game with some of the most ADDONS out there. There is still a hugh community that builds addon trucks/tracks/utilties for this game.

http://MTM2.com

http://MTM2Draggers.us

So after you get bored of the stock tracks and trucks, go check out those sites. Builders are very helpfull.

This game might be old but it is still going strong. Rumbles, Rallys and Drag/Freestyle racing.

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Good fun game. good graphics. good online forums with add on tracks and trucks. go to MTM2.com . Online games at Voobly.com

Honest reviews on Microsoft Monster Truck Madness 2 - PC

Picked this up for the boys, 8 & 12. It's been great. They were playing the free trial for a long time and bored of the single track. All the new trucks and courses have kept them thoroughly entertained. Graphics are same old nothing too fancy, but work fine. They're no "free style" arena ala Monster Jam, but plenty of opportunity to jump, crash & roll on the race courses and arena-like "king of the hill" platform courses. We're loving it.

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This was the only thing my son asked for for his birthday. I had to do some searching to find it (as it is no longer available in the stores). It has been worth it watching him have so much fun.

Best Manhunt 2 - PlayStation 2 Deals

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List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $16.25
Today's Bonus: 46% Off

When I played the first Manhunt (way back when), I thoroughly enjoyed it. That game, much like its successor, received lots of negative exposure because of its "subject matter content" and overall violence. I, like most others who waited patiently for the sequel, plowed through yet more negative publicity; watched RockStar cancel its original release date for the game, and waded through all sorts of internet gossip about what had been done to the content of the game.

Manhunt (the original) is a far better game than Manhunt 2--and not becaue its gore factor was untouched. It was a better game, guys, because it had "soul." The characters were way more interesting, the writing was better and more creative, and the last stages were absolutely some of the creepiest I've ever encountered! My personal favorites were the Smileys (a tongue-in-cheek answer to Insane Clown Posse). I got killed so many times because I was laughing my butt off at some of the lines, e.g. "passing out before the main course...REALLY;" "well, I look divine? Why, thank you so much; it was just something I threw together;" and "My God; they're dropping like flies!"

In Manhunt 2, you get NO interesting characters. Instead, you get caricatures. It seems two people are involved in some sort of mind-altering experiment; the inmates riot, people escape, others are killed, and you try to retrace your footsteps to see what it all means. Along the way, you are urinated on, have feces thrown on you, you puke a lot, and you kill a lot. And that's about it. The big difference in Manhunt 2, is that even though the killings are much more grotesque than in the first game, you can't see any of them because of what RockStar had to do in order to get the game released. A "filter" has been installed and all you really get in the ability to HEAR what is happening to your victims. The controls are used differently, which I also didn't care for.

I do not blame RockStar for what it did; it simply did what it had to do in order to sell its product. I would suggest, however, that if there is a Manhunt 3, you see if you can't create characters that are more memorable; a storyline that is more than just killing; and have a main character your playing audience can feel something for.

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I loved the original manhunt, I have to admit it, I loved it. I though it was a sick and delightfully twisted game...no...art! It was spooky, gruesome, smart, intense, and totally enjoyable for someone like me. This one, like most sequels....sucks. It looks like the first, it plays like the first, it's in the same vein as the first, but it's the details where it falls apart, and I mean bad!

In the original, the levels were layed out where you were mostly stealth killing or getting into cover-based shootouts and sometimes a blend of the two, and the levels and AI were set up for that type of experience. This game has no clue what it wants to be! I tried to do mostly stealth kills, but sorry to say, you wind up just shooting most of em'. Speaking of AI though, the AI in this one is really bad!!! In the first one a hunter would inspect a brick, hitting a wall, or finding his dead buddy, but in Manhunt 2, they usually don't care, spoiling any opportunity to lure a hunter away from his friends to disfigure and break him. Thus, you will find it wayyy easier and much less frustrating to just snipe a guy from the shadows, turning a once great stealth platform into...a really lame shooter.

Another real problem, is the story. In place of a meager, bare bones type of plot, (Kill for sick director's pleasure and survival, then revenge) with a simple plot that has been made far too rushed and scattered. Gone is the simple and enjoyable kill from point A to point B plot, now, it's all twisted with "gotta find this guy, gotta find this chick, gotta figure this out....who am I, what happened" This doesn't directly affect the action, but somehow it makes for a very rushed and detached experience, hardly any of it worth remembering. Essentially they made a mountain out of a mole-hill, and it really just annoys more than anything. I had a hard time of following why I was at a place and found it much simpler in the original to just know I was on my way through to fight another type of gang for the director's joy, but now it's all finding out about a character I care nothing for in a story I care nothing for. Coupled with useless flashbacks and twists in the plot, I don't care enough to remember any of this game.

Even when the director in Manhunt bacame impatient, you were scolded by the talented Brian Cox, now an annoying nobody screeches at you which really disrupts the type of flow the first had. No velvety voice of a known and great actor, now your just getting bitched by some guy that kinda sounds like a cross between a bitchy girlfriend and Ray Liotta, but not nearly as cool as Ray Liotta, and almost as irritating as your ex-girlfriend.

Thinking about it, I doubt even if the stealth kill weren't blurred, this still wouldn't be anything nearly as fun as the first. When a you execute a hunter, at the point where you strike or shoot or stab or slash a guy, a fast and artsy blur jolts everything and the shade of everything goes negative for a bit. About 60% of the kill is plainly visible, but 40% is blurred. These kills are actually pretty good, and I especially like the firearm executions, but coupled with the filters and obstructions they had to program in, it really doesn't matter. Some of the environment kills are entertaining, but hardly worth the addition if they were at the cost of everything else I disliked.

In short people, everything in this game reminded me of Manhunt, it reminded me of how it's NOT...manhunt and certainly of how it's not as good as Manhunt. I will now sell this game, and fire up the original for the experience that this game failed miserably to acheive, and no doubt I will crack a sinister smile and bathe in the joy of hearing Brian Cox direct me to massacre a bunch of scumbags.

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So, Rockstar finally got to release the sequel the controversial cult classic "Manhunt", now part of the Sony`s "Greastest Hits" roster. In this game, there is no continuity involving the first title, this is a brand new story. You play the role of Daniel Lamb, science guy turned mental patient at the Dixmoore Asylum for the Criminaly insane.

Right away, I noticed a few glaring problems. One would be the unmappable controls. This is stupid, since these controls are acutally completely different from the ones used in the orginal Manhunt. Why change the controls when the gameplay is still the same? (I read somewhere that the PSP and PS2 versions share the same setup. Lazy) So what should have been familiar territory is now forcing me to relearn how to play the game all over again. Strike 1.

Another flaw that became apparent was the complete lack of charisma involving your enemies, or "gangs". The only gang that comes close would be the Bloodhounds, who seem like an offshoot of the Wardogs from Manhunt 1, what with their thick Southern accents and spouting the usual stereotypes you would expect from a group of Deep South hardcore hunting enthusiasts ("I been huntin` since I was wee high! Animals, humans, don`t mean nuthin!). The Watchdogs and the Project Militia, two of your most common foes in the game, just so happen to be the least interesting, never approaching the intimidation factor of Manhunt 1`s Smileys, Skinz, or even the Carcer City police. There`s a street gang known as the Kings, as well as the police,but who cares? They have nothing to do Daniel`s quest, are just there to be butchered for no reason other than the fact that they are in the way. Strike 2

Another thing I hated about this game. TOO MANY GUN BATTLES. in the first Manhunt, they were wisely introduced at point when the developers felt the player would have grown weary of a the ol` "hide and kill" routine, and gave you a chance to take the fight to your aggressors head-on. In Manhunt 2, they are numerous, and they are repetitive, and they are tiresome. Without the stealth elements, this game turns into a sub-standard 3rd person shooter, whuch is not the reason I bought this game. This is mostly during those awful flashback routines involving Daniels partner in crime, Leo Kasper. In fact, even the gunplay is not as tight as it was in the first Manhunt. In the original, lock-on was instantaneous, whilst here, in the sequel there`s a slight, but noticeable delay in having to wait for the target recticle to line up with your victim. Just long enough to catch a slug in your chest.

Take cover. Wait for the bad guys to to break cover and take a shot at you. Fire. Duck. Like a violent game of whack-a-mole. Strike 3

And finally, my biggest gripe with the game, the complete lack of any meaningful bonus content or alternate gameplay modes! They took the scoring system, claiming it didnt "fit in" with the game. Again, lazy! There`s no incentive to beat the game again, no reason to even abide by the rules of stealth, since there`s no kind of penalty for being spotted, nor is there any reward being beating a level quickly or getting a lot of gruesome kills. No concept art, no behind the scenes, no merchandise, NOTHING. Even the strategy guide features zero in-depth information on the game itself, nor the gangs. Strike 4

I guess you can`t talk about Manhunt without bringing up the executions, but I`m pleased to announce this is the ONE thing the game did right. Ignore all the poorly written reviews from 15-year old rebels who honestly think they`re making a statement about freedom of speech by playing a slapped together, violent cheap cash-in. For the PS2/PSP, the "censoring" is NOWHERE near as bad as anyone makes it out to be. Unless you have crappy eyesight or a crappy tv, you can still make out whether Daniel is beating someone in the back of the head with a sledgehammer or applying a scythe to someone`s family jewels. The screen takes on a red hue with random chromatic distortions along with a brief flash of inverted black and white during the physical blows. (NOTE: The Wii version is even more heavily censored, probably to compensate for having perform physical motions with the controller to perform executions). if anything, this makes it MORE violent, since the distortion leads to a bigger focus on the sound effects, what with all the bones popping, skulls crushed, power tools sawing through flesh, blood-curdled gasps of agony, need I go on?

The concept behind executions remain the same. Sneak up on the would-be assailant, hold down a button to generate to go from white (quick kill), yellow (violent kill) to red (gruesome kill). But, since there is no score system, there`s really no incentive to go for the higher level kills outside of personal amusement. Rockstar also ups the ante by allowing gun exectutions, something which not possible in the first Manhunt. Gun executions only have one animation per weapon as opposed to three, but rest assured, they`re just as vicious as the melee weapons. There are also enviromental executions, where Daniel can use special points on the map to lure his enemies into, and the don`t require a weapon. Most of them are a one-time-only deal, but yield some of the best executions (personal favs being the manhole and the liquid nitrogen).

So there you have. For all fuss about children not being exposed to game is ironic since they are the ones who will get the most mileage out of what is strictly a rental. This is the "Hostel" of video games: Torture porn a violent titillation with no actual substance to back any of it up. Buy the original Manhunt instead, and if there is a third in the series, lets hope Rockstar actually manages some content and new gameplay elements, instead of re-wrapping the same thing in a slightly shinier package.

Honest reviews on Manhunt 2 - PlayStation 2

Maybe I'm sick, but I was really looking forward to this sequel; The first game, however violent and twisted it was(and it WAS!), it was also one of the most intense, heart-in-your-throat, challenging games I had played; There was dread around every corner; There was a feeling that your very own life was on the line; Plus, you actually cared about the story and fairly straight-forward premise: Escape w/your life and get the guy that did this to you. And you wanted to get him, too!!

Even though I had heard part 2 was unrelated character-wise, I put my faith in Rockstar; They rarely put out a bad title in my experience. The storyline sounded interesting and the settings/level ideas had some potential promise. I was excited to play, hoping for a game that was thrilling and tough. Instead it seems like a half-baked retread that is missing more than the violence it had to take out.

The lack of violence wasn't the troubling factor here; It was gruesome enough, although it's hard to believe anything could surpass the 1st one, which is still out there uncensored(as it should be...). It was more the horrible control scheme and poor camera angles that appeared during the most critical of times, like fights or flight. I died due more to not being able to tell where I was or which direction the punches were coming from than by lack of skill(not the best player, but not the worst either...). The story had some nice moments, some great cut scenes, and the interactive deaths were a nice touch. But too short and uninspired to me. I really didn't care about my character, what my goals were, the twist you see coming from a mile away, and the fact that I never really felt like I had to be fighting for my life. And w/so many great games out there to play, nowadays I have little patience for games that control poorly, esp. one from Rockstar. That just makes me sad.

They should have delayed this longer and made it right. I just expect more from them.

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The executions, 90% of what made the original great, are completely censored. They put a heavy red and blue blur over the screen whenever you perform an execution and move the camera repeatedly. The end result is you can only see the outline of your character and victim, and not what he's doing. This game is pointless now. Thanks a lot to the ESRB, censorship advocates, and gutless retailers who won't sell AO rated games for making sure this 31 year old couldn't play a gory video game. You've saved the world, and cheated me out of $30. This is the worst gutting of a game since the original Mortal Kombat on the SNES where there were no fatalities. BTW, the graphics are awful by modern standards. Not even worth a rental.

Best Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio Deals

Customer Ratings:

I am not sure, if I had done a bit more research, if I would have bought this. Turtle Beach has a good reputation for sound cards in my mind, which weighed into my purchase decision. Unfortunately, my experience with this device hasn't been good. I specifically bought this card in so that I could use SPDIF passthrough, which the card supports, but only if you have the driver installed. And there's the rub, the installer will work only if it can detect the device, and it doesn't do this reliably. From searching the web, I am not alone in running into this. The problem manifests as the installer continually asking for you to plug the device in, even if you have. It just fails to detect it.

I followed the instructions on the Turtle Beach site, and contacted their tech support, but they have not been very helpful so far. I also found while searching the web that I am far from alone in having problems getting the driver to install. After a lot of work, I have managed to get the driver to install, and it to works mostly, so I am going to detail the process I went through to make this work here.

First, before anything else, I am not a representing Turtle Beach, or providing any guarantees that this will work. It's possible that doing this will screw your computer up, and I am not responsible for anything you do to your computer.

So, the basic process to make this work is you manually extract the driver from the installer, and then install that. This is what I did on my Windows 7 machine:

1)Get the software called "Universal Extractor". Install it and then use it to extract the installer.

2)Use it on data1.cab file that was extracted from the installer.

3)Plug your Advantage Micro II in now. I assume that it is installing as a generic USB sound device, like mine. From the device manager, do properties on the generic sound card. Update the driver, have the process do a manual install, and select the driver from your computer. Point it at the directory that you extracted the installer to. You will get a warning that the driver cannot be verified as working with your hardware. Accept it and continue. You will likely need to reboot at this point. IMPORTANT: if you are on a 64 bit version of Vista, 7, or 8, you will need to disable signed driver enforcement. If you don't do this, your system will act like it cannot see the hardware anymore because it will not be able to load the driver.

4)At this point, you should have PCM audio coming out, just like before, but in the device manager, you will now see "Audio Advantage Micro Device".

5)I couldn't get SPDIF to work at this point even. The final step I did(and I'm iffy on this is what made it work or not) was in the extracted files directory I ran "AudioAdvantageCpl.exe". On the speakers tab(which should be the default tab), select the "Output Configuration" pane. There should be a single drop down, that says either "headphones" or "Two Speaker", with an S/PDIF option. Once I set this to S/PDIF, the pass through settings on the codecs I am using(Media Player Classic HC) seemed to take, and my receiver started getting a bitstream.

SO there you go, hope that helps some people getting this to work. Honestly, I'm debating attempting a return and getting something that works without those hoops and better vendor support.

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I am very happy to see that this usb audio card worked without any trouble or driver installs under Ubuntu 10.04. The "no driver required" is indeed true from what I have seen.

I bought this because the shielding of the motherboard's audio output was terrible in my computer. The main use-case is listening to music via headphones, and for this it worked great! The volume levels coming out were actually shocking at first, but after adjusting the sound volume in Pulse Audio (global and device specific) everything sounds as it should.

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This product works perfectly for me so far.

I have used this for years now, with no problems.

I haven't had any problems with it, so I can't comment on Turtle Beach's customer service.

I use this device to send multi-channel, compressed audio (Dolby Digital, DTS) from my laptop to my home theater receiver. I send the video stream via HDMI to my TV. My receiver is just old enough that it doesn't have any HDMI inputs; only digital coax and Toslink.

It sends any audio format found on today's DVDs, including all the variations of DOLBY and DTS.

(Note: those formats are the only ones you'll be able to use on Blu-Ray discs, even though Blu-Rays have newer, supposedly better audio formats. This is b/c the new formats can be sent only over HDMI, not digital coax or Toslink.)

And the picture and sound are perfectly matched, despite passing over separate outputs.

I also like that this thing is sleek and minimal in it's design. It takes up practically no space, requires no additional power source, and will fit easily in your laptop bag when you travel (although you probably won't use this much while traveling).

Plus, the fact that it includes the mini-Toslink adapter is awesome (what a pain it would be to have to buy one more little thing just to make it work).

And the connection is very sturdy; it won't pull out inadvertently.

Oh, and to those reviewers who are Mac users, you probably don't need to buy this.

Unless your Mac is pretty old, it should have a dual-use jack that functions as a headphone and Toslink output.

Just get a mini-Toslink adapter, which costs about five bucks (or less). You shouldn't need any other device to send digital audio via Toslink.

(unless, of course, you're using a Hackintosh, in which case all bets are off)

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I've decided to hide an old IBM laptop near my stereo

for use as a poor man's Squeezebox. I used the "shared

folder" feature of windows to access my digital music

collection (purchased from eMusic, and stored on another

PC) wirelessly. Pretty nice -I don't have to transfer

music to the laptop itself, which has only a small hard

drive.

I initially had an adapter cable running from the

"headphone out" on the laptop to stereo RCA cables

to the stereo. The stereo volume from my laptop's

headphone output had to be cranked up pretty high,

and the sound quality seemed just okay.

I took the Micro II card out of the packaging, plugged

it into a USB port, and that was that. The laptop,

running Windows 2000, recognized it immediately and

I simply plugged my adapter cable into the Micro II.

I haven't run any careful tests to compare the sound

of the Micro II to the sound chip on the laptop, but

subjectively the sound with the Micro II was a lot

clearer, and I could set my stereo volume as I would

normally when using the CD player. My wife said she

could hear a big improvement in the sound.

In short: totally simple to set up, works with my

Windows 2000 laptop, and seems to sound much better

than the laptop headphone output.

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I bought this because I was looking for a compact USB device with an optical digital output to connect my laptop to my sound system, and at $25, this is one of the best prices around. However, there is a single caveat that almost made this product useless to me. To use the optical output, a small adapter is plugged into the output jack, and your optical cables plugs into this adapter. However, the adapter had so much signal loss that my amplifier was unable to see the signal on the other end. I tested this with both 25' and 50' cables, so perhaps with shorter cables it works a bit better.

Fortunately, I had a mini optical cable that I was no longer using. With this cable I could plug directly into the output jack without needing the adapter, and it works perfectly. Searching amazon for "mini optical to toslink" brings up plenty of these cables, so I recommend getting one to complement this product. Here's a link to one such cable, as an example: Cables To Go 27017 Velocity Toslink-to-Optical Mini Plug Digital Cable (3 Meters)

Review of Logitech WingMan Formula GP Racing Wheel -USB

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For the price, this wheel is an easy way to make driving games more fun. It has fairly good response but don't expect it to operate like a real automobile. Neither the wheel or peddles (gas/break) are as remotely sensitive as a real car but this is after all, just a gaming device and it gets the job done. The software loads easily and works on Windows XP right off the CD. It is also recognized by older software versions like Need For Speed II.

The one caveat is that you should have a flat, fairly smooth surface on which to mount the wheel and you should fasten it on tightly because if you don't, the wheel easily dislodges during the middle of the game and ruins your run.

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Ok, everybody, this is not the force feed back wheel. (.....). This is your down to earth 10" racing wheel with gas/brake pedals that will out do any keyboard control you could ever use. It's a great computer steering wheel that works as it should. It's accurate, simple to set up, and FUN to use. The price is perfect, too.

(....) it has worked flawlessly for me well over a year and is still working perfectly, (Thought I would update this to say that it is now over 4 years old and still going strong). I truly don't believe you could find a better wheel for the price.

It has 4 programmable buttons and 2 paddles, (programmable shifters). The clamping down feature is ideal and doesn't get your legs caught up. The pedals are heavy aluminum and don't move around too much unless you just get caught up in a heated race, LOL. (Gosh, it's made by Logitech! What more could you want?)

I never installed the software, I just plugged it in, (USB), and started driving with no problems. I am also using Windows Home and Professional on two separate PCs.

If you're looking for a wheel, and on a budget, bingo, you found one here.

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Okay, so the pedals don't feel like real automobile pedals. It's a gaming device, people! I'm looking for realism plus fun, and that's what I got. True, it does take a considerable amount of practice to get used to it. Especially if, like me, you've spent years mashing keyboard buttons to play driving games. I'ts a LOT harder using the wheel and pedals, but a heck of a lot more fun! To answer Pedro Couto e Santo's question in his earlier review: 'So... what's the point to buying a steering wheel and pedals if you can actually play driving games better on your keyboard?'. The answer is you can't play driving games with the wheel and pedals the same way you play with the keyboard. You have to re-learn everything. Have fun with your re-education!

Honest reviews on Logitech WingMan Formula GP Racing Wheel -USB

I don't think this particular product is sold new anymore. I use it with GT Legends race simulator game. I think I paid 30 bucks for it two to three years ago. The steering wheel is pretty good and it's fairly repeatable on returning to center. There are four buttons on the wheel you program. Two are used for upshifting and downshifting. XP recognizes the device so you really don't need the software to be installed. Its clamping is not well suited for my particular computer setup but it's workable. If you have regular flat table it should work well for you. You may want to put some soft and sticky material where it grabs the bottom of the table. Hard plastic on a formica surface can slip.

I have had other gaming wheels and pedals and this is the best of the low cost variety.

INSTALLATION TIP;

The default setting ties the brake to gas. You only get to use one at a time. You want them split so you can modulate the brake and gas separately. You have to go into control panel in Windows and make the change in the advanced section of the gaming controllers. The split is better but it's not perfect, but it is better.

PEDALS

The pedals are marginal at best. They slide all over the floor. I use a drawer liner piece of material to help with that situation. I think I will have to mount these to a piece of MDF big enough to allow the computer chair to sit on the piece of MDF with my chair. It is kind of hard to race a simulated race car lap after lap when the pedals are moving all over the floor. It spoils the fun pretty quickly.

The gas pedal is workable with linear modulation. The brakes, however, act more like a on-off switch. I have had to step down the level of difficulty in the racing program to pick up the anti-locking braking feature and stability control feature to keep from spinning out. The GT Legends program let's you replay any race or a hot lap. When you watch the replays you often see two black skid marks during a hard, but typical, braking maneuver.

These simulation games are unbelievably realistic. I know because I race a full size 650 hp car in SCCA events. To go fast you have to be able to threshold brake. With these pedal it's all but impossible to do so. I now understand why regular devotees of racing simulators pay $300 for a set of good pedals. It's the brake modulation that makes it worthwhile.

Like any new controller you have to learn how to use it to get the most out of it. The steering wheel is well sized for the typical race car application. The sensitivity can be adjusted in the GT Legends program.

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First wheel we have bought; was inexpensive and for a child. Seller said it appeared to be new. When opened, the wheel had obviously been opened before and been used. Having said that the wheel was easy to install and use and works well with the driving course simulator.

Glory of the Roman Empire - PC Review

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List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $9.39
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While the game is indeed very simple and easy to get into, it is incredibly tedious, and will take a certain degree of micromanagement. In the first few campaign missions, the game is wowing. The graphics are better then any other Rome-based city builder I have seen, the interface is simple, and there is minimal micromanagement. The smaller your soon-to-be metropolis, less micromanagement. But, you simply have to use micromanagement, as the game forcibley makes you enlarge your city. As soon as your city gets too large for just a few administrative and distributive buildings, the citizens start complaining about how they need this, that, ect. So, you must provide this, that, ect. for them. Then, maybe they, for some random reason, will catch the plague. Well you have to fix that! Or maybe a house will be on fire. That needs to be fixed too! Thus, you must lay out many scaffolds at once before you even think about houses. I liked how they incorporated slaves into the game, as workers, and how if you worked them too hard they would revolt. However, if you get a notification that a house is on fire, then it's gone. You can try to get a prefacture up to stop it, but it's already gone unless you begin rebuilding it right away. Add this to the fact that the learning curve may be a bit flat for you, and the game gets fairly boring fast. If you get bored with the campaign and jump the gun to the free-build, then woah! What the heck is a Domus? So, simply, you must continue with the campaign, because you can't start the free-build given the fact that there are too many unexplained buildings.

One of my favorite features (probably because I love Latin) is the ability to change the entire game lettering and wording into Latin, the ancient Roman language. The grammer is a sketchy at times (using "ad" in something such as "there are too many"), but overall it really does well. I would have liked to see some slaves that the Romans might have considered "exotic" (such as african, german, british, ect. people) as maybe a trade item.

The game gets a 3 for fun and 4 overall, it will entertain you garenteed for a few hours, but unless you take time to get through the repetitiveness, it will not continue to excite you.

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It's limited in complexity compared to the old standards like Age of Empires/Mythology/Kings, and has more than a few irritating quirks. For example, the the panoramic view you are given seems more designed to show off the scenery (which is pretty nice) than to get you a useful view of, say, enemy troops. Unlike Black and White, which gives you full range of motion, here as you move upward for a good overall shot, your field of vision is restricted to only what is directly below you, which is a tiny fraction of the map. No horizon shots whatsoever. That combined with the fact that enemy soldiers aren't marked on the minimap means you are constantly surprised when angry Israelis come to kick you off their land.

I also dislike the lack of control over troops. Archers running out of towers to get slaughtered by axemen. Velits that won't show up to battle til they're good and ready. I also had a case of disappearing mercenaries on one map where the number dwindled to zero before the first battle. Never found an explanation for that. Overall, the battle aspect of the game from a strategy perspective is nearly nonexistant, so don't get your hopes up. No individual control over units means no say in how your guys respond to attacks, and its generally dull even when they manage a win.

Another quirk which I discovered in the challenge mode is that if someone burns down your only woodcutter's lodge and you have less than 4 units of wood stored, game over. It doesn't actually stop, you just can't build anymore buildings, even a woodcutter's lodge, *AND* all your existing buildings that need wood for upkeep go up in flames. Craptacular.

Also (this is the worst of all), the cheat codes don't seem to work. I tried them all.

One big plus, though, is the Latin. You can play the whole game with Latin narration and text. It's also the absolute first game about Romans I have ever played that didn't have British voiceovers. It sounds authentically Latin (to me). The producers are German, so I guess they don't suffer the same delusions as we anglophones. It's a nice touch.

Anyway, aside from the issues, it was an interesting diversion, but at the end of the day I'm going right back to Age of Whatever. Maybe the next version will knock my socks off.

Best Deals for Glory of the Roman Empire - PC

To me Glory of the Roman Empire is a work of art and a really great game. The graphics are far above average. Learning to play is simple and the level of the game is not complicated nor demanding. As I mentioned in another interview elsewhere, you can play GotR without having to worry about Caesar making a lot of difficult demands which must be met within a certain period and distract from the actual city building aspects by forcing the player to spend time and exert himself in seeing these are met or, face the possibility of losing the game. There are outbreaks of plague and you will have fires but, these are easily dealt with by building a special building which doubles as a drug store and doctor and erecting fire stations to cover populated areas. All in all I find the game quite enjoyable and my only complaints are that most of the maps are not large enough and the game does not contain and editor.

Honest reviews on Glory of the Roman Empire - PC

I have tried installing it twice and when I try to play it it tells me that i'm missing a library file. I've done the research and it turns out that there is no patch for Win 7. So if you have Win 7, or, as I hear, Vista as well, just don't waste time and effort in this game.

Best Q-bert - PC Deals

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List Price: $29.95
Sale Price: $16.99
Today's Bonus: 43% Off

After much anticipation I recieved this game, and it's the bestversion of Q*bert since his arcade release. The graphics are justamazing, the game play stays true to the original. If you buy one classic this year make it Q*bert for pc, or Playstation. You won't be sorry.

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Clearly, this is a dated video game. If you aren't old enough to vividly remember hearing that President Reagan had been shot by a would-be assassin, you are not going to appreciate this game. It is simplistic and the graphics are crude by contemporary standards. However, in its day, this game was novel and refreshingly fun. It is an old style arcade video game which is essentially a challenging moving puzzle, not a more modern ultra-realistic killing simulation. I spent many hours in my misguided and misspent youth feeding quarters into the Q*bert machine at my local pub. It is a nostalgic treat to be able to waste a few hours in my misguided and misspent middle-age playing Q*bert on my home computer. The fact that the game costs less than one or two nights of quarters in the arcade machine just improves the experience by appealing to my frugal nature. This game isn't slick and it isn't sophisticated. However, it is still fun. They have added a few new features, but I prefer the classic version. They have certainly captured the fun of the original version. Now, if they could only find that cute little co-ed from the dorm next to mine who used to watch me play, it would be like my college days all over again......Recommended without reservations to all baby boomers with receding hairlines. There seems to be a minor glitch with my system, Windows XP Pro. Every once in a while, the sound will stop abruptly until you close the game and restart. It does not happen often and I can be forgiving of this flaw in an old friend, particularly when the game isn't marketed as XP-compatible. However, I did withhold one star and only ranked it with four stars because this game is so simplistic compared to modern games. It hasn't aged well, but how many of us have?

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I had as much fun now as I did years a go when I first played it. I would recomend it to anyone who use to play it.

Best Army of Two: The 40th Day - Xbox 360 Deals

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List Price: $19.99
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my opinion is definitly a little slanted because I LOVED the first army of two. and i overall really enjoyed this one. it's alot of fun and the shooter mechanics and general third person interface work really well. they're not spectacular but they are functional, not flashy but good. however in making the sequal here it seems a little design by comitee comenced and the things that made me love the first AOT were determined to be the reason for the mediocre reaction to it. apparently in the era of gears of war and halo AOT of all things was deemed "too meathead" in it's humor and the characters were blasted as over macho idiots. i loved the humor and the characters. so the humor was toned down, Rios and salem are alot more subdued now and they really don't seem to enjoy their work like in the first one. seems to me if your gonna be a mercenary you might as well like doing it. and because it is the flavor of the month they added morality choices, i'm guessing to give depth to rios and salem. the moral choices are kind of interesting and give you some options as what jobs you want to accept but the choices tend to be rather crap.

The "new" humor i have to admit is not a step forward, the game is still funny but one stage is set in a zoo where all the animals have been murdered. it's suposed to set the tone and make you dislike the leader of the 40th day initiative as a maniac. but to me it's just morbid and the morality choice of killing a tiger to get the gun from his pen is really not cool. you can just buy the gun anyway so its not like you have to kill the tiger ever for completion purposes but honestly it's just kinda unnesisary.

for a co-op game the co-op has been toned down alot. i liked that AOT was all about two people, lots of step jumps and back to back moments and situations where you HAD to rely on your partner. in this game they took out the co-op snipe feature, not a big deal when playing with two people but it's just symptomatic of the design changes. there are two back-to-back moments in the whole game, and while one is totally awsome the other is just basic. i wasn't the biggest fan of the back-to-back mode in AOT but mostly because you had no control over it. if they made it so you could back-to-back under the right circumstances anytime. it'd be a great feature. also there are like 5 step jumps in the game and only 1 of them enables you to kill enemies while being held aloft to make it easier when you advance. the most glaring omission in the sequel is the really awsome rescue mechanics. in AOT you had to rescue injured npcs from time to time by slinging them over your shoulder and having your partner gun down enemies clearing a path for you since you could only use a pistol like this. it got annoying at times but that was the idea. and it was far and away better than any other escort mechanics i'd ever seen in a game. instead we have the equivalant of "puzzles" in the form of civilian rescues where you have to reach a highly ranked enemy and take him hostage to disarm the other soldiers. i do like this new feature it's pretty cool but with the ecception of one or two they're pretty straightforward.

now for the good

Rios's new voice actor is pretty bad ass, gives a real body to how he sounds, since he's a big guy it's a good thing. salems new voice actor is a pretty good guy, but not one i woulda chose for salem. the interactions between the two affects the dialoge and if you really piss each other off they more or less decide to go their seperate ways after they escape china. the supporting characters are good in this one, this game coulda used alot more alice murray in it but she is in it enough to make me happy. the new supporting characters are pretty good too, the crazy russian while not nearly as much fun as clyde is a nice addition to the cast list.

the weapon customisation is alot better in this one. once you buy a gun you get all the peices of it to use on any other gun that is similar enough to use it. i have the clip from an ak-47 jammed into an m4 with the barrel from another gun on the end of that. the customisable guns really affect the gameplay. in AOT my friend and i were so agressive the agro meter teetered back and forth and neither of us benefitted from it. in this game by putting silencers and the proper paint jobs on my guns, i build almost no agro and my friend goes in guns blazing with shotguns and hand cannons and i get to pick off guys left and right with my scoped assault rifle or even just run around busting heads with melee attacks. and the melee attacks are just wonderful, with or without the bayonette attachments you really put people in a hurt locker

overall the game has been improved, but i miss the old salem charm and while i enjoyed the story overall, it's the kind of story you'd find in a spin off. the first game was all about completeing paid jobs but since you worked at a company you had no choice over the jobs but you went around the world doing some great stuff. now you have your own company, you get to choose the jobs, you can go anywhere. so they chose to lock the second game with a short job and a long trek home. i really want them to do a true mercenaryish game where you get to choose from a long list of jobs and complete them in whatever order you decide or even in a preset order but have them be actual mercenary work. this is a story of two mercenary bad asses caught in a bad situation not two mercenaries doing their jobs. which is fine, but like i said, would make a nice sidestory.

i can't recomend or not recomend this game because it's got a very specific audience and i just happen to be a part of it. so the best advice i can give you is to rent it and try it for yourself, it's not as bad as people say it is but it's not as good as i say it is either.

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I must admit I was quite excited for The 40th Day. I enjoyed the previous installment in the series and had fairly high expectations for the second. So I sat down and put the game in and waited to be wowed. And then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. And then the credits rolled.

The 40th Day isn't an awful game but all the things that made the first game memorable like the co-op mechanisms, the tongue in cheek bromance, the ambiguous morality and the hard fighting brutality were completely underdeveloped here. The strength of a sequel over a new title is that a dev team can take all the popular aspects of a previous game and with that previous experience up the ante and redeliver a superior product based on those known strengths and weaknesses. Instead with the 40th Day you get exactly the same thing as before with an even thinner story (which I didn't thing possible) and a less engaging aesthetic. There is basically nothing here that makes me believe that a single lesson was learned from the previous title.

The controls are wonky but not intrusively bad. I did have an unexplainable bug where after I came back from turning off the game the Y-axis reset to un-inverted and I couldn't change it back. So if you're a freak of nature like me and play with an inverted Y-Axis be on your guard. The bug might make this game unplayable.

Also be warned: if you're looking for single player play time then don't put down your money on buying this game. I finished this game in less than six hours on Hard. There are a few unlockables but nothing to make it worth really playing through the campaign again. My recommendation would be to rent it and based off how much you enjoy the multi-player consider buying a copy then.

As far as the actual game play is concerned I was never once really engaged. The enemies have a very limited number of very jerky animations and their AI is unsatisfying. Like many poorly designed games that place an emphasis on the use of cover you'll often find yourself feeling like you're playing a game of wack-a-mole where you sit behind your cover and they sit behind theirs as you wait for them to lean out to ineffectually spray bullets at you. The enemies are not challenging and most of the episodes were you find yourself being challenged is when due to the design of the spawn points and the poor camera angles a half dozen opponents appear behind you. They're mostly carbon copies of each other, some with helmets and some with body armor but it's all the same deal. This is mixed up by having the occasional mini-boss which is decked out in heavy armor and has a special weapon like a Gatling gun or a grenade launcher. Between the combat cover mechanic and the cheesy pseudo-anime looking enemies I felt like I had traveled back in time fifteen years and was playing Time Crisis at the arcade again and not in a good way.

This is all interrupted by situations where you can take hostages and/or rescue civilians. While that sounds fun, and it is at first, it wears off about an hour into the game due to the fact that it's the same situation every time and you're never presented with a reason or a reward that makes you care. This brings me to the "moral choices" in the game. One of the great ideas in the game that had simply terrible execution the moral choices have almost no affect on the storyline or the game play. There are some items and weapon parts you can get one way as opposed to the other but they're not really a big deal and don't much alter the way you play the game or the manner in which it is or isn't enjoyed. You could be totally good or totally bad without significant alteration in the basic experience.

The second incredibly disappointing aspect of the game was the weapon modification. This is another idea that just never really seemed to get off the ground which is bizarre considering the attention and marketing it got as a component of the game. While you can change out barrels and add new sights or stocks, etc there is very little substantial difference in the weapon platforms. Once you buy one modification or the other it makes little difference what your "base" weapon is. Also the modifications themselves are limited and uninspired. With all the focus placed on attaining money in the game you'll find little reason to actually spend it as none of the mods have a real "fun" factor to them and their effect on your game play is minimal.

The multi-player is adequate but I don't see any shooter fan who owns a copy of Modern Warfare 2 spending enough time play The 40th Day to justify a purchase. You'll also notice that since you didn't pre-order a copy you don't yet have access to the Extraction feature of the game for a month. Note to EA: put a $10 mail in rebate or a poster or the such in your pre-orderers boxes. Leaving out an entire portion of your game for one of the most critical time periods for the sale of your product is incredibly stupid. Basically what EA has done is create the illusion of pre-orderers getting "extra material" by taking it away from everyone else. What a clever way to screw over your customers. Fire the guy that came up with that.

Bottomline: The game is a decent but not impressive 6 hours duck and shoot exercise. Unless you simply loved the multi-player portion of the first game I wouldn't recommend paying retail for this one. A rental isn't out of the question for a lazy weekend but with Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2, all vastly superior sequels, out or soon to be I'm not sure I'd argue you'll have more fun with this in your 360.

Pros:

*Good looking graphics, nice textures.

*Not too hard, not too easy.

*Curb stomping.

Subjective qualities:

*Simple combat mechanics.

*Check point save system.

*Not overly tactical, very shoot 'em up.

Cons:

*Terrible story.

*Very short.

*Undeveloped core concepts (weapon mods and moral choices).

*Painfully cliche aesthetics.

*Simple AI.

*Goofy Achievements.

*Little variation in play.

*Wonky Controls.

*You don't get the whole game you pay for on release (Extraction).

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My Shared-Screen Gaming Buddy & I have a very special place in our hearts for the Army Of Two (the first game), and we were waiting anxiously for the sequel.

For the co-op play specifically, they really did quite well for the most part in bringing a similar "tied-together/Depending-on-eachother" feeleing as the first game. Plenty of oportunities for co-op sniping, flush and ambush, and flanking tactics. Overall I would recomend it only for the co-op experience.

As Far as the Story and other design aspects go, its an entirely different matter, and the only reason I can't actually recomend the game. There were three main issues that prevailed for us.

First and the only real "Mechanics: issue; the A button "Hold-to-run" being the same as the "revive-partner" button, leading to quite a few mishaps and deaths.

Second; Most of the games story is revealed in audio clips found in Radios that you need to find and pick up in order to get the full story and make the "right" or "Wrong" decision when it comes time to make your choice in the game's "Morality Plays"; points in the game when you or your partner must make a choice that affects both of you. If you just want to run the game and have fun, the decisions that you make at these points are out of context and have seemingly unexpected results, basically leaving you at a loss as far as story goes.

(***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***)

And finally, at least for us, the game seemed to roll like a square tire. To explain what I mean, when the first game came out I remember all of the complaints centering about a "Lack of Morality", the collegeboyesque "Bro-mance", and the hot-button (at the time) issue of Private contracters making cracks while they kill people. What most Co-Op gamers found out after actually playing the game with a partner, was that is was fun, because it was basically Gun Porn, it was a fun romp, where every bullet was a blast, and you got to high five your parter for making a good kill. Things were dropped out to rush release, which they tried to cover with the three new levels release for free later, and to a certain extent, they succeded.

The problems that I had with AOT: 40th Day is that it seems like they overcorrected, and then to top it off, they left in elements from the Fun Romp first game that now make the Overcorrections they made for the second game stand out even more, and seem out of place. In the new game, you seem to pause every few minutes of gameplay, and you are forced to make a "morality call" as described aboved, or an all to often "save the hostages" scene, both of which bring a halting staggering step to gameplay that should be almost kinetic. The sections in-between where you are able to run-and-gun as with the first game are very fun, and you can still engage in the "Bro-mance", and for-christ-sake you can use a soda can as a silencer or put together the stupidest fun gun you can think of, but these things don't feel like they belong in same game as the morality plays and the very dark-toned cut-scenes, and (*****BIG SPOILERS NEXT!!!*****) not one, but two downer game endings.

It feels like, in all honesty, this should have been a completly different property, and had nothing to do with Salem & Rios, or at the least involved other charachter merely in their world.

P.S. A whole lot of very customizable guns, yes... but three pistols! Only three pistols! And you can't even do much with 'em. For Shame!

Honest reviews on Army of Two: The 40th Day - Xbox 360

This game is great!There are alot of guns and a ton of customization.They have barrels you can change,scopes,camos,shields,grenade launchers,ect.Also its quite long.There are 7chapters and each chapter takes about 45min-1hour to beat so about 7hours combined to beat the game.That the same amount as cod so don't complain.They also have online so thats cool.The graphics are good as well.A must buy for the money!

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I rented the game and feel I got my money's worth although I would love to try the "exclusive" horde-like co-op mode, it will be unlocked in another couple weeks.

The gameplay is solid for what it is , although even on the hardest game difficulty I finished solo with little challenge.

The real challenge was keeping my AI team mate from running headlong into a heavy enemy armed to the teeth with ballistic armor and grenade launcher.

But this game really isn't designed as a solo game , its best ordered up to play with a buddy online via matchmaking random or someone from your buddy list.

The game for as short as it was , was exciting , I really liked the moral choices , depending on which choice you made your given a mini-cutscene that looks like a graphic novel based upon your choice.

Sometimes someone you save who looks innocent turns out to be not so innocent. I enjoyed these little breaks from the action.

At its core AO2 is a 3rd person cover based game and it does it very well, if only the enemy AI were a little tougher .

The real beauty of the game is its online component but therein lies the problem with EA's finicky servers and the need to have an EA account separate from your XboxLive account to play MP.

Still the co-op campaign although really short can be finished easily in a weekend rental and then goof off in the MP modes for the remainder of the rental.

I REALLY wanted to try the exclusive horde mode but its still locked so I guess I'll try that out when its released to the public.

Overall great rental the graphics do look quite good overall ambiance is great with attention to detail , seeing a jumbo jet crash into the building your standing on is a sight to behold.

Would I buy it? Not yet maybe when it hits the $20 price point.

Discount Deus Ex: Human Revolution

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So much has been written about Deus Ex (pro's and con's) that I'll just say the there is nothing different in the Japan import. All the good things and all the bad things are still there. But I like this game for it"s huge amount of content, design and graphics. I prefer FPS's and this is one of the best. Yes, I like Dead Island, Left for 4 Dead, and Shadows of the Damned more but I'll come back to Deus Ex again and again.

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Street Fighter IV MadCatz Bundle - PC Review

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Street Fighter IV is overall a great game with awesome graphics and great soundtrack. The only unfortunate thing for me is that my PC can't handle the graphics requirement and therefore suffers from periods of extreme lags. So, before you get all excited for the game, check to be sure that your PC has enough power to handle it. Because of this game, I also got introduced to XboxLive/WindowsLive environment you have to connect in order to play it seems... Can't say that I necessarily like it because I'd guess that part of the lag is due to this requirement. Wish I could just play offline.

Anyway, all that aside, 5 stars for this game! The controller is also quite suitable for the game. :)

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I guess I was expecting more 3d or something else looks like Street Fighter Alpha!

The ability to choose multiple characters makes this a fun game to play also the controller is nice however to pull off the difficult moves it would be easier with a fight stick. I don't like the d-pad at all have to press really hard to actually pull off the difficult moves. I have not been able to unlock the final two characters yet. I'm also very disappointed that I have to log onto windows live on startup each time. That is a real pain especially since you want to play solo at times without being bothered by this.

I also had problems playing this the first time the DRM of the disc said I didn't have DMA turned on my dvd drive, but I did so I had to turn it on and off again before I was able to play this game.

If you are on a budget I would buy the regular version without the controller and then invest in a good stick for this game.

Except for these minor qualms I am very satisfied with this game its fun and it has lots of eye candy and hidden character to make you not want to put it down. If for whatever reason you get sick of it you can accept challenges and fight anyone. As soon as I turn it on someone always wants to challenge me I don't even have time to blink when the game gets old in a couple of years the challenges will be infrequent so enjoy it now while you can.

The reasons I gave it a 4 is for all those reasons cited above plus it takes about 4 some odd gig of disk space so if you have a small drive be warned I installed this on my Windows 7 test 40 gig partition and I had only 12 gigs and now with the game installed I only have 8 now.

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Yes, I like it a lot. Yes, I'm a fanboy. But Who wouldn't it?. Back to the classic Street Fighter with new characters: Rufus, Viper, Abel and Seth. With new movements as: focus attacks (it can absorb one hit and it can do an unbockeable hit, also it can cancell your atack) and Ultra combos (when your revenge bar has a good amount of hit received. you can perfome a special attack). In the PC version has better graphic with AA and AF, also It supports better resolution than its consoles counter part. It uses Games for windows live that it lacks of compatibilities and it has zone restrictions but When I played online I didn't have lag problems.

One thing that make this bundle great is the Ryu's fightpad included. Also this game support diferents gamepads. I tried: logitech dual action gamepad and Logitech wireless rumble pad. They work excellent but you have to configure the buttons because it has a different possition that xbox360.

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The game is great, but I literally went through 3 different controllers before the last one finally worked. They were dead on arrival.

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I recently upgraded my Nvidia PC to 3D Vision and I had the 3D Benchmark for this title. I'm a FPS person but it looked really fun to me. So I picked up this Bundle at a good price and the Game is Great in 3D controller was perfect aswell!

Review of Nyko Power Kit 360 for Xbox 360 (Black)

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List Price: $14.99
Sale Price: $10.95
Today's Bonus: 27% Off

I prefer these over the standard MS battery packs as they last longer charge after charge. I don't end up charging these as often as I do with the Microsoft ones and if you are in need of a new charging cord, these are longer than the Microsoft ones as well, giving you a couple extra feet to work with if you're tethered in while playing.

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My son constantly added batteries to his controllers when playing X-box. Now...he know longer needs the batteries! This is a must buy for an Xbox gamer.

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I have myself the same charger for my own Xbox 360 controller. It works quite well to be honest. It charges fairly quickly and you can play while it charges (well duh right? lol). The only thing that keeps this product from 5 stars is that the battery life only last 6-10 hours per charge. Now for someone who doesn't play much it's no problem, but if you like to play for LONG periods of time, you're gonna have to prepare yourself to charge frequently, lol. All in all, I would reccomend it! It's much cheaper than the official microsoft chargers that sell for 20+ dollars.

Honest reviews on Nyko Power Kit 360 for Xbox 360 (Black)

This charger came free with the actual 2 battery and charging base. I gave this and one battery to my brother and he said it has been working great.

I like the way it snaps on to the top of the remote and lights up green and red for different charging status. Plugs into any USB port too for pretty decent charging. Not as fast as the base but still fast enough.

Its convenient and doesnt take up much space and does what it is supposed to do.

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I decided to give these a try since the OME ones from Microsoft the USB cables kept breaking. I bought 2 and I've had them for a month now. These power kits have good build quality and work just as good or better then the OEM ones. Get hours of game play and the kids play all day without having to charge them. I would recommend these to someone trying to same a few bucks or is having the same issues I was having with the OEM USB cables from Microsoft.

CTA Digital The Premium Starter Kit for XBox 360 Kinect (Kinect Reviews

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List Price: $14.99
Sale Price: $13.49
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must say a beautiful kit and a money saver ,I was looking for the TV holder and for a little extra got this kit, has the extension cable ,which was very useful plus the holder which I must say at first I was a bit skeptic, price too good to be true, but I must say I am very happy with the quality and value

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The mounting kit was well packaged and instructions to install were good. I had no problem putting my Kinect onto the mounting provided. I had an older LCD which was a bit "thicker" then the new ones that are out, and the bracket was adjustable enough to accommodate the larger thickness of my screen. Once installed, the rotation and movement of the Kinect was automatic and worked flawlessly. Enjoyed my first experience with Kinect. Total installation time was less the 1/2 hour after I read the instruction manual carefully.

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Excellent starter kit that gives you extra space when playing. Product shipped quickly and was easy to put together. Would definitely reccomend this product and will purchase another in a few weeks for my boyfriends xbox.

Honest reviews on CTA Digital The Premium Starter Kit for XBox 360 Kinect (Kinect

I tend to keep my things nice and new in order to use "forever", so I've bought everything good could keep my expensive electronics perfect. This product meets my expectations. Nicely fit and comes in black. However, I still hesitate to screw the base on my expensive 3D TV though. :(

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PERFECT.. 9.5-10.00 !!!!!

PERFECT EVERYTHING YOU NEED IF YOU HAVE BUY A KINECT

CTA DIGITAL MAKES GREAT PRODUCT !!!!

GREAT BAG IF YOUR ON A BUDGET

Cheap Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wireless Bundle - Xbox 360

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Guitar Hero 3 (GH3) is the fourth iteration in this series of games despite it being labeled the third, though for most people the 80s edition that was the actual third game was a bit of a footnote since it only came out on PS2 and had very little in it that differed from Guitar Hero 2 other than the songs.

GH3 continues with the same basic formula as the previous games which will keep fans of the series happy, but at the same time adds some welcome new features. One of the best additions is that of online play so that you can now do co-op, face-off, pro face-off and battle mode with a friend over the Live network.

The battle mode is a change up from the normal face-off modes in that instead of gaining star power you acquire attacks from playing certain sequences of notes. Then when you turn the guitar up as if you were going to use star power it instead launches an attack at your opponent. The attacks vary in their nastiness and while I was skeptical of this new aspect of the game it's actually a nice twist for those more competitive players.

Another addition is the co-op career mode, but unfortunately you can't play this mode online which means you'll have to get a friend over with their guitar to experience this mode.

Speaking of the guitar the new wireless Gibson Les Paul style guitar controller is a welcome change from the original 360 GH2 controller. Overall it just feels a lot more solid, especially the whammy bar. Not being wired makes a big difference in terms of convenience. There are GH3 bundles out there with the original GH2 controller in them and I would recommend passing on those in favor of the wireless bundle.

The career mode remains mostly the same as in the previous games. There are now little animated vignettes between each set that don't add much to the overall experience, but certainly are a welcome change from the old bus driving across the country scenes in the previous games. The other addition to career mode is that at the end of certain sets you have to enter battle mode with another guitarist. By now most people know that Tom Morello and Slash are the two real guitarists who you battle against in the game. Both contributed original guitar compositions for their battle sections and can be unlocked as avatars in the game.

The playing experience itself is much the same, though it seems the game is even more forgiving in the timing of when you play notes than even GH2 was and hammer-ons and pull-offs are also very easy to do. For experienced players this will obviously make the game easier in some respects, but at the same time the note structure has been mixed up a bit and the later songs are pretty challenging on Hard and Expert.

While the multiplayer aspect adds a lot more playability to the game at the same time the core of the experience remains the songs and for this game there are even more original songs than before and the song list is pretty great.

Overall GH3 rocks the house in much the same way as the previous games, but with the addition of some new features it doesn't feel like more of the same. Multiplayer adds a new aspect that should give the game a lot more life overall between those times when you get your friends over to the house.

Here is the list of tracks by the original artists (or in the case of Talk Dirty to Me, original vocalist) used in the game. This doesn't include the bonus tracks by the less well known artists.

"Talk Dirty to Me" Poison (Vocals re-recorded by Bret Michaels)

"Bulls on Parade" Rage Against the Machine

"When You Were Young" The Killers

"Miss Murder" AFI

"Lay Down" Priestess

"Paint It, Black" The Rolling Stones

"Anarchy in the U.K." Sex Pistols (re-recorded)

"Kool Thing" Sonic Youth

"My Name Is Jonas" Weezer

"Even Flow" Pearl Jam

"Same Old Song and Dance" Aerosmith

"Welcome to the Jungle" Guns N' Roses

"Cherub Rock" The Smashing Pumpkins

"The Metal" Tenacious D

"Before I Forget" Slipknot

"Stricken" Disturbed

"3's & 7's" Queens of the Stone Age

"Knights of Cydonia" Muse

"Cult of Personality" Living Colour (re-recorded)

"Raining Blood" Slayer

"The Number of the Beast" Iron Maiden

"One" Metallica

--Co-Op Campaign--

"Sabotage" Beastie Boys

"Reptilia" The Strokes

"Suck My Kiss" Red Hot Chili Peppers

"Helicopter" Bloc Party

"Monsters" Matchbook Romance

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Length: --:-Mins

So which to buy, Rock Band or "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock"? The big money is on both, but which of the two is the best? That all depends on what you want out of YOUR kicka$z rock simulator. Both have flaws and can be excruciatingly difficult, both are insanely fun to play, both are great party games, both cost an arm and a leg and both ROCK THE MUTHA@#%*ING HOUSE! The wireless guitar controller for GH3 works wonderfully with RB, but there is no such love for GH3 if you buy the RB guitar. If you don't want to drum (singing can be done in a pinch with your xbox live headset), then buying the GH3 bundle is a no brainer as the gameplay, song quality, and presentation is far superior than RB's. Plus, after you're done thrashing it up with GH3 you can get the RB game for a mere $60 (or cheaper) and enjoy it's very customizable characters and super-eclectic song selection using the GH guitar. Also in GH3's favor is a new version of "Anarchy in the UK" recorded by the Sex Pistols just for this game. Slash, Tom Morello, and Brett Michaels also make appearances in-game which is sweet. Score one for the Legends of Rock.

However, the fun of playing drums in RB should not be underestimated. It's pricey, but if you've got the dough and a little bit of rhythm and aren't tone-deaf (like me) than RB is like 3 games in one: guitar/bass, karaoke, and drums. Plus there is an amazing and ever-growing selection of downloadable songs (priced about $2 each) from bands like The Police, Grateful Dead, The Clash, and Metallica. So for a few extra bucks you can increase the game's replayability even more. Not a big fan of the "nickel-and-diming", but to play "Complete Control" and "Synchronicity II", it's worth it. Plus, did anybody say "ultimate party game?" My friends and family aren't gamers so I don't get to indulge the multiplayer nearly as often as I'd like (though the wife does enjoy singing on occasion and this marks the first time she's enjoyed a videogame not named "Tetris") but I can assure you that the Band World Tour career mode is outstanding and much better than the lonelioness of the Solo Tour. GH3 also features downloadable songs, but they aren't particularly enticing to me even though the game itself features the most rockin' collection of songs humanly possible: thrash, hardcore punk, blues, avant-garde alternative rock, and much more. I've also gotten 4 songs ("Dream On" and 3 Dropkick Murphy jams) for free by keeping an eye on xbox live so hurray for Activision on that one.

Now the bad. It's annoying to have to beat every single song to progress on solo modein RB. I've been stuck on the insanely long and difficult "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws on drums and I don't really have time to practice a 10-minute song over and over. GH3 let's you skip a song on each difficulty level if you choose and is easily the more challenging game when it comes to the guitar. The notes come fast and hard even on normal difficulty and the final run of songs will make you head spin and fingers hurt if you're not one of those inhuman gamers who can do this stuff blindfolded. And if you are, I'd like to eat your brain and gain your powers like Sylar because I've got only slightly more talent for this than I do real guitar playing -which is significantly easier than playing expert difficulty on GH3. I play these games to relax, not to go all Pete Townshend on my gaming equipment. Normal difficulty on RB is absolute cake after playing GH3, and the timing on notes often isn't right either, but when you go into hard difficulty the game goes from slightly challenging to impossible for me about halfway through the solo career mode. At least GH3 ramps up the difficulty slowly. There is no such problem on Band World Tour mode, by the way. YOu can pretty much pick and choose what you want to do and what songs to play. RB's flaws and a very cool, over-the-top style make GH3 the king of guitar games. But, again, if you want to drum or sing RB is the only game in town. Unless you get American Idol , that is. And if you do, you suck. Majorly. And still can't drum.

The bottom line is this: if you love rock music, save up whatever you can and buy both. Even if you have to buy them piece-by-piece like I did, both games are awesome for rock music fans. If you're into the hard stuff like Slayer and Dead Kennedys and do most of your gaming singleplayer than go for GH3; the game's song selection adn challenge is unrivalled. If you prefer more mainstream alternative music like Radiohead and REM than RB is your ticket. While GH3's guitar battle mode is very cool, RB definitely gets the win on the multiplayer aspect. If you've got 3 friends or family members who are into it, there is no better way to enjoy some great music together than with RB. There is some song overlap as both games feature "Sabotage", "When You Were Young" and others which is annoying and there should never, ever, EVER be a rock game -much less twowith no Jimi, no AC/DC, and no Van Halen. It's just not right. But all is forgiven because these are two killer gaming franchises that will keep us busy (and broke!) for years to come. Rock on!

Best Deals for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wireless Bundle - Xbox 360

I adore the Guitar Hero series. It is incredibly fun, can be played co-op, and exposes players to all sorts of great music. Guitar Hero III ups the ante with even more fantastic songs plus a new battle mode for fun head to head gameplay!

Once again you're a small time band starting off in your garage or make that, your back yard. As you play through songs on your guitar controller, your career begins to take off. You make videos, play larger arenas, and earn money. The money lets you buy yourself new outfits and guitars. As you battle special players, you unlock their characters like Slash from Guns 'N Roses.

In every Guitar Hero game there have been songs I've liked and other songs I haven't liked. That's going to be true pretty much no matter who you are. They try their very best to provide a wide range of music to suit all guitar tastes, and they do an excellent job at it. Some of the songs are SUPER in this set and got me up off the couch dancing around while I played along.

The new battle mode is a ton of fun. Before, you'd get a simple encore at the end of each set. This time you occasionally have to fight a newcomer for guitar supremacy. In battle mode you earn "attacks" that you can then lob at your opponent. These do things like break strings, make you play double notes, make your screen shake, and much more. It is super fun. Near the end of the game when you're down in "Hades", you have to battle the devil himself playing ... Devil went down to Georgia!

There are of course the extras to unlock by doing things like playing 100 notes in a row, the ability to play against friends head to head locally, plus the new ability to play against others online! Talk about a true challenge! It was always scary enough looking at XBox Live and seeing how amazingly high some of those scores were. Imagine trying to play those people live?

The graphics are great. Each location is fleshed out in fantastic detail, from the flickering flames of Hades to the glowing red lanterns of your back yard. The audience always seems a little robotic, but heck, how much do you want from a guitar game?

Many of the songs are now original band-sung songs including a Living Color song that the band re-recorded specifically for this game! There are still a collection of songs that are "in the style of" some are good, some are really not so good. The Stevie Ray Vaughn song stands out as the not-so-good reproduction. Still, what can you do. Why aren't those bands giving the Guitar Hero guys permission to use their real tracks? Don't they know how immensely popular this game is?

The wireless guitar controller and it's worked pretty flawlessly so far. We've noticed a tiny amount of 'misses' with the red button, but that may be us getting used to it, we'll have to see.

Highly, highly recommended. It was so much fun that my boyfriend, a guitar player, would occasionally try to play the "real notes" rather than the Guitar Hero game notes. It really is absorbing!

Make sure you get TWO guitars to go with it, so you can play with a friend!

Honest reviews on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wireless Bundle - Xbox 360

What do you get when you take a series that is virtually flawless and endlessly addicting and combine it with a developer who is known for ruining a virtually flawless and endlessly addicting series? You get a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, Neversoft, the studio responsible for the rise and fall of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, has decided to take that recipe and throw it out the window. Since acquiring the rights to the Guitar Hero name, Activision has seen to it that Neversoft be in charge of creating all future games in the franchise. And for a built-from-scratch first effort, they succeeded beyond my wildest expectations! Guitar Hero III not only continues the tradition of great music rhythm games, but it adds in some much needed features and game modes that really make it a must-own for any Xbox 360 owner!

First off, let's discuss the changes that Neversoft made to the game. The art direction in general takes a much more "hardcore" approach, as characters like Judy Nails go from being sweet little rocker chick to big-breasted, pierced alt rocker. Most of the other characters have undergone similar changes, most of which are for the worse. The original games had a very cartoony type of image to it, and Neversoft tries to recreate that with more edge, but they end up looking like they're trying too hard to make the game hardcore. Fortunately, this is a music game so graphics will ultimately take a back seat to the gameplay and music.

Gameplay-wise, Guitar Hero III picks up where II left off. New game modes have been introduced into the series, including Co-Op Career (a long-needed mode that features songs you can only unlock through it) and Battle Mode, which allows you to gain attacks (rather than star power) which you can then launch at your opponent to make them fail a song. The last person standing wins! The first time through this mode can be daunting, but after a while it quickly becomes a welcomed addition to the franchise! Also included this time around is full Xbox Live support for Face Off, Pro Face Off, Co-Op, and Battle Mode (unfortunately Co-Op career is not available for online play at this time). The system works great too, and in my dozens of matches online, I've only experienced brief lag once. There's something thrilling about going to battle with someone you've never met and throroughly embarassing them! This feature was well worth the wait, and will undoubtedly add hours upon hours of play to an already addicting game.

Of course, the real strength of a music rhythm game will always rest in its soundtrack. Fortunately for us, Guitar Hero III rocks one of the most comprehensive and diverse soundtracks ever put in a video game. Neversoft has finally figured out what Harmonix never could; you can have difficult songs on the game that aren't metal (i.e. Muse's "Knights of Cydonia" or QotSA's "3s and 7s")! Add in the fact that a large portion of these songs are master recordings, and the game's music just sky-rockets to a whole new level! And while Gutar Hero III's soundtrack is clearly the best in the series, it is not without it's missteps either. For example, "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys is a great song, but it really doesn't belong here as there's very little guitaring going on in the song. Overall though, the diverse collection of songs in the game almost assures it's acceptance by those who may have been hesitant in the past, as there's definitely something for everyone!

My complaints with the game are few. My largest gripe is the new Red Octane wireless controller which is very pretty, but has given myself and other gamers some problems. For me specifically, some of the fret buttons will occasionally stop working during a song and you'll need to stop playing, disconnect the controller, and reconnect it for it to work again. This is a huge drawback, but hopefully they can get the bugs worked out in later models. Another small complaint is the lack of a matchmaking system for online play. I play on expert, but I'm more of a low-mid range expert who doesn't stand a chance versus someone who's been playing the game for a few years now. In the end, however, these complaints really overshadow what is a phenomenal game and a great first effort for Neversoft. I highly recommend it to anyone who may be on the fence about it. $99 for a video game is steep, but the hours and hours of enjoyment you'll undoubtedly get out of Guitar Hero III are well worth the price. Buy it now!

8 out of 10 Stars

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I first pre-ordered this game a few weeks back and I was surprised to have gotten it yesterday when I thought it didnt get realesed until the 28th. I'm about halfway through the campaign on expert which is pretty fun. The battles against Slash are pretty tough and hard to get the hang of but once your used to it it makes sense. I would definitly recommend this game, especially becasue the wireless guitar is awwwwwsome. The track list is pretty good and I can't wait to find out what other songs are on it. The price was a little steep but its definitly worth it. This game is sick!!

Cheap Capcom Biohazard Revival Selection for Ps3

Customer Ratings:

One of the legacies that will ultimately mark the seventh generation of video game consoles is its obsessions with upscalling sixth generation video games, add in throphies or achievements and sell it either on disc or as DLC. So many games from last gen have had second lives on this gen from Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, Tekken, Splinter Cell, God of War, Okami, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Silent Hill, Ico & Shadow of the Colossus, Sly Cooper, Yada Yada Yada. What does this really tell you? That games were simply better back? Sure I won't deny it. Games from the last gen have aged much better than games from previous generations? I agree. That games today lack the finese and standards that games just a generation ago possessed? Pretty much dead on I say. Pretty much when a game we loved back in the day gets an HD upgrade, we all get excited. Not one to skimp out on this trend is Capcom. They've put two major entries from their Resident Evil saga that have yet to appear on the PS3. And that is where this review comes from.

The review is ofcourse Biohazard Revival Selection, a Japan-only blu ray that contains Biohazard 4 and Biohazard Code Veronica in HD. Just a reminder, in Japan, Resident Evil is called Biohazard. But I will pretty much call them Resident Evil in this review because we are more familiar with that name over Biohazard. So anyways, like I mentioned, in Japan the game came out in both digital and physical disc form for those with really crude Internet connections. However for the rest of the world, Resident Evil 4 HD and Code Veronica HD only came out on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PS Store. But don't think the disc version excuses the player from installing the game. That is not the case. It turns out that the blu ray acts as both the installation disc and the key for one to be able to play the games. You still will have to install the game on to your HDD but will need to insert the disc in every time you want to play the games. This is ofcourse to detract players from only installing the game once and then giving out or lending the disc in to another user.

The inclusion of RE CV and RE4 on the PS3 marks a significant occasion as it is now the only system where you can experience the main cannon Resident Evil games from the original all the way up to the sixth game which is due out Fall 2012. Though the PS3 still lacks Revelations (a pretty important game in terms of storyline progression), but knowing Capcom, they could be planning a port of that game on to the HD systems, with 3D capabilities.

The first game of this collection is Resident Evil Code Veronica HD. Originally a Dreamcast game, Code Veronica's port to Hd was not a very impressive one. While the game is still creepy, muddy textures, blurry lighting, and dated game mechanics ultimately hamper the experience. Many hold Code Veronica highly though for its lengthy quest, genuinely scary moments, and engaging though campy story.

Resident Evil 4 HD is the highlight of this collection. Originally released on the GameCube back in 2005, Resident Evil 4 was eventually ported to the PS2, PC, and Wii prior to the HD upgrade. 4 stands as the current blueprint of the series as it is now a full fledge action game franchise. The HD upgrade looks gorgeous thought using the Wii version as the template. Contrary to what some critics have said, the Wii version was used not the PS2 port. The main game uses in game engine for the cutscenes just like with the Wii version. However, just like in the Wii version, if you are wearing Leon's third costume, the cutscenes will revert to Leon's default costume. Another complaint from the critics is with the Separate Ways missions. In case none of you noticed, the Wii version used prerendered cinmatics for Ada's adventure. And because they are prerendered cinematics native in 480i, you will notice how bad they look on the HD update.

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More than Happy to recieve this Game. I will never get tired of it!

It was revieved in a Timely manner.

Thanks!!!!

Best Deals for Capcom Biohazard Revival Selection for Ps3

I got this game for my husband because he is a huge Resident Evil fan. He loved this addition to his collection. Thank you for having this available

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We have tried this game on two different Ps3's and it doesn't work. How can I get my money back?