I'm currently trying not to swallow my foot, my wife bought me a PS3 for my birthday.

It's already taken

are you guys always this nasty toward newbies? give it a rest at the spam part already.

i've never heard of Chinese gift exchange system before... it's quite interesting, in terms of getting gifts you might be interested. However, that's only practical if you got a group of people you're not too close to. On the other hand, i didn't even know Chinese actually exchange gifts on Christmas (maybe Chinese Americans).

On a related note, i got my optical cable today, all i can say is, gaming in surround sound or no gaming at all

I agree, it's amazing how much true surround can add to a game. I was playing Oblivion and just turning around and around to hear the people speak from my right speakers to my left speakers.
"Chinese gift exchange", is that where the next person to open a present can pick a previously-opened present?

If they sign up and their first post is to ask for a handout then I feel they are fair game. Some people just deserve it at times. Just look how people treated you after this post and you have been around for almost 8 years. Tempers can run a little hot here.

Yes.

How do you hook up the 360 to surround without and optical output? I just have the old premium.

In games like Rainbow Six: Vegas you can hear bad guys opening doors behind you in surround.

I have been playing the single player of Call of Duty 2 (got my 360 late in the game) and have noticed how important surround sound is in that game. When I am going into a house to catch a hiding German soldier waiting to ambush me or being flanked from behind in a city, surround sound is almost mandatory to have just to get thru some of those levels intact (if playing on Veteran difficulty).

You need an optical cable for true surround. But they're quite cheap now.

It's even more crucial in CoD4's multiplayer where you can hear another guy about to come in a door behind you so you can turn around just in time to kill him.

Unless they are rocking Dead Silence like i do.

If you want the best use of surround on the system, pick up Condemned.

I know I would need an optical cable, but there is no where to plug it in on the 360.

It is on the video cable where it plugs into the 360.

Ocelot?

There's an optical port on the AV cable where it plugs into the 360.

No, at no point did he blame the 360 or say hurtful things about the mother of the person who designed it.

An image for the reading-impared:

You and no one else.

Just show her flay's score. "Look honey, at least I'm not this guy. See?"

Damn, I am an idiot. I could have had my surround hooked up months ago.

[Ocelot] This is all Micro$oft's fault. Whoever designed this piece of crap, their mother should have been shot [/Ocelot]

i understand the territory perfectly fine and as my post, yeah, i know i'm gonna get bombed (hey, i asked for it). In some ways, i was "trying" to get attention

Anyhow, i just feel bad for the bloke and that's that. The F-bomb code was a bit too much and that's what i'm saying...

No... not all of them... In some parties (i talked to few people), the gifts are not opened till the exchange is over. Some people pick the biggest present (bigger the better principle), while some people pick the smaller ones (maybe electronic gadgets, games or dvds etc). Of course, the ultimate fun is that once people open the gifts, the fun almost never cease (i.e. some people being fighting for a particular gift due to "popular" demand and only to find out that it's a toaster or something ).

The ones you know what you're getting are gifts were never wrapped in the first place...

my impression as well when i first learned the hidden socket

Well, i was mad at the design, but since the option is available, so it's not too bad. Of course, MS should also include the Coaxial too! This way, you don't have to spent $6 for an optical (coaxial uses the single composite jack, which you got tons of those lying around in the house).

Honestly, if you got a PS3 before the X360, things can be slightly awkward and backward.

A very good example would be, why the game disc starts running when i first turn on the X360 (if there's a disc in the tray). Of course it turns out to be the default setting on the X360 (changed right away to suit my taste) For me, i like to manually run the game/movie b/c most of the times i want to do other stuffs when i turn on the console. Obviously, this is not the case with MC... He complained the reverse

So that is two people that have missed the optical connection???

Look at the photo. How do you miss that?

I think a legitimate grip is the problem I have read of wanting to use HDMI for the picture and optical for the sound. Doesn't one cover up the other and you don't get the special connection if you buy the Elite?