McPhee

It's The Bard, even the 360 controller isn't good enough for Street Fighter in his eyes (and tbh i'd have to agree, the arcade stick is far better) Multiplayer? Anyhow, all Wii games have to work with the Wiimote.

They're also hell to type on, everything is really squashed up and the keys feel like they're from a laptop. I wish i had something constructive to add tbh, but i don't really know of any good wireless keyboards. All the ones i hear good things about are wired (bar the expensive ones like the DiNovo Edge).

I'm on TF2 every night so if you feel like a game (read: beating) then join me Oh and as for RTS, apparently Company of Heroes is brilliant. I bought it a few weeks back (CoH + Expansion + one other game for £25 in GAME) but not got around to installing it yet. Been playing Team Fortress too much!

Nah, the GHIII guitar just sucks. I think it's the detatchable neck

You could buy someone's old iPhone, unlock it and use it on any network. They won't come with the old contract anyways if thats what you mean.

Argument over. Bard - Try being a bit more polite please. Dazzy - Stop flame bating. Think before you post, if it's gonna cause an argument then don't post it. Hellfire - Don't wind people up. You weren't engaging in the argument, but sniping from the sidelines is just as bad. Carry on and it's infractions all round. Same goes for everyone else, discussion is fine, shit slinging isn't. Oh, and next time start a new topic. It'll save me 10-15 minutes of cleaning up time

I think pretty much everyone knew there'd be a new one by September at the latest, what possessed you to buy one? Anyway, your in luck: http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/existingiphonecustomers You can swap to the new one in July, pay a bit for it and then sell your existing iPhone.

Funnily enough the opposite is more likely. These old TVs have contrast ratios in the tens of thousands and produce far better pictures than LCDs. LCD TVs are only popular because they are small and a cheap route in to high definition TV, the techonology itself is crap.

The new battery is one hell of an improvement, the rest is a bit daft though

I'm not going, was but then i decided i couldn't afford it (or i could spend the money on better things)

Ooh the N96 eh? I think i just found my upgrade, im due one in October!

Why not just cancel the Amazon order, find a place that has stock and then re-order with next day delivery? Most sites will do next day and most should dispatch it the same day they get the order (assuming it's in stock) so you won't have a problem finding somewhere to buy from

That website is run by Panasonic and Pioneer :p Plasma TVs have a higher contrast ratio, deeper blacks and crisper whites. Motion blur isn't a problem and generally colours tend to be richer. LCD produces a sharper image, even when comparing 720p vs 720p. You can get a 1080p LCD for the price of a Plasma so there really is quite a huge difference in the sharpness of the picture. LCDs also consume less power and aren't prone to burn in. Buy a decent LCD with 100Hz processing and the only real downside is black level. It's a difficult one, if 1080p LCDs hadn't dropped in price so much then it'd be a no-brainer (in favour of Plasma). That resolution difference does make things more interesting...

If it's half decent then i'll buy it, the Pacific war is quite interesting.

Made worse by the game costing £40, the (better) PC version can be had for £8!

What are you gonna be using the set for? Think of the decision between Plasma and LCD as being on a sliding scale; if it's for HD gaming, PC work and Blu-Ray then get an LCD. If it's for Sky, Freeview, DVDs, Wii etc. then Plasma is better. You just need to decide which end your uses are more geared towards. The best Plasma for that money is this: http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0006032036.1213039939@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadeefmiighdcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=122057&category_oid=-28723 Panasonic are giving away a free 5 year warranty on their TVs at the moment, but you have to buy in store. It's just a case of finding a participating retailer near you that sells this set for a decent price. The 42" version isn't much more either!

Why not just strip and airsoft gun and mount the Wiimote in the barrel?

From this site i've met Oli, Platty, Cube and Wildo (GHIII meet) Also i camped with some people from efestivals.co.uk at Leeds in 2006 because my mates bailed and sold their tickets. Turned out to be a great weekend!

You'd have to have a Venezualan citizen buying the petrol and shipping it out though. And then there's the chance that their government is wise to that sort of idea and charges a hefty export duty (i've no idea if they do or not, but it would seem sensible).

Very good choice in the Antec one, i just figured i'd post an alternative. Anyhow, hope the build goes well Should be a good rig!

Thumbs up on the PSU, i have the 520W one How about this case? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=318079 It's pretty similar to the mATX one. You'd be struggling to get SLi or Crossfire on an mATX motherboard, which is a shame really because that's the only feature you'd have to drop. Alternatively, have a gander here to see if there's an ATX version of that case: http://www.silverstonetek.com/

Linux is definitely better in that respect, but that is pretty much to be expected. Linux isn't as heavy or as complex as Windows, it doesn't need to be. I still fail to see the logic in saving RAM for when it's needed when it could be put to use instead. If the OS is constantly scaling itself depending on how much RAM is needed by other applications then you can use up most of the RAM without ever encountering a bottle-neck. EDIT: Sorry for hijacking the topic! Anyhow, cases.... The reasons for getting a good case are simple: 1. A good case can make building the computer a lot easier. Tool-less drive bays, removable motherboard trays and other nifty features make your life a lot easier. 2. The case is there to house your components. Obviously keeping hot things in a box is a very, very stupid idea, so you need a case with good airflow to keep your components cool 3. Noise. Some cases will help cut down on the noise your computer makes. This is usually by using big, slow running fans and rubber feet on the underside of the case. Particularly quiet cases also tend to have sound damping foam glued to the interior walls and rubber grommets in the hard drive bays (to dampen the hard drive noise. 4. They look good. I have this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118268 If you like gaming cases then it's great. Personally i wouldn't buy it again, it's nice and all but i hate the fact that the lights can't be switched off and i've gone off the idea of having a side window (it just shows off the messy cables inside). Antec also do the P180/P182, both part of the same series and they are brilliant cases (if a little expensive). Sturdily built, near silent with good airflow (very important, good airflow = cool components). http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=604059 Other than that there's NZXT and Thermaltake if you like stuff that looks a bit fancy, Silverstone if you want something well designed and wel built and Coolermaster for something in between. NZXT: http://www.ebuyer.com/search/?strSearch=&bolShowAll=true&intStoreID=2&intCatID=23&intMfrID=847&bolShowAll=true Thermaltake: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.asp?CatID=7&Category=Cases&ThumbNails=Yes&FilterKeywords=&FilterMinPrice=&FilterMaxPrice=&FilterManufacturers=104&OrderBy=1 Silverstone: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.asp?CatID=7&Category=Cases&ThumbNails=Yes&FilterKeywords=&FilterMinPrice=&FilterMaxPrice=&FilterManufacturers=242&OrderBy=1 Coolermater: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.asp?CatID=7&Category=Cases&ThumbNails=Yes&FilterKeywords=&FilterMinPrice=&FilterMaxPrice=&FilterManufacturers=105&OrderBy=1 If it was my money i'd buy a Silverstone. Expensive, but the build quality is superb! Power supplies, buy from a well known brand and don't skimp on them. 600W for £30 might sound like a good idea, but if your PSU goes BOOM! then it usually kills everything else in your computer. Overspending is usually a good idea, simply for the peace of mind! Look at Antec, Corsair, Seasonic and OCZ And one last niggle, if you are going to be doing lots of graphics work then you probably want a monitor with an S-IPS panel, they produce far more accurate colours. Most monitors are TN panels, if not then they will say so in the discription (they usually shout about it because it's a big and expensive feature to have). GCTonyHawk7 can probably give you more help on the monitors front than me though, his set-up is pretty awesome!

Halo 3 - £12.99 http://www.powerplaydirect.com/asp/itemdetails.asp?prodID=1293962&currsec=ga&refID=webgains&siteid=13961 Mass Effect - £16.99 (prob better to buy from powerplay, see the next item for why) http://www.thegamecollection.net/mass-effect-xbox360-p-2074.html http://www.powerplaydirect.com/asp/itemdetails.asp?prodID=1441437&currsec=GA&refID=webgains&siteid=1065 Bioshock - £16.99 (can be had cheaper for thegamecollection.net, but sometimes they don't send sealed games) http://www.thehut.com/hut/8630713.product Bioshock Collectors Edition - £24.99 http://www.game.co.uk/PC/Action/FirstPersonShooter/~r331544/Bioshock-Collectors-Edition/ Lost Odyssey - £18.99 http://www.powerplaydirect.com/asp/itemdetails.asp?prodID=1293968&refID=webgains&siteid=20363 Hows that for you? Not huge savings, but all are new copys

I was talking about the cost of producing petrol with the Venezuela example, it costs 10-15p a litre maximum to manufacture and ship to this country. The point i was making is that the government aren't the only ones making a lot of money off petrol, so blaming them for the high prices is a tad unfair. And the loyalty card will work. For a start each forecourt company is a seperately run business with it's own sales targets to meet. If the guys organising this were to talk to the UK sales director at Esso (as an example) he ain't gonna go "nah, we can just sell it to China instead" because that would not be beneficial to him. He would instead look at the proposal, decide if it's profitable for HIS forecourts, work out whether or not it can be implemented and then decide to take or turn down the offer (so far they've been told no because there aren't enough people in the scheme to make it worth the bother). The second part of that being simple: they can't "just sell it to China". China isn't short on petrol. Supply and demand, you increase supply with the same demand and the price drops. The petrol companies can still supply enough to cover all demand, there's just more of it.

Yay! It's not a joke after all!