Will

Looking quite good so far, I think both 2009 and 2010 games will be day one purchases for me. Reading through the article it looks like both could be fantastic games.

Very nice, what spec did you get?

My reading of it I think the HD version will be a 2010 season. Really stupid idea not to get an HD 2009 version while the season is still running though. I would have though it will be a new game every year rather than D/L content, depends on sales/game structure but I'd have thought they will go for full games to maximise profits - they'll need a lot to pay for the license.

I think that format strategy may be the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen.

Yeah there's definitely a good few talented drivers sitting doing nothing at the moment. If they can get competitive drives then that would be great. Here's hoping they get it right.

I don't think student overdrafts are too bad, even if you're fully into them they're not massive once you start working. I think my total available overdrafts are about £3,000 currently. Don't use any of it but it's nice to have a buffer in case things need to be paid unexpectedly. Like anything debt related, as long as you use them correctly/sensibly they're no bad thing.

All these new teams is obviously a good thing but I do worry that we'll end up with some utter shit in there making it a mess for everyone else. Lola, despite all of their success in other series have been utter shit whenever involved in F1. Hopefully they can get a decent mix of new teams while maintaining some level of quality.

The trouble is not all ATM's/Shops etc. marry up in real time and so can allow things like this to happen. It's a real pain and they're cocks for charging like this but there is a reason for unauthorised overdrafts to occur. Obviously this is a bit harder for you being the other side of the world but every time I've had this happen I've phoned them up told them I don't want to pay it and I'm very disappointed with them and they're removed the charges, may depend on how much they value you as a customer of course. A real pain in the arse when things like this happen.

I'm now also pretty much definite for this, still need to 100% confirm but all should be good. Anyone planning on doing anything in particular in the evening?

Today I have purchased: 3,332 shares in RBS and a Buffalo LS-CH1.0TL LinkStation Live

Just wondering if anyone had any experience with these things? I've been looking at the following : WD MyBook but I'm not really 100% sure if it meets my needs or there is better out there. Basically what I want it to do is: Store all my music and video files. Allow me to access video/music from my PS3/360/Mac/PC. Backup my macs using time machine. Allow me to access the files held on it remotely. I think that one will do most of those but are there better options out there?

Just received my MacBook Air. Not had much of a play but seems very nice indeed.

It's all down to the user base of the machines, PS3/360 lean far more towards the hardcore gamer who see gaming as a main hobby. While the Wii is far more casual/older/family user who see it as a little extra fun as and when it takes their fancy. Where stats like this have an effect is that publishers tailor games to the main audience of a console, and it's exactly why you see so many mini/party games on the Wii - it's what the vast majority of Wii owners want.

I also grew up near Birmingham, Stourbridge to be exact. Went to school locally and had evening/weekend job in Electronics Boutique. One of my best mates worked there too but we had to leave for posting messages on a forum about how crap our manager was. Shame really as it was good fun, I often think I'd quite like to go back there. Next I moved down to Bournemouth for uni where I studied Business Studies. Really great fun being there for uni, beaches in the summer, lots of bars nice girls etc. Course was a bit of a piss take but you can't have it all. Mid way through I went home for a year to work as an Analyst at Panasonic, great job that no doubt set me up for what I'm doing now. Back to uni and I set up http://www.theigdb.com, which went very well. Only just missed out on a venture capital investment which was a shame. Good fun trying to get it though, lots of Dragons Den style presentations and meetings with some very rich people. Still work on it a little when I get the chance. Missing out on that meant it was time to get a real job which is when I moved down to London to be an Analyst at SEGA. Been here 1 and a half years now and loving every second of it, great company and a great job. Most recent goal was to buy a new car which I've managed, I'm currently playing the stock market with a bit of spare cash and doing quite well. If I can keep going at the rate I have been I should have a decent amount of cash soon.

I was very lucky that I got a great placement year mid-way through my uni course as a Business Analyst something it turned out I was very good at. Before then I wouldn't even have known such a job existed. I was then even luckier that I landed a job at a great company in the right industry a few months after I left uni. Now I do something I'm good at for something I care about it makes other things fall into place quite nicely and it almost doesn't feel like work. I think the best advice is to send out a few speculative applications to companies who do things you would care about doing, then work out what position you really want later on. There's nothing wrong with job hopping for a few years to get a good idea of where you want to be.

It doesn't really work like that, it's not as simple as publishers sell to retail who sell to consumers. There's lots of deals in place that complicate matters. I'm sure I could write pages and pages on this issue but I'll simplify matters. If you're buying new titles then regardless of price your supporting everyone involved in bringing that game to market. So long as you continue to do so there's every chance that those you're supporting will continue to operate.

Really stupid of them, I don't know why you would even bother when there is going to be so much evidence as to what actually happened. The guy at Toyota didn't shed any extra light on the situation to my friend but obviously was very happy as they now have 3rd and 4th positions for the race.

The guy who sits opposite me is on the phone to someone at Toyota right now - will ask him what they say when he's done. I would try and listen in but they're German.

Yeah your right on that being an April fools, the others I read were Hamilton going to Brawn GP for the rest of the season and Schumacher standing in for Massa after he broke his leg. The Hamilton one particularly good with joing quotes from Ron and Anthony Hamilton about them raising the child to be formula 1 champion over and over again. My prediction for the race, which I'm assuming will be wet based on current forecasts: 1. Barichello 2. Vettel 3. Button

A really shit thing to happen but at least you don't like out in the wilds with little hope of getting anything else. You'll probably have something else by the end of the week. It's a good chance to move up the ladder/into something even better.

I haven't actually done a proper check of them for ages now, based on the quoted Madworld figures here, and I presume they are the ones quoting 1 million for Call of Duty I'd say they are still miles away from being anywhere near usable. I still haven't opened my copy which is why I haven't posted in the thread yet, don't want to risk any spoilers.

I think people are giving VG Chartz far too much credit, they're terribly inaccurate.

Have you got an actual example of that happening? I very much doubt it would. Edit: That's to ShadowV7.

My god what a great race, I really think these new rules are going to make for an exciting season all the way to the end. Downforce+Slicks+KERS is definitely helping with overtaking and with the bigger gap between tyres cars are genuinely disadvantaged at certain points in the race leading to never quite knowing the real positions of cars. Fair play to Button he drove fantastically and deserved the win. I think over the course of the season, if the Brawns can keep their advantage, that Barichello will take the title. I think he can take the lucky points when he needs to yet also win when the opportunity arises. Button on the other hand I don't see getting big points when races don't quite go his way. Vettel and Kubica drove well too, not too sure why Vettel is apologising for the crash, clear racing incident and now he's gotten himself a 10 place drop in Malaysia when he could quite possibly have been up racing for the win again. Kubica I think could have caused Button some problems had he got past into 2nd cleanly, he'll be pretty pissed off with the outcome I should imagine. Can't wait for next Sunday!!

I would hope Barichello is going for a longer first stint than Button, ultimately I still think he's faster and more likely to win the race. I'd forgotten how much of a pillock Button is, why do we have such a problem with making likable F1 drivers? Now Branson is involved I could quickly grow to hate Brawn, 2 minutes on TV and already he grated on me. Still a great qualifying session, shame the Toyota's have been sent to the back but so good to see different faces at the front.