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looks like FragFest has come a long way from that auction house in Massilon. I'll be there next year.

remember you guys well. good luck, come on back once in awhile when you're done with basic and AT.

ah, i see.

I've been pretty slack on those "thoughtful things" but after work yesterday I stopped and picked up some roses for no reason at all. Put them in a vase and left them for her to find with a short little note. She liked it.

sry, didn't mean to be insensitive. yeah, 167 gigs would take a lot longer to fill than my 80 gigs. you get a lot of it off suprnova? never really understood anime myself, but I got a friend who's got quite a collection, same as yourself. If most of the downloaded stuff was "preview before you buy" I took that to mean that most of what you've downloaded, you now have on DVD. btw, any luck with fixing the problem?

well, didn't cost me any money. And you don't need cheat codes, just download some pluggins that add some "stuff" to the game... that is, if you have the PC version.

they're looking for coders/mappers/etc. looks like it'll be a full mod. looks like it's a long way from complete, but so far it's looking professional, or at least like a team that will finish what they started.

I've never understood all this talk about CAS latency CPC timing voltage crap. I did understand that part about buying the cheapest or best RAM though. I'm going with the cheapest, and I'm not going to notice a difference.

so.... 2 sticks of Corsair Value Select? $171 (OEM) Or Kingston ValueRAM: $175 (retail) The thing with the processor, that's a 2800+ with 1MB of L2 cache and the better Clawhammer core. 2800's aren't supposed to come with that core or that L2. So it seems to me like it's a great deal. I suppose I could be wrong. Boards...I looked at the reviews for all the <$100 boards, and I think I'll take a chance with a refurb, might change my mind though. I remember reading reviews on a refurb ASUS nForce2 refurb from Newegg, there were 80+ reviews, everyone loved it. Guess I'm just trusting.

too many numbers...hurting my eyes...ow... what's all that mean, Homer?

Homer, you really think it's time for upgrade already!?! You just bought that 9800 Pro (as did I) a few months ago. How long did your previous card last you?

oooh, speakeasy, I looked into that awhile back. you like it? but my 3mb was from HOME.

what connection is that though? browsing from Nitemare's computer here, on a cable line connected to my house, I've gotten 3 MB/sec downloads off Fileplanet. according to http://www.2wire.com my current speed is 272000 Kbps.

if it's downloadable, it's not important. format the drive and get on with your life . I love that clean slate feeling. Kind of like the whole internet opens up to you and you get that "what should I download now?" feeling. good luck with it.

hmmm, good eye on the motherboard RAM support... guess I'll have to find another motherboard, or get slower RAM.

still trying to find the best "bang for the buck" on Newegg here. Don't even think about giving me another site to go to, cuz I'm overwhelmed with one right now. I found a different case, no real bells or whistles to speak of, but it's only $16 and it's got plenty of room. Reviews on it are good too. RAIDMAX Beige 10-bay Case, Model "ATX-208" -RETAIL That power supply seems to be a good choice ( this one > Thermaltake Silent PurePower, 420W ATX power supply ) But I was wondering what people's thoughts are on this particular supply I found in the Refurb section: REFURBISHED: GOLD TRUE 500W ALUMINUM POWER SUPPLY Think it'll be any good?? Also, I wanted to run this by everyone. It's also a refurb, it's the A64 2800+, but instead of the normal "Newcastle" core, it's got the "Clawhammer" core from the higher end A64s. It also claims a full 1MB of L2 cache, which I thought was only found on the A64 3200+ and above. Mobile AMD Athlon 64 2800+, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor 62W - OEM It's a mobile processor...I assume that won't matter? To go with that I've picked a refurbished Heatsink/Fan combo: REFURBISHED: Arctic Cooling CPU Cooler For AMD Athlong 64/ Opteron, Model "Silencer 64 TC" -RETAIL and a refurb motherboard: REFURBISHED: GIGABYTE K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU, Model "GA-K8VT800 Finally, to add some speed, I found what I think is a great deal: OCZ Performance Series Dual Channel Kit 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3500 - Retail and it's even retail subtotal: $513.84 shipping: $18.99 Grand Total: $532.83 comments?

filter for the map River Basin, not too many servers to choose from for that map. I wouldn't go playing on the Basin right away though. My advice is to play on one of the training servers running the MOUNT McKenna map until you reach 15 Honor, or at least until you're comfortable with the feel of the game. River Basin is a pretty tough map when you're just starting out.

they got a kick arse server too. usually found on the map River Basin. and he's not bragging, he will kill you.

for all you regulars, Mr. Crucial Labs up there is a member of an awsome America's Army guild known as TeamAMD (http://www.teamamd.com. Go ahead and help the man, post up the links. It ain't "my" topic, I'm just the one who started it. You're a veteran of AA:O, give you're endorsement

yeah, if Crytek can beef up the multiplayer, or if somone releases a great mod, Farcry could be around a long time. btw, welcome, Dread.

okay, I lied. Download America's Army! There really is no excuse not to at least try this game. It's totally free, just click the link above and pick a download location, then install it. It's a hefty download, at almost 800 mb, but come on, it's a full fledged game. Several in the community have tried it out, and liked it, one or two have found it more difficult than the average no-brainer FPS and given up. It is much more difficult to pick up than a game such as Counterstrike, Battlefield or even Unreal Tournament. America's Army requires patience, tactics, teamwork and a good aim. Requires it. Try to play the hero in this game and you'll be dead in under a minute, and have to watch the rest of the round for another 6 minutes. Work with your team, concentrate on the objectives, and keep sharp, however, and you will realize what an adreniline pumping game this is. So allow me to give you an overview of America's Army. Training Like real soldiers, you start the game in Basic training. Training is done in single player, and after passing each stage, your results are uploaded to a global server where your online soldier is kept. You can log in on www.americasarmy.com and view what training you have completed, your honor level, what tours of duty (maps) you have participated in, and various other stats. As it's name suggests, Basic training is just the beginning. You can go online and play on many servers after completing just Basic, or you can contine your training and open up other maps and weapons. Basic is very simple, consisting of 4 phases, each only taking a few minutes. Marksmanship training is first, teaching you to use the M16 rifle. For best accuracy, shoot during the pause at the top and bottom of each breath. Next is the obstacle course, teaching you various movements. (Hint: at a particular spot you may continually fall through the obstacle and hear, "That may be your way, but that's not the army way!" To get across, repeatedly jump.) After the obstacle course is heavy weapons training, which after being completed allows you to use the SAW, M203 grenade launcher, and various types of grenades. Finally, you must go through the MOUNT facility, where you must infiltrate a building, navigate through it blowing away wooden enemies, and finally pick a lock and escape though the other side. This completes your Basic training, bestows you with 10 Honor points, and opens up online play. If you wish, you may continue training, or come back anytime and qualify in a different area. Each section of training opens up new abilities on the battlefield. Medic training allows you to pick the medic class, and treat wounded teammates. Sniper training is availible if you score greater than 36 on basic marksmanship, and will allow you to use the Barrett .50 calibur sniper rifle or the M24 bolt action sniper rifle on certain maps. Airborne training opens up a few new maps, and Special Forces training allows you to use a personally modded M4 rifle on SF maps. Gameplay The team setup in America's Army is different then any other game I know of. Whatever side you are on, you are the Army and the other team is the OPFOR (opposing force). You will always see your teammates as Army. However, when you kill an OPFOR, you can pick up their weapons (typical Soviet-style rifles) and use them. But you cannot pick a team that starts with OPFOR weapons. The basis of the game is the Honor system. Honor is similar to experience points or levels in an RPG. It is tracked globally, therefore it stays with you whatever server you are on. Honor is gained mainly through completing objectives, however you also gain 10 Honor for each kill, and a small amount for actions such as treating teammate's wounds. You do not loose Honor for negative kill-to-death ratios. The only way you loose Honor, is by violating the ROE (rules of engagement), that is, by attacking and/or killing a teammate. Most servers only allow players with 9+ Honor to join, so if you have violated the ROE and gone below 9 Honor, you must join one of the designated training servers, which allow only Honor levels of 1-15. These servers are also a good place to play when you first begin, since the skill levels are pretty much the same. Some servers also set higher minimum Honor levels, these are elite servers, only letting players with 25+ Honor join, thus eliminating the newbies. Gameplay in America's Army is very slow, and combat is very fast. You can only take a few bullets in the extremities, and only one, maybe two, in the head or chest, so combat between small numbers is usually over in a few seconds, however combat between larger teams using cover well can last a few adrenaline rushing minutes. Combat is enhanced by realistic features such as side-side rolling, guns not being fireable when crawling, and realistic accuracy. Communication Communication in game is done by typing, by radio commands, or by hand signals. Yes, if you learn the key combinations, and learn what the signals mean, you can communicate with your team in-game by hand signals. This is just one of the things that makes America's Army so team based. Also the use of detailed radio commands to communicate is recommended. Particularly recommended is using the "U" key to report in often. This tells your teammates where you are on the map, so they don't accidentally shoot you, and also, when you're first learning a map, it tells you where you are. Well, I have more I wnated to write, but I must go, so I will close with a request to all of you who have read this far to please give the game a try. It's a wonderful team based game that a few of us coalition members have had a blast playing together. For the competitive among you, there are several leagues that play America's Army, the game community around it is one of the best communities I've seen for any game. It takes some work to get good at, but that simply eliminates all the idiots who just want to ruin people's games. As you can see from the screenshots, the graphics are good, but they don't require a stellar machine to run, an average rig will run the game fine. And finally, it's just a really fun shooter!

rev, you really ought to check out America's Army. www.americasarmy.com it's the most team-based FPS ever made, in my opinion. the gameplay is nowhere near as fast as UT, Battlefield, or even CS, due to it's great realism. Graphics are good, but they don't need a stellar machine to run them on max detail. And best of all, the price couldn't get any better, it's totally FREE, brought to you by the good ole US Army.

yeah, half the stuff in the preview wasn't in the actual movie. it had a LOT of really funny lines and parts, but overal it felt like a collection of SNL skits loosely connected.

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