|Laguna|

I haven't posted on these forums for a year or so, but anyway, today was a fantastic day for so many reasons, some more fantastic than others. So here they are: - My teacher said my Personal Statement for my uni application was "fantastic" and I got predicted grades of AAA - I got a Politics exam back and got full marks. - One of my best friends who has been ill for a while is better and in school again. - I thought my computer was horribly broken but it turns out it isn't. - I got Portal. - I deposited the money I need to book my Gap Year into my bank. But probably the best thing EVER. By pure coincidence I ended up sitting with a group of girls who I don't normally to sit with. However, we got talking and I was feeling good, conversely freely, having a good talk which ended in me being invited and urged to to go on holiday with them next Summer! Now this would be good just on the fact that it'll mean going on holiday with friends. However, what it makes it so so so much better and way more exciting is the fact that it'll be going to Japan and that the group of people consists of: +a girl who is a really good friend of mine, +a girl I am have been in love with (or as close to love as I felt in my life so far) for a long time and who I thought I had missed my shot with, +a girl who is the nicest person I know and who I wish knew better, +and a girl who is so clever and is just amazing to talk to and who shares similar interests as me and in my eyes is the hottest girl in my year.

My point precisely. Now, if a PS3 had been bought maybe this extra 200 and something pounds would have been saved.

The same could be said about PS3 deals though. The prices are consistently dropping. You can buy one today for £360. Or £370 for the PS3, Click, HDMI cable. Oh, and on the issue of price, judging from recent examples, over a 5 year period (which is generally considered to be a consoles lifespan) your 360 is more likely to fail than it isn't meaning another purchase of the console for most people, so in the 'long run' that would be an extra extra big expense.

I'm in a similar position and one factor which I've found is that overall a PS3 is cheaper than a 360 in the long run. My Sums: PS3 (400) + Headset (12) + Component cable (10) = 422 (Free=online, built in wireless, 60gb, blu-ray player) 360 (250) + Wireless adapter (55) + Online (140=35x4) = 445 (Free=20gb, headset, Component Cable) As you can see for around the same price the PS3 boasts 40gbs more and a Blu-ray player.

Sony have started a new PSP ad campaign, dubbed "Dude, get your own". While the name sounds bad, the advertisements are actually probably the best Sony ads in a long long time, although that's not really saying anything after the mess that was "This is living". View them here, I laughed at a few of them. Reminds me of a kinda The Office style humour.

But I have a DVI port, so it's all aces right? EDIT: Wait what? So is the only difference between HDMI and DVI the quality of sound?

I was debating about putting this in the tech thread, but I thought I'd put it here, as PS3 owners might have had the same problem I do, and rom what I've read, it seems you guys in here know a lot about the tech side. OK, I need help as I'm in a bit of a muddle about the whole HDMI stuff, and I just want some clarity before I order a PS3 as I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I'd really appreciate some help OK, first of all to clarify, HDMI is the best right? I'm lead to believe it looks a shade nicer than DVI, and Component However, the problem is that I have a HDTV that doesn't have a HDMI plug. Now if I was to buy a PS3 with a HDMI cable, and use a lil DVI to HDMI adapter thing like this: Would that be the right thing to do? Would the image still be better than a one through a standard component cable? Thanks!

"she dated Charlton striker MARCUS BENT, 25 — who later two-timed her." Indeed. She says "I says she can't stop seeing him because he's so good-looking" He doesn't seem that good-looking to me.

Yaysus. I read in the paper that Danielle Lloyd is dating around Armand Traoré!!! Only N-E Gooners will probably know who he is, but to those uninformed, he is a fringe Arsenal player who got a run in the Carling Cup this year, and more importantly, he's just seventeen!!! That's my age, and he's getting a piece of Danielle Lloyd. God Damn.

One of their songs was the song of the week about a month ago on iTunes. I downloaded it, thought it was fairly average.

I accidentally stumbled across the first episode of the Diamond and Pearl pokemon anime in Japanese with subs and I quite liked it. The new character is cool, and the way it focuses on her beginning her adventure reminds me of when I watched it for the first time ages ago and Ash was beginning his. Then I went a searching for the second episode and found it in the American dubbed form and it was horrible to watch. I never thought I'd be one of those guys to moan and whine about dubbing and who wishes for the subbed version, but that's what I am now. I really find it is like ten times better with Japanese voices and subs.

I saw it on Saturday. Really really enjoyed it. Sure it was cheesy as hell in some parts, but it made me grin nonetheless, the dancing in the street bit was pure lolity. I thought it was funny how he went all emo hairstyle with the black spiderman power. I found the ending with Sandman dude a bit stupid as well, I mean there and then it seems all nice and warm and fuzzy way to end it, but thinking about it, I mean the guy is still a wanted criminal and he still hasn't got the money for his daughter's operation. I couldn't believe though in the cinema I was sitting behind a little girl of around 6 years old, that whole 12A system is ridiculous, it's basically means PG now.

So if I bought a PSP with a 1gb would I be able to play Final Fantasy VII on it legitimately? Or has that plan still not come to fruition?

Harold & Kumar Go To Whitecastle Pretty simple film, but very very funny, pure comedy in that it didn't try to be too clever with itself. Laughed out loud quite a fair bit too, can't wait for the sequel. 9/10

Which magazine was this from? I was extremely irked upon my reading of this month's GamesTM cover story on a profile of Square-Enix to find that it was exactly the as this article, bar a different alignment of text boxes and a modifying of the screenshot captions. Grrrrrrr - extremely annoyed as I bought GamesTM this month for this feature, only to find it was a cheap copy and paste job of an article I'd read weeks prior.

I used to play this on the Mastersystem, it was indeed awesome, though it wouldn't have thought it would be remade for the PC. It seemed like a classic console game - has there been any rumouring of the original on Xbox Live Arcade?

You make it seem in your post that you’re sneering your nose up at the idea of just one console – and yes, while I can see the whole “there’s no competition so the standards don’t need to be kept high as that console is the only option” – but if say game standards remained, and lets imagine that one was to amalgamate the PS3 and the 360 (for-ged-about the Wii, as that is an entirely different console, ethos and games wise), why do you treat the idea of one super console with distain? Just think of the N64 and the Sony saga . It could have transpired that the N64 would've basically been the Playstation as well with its incorporation of the CD device, making surely a perfect console of the times. A system which had the best Nintendo first party games, but also appealed to lots of devs with the cheap CD system to develop third party games for it - of course things could have gone down another route via the games made and such, but just pause and think, wouldn't that have been the ultimate? An N64 and a Playstation in one with games on the one system? When I buy a 360 so to play Gears, Halo etc, and then FFXIII is released a year or two later, exclusive to the PS3 next gen, I will very begrudgingly buy a PS3 to play the game. Why wouldn't anyone be against 1 console in which you could play both your Halos AND you could play your Final Fantasys/Metal Gears? I betcha loads and loads of 360 owners lit up a celebratory cigar when it was revealed that GTA IV was going multi-platform - how can it viewed that this is bad thing? The way I see it, people seem to relish it when "they" steal another console's exclusive, like DMC4, but when one of "their" games, like Eternal Sonata (back on topic ;P) goes over to their competitor, they bitch and whine about it.

Who gives two figs about console image? Do you really care that deeply that you would rather sacrifice such games as Final Fantasy XIII or Metal Gear coming to an 360, because of the console's image or vice versa. I really think people get too involved with this whole industry thing, developing an attachment to the company itself, and disliking other companys just because they are competitors to the company they like. This is evident through the big Sony hatred that pours out of the Internet, or the ridiculous notion that people were going to boycott Capcom because they released DMC4 on 360 - God, does that really matter that much to people? Can't they just get on and enjoy the game themselves instead of looking over their shoulder and complaining that other gamers are playing their game? Does console individuality matter though? What I'm getting at that at the end, when you put the disc and start playing the game, does it matter what system it is being played on - so what if it is or isn't a third party exlcusive. I see the angle from which it is nice to have a game for your console as it feels like your privileged and such to have that console, but when you start playing the game all that other stuff goes out the window. If I had played Wind Waker on an Xbox, sure it would have been weird buying a Zelda game in an Xbox game case, and putting it into the Xbox and such. But I'd know as soon as I would start playing the game, it would've still made me rub my belly in delight. Can people seriously argue that a game of the same quality and content on another system would cause them to have a lesser experience? I think it's just a mind set people have about exclusives, that dominates in the hype and such during the build up to the game's release. It's a way of them making themselves feel good about themselves and that console they own. I think the future of the exclusive should be the timed exclusive, a much fairer way on both the console maker, the console owners who like their exclusives, and the game developers. Don't you think?

So much missed potential... He so should of plopped it into a baguette, squirted some mustard, and started monching on it in front of everyone.

But isn't that what you would want? Little difference between the PS3 and the 360? And what you say about the person wanting one console, yes I suppose exclusives are special for those with one console, but I'd bet my bottom dollar they'd swap "their" exclusives, for the exclusives available on the other console. I think, although unrealistic, the ultimate want for gamers is a behemoth of a machine that could be something like a PS360 which would incorporate Sony games, hardware reliability, blue-ray and also include Microsofts games, online service, etc What you say about Nintendo is true, which is why they were so clever in a way with the Wii because come next year, the ports will have died out and every Wii game will be an exclusive game due to the radical difference between the Wii and the competition. As we've seen the whole Wii60 thing, the Wii is the second console, and if I buy a 360, I sure as hell would like to see Final Fantasy XIII/Metal Gear Solid 4 on it as that way I wouldn't have to buy a PS3. Don't people feel the same?

Though surely you like consoles because of the games on them. Right? So surely it's better for you as the consumer to get one console and get to play the majority of games that are out on that system. Why would you want exclusives that force you to buy another console just for the sake of a couple of games that otherwise could potentially be ported over to another system? I think I'd much rather keep £425/£280 and spend that money on games that have lost their exclusivity and have come over to the system. Wouldn't you? The majority that disagree I find are the fanboys who's main weapon is the exclusive in the "na na na na, my consoles better than yours" as seen by the pathetic petition that went up regarding DMC4 exclusivity.

Why? What difference does it make to you if the PS3 has Eternal Sonata on it? You're still going to get to play the game - and playing games is what it's all about right?

Indeed. Wasn't this touted as something akin to the next Blue Dragon for Micrsoft in Japan e.g. something that sells systems. I bet Microsoft will be irked, but exclusives are annoying ideas anyway - the less of them we have is better news for gamers, I'm glad it's gone to PS3.

You have basically the exact same plans as me, except I am going to do Japanese at university - yes you can study Japanese at uni without any prior knowledge of the language (that's what I'm a gonna do), although doing something like spending a year in the country does boost your application a lot I'm told (that's what I'm a gonna do). You also need a reasonable degree of proficiency in learning a language, ideally a good grade in an A-Level language, but a B or above at GCSE will do. Any worse and it's said to raise eyebrows and their confidence in you to learn a new language can waver as a result.

Eat lots of chewing gum, that's a nice laxative. Or... maybe a more radical method, but worth a thought nonetheless. Try and hold the poo in, thus perhaps doing the ole reverse psychology on your body, and then the poo will want to come screaming out of you.