Review of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition -Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:

This game is the chief selling point for the XBOX 360, and now it's available with the two major expansions included.

If you already own Oblivion (and especially if you've already bought Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles from XBOX Live), DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM. You will be filled with the righteous fanboy rage you see in the one star reviews below.

But if you're new to the 360, this game is a must have. Even the training mode/introduction is amazing, with Patrick Stewart as the voice of the dying King who sends you on your quest.

Highlights of the game and expansions:

OBLIVION:

+The quest story lines are well written, and the tone of guild and side quests varies and makes for a lot of fun (especially Thieves' and Assassins' Guilds)

+Great voice acting from the likes of Sean Bean (Boromir), Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), and Terence Stamp (General Zod/Jorel).

+A more engaging combat system than turn based RPGS, and amazing graphics

+Character customization is more detailed than you could hope for.

+It's a very materialistic game. Looting is great fun, especially at higher levels.

+You get to battle demons in Hell, or whip thieves in caves. There are a lot of varieties of game play.

+The game is absolutely huge.

-You will find the leveling system infuriating about 20 hours into the game. All of your enemies level up with you; so, your best options are to avoid leveling up entirely (which limits your selection of weapons and armor), or to be obsessive about controlled leveling, which takes a lot of the fun out of the game.

-There's no clear sense of "fair play" in the game. You can create a set of chameleon armor that will let you walk through the whole game unnoticed and kill whomever you wish. Once you can do that, how much worse is duplicating items using inventory tricks? You really set your own level of difficulty in how you play, but I find that takes away more than it adds.

-There are really no branching quest lines in the game, and nothing you do affects the story line. Why can't I take control of the Mythic Dawn or Necromancers?

-There aren't really any race or gender specific quests in the game. Why isn't there some sort of elf society in the game that affects the storyline for an elf character?

While I have problems with it (comparing it to KOTOR, as I do all things), I haven't found a better 360 game yet.

KNIGHTS OF THE NINE

+A new guild! They should release more expansions like this.

+You can lower your infamy to 0 by making a pilgrimage.

+If you have a crusader fantasy, this expansion is for you.

+You get some cool items, if you're willing to stay infamy free.

-The quest line is pretty short.

Basically, this is a good early game quest line to take on, but it's not as big as the other guilds.

SHIVERING ISLES

+This takes place in the realm of the demonic prince of madness. Where Oblivion involves lush, realistic landscapes and scary forays into Hell, Shivering Isles has lots of bizarre, beautiful, surreal images. It's a much different design concept, and worth it for a change of pace.

+The quests are especially ingenious.

+The quest line is long enough to make it interesting.

-Despite what you may see advertised, there's still very little in way of branching quest lines. Really, the only things that differ are when you get certain items and what greater powers you have access to.

This is a really great expansion, and can help you build skills early in the game. And you can become the demon prince of madness, so that's cool.

In short, this is the best game for 360, and one of the best RPG's on the market. It does have its limitations and frustrations, but it will give you about 80 more hours of fun than Bioshock (which is also really cool).

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These statements are in response to previous qustions and reviews.

This pack was designed for people that can not or do not have broadband service and wanted these two huge add ons for Oblivion. there ARE only the two included here yes. two others were available for FREE from Official Xbox Magazine in early 2007. The horse armor was never given for free and is not available on here. OR of course if you do not already have this game then this is the best option available.

if you already own a copy of oblivion and purchase this, you will then have two full copies of the game. about a year ago when bethesda said they will in time release the downloadable content on disc it was known that it would be on its own disc! some hoped it would be a disc update like halo2s extra maps were, but microsoft did not like the ease of someone buying one copy and just giving it to all of their friends.

that would still be possible with disc two in this set, yea but they made sure you are buying the full game along with the extra content. that was the deal made with microsoft.

disc two WILL install all of the patches that were required to play the additional content. then it will ask you which items you want to install, all, one, or neither.

my main character in oblivion is nearing the 300 hour mark. there is no fear of the game becoming "unplayable". the reviewer "mean critic" makes no good points and gives very little facts.

the game will then be played with disc one (a normal oblivion disc) while the other information is streamed from a hard drive or memory card. that is the way the downloadable content WAS PROGRAMMED to work. the information that is stored on the drive loads very fast compared to when loading from the disc.

if you buy this and already own oblivion, you could trade it in at many video game stores if you dont want to own a second copy.

Best Deals for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition -Xbox 360

I've had Oblivion scince I first got my 360 and loved every minute of it, but I felt left out when the expansions started coming out on Xbox live. I don't have the cables necessary to support XBL at my house so when I saw that Oblivion GOTY edition had hit the shelves, I grabbed it up. I know that at least one other reveiver gave the game a 1 star for its $60 price tag, but keep in mind, Oblivion just went down to $30 while Knights of the Nine is still sitting at about $10 to download, and Shivering Isles is at $24. Total, thats $64 before tax. If you don't have Oblivion yet, or are about to pick it up because you just got a 360, GET THIS VERSION. It has the 2 big expansions, plus an update patch that fixes some of the bugs in the game (like the item multiplication arrow trick). You will still have to go online to get the small stuff like wizard's tower or Vile lair, but they cast about 2 or 3 dollars in MS points. Its a good deal for Oblivion first timers, or anyone without XBL.

Honest reviews on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition -Xbox 360

simply put, this game is amazing. it will consume you. it will own you. i finished the main campaign, and theres still TONS to do. even without the extra content, there are 4 guilds you can join, each with their own massive quest line. with the extra content, you're looking at 200+ hours of gameplay. im about 90 hours in now, and still feel like ive barely scratched the surface. everything is nearly perfect. the world is huge. its filled with many cities and smaller villages. countless caves and dungeons are scattered throughout the land for you to explore.

you could spend 50 hours playing this game and not even touch the main quest. when you emerge from the initial sewer area, the gloves are off. you are free to go anywhere and do anything. the world is simply beautifful, with an amazing view from some spots spanning half the continent.

there are thousands of different non-player-characters. unfortunately they only got a handful of voice actors. Patrick Steward is perfect as the emperor, they couldnt have chosen anyone better.

the graphics, while not on par with the likes of Gears of War, are still fantastic 2 years after its initial release. especially if you take the size into consideration. this is one of the biggest console games ever made, maybe second only to Morrowind. to me, Oblivion is like a slightly streamlined, much more well made version of that.

gameplay is vastly improved from Oblivion. left trigger activates shield, right trigger swings sword. there are countless magicka spells from standard fire balls and summoning monsters to invisibility and nightvision.

honestly, i cant say all that needs to be said in a single review. this is the most epic, beautiful, fully realized role playing game on the console market today. its the best game on the 360, and the plateau set by this game is not likely to be matched any time soon.

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an epic, wide-open 'go anywhere, do anything' action Role Playing Game (RPG), and probably one of the best RPG's on the Xbox 360. In the context of open-ended 'go anywhere, do anything' games, Oblivion certainly takes the cake. With a whole continent at your disposal, a plethora of towns, cities, villages, dungeons, caves, and the expansive wilderness and mountains Oblivion is truly a massive world. And the best part is you can explore it all.

In keeping with the 'go anywhere, do anything' mythos, developer Bethesda crafted a totally non-linear game with hundreds of quests, missions and other distrations in additon to a main plot arc. If you so desire you could put off the main story and get lost in the myriad of side quests located in the game; and believe me there are tons of side quests, missions and distractions available to you. As far as the main story arc goes, its your basic generic 'save the world' story. It would have been nice to get a truly original story line, especially since the game is so huge and you can literally do what you wish.

You start off as a basic, generic character and the emphasis on leveling up and honing your skills is very high. Like most action RPG's the more you use a skill the better you get with it, and Oblivion tracks all your stats by the typical RPG means. When you start the game out you get to do quite a bit of character customization including how you want your character to look, what stats you want to start out with, what skills you want to focus on etc. The level of customization is very high. Following the whole 'do anything' theme you can literally create any character you desire, from the epic warrior, the powerful mage, the sneaky thief, assassin, wanderer, knight, the sorcerer etc. There are so many variations on each type that the options are limitless. As such, even if you do choose one class or character type eventually you can learn the traits and skills of every other class, which pretty much destroys any replay value and kind of breaks the realism of the game.

In addition to being able to be any type of character you desire, you can literally do anything you want. If you choose you could wander the world collecting various items and weapons, be a world class thief and see how much loot you can gather, be a traveling merchant, you can be an evil character and kill everything in sight. In addition to being any character you want, you can even choose to be an outlaw (which will happen if you get caught stealing or killing innocent people). If so, you will be constantly hunted by town and city guards and any official in the game. If caught you can either pay a fine, resist arrest or go to jail (where you can literally sit there and live out your sentence or choose to serve your time and get out). This adds to the overall realism of the game world.

Virtually every NPC is killable (save for important quest giving NPCs). There are hundreds of items and weapons to find, some rare and some not so rare. You can wield any weapon you desire, however depending on your current skill with the weapon you may or may not be good with it. This can easily be remedied by either practicing with the weapon or paying of training from the various NPCs that offer the training. The same goes for all the magic stats and skills, of which there are plenty to keep you busy. Alchemy is also an option which offers up plenty of time wasting quests and options. You can spend your time hunting down various ingredients to create potions, spells, enchanted weapons etc. You can create your own recipes for these, or you can search the world and find already created recipes; the choice is yours. There are also various books and bookstores scattered about the world, and from these you can learn the history of the game world and learn some skills, recipes and hidden locations as well.

Scouring the world in search of treausre is very fun, and it can take you to some really interesting places.Everything has a stat and everything has a skill that you can level up. There is literally hours upon hours of things to do in Oblivion.

As most RPG gamers know a good chunk of time is spent interacting with the various townsfolk and non-playable characters (NPCs) scattered about the game world, and Oblivion does not deviate from this formula. You will spend a lot of time talking to NPCs, as they hold much info in regards various aspects of the game. Plus they are usually the ones who hand out the quests and side quests. All of the dialogue is spoken, so you don't have to wade through lengthy pages of text each time you talk to an NPC. There is however one major flaw in the NPCs and enemies that is worth mentioning: Their Artifical Intelligence (AI) is rather shoddy. This is really nothing new since most video games have lame AI, but in an open ended game like this it really stands out, especially since during development Bethesda promised gamers a truly unique experience called 'Radiant AI' which basically meant that every NPC character would have their own lives with their own daily routines and wants/needs. The final product is far from 'radiant' as not all the NPCs have routines and wants/needs, and the ones that do are very repetitive. It was a promise that in my opinion is not possible in the gaming world yet. Also, NPCs will randomly talk to each other as well, however their conversations are usually worthless and very repetitive. Even still it is quite fun interacting with the various NPCs and their interesting personalities. In a change from previous Elder Scrolls games all of the dialogue in the game is spoken by real voice actors, but again this feature falls a little short, as spoken dialogue gets really old, as do the character voices. It seems Bethesda only used 4 or 5 different voice actors for hundreds of NPCs, and it gets really stale to hear the same voice over and over again.

The quests you will embark on in your journey through this amazing world are plentiful, however they all fall under either a 'fetch' quest (go here and get this) or a 'kill' quest (kill x NPC etc). This is a big problem in my opinion as the quests can get very boring and sometimes tedious. Some NPCs will have you going back and forth across the continent just to talk to some other NPC or to gather some item to bring back to them. This is made easy with the 'fast travel' system (any place you been before you can easily teleport to with the click of a button), however this also breaks the immersion factor. Alternatively you can choose to walk everywhere or buy a horse and take the long route (I prefer this way because it allows you to explore at the same time). You are also given a map and a compass with which to aid you in your adventures, however the developers designed them so that they basically 'hold your hand' the whole time. Important places and NPCs are easily found via the compass, which has red and green arrows to mark where you need to go. Coupled with the fast travel things start to get very easy and simple, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you want to play.

There are a few guilds and factions available to join, from the Thieves guild, the fighters guild, the mages guild and The Dark Brotherhood (assassin guild). This is where the bulk of the quests and missions come from. In keeping with the whole freedom aspect of the game you can join every guild. While this opens up many options for gamers it breaks the replay value since you can join every guild in one playthrough. Also it breaks the realism of the game world since technically you shouldn't be able to join every guild with the same character. I personally would have enjoyed it more if you could only join one or the other. I mean, if you are in the Mages guild or the Fighters guild you shouldn't also be allowed to join the Thieves guild since their core values and goals are diametrically opposed.

In addition to all of this there are also houses and a castle that you can eventually purchase and fully furnish, giving you safe havens to store your items and places to hang out.

Oblivion is a truly next generation game, and the graphics are a testament to that, offering up some of the best looking visuals on the Xbox 360. Oblivion pushes the systems hardware to the limit and the result is some stunning graphics. Trees are wonderfully detailed and rendered, grass and weeds, flowers, rocks, water and wildlife are all wonderfully animated and living.

In keeping true to the 'go anywhere, do anything' theme of the game, anything you can see you can exlore. This includes mountains, caves, forests, towns, villages, cities...everything! You can spend hours just wandering the countryside and climbing the mountains if you so choose, and the amazing graphics will stun you the whole time. Oblivion is a true next generation experience that will please action fans, adventure and RPG fans with over 100 + hours of gaming. And with the two expansion packs available in this 'Game of the Year' edition, the hours of gameplay are extended by at least 20 + more hours or so.

One major fault worth mentioning is that, since the game allows you to do anything you should technically alter and affect the game world, however only certain quests and actions do this. For example, the main story line quests will resonate through the world, which NPCs either commenting on your feats or your failures. However other actions do not. If you rob a store owner blind (and they do not notice) they will never mention it, almost as if it never happened, and they will continue to stock their store as such. This breaks the immersion factor. A store owner should realize that they are constantly being cleaned out, right? Also if you kill NPCs without being caught, no one will miss their presence, which seems a little weird, don't you think?

Another glaring flaw is with the town and city guards. They somehow have this magic ability to hear and see what you are doing even if they are far away from you. In some instances when you are robbing a house or killing someone they will magically know you are doing this, even if they are nowhere in sight! This gets very frustrating, and shows the true flaws in the games' AI.

In Oblivion there are many enemies, wild animals and rogue NPCs that you will eventually have to fight, and the combat is very fun. The controls follow your typical action adventure game: Right Trigger attacks, Left Trigger blocks, Right Bumper is your spells, Y is jump, B opens up your menu etc. All of the combat is in real-time, which further adds to the fun of Oblivion. All of the enemies are scaled to your current level, so as you level up the creatures and enemies get harder, this can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

All in all, Oblivion is a fantastic game that truly shows off some of the next generation of video gamings best features. It offers up hundreds of hours of gameplay and will certainly keep you occupied. Oblivion allows you to live out your fantasies allowing you to do, see and explore everything. There are some faults, but these shouldn't keep you from having a blast.

The Good:

Some of the best graphics ever seen on the Xbox 360

A wide open 'do anything, go anywhere' gameplay

High level of character customization and level grinding

Hours upon hours of quests and gameplay

Virtually unlimited options. Be a hero, be a villain and everything in between.

Many things to do, many things to see, many things to kill.

Some very cool quests at times

The Bad:

Poor AI

The majority of quests are rather simple (kill this, fetch that)

The go anywhere, do anything mythos allows you to do everything in one play through thus killing much of the supposed replay-ability.

Much of your actions do not affect the game world.

NPC dialogue gets really annoying, and the lack of variety in character voices is all too lame.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I just recently have found myself owning a Playstation, and you need games to use it properly right? Well I rented this gem and let me tell you...what fun! I had never before in my life played any Tomb Raider title, I knew that they were quite popular so I thought that I'd give it a try. At first I was really mad-I own a N64 so I was used to a certain kind of game control, and it wasn't the kind that Tomb Raider The Last Revelation uses. I kept thinking "What is the big fuss-you can't even control her! What is everyone thinking! . This is so twisted and sick". I worked at it and soon found out why Lara's adventures are wildly popular. They are so fun! I got used to moving Lara(I don't use the joystick)and soon was having so much fun that I never want to put the game away. Searching through the ancient Egyptian tombs is a blast. I am really into to Egypt so I may be a bit partial to the scenrio...but I can't help it. So far the game is quite a challenge, it makes you think; finally accomplishing whatever puzzle you are stumped at it a great feeling, and I don't look forward to returning it(which means I have to make a purchase very soon). I ordered Tomb Raider Classic because it was a good price(...-you can beat that) and I think I should start at the beginning anyway, but don't worry I will pick this title up too.The graphics are great and the training level was very very helpful. Like I said I haven't played any of the other games in the series but I look forward to trying those out as well. When all is said and done this is a great game and I am very happy to tell you about it.

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TR:LR is excellent! The story, the graphics, the gameplay -even the replay value -are top notch.

I was worried when I read that this TR would return to the first, in that Lara would primarily search Egyptian-like tombs and areas. I thought this meant the environments would get old, but they don't at all. The places Lara explores are all related, but there are still tons of nice surprises (like a level on a speeding train), without the zaniness of TR3 (like Area 51 and pitch-black London skyscapes). Gone are the incredibly hard, unclear objectives of TR3, as well as the stupid vehicle levels.

There are even new features to this game -you can save more than one game on a card (though it takes two spots per game), you can collect different types of ammo, combine items, and use laser-sight add-on and binocular/flashlight items.

This game definitely deserves a look. If you're a fan of the series, but it right away and you won't be disappointed. If you're new to them, rent it (or buy it, even) anyway.

Cheap Who Wants to Be A Millionaire - Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $12.89
Today's Bonus: 57% Off

Overall, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire 2012 Edition for Xbox is a pass. While the Kinect voice controls are good, and the graphics are spiffy and match the show the gameplay and audio need some serious work:

Controls:

The Kinect controls are unnecessary but work well. Saying the answers worked great for me, and confirming my Final Answer via voice was fun.

Graphics:

It's the new 2010 set rendered in full glory. Initially, the camera starts out with a pan just like the show, but then just stays fixed on your avatar the whole game.

Gameplay:

Clearly the developers haven't seen the actual show, because this plays more like the Facebook game than the actual show. The dollar values are incorrect on the questions, and the lifelines are not correct. Instead of having all three lifelines available when you start the game, you only get 2 "Jump the Question" lifelines in round one, then you get "Ask the Audience" in round two. It's such a no brainer that Millionaire allows all three lifelines from the start of the game, they must have copied this from the code for the Facebook game.

Audio:

The 'host' is bland and boring, and at this price they should have licensed Meredith to host the video game. The audio cues are all wrong, and commonly overlap creating a messy sounding game that has me reaching for the remote to turn it up and down.

Overall, as a person who loves the show, I can't recommend the game. It's clearly rushed, and no production value was put into it.

What's the point of a "Game Show" game, when I can't even play the same game I see on TV? Play the free Facebook game instead, it's more fun.

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Why is this kinect? I think everyone I know with this game asks this. The game has horrible detection it contastanly says i am not there. Also to get all the achievements you need a good 3 hours with another person. What good is that if you see player 1 answer first?

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This game is a prime example of when Kinect is poorly implemented, or at least the motion portion of the game. Tell me, what's the point of having standing in front of a TV selecting trivia answers with your hands? You know, besides it taking twice as long... Well as far as I can tell, there isn't a point.

The game also lets you select answers via voice which is really all the game needs, but even this is destroyed. I figured I'd be able to sit on the couch and select answers with my voice, but the motion controls are CONSTANTLY getting in the way. 80% of the time I sit down it tells me to stand back up so the Kinect can recognize me (and there's no way to disable the motion controls and just use voice as far as I can tell). The other 20% of the time it lets me sit down and play with voice, the motion controls think my hands are erratically moving around and the game ends up selecting random answers. Oh, and if you're sitting and someone else happens to walk into frame (just beside you, not even in front of you), the game instantly gets confused and needs you to stand back up to identify yourself again. It's ridiculously frustrating for something that should be so simple.

Oh, and since it's a Kinect game it doesn't seem to allow you to select answers with your controller either, so you're either stuck with pointless motion controls or voice controls that are absolutely crippled by the motion controls. Oh and if you're playing two player, you can forget about using voice controls as that's not supported.

The game itself is alright, even though the format doesn't seem very true to the real game. The host that's never seen is fairly lifeless and your avatar doesn't do much. I paid $20 for the game and I truly feel I overpaid by about $15. This game is crippled by a poor control scheme, and that's an insane thing to say for as something as simple as a trivia game. Microsoft created a technological wonder with the Kinect and its sad to see games like this utilizing it in such a poor manner.

Honest reviews on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire - Xbox 360

It is not like the game on facebook or TV. Only used it once. Maybe I will use try it again. Can not see my family getting into it.

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good price for game hate that its only kinect gave away to sister shipped fast was new okay for price and if you like kinect

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd(Low Price Edition) Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $37.98
Today's Bonus: 37% Off

My 14 year old daughter, who bought the game, wrote this review:

As a student studying Japanese, import games are fun and good practice. Whether you are studying Japanese or not, this is an excellent rhythm game. This game, which requires no knowledge of Japanese at all, is a lot of fun to play for casual and extreme gamers. This game features over 25 songs, each with four difficulties.

***GAMEPLAY***

The gameplay is very similar to DDR, hitting the corresponding button when a "cut-out" reaches its "container." In addition, each "container" has a timer. So, when the timer points straight up, you need to hit the corresponding button. Long notes are simply holding and releasing the button according to the "container" timer. Directional notes consist of hitting both corresponding notes at the same time. For example, a red right arrow consists of hitting the red circle and the right arrow at the same time. That's pretty much it.

As far as the Japanese goes, the menus are all in Japanese. However, a little trial and error is all that's needed to find out how everything works. However, the edit mode (the mode that allows you to make your own levels with your own mp3s) is practically impossible. So,

PROS:

+ Fun gameplay with no knowledge of Japanese necessary

+ Cute Japanese Songs (a plus for me, at least)

+ Good Graphics

+ Many difficulties

CONS:

Japanese Menus (yes, some Japanese import do have English menus)

Edit Mode (although not much is lost, it's still kinda disappointing)

Of course, almost all (I've heard of a few exceptions, but this game isn't one of them) PSP games are region free. So, you can play games from any part of the world on a US PSP system. If you need clarity on anything, leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as a notice it!

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Due to my disinterest in the Vita, I decided to get 2nd instead of the others because of the great song list (Cantarella, Clover Club, Magnet, etc) and fun gameplay. If you are unfamilar with Vocaloid, it is a group of synthesizers made from voices of real people. Most of Vocaloids personas are japanese, but fret not. The psp is not region locked, so you can get this game for your psp, no matter which country its from. The game itself is still in japanese, but is easy to navigate. It's a challenging game that puts your fingers to the test.

Only complaint is that they still should add in Gumi and Gakupo to the games. I feel they are whining too much about having to pay their respective companies. If you can get away with putting Haku and Neru in the games (which I'm glad they did!) I'm sure you can get two of our other favorites in there too.

Nonetheless, awesome game. This is a great way to get into Vocaloid. Better than the first, as its not just about Miku.

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If you like Vocaloid music orrhythm games, this is an excellent choice. You know you want it. It's worth it!

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Project Diva 2nd is a rythym based game with over 40 songs to play ranging difficulties are Easy, Standard, Hard and Extreme. When you beat each song on standard mode and Hard mode you unlock items. The gameplay is really fun Iv'e been playing it for the passed 2 months. :D It is an amazing game for those who like rythym based games and japanese music as well. The game has a lot of content ito unlock and is fun to play if you are a vocaloid fan this is a must have.

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If you're a fan of Miku, Vocaloid, or Rhythm Games in general, this game is a superb choice. All the songs are excellent and every single song has a spectrum of four difficulty levels for the beginner and expert alike. If you don't know Japanese, some of the gimmicky features of the game such as the "Diva Room" will be difficult to use, but the songs (the main attraction of the game) will still be very easy to play. The only problem I had with the game is that the final song on the hardest difficulty is unbelievably, absurdly difficult. I have played over 400 games to some extent over dozens of consoles over the last decade, and this song is probably among the top 3 most difficult challenges I've ever seen in any game! The minor frustration caused by that one song doesn't overshadow the awesomeness of the rest of the game though. I highly recommend it to anyone who owns a PSP.

Reviews of FPS Freek Prestige by KontrolFreek

Customer Ratings:

I was very skeptical when I first got these, but I quickly changed my mind for the better. I got the for the positive reviews and because they are legal at MLG events. So back to the product. When I I started playing with them I did worse but like other reviews said you just have to get used to it. After an hour I started to do better with 1V1's and so I turned my sensitivity to 10 and my accuracy and my KD started to improve on COD Black Ops.

Overall Performance:

This is not a miracle accessory. It does help a good amount but don't expect it to make you a god at FPS's. If you want to improve your game and have the money to spend the get this. if you are just a casual gamer who just plays every once in a while then keep your money because this is not something you will need. I hoped this helps your decision,

Justin.

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Works perfect, I feel more comfortable and more accurate playing Call of Duty with this on my controller. It doesn't decrease any timing away from your melee knifing. Your thumb may be further away from the controller but the attachment is ATTACHED to the analog sticks so when you melee someone it will be just as normal as if you'd take the attachment off. I am going to clear some things up. IT DOESNT ruin your original analog, it doesnt make your thumb cramp up, and you don't bump thumbs unless you actually are trying to. Best way to use these are to put it only on your aiming side of the controller [the right analog]. There is no reason to put one on the left side of the controller unless you have OCD and like everything symmetrical. I recommend this to all FPS gamers.

Best Deals for FPS Freek Prestige by KontrolFreek

I've tried these special edition Black Ops "Prestige" FPS Freeks as well as the regular version and the Halo: Reach "Legendary Edition" FPS Freeks. I would say that if you're looking for a concave (i.e., Xbox-style) grip, then go with the regular edition (either Classic White, Vipr, or Vipr Ultra) instead; the regular FPS Freek, I've found, offers a better grip because the material the rubber is made out of feels slightly more tacky/grippy, and less slippery. These Prestige Edition FPS Freeks have a harder rubber material that's more slippery to your thumb, I've found. Another reason the grip is worse is that there is a new set raised dots set in a circular ring pattern around the edge of rubber, which I presume was originally conceived as a way to improve grip, but I instead found that these extra raised dots decreased the surface area contact/grip between your thumb and the rubber (and thus, harder to keep a grip).

In short, I would go for the "Classic White" or "Vipr" varieties of the FPS Freek, as I find that they are better designed overall and offer a better grip, as well as being a few dollars cheaper to boot. I might post a review of the regular FPS Freeks and the "Legendary Edition" FPS Freeks sometime in the future. On a side note, the Legendary FPS Freeks are a convex (i.e., PlayStation-style) version of the FPS Freek, with a rounded top that's more similar to the analog sticks on the PS3 controller, if you're more accustomed to that style of grip.

Honest reviews on FPS Freek Prestige by KontrolFreek

This is my video review of the FPS Freeks by Kontrol Freek.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for FPS Freek Prestige by KontrolFreek

This is actually my first review, but after my experience with this product, I felt that I should share my thoughts.

I have read many online reviews and heard a few of my favorite YouTube commentators recommend the FPS Freek, so when I recently received an Amazon gift card, I finally decided to try them for myself. I chose the FPS Freek Prestige edition because it appeared to have more grip than the original model.

Let me start by saying right off the bat, I'm already a good COD player. I play about twice a week with a group of 1-4 of my friends. In Black Ops, I'm 11th prestige, so I've had a decent chance to get familiar with the game and each of the multiplayer levels. I mostly play CTF, playing the objective and capturing flags. When I received the FPS Freek on March 29th, I had a 1.18WL and 1.46 KD. As of today, April 11, I have a 1.22 WL and 1.49 KD.

Can I really say that my improvement these last two weeks has been 100% attributable to the FPS Freek? No, but I can say that I was stuck on 1.46 KD for about a month, and that the only thing that I've changed during this period has been the addition of the FPS Freek. Also, I just "feel" like a better player. I'm able to get on target more quickly and I'm winning more of those gun battles that I previously may have lost. It's a great feeling when you're taking damage and you're able to turn around on the enemy and get the kill.

About analog controller sensitivity-I was already on level 4. I have since moved up to 5 and will continue experimenting with higher levels.

Is an improvement of .03 for my KD worth 10-15 dollars? For me, it was plenty worth it. With over 30,000 kills, it takes A LOT to move your ratio in any direction. To be where I am after only two weeks, I am VERY pleased with my purchase. I recommend giving it a try!

*** Here's a tip. If the ~15 dollars seems a bit much to you. Split a pair with a friend. I actually only use a single FPSFreek on the right analog stick. It's really unnecessary to have one on the left analog stick since most of your aiming should be done with the right stick.

*UPDATE* June 7, 2011

Just wanted to update this review and mention that I'm still very pleased with this product. As of last night, I'm up to 1.28 WL and 1.52 KD at sensitivity 5. One of my friends was so impressed at my recent play that he actually purchased a set for himself. For the price of an expansion Map pack, I think these are a great buy.

*UPDATE* July 4, 2011

I'm up to 1.34 WL and 1.54 KD. I just passed the 41,000 kill threshold, so these small improvements while only playing once or twice a week are quite impressive. I'm still very pleased with this product!

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - PC Reviews

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I've watched the Starcraft 2 Amazon reviews come in with great sadness. Sadness because this game deserves so much more than 3 stars, but also sadness because most of the points the negative reviews make are completely legitimate.

Starcraft 2 is a great game. I got it the day it came out and haven't touched another game since. Like the original Starcraft, it's an almost perfectly balanced RTS with three unique races. The Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss each have many new units and tricks up their sleeves, and as with the original, the game takes mere hours to learn but a lifetime to master. Each and every last unit has its perfect situation where it can be used to turn the tide of a game. The production values are phenomenal all around. The sounds and voice acting are fantastic, the attention to detail is amazing, and if you've got a computer that can handle them, the visuals on max settings are absolutely gorgeous. And it doesn't just look and sound good; it plays good, too. A bunch of little technical issues from the original have been fixed: you can issue commands to multiple hotkeyed groups at light speed without some commands being lost, your own units will actually move out of the way when you're trying to construct a building, rally points are more efficient and separate ones can be set for worker units, etc. It's all the fun of the original, but it's now sleeker, sexier and handles better. It is faster paced than the original, and the multi-player automatic match-making system is Blizzard's best yet. As a bonus, it (like Starcraft and Warcraft III before it) ships with a map editor that lets you customize nearly any aspect of the game; skilled map-makers will be making new maps, missions and mini-games for years to come.

So when does a game like this get a 3-star rating? When its own creators unwittingly do almost everything in their power to sabotage it, that's when. Thanks to some miscalculations by Blizzard, there will be entire sections of the fan base that will find this game either unplayable or unappealing. Though the gripes have been listed many times on here, I'll summarize them once more and give my take on just how much they're really likely to annoy you:

1. You need an Internet connection to play, even in single-player mode. Obviously, if you have no or sporadic Internet, this will be a deal-breaker. You can technically play a single player version offline, but it comes with limited features and privileges.

2. You need to make a Battle.net account to be able to play at all. For some, the very idea of having to go online and sign up to use a product you just shelled out $ for is a slap in the face. Also, this Battle.net account will be your one and only Starcraft II account; no more starting over with a new name or record.

3. No LAN. I guess maybe Blizzard thought nobody actually LANs anymore? Clearly, the people have spoken, and Blizzard thought wrong. If your fondest Starcraft memories are of playing the game on a LAN with friends, this might be a deal-breaker for you.

4. The region lock. In Blizzard's previous games, you could freely switch between regions. Now, if you're an American and you want to play with your European friends, you need a European copy of the game. It's hard to see what good this does besides making Blizzard more money.

5. No chat rooms. The game's automatic matchmaking system is beautiful, but let's say you want to chat with other players in a chat room for a while before migrating over to a game. No longer possible. Just about the only way to make new Starcraft 2 friends and partners online is to privately message people you were randomly paired with after a game, or to privately message random players in your (or a friend's) league division (hint: if you do this, people will think you're weird). Blizzard has promised to add chat rooms in a patch, but for now, this is the issue annoying me the most.

6. Your Battle.net and RealID friends are practically invited to stalk you. I don't think I've seen a game where adding someone you're "iffy" about to your friends list could end up more detrimental. Not only are you always online while playing this game, you always show as online to everyone on your friend's list. You can choose to show as "busy," but there's no option to hide.

7. The campaign is Terran only, and a multi-player RTS plus one race's campaign might not be worth $. In Blizzard's defense, there are 29 missions, strung together to form an amazing story with cut-scenes and cinematics between each. Each mission can be completed on 4 difficulty levels, all featuring optional objectives and achievements. But for all that, an RTS veteran could blitz through the entire campaign in a matter of hours (on normal mode, at least). If you're one of the players for whom the campaign is the main draw, paying $ for a game it only takes hours to beat would be a bad deal.

8. There's no global ladder. If you play league games online competitively, you get ranked in a league, but aside from the top league (so I'm told; I'm not in it), you have no way to tell where you stand relative to everyone else in your league. You can only tell where you stand relative to the others in your 100 person division, and the divisions themselves are not ranked. I much preferred Warcraft III's system, where you could see where you stood relative to everyone.

The funny thing is, some of these new features people are griping about aren't inherently bad ideas. For instance, it's actually very cool to be able to chat and share your achievements with friends while playing the campaign...unless, of course, you just want to strategize and be left alone. Which brings me to what I think is the heart of Blizzard's mistake: they should have made a whole lot more settings OPTIONAL. You should have the OPTION to play single player online or offline, the OPTION to show as visible or invisible to your friends, the OPTION to play LAN, the OPTION to switch regions. But instead, Blizzard's "my way or the highway" approach will leave all of those who can't get past any of the above eight things out in the cold. So please, Blizzard, save your fans, yourselves, and your game a lot of trouble, and make more features optional in future patches.

I'll close by addressing what I think are the three groups of people holding off on buying the game: if you're dismayed by all the negative publicity, but none of the above problems are deal-breakers for you (and there's no reason why any of them have to be), go ahead and buy it. It really is a great game, and you'll have a lot of fun. If you absolutely can't get past one or more of the problems and know they would make the game cease to be a fun experience, then you have my sympathy and you get to keep your bucks. And finally, to those for whom the issues really aren't deal-breakers but who are refusing to buy the game on matters of principle: you have my respect, and even my admiration. But man, you're missing out on a good one.

Update (4/19/11): Since I wrote this review, chat rooms have been patched into the game, though they aren't used nearly as much as the chat rooms in Blizzard's previous games. On other positive notes, the game is frequently patched, balance issues are addressed and taken seriously, the game has very active forums where players talk strategy in detail, and Blizzard is continuing to make new maps and scenarios and integrate them into online play. On the negative side, it's becoming more and more apparent that most of the bigger complaints against the game (like the lack of LAN, online requirement, and region lock) aren't going to be patched away. Overall, I'm still playing the game pretty regularly and having fun, but there's still plenty I'm gritting my teeth about.

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One can only respect BLIZZARD for not setting a release date before they knew they could meet it. No matter that this was the most awaited game for over a decade, they would release it "whenever it would be ready". Well, it is ready, it is here and it rocks. Too bad they kicked the respect bucket in the end. But first things first.

THE GOOD OLD GAMEPLAY GETS THE CIGAR

Seasoned and new gamers alike will appreciate the simple yet highly enjoyable gameplay. The factions are well balanced and the units perfectly valued. You gather minerals and vespene gas, you build your defenses, you upgrade, you expand, you gather your forces and you unleash hell. Repeat as needed until satisfied.

STARCRAFT: THE QUICKENING

The game is much faster than the original. Resource gathering, building, researching and expanding all go faster now. This is something that will appeal to most and I for one liked it. It conveys an enjoyable sense of urgency, adding to the immersion. And because the game is richer and deeper, the tension just keeps mounting.

SWARMS!

The game designers either enjoyed STARSHIP TROOPERS one times too many or they are fond of killer bees documentaries. Either way, be prepared to have to deal with a lot of swarming enemies! The plains shall be soaked in Zerg blood leaving you with a thick metallic aftertaste of accomplishment.

SPACE. SPACE IS BEAUTIFUL

Visually this game is GORGEOUS. It looks like C&C4 was supposed to (but failed miserably). The units are detailed in design yet clearly discernible whereas the environments are superbly done (although not that variable). True, I could do with somewhat more realistic graphics but I can see that this could only be done at the expense of clarity when the number of units rises. What needs a bit getting used to is how some of the buildings do not look that different. No complaints about how they look but one can easily confuse them and build the same building twice.

COME FOR THE VESPENE GAS. STAY FOR THE STORY

The story picks up just where SC-BROODWAR left off. Following each mission nicely done videos move the single player story along (no spoilers, not to worry) that, although we are given the illusion of choosing between different paths, apparently they converge towards a predestined end.

DAMN IT JIM, WHERE IS THE REST OF THE GAME?

Why only 3 stars then? Well, in a nutshell: GREED.

Apparently ACTIVISION's influence is not very healthy to customer relations. Together with BLIZZARD they are trying to turn the StarCraft franchise into yet another World of WarCraft phenomenon and, at the same time, using STARCRAFT II as the vehicle, turn BattleNet into the new STEAM. Unfortunately this results in a barely palatable product and using your fan-base to advance your corporate ambitions is always tacky.

Although priced even more than a full premium game, this is not a complete STARCRAFT sequel. You would not know this by its price-tag(!) but this is only A...THIRD of the game, the first part of three: you can only play the Terran campaign. The Zerg and the Protoss campaigns will be released independently later (and priced as if they were full games, one could safely bet).

To add insult to injury, one has to keep spending even more money if he wants any "premium maps" and "premium content" sold only via the BattleNet. Since this is a game that will be played mostly online don't be quick to dismiss this if you have a competitive streak.

OK, LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT IT BUT THERE IS A HYDRALISK IN THE ROOM, ISN'T THERE?

Much more serious is the NeverLettingGo-OnLineActivation requirement. The game will ask for activation during installation, which also includes signing up to BattleNet (and, yes, this means that even this expensive game never becomes yours to keep). But that is not all: a periodic OnLine confirmation is also required EVERY THIRTY DAYS, FOREVER. You can play offline but no more than a month between re-activating.

Unlike the latest EA and UBISOFT flops (which have an idiotic Always-OnLine requirement), with SC2, after its initial Activation, you CAN play a single player game (campaign and skirmishes) without logging on to BattleNet. Only, to do this you have to log on as a ..."Guest" (I know, a Guest to your own game and your own computer...). You will be able to save your progress but you cannot tie it to your BattleNet account later, so any progress or accomplishments are lost for your online Account. After your 30 days are up you have to re-activate once more.

That is why a Broadband Internet connection is included in the minimum system requirements. You can decide if this bothers you.

SORRY TO BRING THIS UP BUT SPAWN SEEMS TO BE MISSING FROM MY COPY...

Remember how we could take our original STARCRAFT CD to a gathering of friends, Spawn it on everyone else's PCs and start a LAN party? Now one can play with his friends only through the BattleNet and the Spawn function has been eliminated! Yes, that means each one of your friends now has to have his own original copy of the game!

The brass at the top conveniently forgets that the ability to Spawn games was the main reason both STARCRAFT and DIABLO acquired such huge fan-bases.

Et tu, BLIZZARD?

This is a good game, one I think we will be enjoying for years or for as long as BLIZZARD shall allow us to do so. However, I had higher hopes for BLIZZARD's respect to its own customers.

RECOMMENDED.

Best Deals for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - PC

The original gameboy was released by nintendo in 1989. On the side was a little port for what was called a link cable. This cable allowed me to hook my gameboy up with my friend's gameboy without issue. Let me rephrase: In 1991 I could link two primitive gameboys together and play a game with my friend.

In the mid 1990's I experienced my first time with LAN. I played Myth: TFL by Bungie and the Marathon trilogy with my friends. It was all so simple.

In 1998, the original Starcraft was released. In what could be considered the pinnacle of LAN party potential, millions of hours have been spent in basements, playing this game the entire night through without a single connection issue.

In 2002 microsoft released the original xbox. Countless nights were spent with friends playing Halo over LAN without fail.

By now the standard had been set.

In 2010 Blizzard released Starcraft 2...No more LAN. No more dependable, secluded nights playing on the local internet with your buddies. No, now everyone has to log in and go through their security checkpoint to play someone their computer is connected to directly. B.net down? Tough luck. Internet connection issues? Oh well. It's not like the capability to do this has been available in games for around for two decades now.

Let me rephrase: 20 years after I could connect two gameboys together to play pokemon, my friends can't connect their two decked out gaming computers together to play the biggest game in e-sports.

Honest reviews on StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - PC

Blizzard's (now Activision-Blizzard) obvious success today was hardly a guarantee over a decade ago, and I believe two unshakable tenets of the company back then were responsible for taking them from small game developer to the huge juggernaut that they are now: polish and care. The polish is still there, but the care is gone.

Let me begin by addressing the good stuff in Starcraft 2 first, namely, how polished the game itself is.

Graphics, sound, and game play:

You have to hand it to Blizzard, their art direction is amazing. With such comparatively low polygon count for modern mainstream computer games, there is a world of details coupled with aesthetic color schemes that could make anyone smile. I really cannot stress the attention to detail enough, such as the Terrans laying down their barracks and seeing the beams and foundations go up in real time, the lighting effects of Protoss attack beams, or the reflective organic surface of Zerg bodies. It makes the game feel alive.

The musical score and sound effects aren't fodder to the pretty graphics either; the production values are high and one can hear all of the treble and specific timbre that goes with every explosion or laser beam that gets fired with a clarity and sharpness that's to be expected of Blizzard's products. As any of the Starcraft veterans know, the music perfectly complements each of the three distinct races very well, from the mellow alternative rock motifs of the Terrans, to the new-age majesty of the Protoss, to the sci-fi horror-themed screeches of the Zerg. You may not personally enjoy listening to the background music per se, but it's undeniable that the pieces fit with each race.

The single player campaign, from the missions I have played thus far, are engaging and wholly satisfying, with the feel of an epic trilogy along the veins of high-budget Hollywood trilogies. I have always adored Blizzard's attention to story and lore, even if the same themes (betrayal, vengeance, contrition, forgiveness, etc) are used over and over again in their other franchises, but who's to complain? They're classic, timeless, literary themes.

The game play is fast and action-paced, save for maybe the first 3-5 minutes of the game where everyone is building up. I can't say that Starcraft's brand of fast-paced, high-lethality game play is for everyone, as the learning curve to be considered moderately good is quite high. Thankfully, Bnet2.0's matching service somewhat mitigates this difference by pairing you with someone similarly skilled by considering total games played, win-loss ratio, level of opponents, etc. How well this matches players is up to debate, but so far I don't have any complaints.

Now for the bad stuff, which may sound confusing to new players of Blizzard games, but veterans will instantly recognize the problems addressed.

Omission of obvious Bnet2.0 features, RealID support requirement, lack of LAN support, and cost:

The original Starcraft, and each subsequent rendition of , has several key features that is conspicuously missing from the Bnet2.0 used in Starcraft 2, namely:

-Private channel support

-Private game features missing

-Named custom games

-Regional server options

Private channel support:

Why is there no private channel support? If Activision-Blizzard were honest with their words that they wanted a experience so good that we wouldn't want to play offline or on LAN, why leave out such an obvious feature? Private channels allow clans or friends to gather in a chatroom in to organize events, discuss strategies, or just shoot the breeze in general. The lack of private channel support is a huge offense, since this was a standard feature in the days of the original Starcraft, over a decade ago.

Private game features missing:

As it is currently, to join custom games, two players would have to have each other's game ID, and add each other to their respective friends list. Not only that, ALL friends can see and join games that are created by a user on the friend list. What if you just wanted to relax and host a random custom game with complete strangers, or host a custom game with certain friends but not others? Well, you can't easily do this, since any friend on your list can see the game you've made, and can subsequently join it if they wish.

Named custom games:

Anyone who has played Starcraft or Warcraft III on knows that custom game names are important. "2v2 LT no rush 20min" or "DOTA Cali ALL RANDOM" tell game seekers exactly what they're getting into when they join these games. This is no longer possible with the current Bnet2.0, as you are only privy to the game map name, and speed of the game.

Regional server options:

In the old if you had friends in different parts of the world (North America, South America, Asia, Europe), you can switch your server to hop over to any of those servers and play with/against them, albeit probably with much more lag, but nonetheless, the option is there. In Starcraft 2, you are locked to the region of your purchase, so there would be no way for you to change region servers. If you're in the east coast and want to play a few games at 2am and it's too late in the night to find many games on the east coast, you would not be able to hop on over to the west coast where it's only 11pm, and likely more players are still on.

RealID support requirement:

The Orwellian requirement to link one's real name and location to their PUBLIC support forum profile is ridiculous; the potential for abuse is endless, as it is for anything that reveals real, personal information. I guess one could make the argument that it is in the game's disclaimer, or just don't buy the game altogether.

Lack of LAN support:

This cannot be stressed enough, LAN is an integral part of modern multiplayer RTS games, even if the majority of players will not be using it often. Just because most people don't use Radians on calculators, does that mean we should get rid of it entirely and use only Degrees? The point is, LAN settings could range from fun, social gatherings with friends, to tournaments hosted at some internet cafe; being 100% reliant on to be up is hardly reassuring, especially considering that tournaments require the low latency that only LAN environments can provide.

Cost:

At $60, and with all of the previous issues addressed, Starcraft 2 is too much for its worth. I hate to say it, but as much as I love the game play and the level of polish, the price tag does not justify the clear omission of certain key features.

I love Blizzard's RTS franchises, but it seems that Activision-Blizzard has stopped caring about the long-time fans that catapulted them to their prominence today. I love Starcraft 2's game play and level of polish, but I cannot get past some of the egregious offenses that the game possesses.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - PC

I'm a big starcraft fan and I've been waiting for this game for what... 10 years now.

And the game is no disapointment. It's great. The problem is on how blizzard is using this great game to promote their crappy platform.

If you live in the US and has only american friends, you should be more or less fine. But if you live in a different country, be prepared to:

Play with a different language pack, often dubbed game (without the option to play with the original audio track);

Be limited to your country servers only (you won't be able to play with international friends);

Shame on you Blizzard.

Mass Effect 3 Digital Deluxe Version Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
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***|EDIT|***

i assume amazon has fixed their digital downloading process of the game but if not, i leave my original post below.

like most people, the story was quite a disappointment. it really didn't connect well altogether. that said, i'm still leaving my 5-star rating because i still found the game fun to play and right now find myself really liking multiplayer. if you're planning on purchasing ME3 in anticipation of an amazing story and sequel to ME1-2, i would say be cautious, maybe if you have a friend who already has it play around with it first. otherwise, i would say try to play the game for the battle sequences and don't focus too much on the plot.

***|END EDIT|***

Don't delete the files from Amazon if you've downloaded it already!

this is for people who have downloaded the pre-load off of Amazon's digital game and software service and have no idea what to do with the files. first of all, understand that you will NOT be able to play the game until EA's release of March 6th. this is simply to get ahead of the crowd by having everything ready to go at the stroke of midnight.

so like some others, i tried to install the game from the files downloaded by amazon and like the others, failed to get anything going with it. this is my first amazon game download so i don't know if this is supposed to happen and everything magically comes together on release date. so for those of you who would like some sort of validation that you did indeed download the right files and what have you, you can do a little sneak around.

before you can try anything with ME3 you'll have to install Origin (essentially EA's version of Steam). create a user blah blah blah...

within Origin, click the settings button and from there "Redeem product code" (redemption code provided by amazon, don't forget the redeem code for the gun as well as the game)

now if you're like me, you did this and tried to install ME3, only to find Origin trying to download the entire 10 gb again. then you tried Setup.exe in the amazon-downloaded files but kept getting errors. again, no need to delete the amazon files and try redownloading the files.

here starts my little instruction list. from here on out, you have downloaded everything from amazon, installed and set up Origin, and have redeemed your product code so that ME3 shows up in your games list in Origin.

1) if you installed Origin normally, you'll have two folders in your program files folder in C: drive names "Origin" and "Origin Games" (My Computer -> Local Disk(C:) -> Program Files (or Program Files x86 for 64-bit users) -> Origin Games)

2) within "Origin Games," create a new folder and title it "Mass Effect 3" (i think it is case-sensitive)

3) now locate the files downloaded from Amazon (most likely a folder titled "Mass Effect 3 Digital Deluxe Version (Pre-load Available)" in whatever directory you set as default for Amazon game downloads)

4) you should have 9 files in that folder, one of which is the zip folder that contains everything (~9.7 gb)

5) unzip that file into the "Mass Effect 3" folder created in step 2 (depending on your computer speed, took me ~5 minutes) (you'll need a program that can unzip files)

6) so now your "Mass Effect 3" folder should contain the "_Installer" folder, Binaries folder, BIOGame, etc (6 folders and 1 .dll file i believe)

7) run Origin and in your "My Games" folder click download/preload/install for ME3 (i can't remember what the button said exactly)

8) the status bar should turn blue and display "preparing..." or something like that

after about 5-10 minutes, when all is said and done, you have completed everything you can for ME3 (if you try to play it you'll just get a date-check prompt).

so if you're like me and have below-broadband speeds, you did not waste several hours downloading from amazon. the above process should take 20-30 minutes depending how fast your computer is. so if you thought about re-downloading the game from amazon or Origin but instead followed my steps, you've saved yourself hours and hours of anguish.

now just wait until march 6th. i pre-emptively rated the game 5-stars because i know it's going to be that good (and to share this technique)

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I adore the Mass Effect series for all of the changes to the world that happened based on my character's actions, things as grand as wether a civilization lives or dies, or if some guy gets his refund in the citadel markets. I felt like Shepard made her mark in the galaxy and earned her reputation, for better or worse. The first 99.9% of this game is the same, which why I gave this review a 3 star instead of 1. The reason it doesn't get a 5 is that all of those moments are rendered meaningless in the final minutes of gameplay. The entire plot takes a left turn, and rail-roads you into 1 of three options that change the color pallete of the final cutscene, screws-over gallactic civilization, and strands your crew on some unknown planet, never to be heard from again. There is no epilogue, no closure.

Unless something is done, I will never trust Bioware with my gaming dollars, and more importantly: my time, again. I recommend that you don't either.

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Hard to put into the words how disappointed I was with this game's ending. I feel so strongly about it that it has overtaken my ability to meaningfully comment on almost every other aspect of the game. I'll speed through it.

Per usual, the combat isn't innovative for a Shooter (although being able to roll is a nice change) and the controls have interactivity and general response issues from time to time, but lifting "main powers" (Slow-Down Time, "Blinking" across the map, Invisibility, etc) from other games in genre, and then using them as the centerpieces for the six classes, provides a lot of diversity. I've always enjoyed replaying the games of the series for that reason, but I'm not sure I can endure the disappointment of not being able to alter Shepard's or the galaxy's fate in any significant way.

Music, set design, and cinematography also come through strongly, with the game world really feeling like a galaxy going through a desperate time -until the final hurdle, where the fight scenes become stratified (can't change them unlike Mass Effect 2) and generic (just lots of bland and confusing action on the screen, think beginning of Episode III in SW Prequel Trilogy).

So now we get to the part I really want to talk about. The game's ending.

SPOILERS:

So aside from the things noted in the above observations, what's wrong with the ending?

Well, first of all, the conclusion of the series is making a split second decision to resolve a tension that was never a central theme of the series -the inability of Organics and Synthetics to coexist peacefully. Obviously this theme mattered in relations between the Quarians and the Geth, but the Quarians and the Geth were only one part of a larger story, and I was never able to make much of connection between Geth and the Reapers ... because the narrative itself stressed that the Geth and Reapers were too different for there to be much of a comparison between them. In fact, Mass Effect 2 retreated from the idea Reapers are Synthetics at all, instead positing they were a species of Cyborgs. Mass Effect 3 doesn't explicitly backtrack that, but they don't affirm it either, and we seem to return to the Mass Effect 1 idea that Reapers are Synthetics, with the added stipulation (loosely coaxed from Mass Effect 2) that they function as storehouses for organic civilizations. My basic point is that the Reaper's motivations, which have been an awkward specter throughout, are brought to the fore after being a mystery for so long so we can upset the themes that were actually developed and derive a sub-par ending from that. Reminds me of the Matrix trilogy.

Now, despite the fact Shepard is capable of demonstrating that Organics and Synthetics CAN live in peace (very successfully), the ending insists that the differences between the species are too immense, and that some kind of radical transformation is required to do what has already been done. Okay. So basically the ending choices revolve around a moral choice that the game never *really* developed up to, but the tone and setting implies that it HAS, in fact, developed up to, which has confused and sickened long time fans.

So the choice itself a a bad one. The consequences are even worse. All of the real choices of the series, from the relationships you develop to the resources and allies you gather, are completely undermined -the galactic civilization you came to know and love is destroyed despite all of your efforts to save it. That's right. After 4-5 years, hundreds of dollars, and dozens of hours of playtime, there is no way to save it. Mass Relays get destroyed in all endings (ending galactic civilization as we know and love it), and something (or multiple things) you struggled and put additional effort into to saving is lost for no real reason, be it the Geth/Synthetics, Shepard himself, galactic civilization as a whole, the structural integrity of the human spirit and its innocence, etc...

Choice #1: you can destroy the Reapers, but then you also have to obliterate the Geth and other friendly AI, who it has already been established CAN coexist with Organics and have a just claim to life. I think the development team ought to have taken a glance at this and realized it would have left a bad taste in the Paragon audience's mouth, but there you go. Choice #2: Transform into a wave of energy which propagates a mutation of all beings into Organic-Synthetic hybrids, a nod to the classical science authors who enjoyed writing about huge paradigm shifts in evolution creating dramatically new modes of existence. I will concede this choice has some appeal, but it needed to be handled differently, and in a broader context of choices, as a pricey , ambiguously Utopian solution to the galaxy's problems. Choice #3: Take control of Reapers. The Renegades get the best deal of everyone; all the power they craved is theirs at last. Still, even they probably have issues with the execution.

Shepard HAVING to die/being separated from his friends is an extremely poor way to reward fans. Shepard did die in the introduction to Mass Effect 2, but only to illustrate how unstoppable he/she truly was when he/she came back to life. That was pretty cool. This seems to be the final 'death' though, at least as a being with a personal form and identity, and that should have been reserved as a PUNISHMENT or as a PRICE. Specifically, punish people with death for not completing the multitude of optional objectives, or demand it as a PRICE (like destroying the Arch Demon to be 'true' Grey Warden and destroy the threat once and for all); as I said, choice 2 (which is what I ultimately went with) had a lot of promise as an expensive UTOPIAN solution, but there should have still been an option for Shepard to ride off into the sunset into his 'ordinary' galactic civilization if that's what the player wanted.

I really don't understand the logic of this mediocre ending, especially since they seemed to be actively bending the plot to make it happen, against more natural and rewarding endings. Until the last 15-20 minutes, Mass Effect 3 was a great conclusion in some ways, and at least a comfortable one in others.

I don't see why they were so strongly against providing us with the option for a comfortable ending, when the structure of the RPG always seemed to necessitate that such an option should exist for the players who worked for/desired it.

Honest reviews on Mass Effect 3 Digital Deluxe Version

Hey all,

So if any of you were in the same position I was in this morning, you downloaded Mass Effect 3 from amazon.com, preloading the game in anticipation of saving the Earth, shooting guns, seeing your romance to the end, etc etc. But after I downloaded it and ran the autorun.exe in the folder that mass effect 3 was in, when origin opened up I got an installation failed notice, then swore at my computer screen and specifically at origin(since it is a piece of ____ (insert curse word here)). So, I started moving around the games files, extracting them to different places, renaming files. And after one fix I tried, I got Mass Effect 3 to install! Steps for my fix are included below:

1. Go to your program files directory, find the "origin games" folder and open it. In that folder, create a new folder called "Mass Effect 3". Next, go to the folder with the files you downloaded from the amazon servers and open it up.

2. Find the .zip folder called "Mass Effect 3" and right click on it. Select "extract All" from the drop down list and extract the files in the .zip folder and extract them to the new folder called "Mass Effect 3" in your origin games folder (the filepath should look something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 3).

3. After all the files are finished extracting, run origin and log in, Mass Effect 3 should be in your games tab, ready to install!

4. ???

5. Profit!

I'd give this 5 stars but the installation is a hassle. Hope amazon customer support sees this and lets other customers know how to fix it. Hope this helps someone else who is frustrated by EA's incompetence like I was :P

Have a good day,

Mike

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Mass Effect 3 Digital Deluxe Version

The BAD:

1) Brevity: in almost 20h you finish this game, while in the previous game you got 50h and still lots fun of things to do.

2) Shepard, the Stalker: you get side quests by overhearing people talk on the Citadel. Sometimes you don't even have to listen till the end! It sucks and the quests are mainly "scan planet->send probe->get item->deliver item at Citadel".

3) Mechanics underdeveloped: the scan and reaper's alertness mechanics are a very good idea, in theory. The implementation is poor. The same goes to the gun's customization bench. It is a great idea, but the interface is poor, you can't compare things properly, you can't have a big picture of available customizations.

4) If you play the vanguard class, you'll be surprised when your Shepard uses a omni knife he/she is not supposed to have in a KEY cut scene. Makes no sense.

5) Quest's log underdeveloped: I said in "2" that the side quests were not so good, but the quest log makes it even worse. When you get a quest item the quest log doesn't say you already have the item. You have to keep track of things for yourself. It's annoying.

6) Prothean day one DLC: I got this DLC for free, but it's a HUGE part of the game. Providing background history that is very important to understand things. It's a shame people who bought the regular version didn't get this for free. There's no other name to this except "d*ck move".

7) No Steam version: to play this you have to install a program called ORIGIN. Unlike Steam, this program is really bad. If you are, for example, in Japan, the program is part in English (or the language you choose in installation) and part in JAPANESE. I understand that if you are in Japan the prices will be in yens, but text in Japanese? Makes no sense.

8) Multiplayer: they said you didn't need to play multiplayer, but the truth is, if you don't complete all those bad side quests mentioned in "2", you WILL have to play MP. I can't stand the multiplayer, so my dear boyfriends took pity on me and played some games in MP so that my end options would be a little less lame.

9) End makes no sense: everything you learned in games 1 and 2 are thrown out the window. New things, characters, and dynamics are introduced in the end cut scenes and dialogue. It's like magic, but NOT. Also, it doesn't matter what you did choose along the games, the paragon/renegade points, etc. None of this have any effect in the end. You just played 3 games full of choices for the end to be exactly the same. And this same end makes no sense.

10) Multiple ends promise is a LIE: there are 8 ends that I know of. They are exactly the same, except for some subtle changes that doesn't matter that much to the big picture.

11) Adding insult to injury, after viewing the poor developed end a message appears urging you to play more and BUY DLC.

The GOOD

1) While I didn't personally like some emotional scenes (too much cliche), there were some incredible good scenes and dialogues. I would focus in the dialogues with people who Shepard is friends with. Some moments you spend with a squad mate that you're not romancing. The friendship part was GREAT. Unfortunately I cannot say the same of love interests...

2) The armor customization is nice. You can choose more colors and patterns.

3) James Vega is a fun friend. He needed a lot more work, but is a promising supportive character. I don't think he's a good choice for the spin off anime though. Garrus would be a more natural choice I guess.

4) Liara, Garrus, and other beloved character from the pervious games are all there! Too bad those nice loyalty missions are not. So, if the character is not developed by the second game, just forget further development in 3...

NHL Slapshot Bundle - Nintendo Wii Reviews

Customer Ratings:

To be perfectly honest, when I first saw this game at Best Buy I was quite excited I've been an addict of NHL2K10 for the last year and liked the Wii's play controls, but was always annoyed with how stiff it felt. To see a game with an actual hockey stick seemed perfect.

Then I went home and read the reviews from different gaming site and everyone gave it solid marks (B-A-) but constantly mentioned that it wasn't for hardcore gamers that scoring 7+ goals was common and that things weren't realistic enough. Disappointed, I checked it off my "things I want for Christmas" list.

Then, ironically, my wife gave it to me as a present she saw how much I loved the 2K10 game so I put on tentative smile and thanked her. I was hoping, if anything, that since Slapshot was more arcade like, we could actually play it together unlike 2K10 which is a bit complex at times.

I popped the disc in later that night and started playing the PeeWee to Pro mode (where you create your own player and start off as a little dude in the outside rinks and have to move your way up through the leagues). The arcadeness came out right away checking and shooting was definitely fun just move the stick as you would instinctively but the scores were often double digits and checking sent the little guys flying across the ice. I must say my wife found it adorable to see lil baby Kane and Toews running around the ice it has a cute factor to it.

So I upped the difficulty level to "superstar" and now the game became very intense to play quite competitive and fun yet still double digit scores. It was like playing NBA Jam but for hockey.

However, then I came to see where so many reviewer went wrong. It's the core difference of actually playing a game for an extended period of time or just going for an extended "test drive".

After playing for a week, I finished the season (actually in 5th place) and my player had good enough stats to move to the next league. Now the players were a little bigger teenagers playing in outdoor rinks and things were a little tougher. Checks didn't send people flying across the ice players actually kept their balance and you couldn't just push them around. Scores were still in the 4-9 goal range, but it had a completely different, and more challenging feel.

Now I've made it through that age level, and my player recently got drafted into the CHL (Canadian Hockey League). I'm from Chicago and honestly know nothing about it but it appears to have all the real teams and stadiums. Let me tell you it's a whole new league! First, the whole concept of playing your role on the team comes into play in the peewee and teenage league, you just dominate the ice, go anywhere you want, and have the players pass it to. In the CHL it's a full 6v6 and as a RW I need to play my position. This isn't a game where you control whoever has the puck you just control your player. Try to take the puck the length of the ice and score? Forget it you'll have two guys double team you and lose the puck 9/10 times. Try to not play defense? No hope of winning your unmarked guy will put it in. Want to go check crazy? Well penalties now exist so if you get called for tripping, YOU go into the penalty box and can do nothing but scream at the TV while your goalie gets pounded during the opposing team's powerplay. It's absolutely fantastic.

Plus at the CHL there are announcers calling the game and you can set it to use a name of a pro player similar to yours. So when you get the puck, score, etc, you actually hear "your" name being called. Let me tell you I could get used to it.

Finally the scores? Tight matches with usually less than 5 goals a game. I've had countless 2-3 or 2-1 games. It's completely realistic.

All in all I honestly was in the playoff in my NHL2K10 game when my wife game me Slapshot and I haven't put 2K10 back in my Wii since. Between the graphics, gameplay (having an actual stick), realism, personalization, etc Slapshot is 50 times better than the 2K franchise. Unless you really care about contracts and trades and etc go with Slapshot the game is one of the best on the Wii to date.

PROS:

-Starts arcade style evolves to realistic sim in pro leagues

-Peewee to Pro Game Mode well developed and immersive

-Peewee mode SUPER friendly for family fun; Easy controls

-Pro level involves playing your position

-Pro level penalty means your actually have to sit in the penalty box

-Pro level includes customized player name announcing

-Hockey stick play control better than any wii-remote + nunchuck setup

CONS:

-No online multiplayer

-Hockey stick control has a learning curve for advanced levels

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NHL Slapshot is a great hockey experience on the Wii. Definitely more of an arcade experience than a simulation like the regular NHL series, Slapshot still offers a great combination of fun and skill and it gets you moving and involved with your hockey video game experience. Checking is the funnest part in the whole thing as it really feels substantial on the screen. Each hit feels huge and hits with guys that actually are big hitters, feels even better. Goal scoring is fun and you can still make some pretty great plays. The game feels great and is easy to play right off the bat (or stick as it may be...) my only complaint is that EA Sports didn't put out any additional hockey sticks to purchase on the release day of the game. but i won't bother putting a lower score for the game just because the company didn't fully understand that the game is best played with the hockey stick...

Best Deals for NHL Slapshot Bundle - Nintendo Wii

NHL Slapshot is a good game that brings hockey to your living room. I was impressed with responsiveness of the hockey stick when using wrist shots, backhands or slapshots. I even found myself lowering my shoulder to get around defenders in traffic.

It definitely translated hockey well to the Wii and have no complaints so far. I would give this a higher mark, but have yet to get too far into a season and Pee Wee to Pros mode.

If you're looking for a more realistic hockey game, this may not be for you. But control wise it's tons of fun and does make you feel like you are part of the game.

Honest reviews on NHL Slapshot Bundle - Nintendo Wii

I enjoy hockey, but I'm not a stickler for a comprehensive GM mode like in baseball games. This game is a lot of fun, is challenging on the hardest skill levels, and peewee to pro is a unique game experience. The arenas are generic except for the logos on the ice. The player faces are generic, but the names are real. Commentary is average. Main thing is this game is a lot of fun and a challenge. If you're ok without the hardcore details of a hockey simulation then this game is definitely a must have.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for NHL Slapshot Bundle - Nintendo Wii

NHL Slapshot is a great game whereby you can play pee wee, AHL, CHL & NHL. You can play mini games from a full NHL Season to playoffs. Everyone who has tried the game, however, has found that game play is best using the Wii remote & Nunchuk so I would certainly try the hockey stick as a controller before you purchase any additional sticks. This game has quickly become one of the family's favorite games on the Wii that everyone enjoys! You can play pee wee, bantam to the pros that includes slapshot games, mini games and you can play a whole NHL Season to the Playoffs. The only reason why I gave it a 4 star is that there could be improvements with the goalie control and there needs to be more variety from the announcers as the lines can become monotonous. You will certainly not be disappointed if you buy this game as it is a fun game for all ages!

Discount Replacement Power Supply Brick Adapter Cord, HD Component AV

Customer Ratings:

Now I can understand needing one or 2 of these items but all of them at this price? I think it would be better to say..

"So you just got a 5 finger discount on an Xbox 360 but didn't have time to disconnect the cables and grab the controllers?"

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AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (6.5 Feet/2.0 Meters)[Supports Review

Customer Ratings:

It is a relief to find HDMI cables that are inexpensive and deliver high quality video. I paid $40 for a 4ft cable at Circuit City a year ago, and less than half that price for the 10ft cable from Amazon.

As an electrical engineer I can tell you copper is copper. Unless Monster cable has coaxial wire for each signal line, which they don't because then the cable would be 10x larger than it is, then it's just copper wire inside a shield. There's still going to be crosstalk and capacitive coupling and all that stuff. All that "gas filled" stuff doesn't matter either. If you look at the mathematical equasions for the frequency response of an unshielded wire, you'd know none of this stuff makes any major difference.

The biggest thing to avoid, if you can, are ferrite cores on a cable. Ferrite cores are those black blob things that overmold the cable near one or both of the connectors. Ferrite cores act as high frequency filters and may cause signal degradation. They are typically used to comply with FCC laws and other regulatory bodies' radiated emissions laws. They add cost to the cable and typically degrade performance.

Regarding expensive cables, HDMI or otherwise, what no one asks is the most fundamental question Why? Let's assume Monster cable isn't lying and they can provide 300 GHz bandwidth or whatever they claim. Why do you need a cable that outperforms so much? It's like owning a car that can go 1000 MPH but the speed limit is 55MPH. In my field, that's called "over-engineering" which equates to unnecessary additional cost, which is exactly the problem Amazon has solved by sourcing this simple low cost HDMI cable.

While I'm soapboxing, gold plating isn't necessary either. Silver is the best conductor, followed by Copper, and then Gold (third best). Stainless Steel isn't far behind. The only reason gold plating is "better" is Gold does not corrode (but neither does stainless steel... they actually gold plate the stainless steel, how dumb is that?). If you are using your cables in a house where the humidity & temp is relatively constant, you should never need gold. As far as I can tell, Gold is just a gimmick to charge more for cables.

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I got an email from Amazon announcing their new line of AmazonBasics cables. They said that their goal was to make a high quality cable and sell it at a very reasonable price.

They have achieved that goal.

I ordered two of the six foot HDMI cables and on nine foot cable for about eight bucks each.

The cable came in a simple cardboard box with nothing but a twist tie aside from the cable (which is a good thing, I hate the plastic blister packs that cut your hands and unnecessary stuff in the box to go in the landfill).

The cable has a solid, quality feel to it. Nothing feels cheap or chintzy.

Connecting the cable between my TV and several compontents including my brand new Samsung Blu Ray player, the connection just worked every time.

For comparison purposes, I bought a $50 super delux, high end, will solve all the problems in your life (according to the sales guy) HDMI cable at Radio Shack. Connecting the AmazonBasics cable to the same Blu Ray player as the fancy cable I saw **NO DIFFERENCE**!

Looking into it I found out that HDMI is a standard that is run by an organization. In order for anyone to make an HDMI cable and put the HDMI logo on it (which the AmazonBasics cable does), the cable must be made to the HDMI organizations standards. So the group basically tells the companies how the cable must be made in order to be given the HDMI logo. The long and short of it is that cheap cable or expensive cable, it must work to the same standards in order to have the HDMI logo.

So, super fancy $50 cable gets thrown back across the counter to Radio Shack guy for return and AmazonBasics cable gets a new home in back of my entertainment center.

I'm now going to purchase several more of these for family and friends to have as spares since they don't know any better and will get suckered by the sales guy at best buy into buying a $50 Monster Cable HDMI cable that does nothing better than this one.

Best Deals for AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (6.5 Feet/2.0 Meters)[Supports

WHO NEEDS IT?

This cable will work well with anything that supports HDMI 1.3x but it's built to comply with the higher HDMI 1.4a standard of which it is a PARTIAL implementation (no Ethernet). If what you need is a true HDMI 1.4x cable, then the one to get is that which is described as "HDMI with Internet" which adds the data channel and support for higher video resolutions.

You may consider this product if you have TWO devices that support the HDMI 1.4 standard such as TVs, receivers or Blu-ray players. For these, the cable will carry through HD images and will allow you TV to send audio data BACK to your receiver if so connected, therefore eliminating the need for one dedicated audio cable. This specific cable will probably NOT support HDMI 1.4 Ethernet feature. You may also consider this cable if you currently need an extra HDMI 1.3 cable but you are planning to to replace your existing equipment with some HDMI 1.4-ready hardware in the near future.

Unless either of the above is true, you will not need this cable and, given that the HDMI 1.4 standards aren't set in stone yet this cable complies with the recently released HDMI 1.4a specs for 3D you should be better off waiting for the dust to settle. Keep in mind that BOTH connected devices need to support the HDMI 1.4 standard for this cable to make a difference and that it is NOT possible to upgrade any existing equipment (TV, Blu-ray player) to support HDMI 1.4.

HOW GOOD IS IT?

On my equipment, this worked as well as any older HDMI 1.3x cable. It replaced an existing 'cheap' wire at the back of my entertainment center and, nothing unexpected happened. The picture on my TV was as beautiful as before. The cable's short length (2 meters) and its 'high speed' certification make me confident that this cable will serve me well.

Briefly, this cable:

Behaves as a HDMI 1.3x 'high speed' or 'category 2' cable. If all you need is HDMI 1.3x then go for it or go for any other cheap HDMI 1.3x wire.

As a 'high speed' HDMI 1.4 cable, it supports video resolutions of at least 1080p including in 3D.

The 'data channel' (Ethernet support) is missing but it that would only work with HDMI 1.4 ready equipment so I'm not sure if it would be missed for the next couple of years.

The advertised audio return channel is another HDMI 1.4 feature that most currently owned equipment can't take advantage of.

It should support all the HDMI 1.4 extra color palettes because those are implemented by the HDMI 1.4 compliant connected equipment NOT by the cable.

WHY 3 STARS

A 3-star rating should be fair (and I am not factoring in the price) because this cable, while working perfectly as an HDMI 1.3x, is an incomplete HDMI 1.4 implementation. Incomplete HDMI 1.4 implementations are allowed by the HDMI consortium but there I see no advantage in purchasing a feature-crippled cable when full-featured alternatives are available. 'Niche' HDMI cables make sense form a vendor's point of view because a buyer may be willing to pay more for such an item but their marketing can only confuse and annoy the buyers. It should cost a vendor about the same to manufacture a 'universal' HDMI 1.4 wire as it does to make an incomplete (niche) product. In fact there may be economies of scale in producing 'universal' HDMI 1.4 cables only so marketing seems to be the only reason we get to see these intentionally crippled products.

My recommendation would be NOT to buy this cable. Get the 'High-Speed with Ethernet' if you want/need HDMI 1.4 or get an HDMI 1.3x otherwise.

END OF REVIEW

______________________________________________________

What follows is the byproduct of me attempting to clarify 'HDMI 1.4' for myself and understanding this specific product's features. I thought I'd share.

WHAT'S IN A NAME? (understanding this cable's features)

HDMI 1.4 is a new HDMI standard adopted in 2009, backward compatible with HDMI 1.3. This cable should work with your existing equipment.

HIGH SPEED indicates that this cable supports resolutions of 1080p or higher and 3D video (unlike the HDMI 1.4 STANDARD cables which, believe it or not, are limited to 720p/1080i why? nobody knows).

ETHERNET (NOT supported by this specific product) means that a cable supports a full-duplex 100 Mb/sec Ethernet connection if you have 2 HDMI 1.4 ready devices and they both need an network connection, this cable will carry through the Ethernet datastream to the second device, therefore saving you the need for one extra Ethernet cable.

Audio Return Channel (supported) would save you the need of a dedicated audio cable between 2 HDMI 1.4 compliant devices, usually a TV that might get content directly from a USB storage device or the Ethernet and an HDMI 1.4 compliant receiver.

HDMI 1.4a brought HDMI in line with the recently agreed upon 3D TV industry standards but, consistent with HDMI's consortium's encouraging vendors to avoid talking about the actual version their HDMI cables are implementing, we simply don't know whether this one is HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 1.4a. Since '3D' is mentioned it's probably safe to assume HDMI 1.4a.

THE HDMI 1.4x DIFFERENCE

HDMI 1.4 allows for the following new features:

Ethernet Channel allows for the 2 connected devices to communicate with each other and share one network connection.

Audio Return Channel eliminates the need of a second cable if you want to send audio from your TV back to your receiver.

3D It's supported by HDMI 1.3x but HDMI 1.4a specifically supports all the currently agreed-upon industry standards

4K resolution good to have it but there is nothing on today's market that would take advantage of this

Expanded support for new color spaces by supporting sYCC601, AdobeRGB, and AdobeYCC601 it better aligns your display with the color spaces supported by digital cameras.

Type D connector the 'Micro' connector is to be used by small, portable devices with supported resolutions of up to 1080p. Be aware that there are now THREE different HDMI connectors: standard, mini and micro.

The HDMI Consortium defines 4 broad types of HDMI 1.4 cables:

* Standard HDMI Cable

* High Speed HDMI Cable

* Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet

* High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet

Of all of the above, only the a 'High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet' makes sense.

Standard cables are limited to lower-resolution displays up to (approx. 720p or 1080i). High Speed cables support higher-resolution display (e.g. 1080p). They can deliver all video content currently defined for the HDMI standard (i.e. more than two 1080p/60 video streams, including 3D). HDMI cables with Ethernet are capable of sending 100/mbps over the HDMI Ethernet Channel. Since it is not likely that many HDMI 1.4 'standard' cables will be made or sold, I suspect that the crippled 'standard' type exists only to allow for calling the cables that support 1080p 'high speed' which sounds good and high-end.

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>> Brush your teeth, it's the law!