What do you have ?!?

[Hallucination Generation]

I really doubt it, I like to be passive in entertainment, I don't enjoy sports, or whatever, I like to be taken for a ride, not join in. But you never know, stranger things have happened.

Yep, I'm bored.
I just don't get video games.

Grand theft auto made me go bowling with some chick. What's the point in that?
Do i get to fuck her later?

And i thought the Alien game would be good but it blew as well.
Are all kids high when they play these games?

[Silhouette]

I'm an old gamer - I remember as a kid playing Pong over the neighbour's place back in the late 60s when it first came out (?) - then when video games really were hot in the late 70s and early 80s me and a mate would head up to a video parlour and play each Sunday night for a few hours.

I find it relaxing as in my young day I was a semi-full time sportsman and then had intense corporate life so it was a way to just chill out for a while.

In my 20s and 30s I didn't play much until my son was old enough/interested and then bought a Commodore VIC 20, then being the upgrade beast I am then then VIC 64 until gamer consoles started taking hold. When the Personal Computers came along I eventually networked the house and we had 4 computers (3 kids and me) on which all could play network games - generally it was my son and his mates, I gamed less then.

When online gaming started to take off I settled on playing America's Army (which was actually developed and released by the US Army), after a time I stopped again. I started up again a couple of years ago when I added an online game called TrackMania (ManiaPlanet) to my computer essentially so my young nephews could play when they came to visit, but uncle is competitive and like to be able to kick his nephews asses so I learnt to play it too, albeit I now much play infrequently. Still, I can hold my own against the young 'uns, when I last online I was good enough to be ranked top 20 in Australia (of about 2,000) and top 1000 in the world (of around 100,000).

Like I said, for me it's a way to chill out for an hour or so every so often...

[Bruce]

I was great at Arcade Pong. Later I was there for Space Invaders, Galaga, Berserk, Ms. Pac Man in the arcades. They had an arcade right by the poker room in the Dunes Hotel where I played poker, so I would play games for hours, waiting for some suckers to get into a poker game, and there I was, a few feet away, always ready to play.

But after 1982 or so I never played again. I tried with my kids in recent years, but my reflexes were shot.

Bruce

[Neo]

Back in the day, Pong and the other original classics must've been quite the ticket.

waiting for some suckers to get into a poker game, and there I was, a few feet away, always ready to play.

Like a cat stalking its prey.  Sounds like some good times in Vegas.

[Bruce]

Before I became a full-time player in 1973, the prevailing theory was that you should play as many hours of poker as possible because your edge was pretty much the same overall, so the more hours you played the more you earned. But I contended that your earn was drastically higher playing with bad players, and since the house did not pay you to play, you should use extreme game selection, because you were far sharper when you played fewer hours (and quite often the game might stay "good" for 10 or 20 hours, and I NEVER left while it was still "good", so it really helped to start fresh).

[Bruce]

And oddly, the game room was concealed from the poker room (because kids couldn't be near the gambling) so I actually did look a lot like the cat in your picture!

[Bruce]

Back in the day, Pong and the other original classics must've been quite the ticket.

The thing about Arcade Pong was that you played against a real player (some friend of yours, or someone just standing there) and if you were both really good then the paddles got smaller and smaller until they were just like dots!

I played the other games so much that eventually I could make each game last like 20 minutes, which was important when you play for an hour or more at a time.

[Neo]

Right on, Bruce.  Sounds like you had poker all figured out, and also had fun in the downtime from the card table.

Arcade Pong where it's one player versus another sounds cool.  Reminds me of when I went to military school, and the game Street Fighter 2 was brand new, pretty much the most awesome video game at the time for a one versus one style arcade game.  The school had one in the break room where students could go in between classes, on the weekends, etc.  I practiced outside of school at a few convenience stores and arcades, and studied magazines for strategies, and I also had a knack for being good at it.  At school, I would dominate the competition.  The game is setup so the winner of the best of 3 rounds stays on the game, then the next competitor battles the winner, and the winner stays on the game until he/she loses (or break is over).  I can't remember how many times I was the first one on the game, and by the time break or whatever was over, I was still on there with people trying to defeat me.  Those were the glory days.    The only bad thing was it was one more reason for the kids who were boarding students to despise me.  At least I had some fun mixed in with the adversity.

[Neo]

Yep, I'm bored.
I just don't get video games.

Grand theft auto made me go bowling with some chick. What's the point in that?
Do i get to fuck her later?

And i thought the Alien game would be good but it blew as well.
Are all kids high when they play these games?

It's kinda like the article Dr. Caul mentioned here: http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,4958.0.html The author says "You have to decide to be OK with whatever the film is doing at any moment. You have to decide to accept it as normal, and decide to care about what’s happening even though it just suddenly turned into a different kind of movie." 

Replace "film" and "movie" with "video game."  GTA has an awesome storyline, and there are some parts that are really wacky (I don't want to include any spoilers) but if you just accept it as OK, then it's a lot of fun.  Red Dead Redemption, another title from Rockstar Games, has a lot of different "side stuff", such as playing gambling games - Texas hold 'em, among others - and it's a good break from the storyline.

[jayn_j]

I remember being blown away when pong came out, and my friends and I dropped more than a few quarters there.  I was out of the military and back in school, so we spent some time on various PDP-8 and PDP-11 systems trying to recreate a 'better' pong.

After our oldest was born, we spent a lot of time at the local video arcade, playing Ms Pacman, Galaga, the one with the knight on a bird and others.  We kept the infant in a front pack carrier, so we would trade off who played while holding the baby.

However, we never had a home system until we bought an XBOX for my son when they first came out.  Found out he could beat me, even when he was 9.

[Neo]

I got this TV a few weeks ago.  Panasonic TC-P65VT50.  Best Buy had an awesome deal on them, about 25% off, and even though I've been a Sony fanboy the last few years, I had to pick up this one.  I was gonna let y'all know about it when the deal was still going on at Best Buy, but I wanted to see some stuff filmed in 3D on it first.

Watching movies on this is awesome.  The colors, even without a professional calibration, are great.  It's THX certified, so the colors, details, and overall picture, are excellent.  The best "preset" mode IMO is "THX Bright Room".

It's supposed to be one of the best for 3D.  I've watched a 3D Blu-Ray on it, and it's pretty darn good.  I'll probably get a subscription to a 3D Blu-Ray rental place to check out a few more.

The LCD vs. plasma debate is a contentious topic, so I won't try to prove my case on why I think one is better than the other.  Overall I'm really happy with this TV, and the Best Buy 4 year warranty that I got gives a little peace of mind that if I do get "burn-in" (a common thing with plasma TVs) or something else, it will be easily fixed or replaced.

This picture really doesn't do it justice, for various reasons, but here's an idea of how it looks.  I sit about 8 or 9 feet away from it, so it's kinda like sitting in the front row at a movie theater.



My surround sound setup consists of a pair of Sony MDR-DS6000 headphones.    Great sound from them, but they do have some imperfections, so I probably wouldn't recommend them.  The new MDR-DS6500 that replaced them are much better, and the Japanese version of the 6000, the MDR-RF7100 look cool, but there aren't many reviews for them.

[paul waines]

Panasonic T.V's are the best, I have 3 of them all plasmas. You don't need to worry over the Screen burn, they sorted that years back.  We have the 3-D telly (reactive type)in the front room, fantastic picture and quality. The sound is not as good as older sets, as they keep using small speakers. However when you buy a Telly shortly, you won't have speakers with it! You will have to buy a sound Bar, or use a Surround system..... I suppose they call this "progress"...     Mind if you use Headphones most off the time I guess this won't bother you.

Nice set Neo, enjoy it..

[guest8]

I bought my 1st Panny plasma like 6 months ago and I have had no complaints at all. I was LCD only for a really long time, but I got a deal so I figured I'd give it a shot. I don't know if I'll go back to LCD now. Plasmas are cheaper and just as good if not better than compatible LCD units.

[Silhouette]

+1 on Panasonic Plasmas, fantastic quality and (to me) plasma seems to be deeper/richer in the colours.

[stewart boyle]

+1 on Panasonic Plasmas, fantastic quality and (to me) plasma seems to be deeper/richer in the colours.

Plasma..all day long.

Stew

[Neo]

Yeah, I had an LED for about a year, and there are a few things that are arguably better about LED than plasma, but I'm really glad I got a plasma.  All things considered, including the price (a lot less than some of the LEDs I was looking at), it's almost the perfect TV, and I'm stoked to watch even more shows and movies.  

[CSM]

Sony LCD/LED all the way!

[Matt]

Sharp LCD, never gone plasma, never will.

Don't ever trust sales outlets, they will and they can adjust picture qualiity and contrast in the shop to make one screen look better than the next...Why? Gotta move old stock out the door.........

[Neo]

It's a heated rivalry between the 2 technologies and among the companies of each technology.  Sony and Sharp have some of the best LEDs.  It's all about personal preference, as none are perfect for everyone.  The Sony and Sharp guys pick each other's stuff apart, and the same for the LED and plasma guys, and the competition breeds excellence.

My TV was manufactured in November 2012, so I doubt they had to sell them as old stock that no one was buying.  When a new model is released and they have to move their stock, it's the perfect time to get a great deal from a good company.

[jayn_j]

Have both, but really prefer the picture on my 4 year old Panny plasma.

[paul waines]

The T.V. I put up in the film room is a L.E.D smart T.V. as I wanted Very thin, so it was right against the wall. I must say picture-wise not as good as a Panasonic Plasma at all...

[CSM]

Plasma schmasma

[ddilts399]

It is what your preference is LED/LCD can get burn your eyes out bright and can be set up to make the colors pop(which are not natural), but pleases the eye to many, but the blacks still are not as good as plasma. Plasma is still better at shadow details. OLED sounds promising to fix this but pricing is outrageous at this point.

[wonka]

Our 5yr old Sony Bravia LCD > 1 year old Samsung LCD. and by a long shot.

Never getting 3D. Refuse to watch a film in the format...ugh.

[Ari]

I'd punch someone in the face for a 3d tv, saying that, I really don't care about these arguments, I like watching movies, and after the initial obsession when DVD came about, I am getting less and less fussy.
All things considered in a perfect world I'd be fussy about it, but I use what I can and still enjoy movies.
At the moment I have a borrowed samsung, don't know if is plasma or LCD, looks good to me. But when I was in Sydney I was on a CRT and didn't bother me all that much.