Gears of War looks like just another marine vs. invading alien/demon game which seems to be about half the big action games coming out nowadays (Prey, Halo, Doom3, Half-Life2, etc.) I'm not really interested in at all.

D'oh. Wrong one

Can't you just leave the table at any time? Or was that just the mode i was playing in?

That's what it's like to play Hold 'em. There've been times at the casino where I don't play a hand for literally a couple hours and didn't even play the blind if it was raised.

I think what he was saying was that even if Gears of War wasn't something that interested you it is going to be a hot title and you might have more people trying to buy your system in November. That is how i read the post at least.

I didnt want to try and leave the game since there was only the 2 of us left and he had 600 bux and i had over 3000. Didnt want to risk not getting ANY points. That would have defeated the purpose of all that wasted time.

Real life with your actual own cash, i understand. Video game with fake cash, GTFO. Just play and keep movin.

I know I'll be selling my Xbox 360 next month when the large influx of Eskimo Caribou hunters emerge from their igloos and head to the local internet cafe to search for the 360 version Cabela's Alaskan Adventure on Ebay.

Standard games you can leave the table at any time and you won't lose any cash. If you were playing a tournament, then you would have had to stay.

Awesome! Any previews up yet for Alaskan Adventure?

Lumines Live to charge for unlockables:

"A review in the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine reveals that the $15 (1200 MS points) purchase price for Lumines Live on Xbox Live Arcade will not include the entire game. Advancing past a certain point in the game's Mission and Vs. CPU modes will require the purchase of additional level packs for $5 (400 MS points) and $3.75 (300 MS points), respectively. Regular readers may remember rumors back in June that Lumines Live multiplayer would require an additional purchase. While those rumors were denied, these single-player packs may have been the source of confusion."

From: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/24/lu...r-unlockables/

There goes my sale of the game. I was really looking forward to that game.

I hope that no one purchases it and they are forced to take another look at their decision.

Why don't they just cut out the middle part and get to the method of delivery they seem to be inching towards?

You don't buy a game any more, you just purchase chunks of it at a time and its all downloaded to your system.

If I'm spending $15 on an arcade title, it better damn well be the entire game.

Or just be upfront about it and sell the whole thing for 20$.

Liver&Onions has got me working on previews for that one, THQ's Cars, and Pimp My Ride while he handles Gears of War, Forza Motorsport 2, and Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

I'm thinking of kidnapping his new Weiner dog puppy and sending him threatening photos with my Xbox Live Vision camera until I get assigned better titles.

lol - you begged for Pimp my Ride, don't deny it.

If you take the little pissing weiner, you'll have to answer to the wife and the bigger weiner. Two gals you won't want to mess with.

Exactly. Fuck the "chunks" of a game part. That is bullshit. Just charge for the whole thing or put it ALL on a disc and charge $25-$30 for it. At the price range they are getting at I want a physical copy with manuals and such with some resale value.

I think it is premature to base your decision on two games, one of which is a minor improvement over the previous version 9 months ago. Sounds more like your mind was partially made up before your purchase. Do you know anyone that wants one? That'd be your best bet, save the hassle of shipping.

How much for Dead Rising?

I didn't get a chance to download Hold 'Em last night, so I have a question for those of you that played:

Can you adjust the 10 second limit if you set up a room? I understand that they put the time limit in to move the game along, but 10 seconds seems too quick for a game like hold 'em.

Regardless, I'll be downloading this tonight as soon as I get home from work.

You know, I believe my 10 second estimate is off. In the games I played online before I reviewed it, the clock was definitely moving really fast. But the games I played last night with the DVD Talk crew were definitely longer; 15 to 20 tics on that little clock. I need to go check out the create game screen again.

After downloading this on my cell phone, I was really looking forward to this. Now, I'm not. Screw that noise.

Well that's good to here. I wasn't to thrilled with the idea of Speed Hold 'Em.

About Texas Hold Em:
How is anyone supposed to get the 'Luck of the Draw' achievement? A Royal Flush is damn near impossible to get. I have everything from Full House down, and I could see getting a 4 of a kind at some point. Even a straight flush is possible if you play long enough. But a royal? You could play for months and never even see one, let alone get it yourself. And it's funny that's worth only 10 points, whereas 'Lucky Day or Crafty Bluffer?' is worth a whopping 25... that's the first achievement I got!!! I raised before the flop with a suited 3-4 and everyone folded.

Because of the rareness of the RF, it's probably better that it is worth less. I mean it isn't like it takes some skill to call pre-flop with a suited A/10 or K/J just to get lucky on the board. It sure would suck to have some nobody hit a Heart RF while holding 10h/6c and get a bunch of points for what was very shitty play.

If it truly a matter of skill then that makes sense. Not knowing the specifics of "Crafty Bluffer", I'd say it takes more skill to properly set up your image and knowing when to make the plays at the pot.

Just my opinion.

While I don't see Microsoft allowing it, you could always do the following:

First you'd set up a buy-in amount for a 8 man game of say $5 or $10. Then, the money would be forwarded by each participating player to one "trustworthy forum member" via paypal. Then once a winner is declared, the total amount would be forwarded along to the winning player.

I like how you guys are trying to figure out a way to gamble on this video game.

demo for Just Cause is up, along with the new test drive unlimited demo with updated graphics and viva pinata animated videos