BardicKnowledge

In playing Fallout 3 on my PC, I'd like to be able to sit at my couch with the 360 controller and talk through the headset to my friends on Live. For some reason, the PC only recognizes my desktop mic, which isn't as convenient. Anyone know how to force the PC to pickup the headset, and use that for Windows Live communication?

Makes me glad that I got a free copy of Vista (legally, mind you -- from my university). It'd suck to have bought it, and then be expected to roll out more cash for an operating system that _isn't_ completely bloated.

Combat isn't terrible -- I'm impressed that they've managed to make a useful body-part damage system when you're outside of VATS, and still keep the numbers behind the scenes based on your statistics instead of your FPS skill. It's certainly not bad as long as you're not expecting it to be Call of Duty or anything.

The game is surprisingly well optimized -- I run a P4 3.0 Ghz and a 7800 GTX at medium settings very close to 60 fps, with occasional jumps in heavy combat.

^haha -- just noticed the "against castlevania judgment" in your sig, Sindra. MaxFrost, how can you not like a power that gives you a new movement option? Especially since traditional flight is so slow...

This is good news, but not a big surprise -- this game is easily the most interesting thing to happen to the Wii in a while. Still, looking forward to it!

Got my Wavebird controllers from anthonium / Screaming Oranges -- thanks a bunch, guys! Apparently "used" means "in the original plastic", which was incredible. Prophet, please update the master list accordingly if anthonium hasn't PMed you already. And thanks for volunteering to keep track of all this!

Little Ninja Brothers for NES, by Culture Brain. The game was fun as hell with two people.

I love your train sig, Xerol.

I like what you've written, but the new ending doesn't transition very well out of the old material. It goes from being extremely high energy to this lull -- which, while well written, breaks the flow of the piece in a way that I don't think is all that great. My advice is to take some more time in the transition as opposed for using such an abrupt method. Still, it sounds pretty good! As far as selling your arrangement goes, I'd forget about it -- it's a legal nightmare to do, and you'd need more than just one decent arrangement to get Square to give you the okay in the first place. Just having it available here will get you more publicity through word of mouth than anything.

I'm on Chapter 7 now, and I've gotta say that the plot is much darker and feels more serious than the first two Earthbound games. Still, this is one of the best RPG experiences I've had a long time. Arek, VisualBoyAdvance will correctly emulate the Gameboy Player, so you can play on your TV in a "legitimate" way if you don't get the flashcart working.

I read the review -- will this be too complex / overwhelming for my casual-gamer wife to play with me? She's fine at Mario Party etc. but doesn't have the reaction speed to do Smash Bros. and the like.

Well, you won't find me playing the next 3d game unless they change a lot of things. I tried the first of them (with Leon Belmont), and it was just barely passable. Didn't get around to playing the 2nd...was it better or worse? Still, the 2d Castlevanias (along with Super Metroid) are probably my favorite style of game to play. Try really hard to finish the training room NOW -- the power you get will blow your mind. Everything can be done with just magnet and double jump (though super speed can help in a few jumps). It's not that bad anyway...there's one spot that seemed impossible to me, but if you double jump you can do it. One piece of advice below for that area in white text for you. Bad ASCII art time! _____xxxxxx| o o It's like, room 4 maybe? Anyway, o is a magnet attach point, and x's are spikes. Shoot out straight right and jump up at the end while holding down the magnet button -- you'll just barely catch onto it.

The Diablo track preview sounds badass. I'll probably be picking this one up.

Combine Jewel Satellite with the Magma Bazooka (uncharged). If you hit with all three shots, he'll take 3 damage, which is as good as you can hope for.

Yes, it's true...though "bonus" is hardly the word. It's just a medal proving you did it. I've started collecting them on my Hard Mode NG+ run.

That looks sweet -- it's too bad they're backlogged and sold out. How graphically intense of games will it support? Portable Morrowind would rock, though that's probably not possible.

Sindra: Hide in the upper right corner for the first two stops up the shaft. Then just throw axes from there. Drop down one level for the bubbles as needed. Takes a long time, but it's safe.

^It does sound like a loose connection -- I'll fiddle with that this weekend.

Soundtrack is a slight step up from PoR, but not especially memorable except for the main theme. I think that the portable systems are limiting in the styles of music that sound good with the samples they have available to them.

Bought a pair of AKG K240 headphones from the OCR store, and they're excellent. Unfortunately, there seems to be something wrong with the left speaker channel lately -- I've been getting static instead of sound occasionally.

To the OP: FFTA2 is excellent. All I want is Fallout 3, which comes in just a few short days. I'm not a big FPS player outside of my precious UT2004, so there's not a lot for me this holiday.

OA, did you get someone to do that last bit of recording you wanted for the Fabul piece? Let me know if you still wanted to get together sometime before things wind up.

This is great -- I love the transition at rehearsal C. Didn't recognize which tune D comes from, but I've only finished OoT once, and didn't play MM or WW...I'll assume it's my fault for not getting it. The 2/4 breaks at 89 and 94 are great. I wish I had half of the rhythm chops you do... My only critique is that I wish it went on for one more section, and threw in the Tal Tal Heights track from Link's Awakening. It seems a little abrupt in the ending, so adding in either a full chorus of the main theme or the LA upbeat version mentioned above would be nice. Still, this is crazy good. You should convert this to a MIDI and get a .pdf so you can PM DrumUltima and get his opinion on it -- he'll be more helpful than I can be because this matches his specialty. If you don't have a full version of Finale around with which to do that, let me know and I'll take care of it for you. Edit: Just tried making a MIDI so I could have a friend listen to it, and most of it comes out as a piano instead of all the cool percussion that the .mus file has. I can save the raw audio correctly as an mp3 if need be -- again, just ask.

Max -- how far are you getting with the lighthouse boss? Worst case scenario, get out the sub-weapon axe glyph, and start shooting them from the top level.