I'm not sure about the weakness of next gen consoles. They may look like a low spec-ed PC but the code will be for the hardware. Remember the original Xbox was also just a very very weak PC. It had a 733MHz CPU and its GPU was in the GF2MX range. I think it even only had 64MB of memory. PC ports of Xbox games required quite a bit more than that.

Still I'd expect 1080P gaming to be the target of this next generation of consoles and you can build a pretty damn cheap machine that games well at 1080P.

Right and if you upgraded the C2D to a ~3GHz C2Q you'd be right back in the game.

Yes I takes more than a day. It always has. Unless you use one of the build a PC guides that, these days, only get updated about every six months. They pretty much tell you what to buy for the money but go obsolete pretty quick. Even so, guides usually have a comments section that often list better builds for the money or cheaper builds with better performance.

Today there's a model number for each pricepoint from 100 to 1000 bucks for CPUs and Video cards. Manufacturers use the numbers to obscure the value of the component so a 760 might mean faster slower or the same as 660 of the previous generation. You have to research it.

It's certainly more complicated than it was 13 years ago when Athlons and P3 were sold by their frequency and were almost identical in performance. Though even then it was easy to buy the wrong component.

Forums are still probably the best place to quickly catch up on the art of building a capable sub$1000 box.

I plan on giving SteamOS a go on my HTPC, which is basically just an old workstation laptop in a dock. However it has an old crusty ATi X1600 256MB on the mobo, and that has kept it stuck as a WinXP-Pro machine all these years. I don't expect SteamOS to support the card's legacy Linux drivers anybetter than the other distros do...

Heh, I was at recess in third grade when they rolled the YF16 out of the General Dynamics hanger in red white and blue livery. That school was on the Carswell runway so we got to see it put through nice aerobatic displays for a couple of days. I think it was on day 2 the plane's landing gear got stuck and the pilot had to land the plane on its belly on the grass median between the two runways. But that was on the news and I didn't get to see it.

You here to talk, or you here to fish.

Well for me the boring part is the grind. I'm not interested in beating a boss for a +1 sword of twinkie spearing. For me it's not a "YESSSS!" moment to get the reward on try 5 when it can drop on try 1. I'm not a slot machine player either.

Yeah I've got no problem with auction houses. I'd hate to be grinding the same quest over and over trying to get the perfect item. Grinding isn't an achievement, it's pathetic.. Just take what you get and sell it to somebody that needs it. Take that gold and buy what you need. Done and the game doesn't become a full time job.

Somebody must have fixed it.

"While the term Scandinavia is commonly used for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, including their associated territories (Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Åland Islands).[18] Scandinavia can thus be considered a subset of the Nordic countries. Furthermore, the term Fennoscandia refers to Scandinavia, Finland and Karelia, excluding Denmark and overseas territories; however, the usage of this term is restricted to geology, when speaking of the Fennoscandian Shield (Baltic Shield)."

Assuming those cars have a blackboxed drive log, it should be easier to determine what specifically is at fault and where.

Just like now, you'll still have to carry insurance, just in case your car is the one that screws up or you want coverage for others' faults. You'll still want to read that contract to verify that it covers what you want so that you aren't waiting for a lawsuit to resolve.

If I'm in an accident, my insurance company writes me check if I'm covered. If it's my fault (within certain limits) I still get medical and mechanical paid, because I pay them for that coverage. I have Un/under-insured coverage, because the minimum isn't really adequate. I have road hazard insurance. Etc... Someday I'll probably have Automated Driving System Failure coverage.

But wrecks should be MUCH less common. Comprehensive insurance policies will get cheaper (right, I'm an optimist) to encourage more expensive coverages that guard against stuff that doesn't happen that often.

Or the baggage handler or TSA person opened the lock to see if the hardcase held a model to add to his collection.

This is now a Spiderman thread.

On the flip side, I prefer to watch foreign films subtitled. I feel that I connect with the story more when I hear their words and vocal inflections, connect that with their visual language and read a translation.

I perfectly OK with Hollywood just making Chinese movies. Pacific Rim would've been a passable film if they'd done in in Japanese and subtitled it in English.

Note to self: open a bar in Destin Fla named The Destin Nation.