Our med school had a talent show, and we played Reptilia by the Strokes. If anyone knows anything about the cardiovascular system, there's this thing called Stroke Volume, the amount of blood ejected per contraction of the left ventricle. We called ourselves the Stroke Volumes, pun on The Strokes, nerdy cardio reference (who doesn't love those), and... Volume? Music? Sound... I dunno, there's a pun somewhere in there.

Anyway, it was pretty much my first performance, and it was a blast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TDkMtavq2E&feature=channel_video_title

So the game is finally out, a wait that was... what 5 years? And there isn't a THREAD about it! Come on guys! I might have gone a little trigger happy with the pictures, but the game is just amazing. Graphics are fantastic, easily rivals Uncharted 2. In fact, I think I like them better than Uncharted 2 because of the lighting, and I generally like darker games more. The animations, running, enemy attacks, trees falling down into the distance, the SMOKE MONSTER (lol lost) of in the forests, the game just looks perfect.

The sound and voice acting for the most part has been pretty good, as has the story. It kind of reminds me of ABC's Happy Town a little. I'm on Episode 3 (of 6) right now, and am surprised at how long the game is. I heard it was short, but I've been playing some 7 hours so far and still have over half the game left. I think a 15-18 hour game is perfect length of this genre. Plus, they're adding additional 2 hour long DLC's this month (a few weeks away actually), that continues the game from where it left off, at $7 a pop. Pretty good deal I'd say.

The battle system. The combat. The gameplay. Oh god, it is PERFECT. I've never had this much fun shooting down enemies before. It's terrifying, and exciting all at the same time. The usage of the different sources of light to break away the shadowy barrier all your opponents have is such a clever element. Use flare guns, flares, flashlight, lamps, construction lights, flashbang grenades, car headlights, flood lights, whatever you get your hands on to take out that shadow barrier, and then pummel them with your pistol or shotgun - and the sound effects are amazing, you really feel the THRUST of your bullets as you pick off your enemies, it's great.

The difficulty is great too. Very challenging, but not over the top. It's actually kind of easy if I weren't such an item hoarder. If I wanted to use up all my flare guns (which I always end up having spares for at the end of an episode), I guess it would be easier - but I'm treating the game as a survival horror, and appropriately so, so I have a stock of great items I haven't used. Nightmare difficulty will really test me though.

This is a phenomenal, almost perfect game so far. If you have an XBOX, BUY IT!!!!!!!

So me and my friends decided to make some joke rap/hip-hop songs, inspired by The Lonely Island Boys and our own creative goofiness. We used Audacity and several really tight beats from various websites. Now they aren't amazing obviously, but I think we did a decent job for whipping these 4 songs up in a few days, lemme know what you guys think!

Our band is called 2B2B Whack (or, 2 Black 2 Be Whack), and our launch CD's gonna' be called African War Dance.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1TLJUHG6

Some of the songs aren't finalized, but these are the essentials for what the final song will sound like. We did "2B2B Whack (Remix)" first, where I go first. My favorite, the one we did tonight, was "Shemale Ballard"...our attempt at a R&B love song about a shemale where I go second. I start off in Insanity, and didn't rap in the Leprechaun Remix =P

So I don't know about you guys, but for me and almost all of my friends, we are constantly super gay with each other. It started off with a penis joke here and there, but now all we do is go on these ridiculous tangents that are incredibly hilarious and of the most gay. I'm talking intense wrestling, an endless plethora of penis jokes, games of grab ass, you name it. We just got back from a trip, and seriously, all we did was comment on how massive this eastern-european dude's dick must be, yelling phrases like "I plow pussy like big farmer!" on and on and on.

This trip happened to be a big conference called East Zone where MSA groups from all across the east coast came (this year, it was in Atlanta). And it got me thinking - are we incredibly gay or do a lot of guys do this stuff when they get together, all bromantic and what not. Ironically, this trip was a Muslim Conference where we talked about our faith and being good Muslims, but in the hotel rooms, it was just retarded.

I wasn't there for THIS one...


I'm the one laughing like a maniac in the back...

Relax, there's no nudity. I can't believe my friend actually did this one...

Before anyone says anything, I'm fully aware that we are shockingly homosexual. But seriously guys, it's so funny, you just have to be there.

I'm 22, I haven't done a single thing really since August 2009. Applied to med. school and got in, so I decided to treat myself and take a year off and do absolutely nothing until till August when classes start (and boy will they ever start).

So far, aside from interviewing and traveling here and there, I've seriously just been GAMING to no end. So far, I've played and beaten Magna Carta 2, Fall out 3, Uncharted 1 and 2, Army of 2, Valkyria Chronicles, Resistance, Bioshock, Last Remnant, Dragon Age, Resident Evil 5, and am working on Mass Effect right now. In the coming months, I plan on playing Mass Effect 2, FFXIII (obviously), Resonance of Fate, Dragon Age: Awakening, and MAYBE White Knight Chronicles and Bioshock 2... so I'll be busy before I have to lock up my game systems in a safe and throw the key out.

I've also been juggling LOST, FlashForward, V, Office, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation, Community, Modern Family, Important Things, Family Guy, and 24... which has been a lot of work, seriously.

Aside from interviewing, other productive things I've been doing are... keeping up with politics  ​, reading biochemistry/physiology/microbiology to prepare for classes, but definitely not finding a job cause work sucks.

What would you do if you have 1 full year to kick back and do whatever?

So I have a friend who's really into music. He started playing guitar about a year before I picked it up, we jammed, had a band for a little while, but now I'm doing my own thing (it was always just a hobby for me) but he's dead set on pursuing a career in something music-related. He worked at a studio in Nashville over the summer last year, purely volunteering for I think just over a month. Currently, he's in undergrad. close to finishing his major in Mechanical Engineering. Despite this however, he HATES this field and finds it incredibly boring, and a few weeks ago, withdrew from all his classes (with just ONE semester to go before finishing and graduating!!!) and packed all his things and was ready to move to Nashville, without even telling his parents what his plans were. He had $300 dollars to his name, no job waiting for him (though I guess he could have found one from previous experience at other stores), and a friends place to crash at.

Thankfully, as he was leaving for Nashville, he felt bad and called his mom telling him his plans. Not surprisingly, she went ballistic, and forced him to come back home. So, crises averted... temporarily. I think he's reinstated into his classes (I THINK, I don't know if you can just jump back in after you formally withdraw), and is going to finish getting his degree. He plans to move to Nashville after he graduates however, and wants to actually try to follow this dream. I'm moving to New York and he says he wants to go there with me after he uses his "connections" in Nashville to pursue his music career in the big city.

To me however, I think it's a big mistake, especially compared to something like Mechanical Engineering. The kid is 21 years old, never lived on his own, and I think this is all just incredibly immature wishful thinking. Life isn't something that'll be FUN for everyone. I think 90% of people out there dislike their jobs and do it to get by. I'm going to medical school, and I know my life'll be tough, but I'm ready to do it because that's what it takes to survive (granted, this will be tough but more fun than a cubicle desk job), but my friend is just set on this and I don't think he has really thought about the ramifications of his decision. Anyway, what's life of a studio tech. like anyway? Can he make it? He wants to form a band and tour and stuff also. Aren't we too old for THAT kinda' thinking? Feels like college/high school dreams that we should have let go and faced reality cold.

Am I being too pessimistic? Granted I don't know much about the music field as a career, but I'm just getting the vibe that, 10-15 years later, my friend'll look back and go "well shit, I shoulda done something better with my life."

Well, Brown has somehow ousted a democrat for the Senate seat in Massachusetts. I was surprised to hear Mass. has 50% of its residents as Independents, I thought it was much more, but yes, it seems the Independents helped the Republican win this seat, in addition to the lazy and poor campaign ran by Coakley.

But that's all behind now, I am wondering what'll happen to the Health Care Bill now. As it stands, it is in debate between the passed Senate and House bill, and we PLANNED to have the differences reconciled, and a final bill sent to Obama's desk. However, even if things are reconciled, Brown'll vote against the final bill, so we need a plan B for health care form.

As is stands again, we have 3 options:

1) Let the House agree 100% with the Senate Bill, and have it finalized as THE definitive Health Care Reform Bill.

2) Let the House pass the Senate Bill, and then use "Budgetary Reconcilliation" to fix some of the problems with a simple 51-vote, rather than the 60 supermajority (problems being: lack of a public option and expansion of medicaid, etc.).

3) Start from scratch, back to the drawing board, and find a bill that a few Republicans will favor (this is incredibly unlikely to happen, so really we have only 2 options).

I personally want Option 2: using Reconcilliation to pass the bill with public option. Ultimately, I think the people won't care HOW it was passed, but rather WHAT was passed. Initially there may be some heat, but looking back, we'll look at what policies were introduced and what change we received rather than how it came about. I don't think many people even know about how the Bush Tax Cuts passed (they were through reconcilliation), but rather that they WERE passed. Looking at headlines, it seems that Congress is currently weighing in both options, possibly Option 1 a little more heavily.

So what do you think will happen? What do you WANT to happen? Is there a 4th option I missed? And finally, and most importantly just because I'm very curious about this, what's so bad about using reconcilliation anyway?

So I JUST ordered this on Amazon for $40 for XBOX 360. Didn't think I'd like it, since I never really played Balder Gates or anything, but saw my friend playing it and he says it's his fav. game this generation plus LOOKED great too. I'm really excited to play it, and I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread here about it... everyone here jRPG fans or what?

I got it for the XBOX, not PS3, after doing some thorough research. Here's the final verdict:

PC is best for graphics, lag, texture, everything (assuming you have a strong PC).

PS3 had the graphics set better, but there is more lag and slowdown

XBOX has the worst graphics but runs the best (next to PC of course).

I am a dual-system owner, and ALMOST went with PS3 but decided a game like this is more about gameplay than graphics. Plus, the graphic difference isn't THAT big, maybe only when you zoom in or something. The game isn't super pretty to begin with, so I'm going with gameplay, I think I made the right choice.

Anyway, discuss! And if there are any XBOX owners with this game, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it!

Well, I'll start off by saying I am an avid supporter of Obama so yes, everything I see is looked through a biased lens. But I'm also not stupid and actually listen to what he says and does, and it all seems pragmatic, and with the best of intentions. Intentions however don't do much, but I think he's on his way to getting a lot of great things done. Bullet points!

-The wars are coming to a close... well, atleast somewhat:
        -Yeah, no one knows how the draw-down in Afghanistan will work, but we know that it'll atleast begin... it all determines how things go on the battlefield. This makes the taliban not just wait out till the US "deadline" since we won't be leaving if the status quo hasn't changed. Iraq isn't talked about nearly as much now, so I'm assuming things are going well there. I know the combat troops are set to leave soon, with reserve troops staying behind to maintain security until Iraq can stand on its own two feet.

-Health care reform is at the brink of completion:
        -Sure the public option isn't going to be in it (well, looks like it anyway), but with either the Senate bill or the House bill, 94% (+/- a few) Americans will be covered. It will be mandatory to get coverage, and the poorest who can't afford it will be helped by the government I believe. Go preventative medicine! No more discrimination, and a cap on out of pocket expenses. I'm a little confused with the Senate bill - if not the public option, what's covering the 30 million Americans? A government-based mandate? The question of how to pay for it is still open - I personally want the families that make $500k+ getting a tax increase to be most practical. It won't hurt them at all, and benefit the greater good tremendously (go utilitarianism!)

-The economy is getting better:
        -This recession was way worse than the one in the early 80's, and that's why it's taking longer for us to get back in track. Job loss has been essentially 0 for the last month, and very minimal the month before that (compared to 700,000 a month when it began!!), the GDP shows the economy is growing, and the stocks are going up with each day. We've passed the heart of the storm, now to get back on our feet stronger. Now we need those scared banks to lend a bit more (before they lended like crazy, now they aren't doing any! Extremes aren't good), and this'll help small businesses grow which is the backbone of the middle class!

Those are essentially the 3 big-ones that have dominated the presidency so far. Outside of this, Obama's done a lot to promote peace and restore the standing of the US in the world, opened talks for climate change and nuclear disarmament. Here's to the next 3 years, where things'll really start rolling! Once the economy is back in gear, I think we can see a lot more progress at a faster rate.

Anyway, that's my ultra-biased take on his presidency so far. His approval rating according to CNN stands at 54%, and most other polls hover around there. Considering how immense of a mess Obama came to office with, I think he's doing a great job (also considering how a lot of former presidents had similar, some lower, ratings at this period of their presidency even when the country wasn't going to hell as they took office).

So, to you, how's Obama done so far? Filled the expectations? Failed miserably? Made change, but not as dramatic as you hoped? Go!

So I bought the Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition recently, and this is essentially my first open-world RPG (aside from Borderlands which I didn't like and traded in for this game). The game itself is already some 60-100 hours long, and with the 5 DLC packs, it's got to be around 200 hours total, this is a bit overwhelming! I really want to do everything there is in this game, but when I look at the sheer amount of gameplay, it boggles my mind really! I might stop once I reach the Level 30 cap (but who knows how long it'll take... enemies don't really respawn in this game, so maybe I do need to do everything to reach Level 30!).

Have you guys ever been overwhelmed by games? I usually play FPS and jRPGs, which are never too overwhelming, compared to western RPGs like Oblivion and Fallout. I played Demon's Souls too, which wasn't bad at all! Quite underwhelming actually, in terms of scope, still great game.

Pretty neat Venn Diagram, maybe you guys saw it before. I'm crazy about videogames and the guitar, and I'm also a freakin' genius, but I'm also freakin' hilarious so yes, I am definitely a GEEK.

Also, by virtue of being a member of GW, you are ONE of these social classes, so can't say "where's the JOCK section??"

Just saw the 2nd episode and man, this is an epic drama! Some say its the next Lost and really, it might be. Not many, if ANY, show has ever had such a unique premise. I really can't find any show... Heroes, people with superpowers... not new at all. LOST, people on a mysterious island, also pretty done. All Doctor-Shows obviously are not ground-breaking. It's currently the #1 new drama, hopefully it'll develop a huge fan base so it doesn't get cut! For those of you who have no idea what the show is about, first of: GO WATCH IT! episodes on www.hulu.com ; secondly, it's about a worldwide disaster where every single person blacks out for 2 min. and 17 seconds all at 11 am of one fateful morning. After the first episode, you'll be hooked. Especially cause of the amazing cliffhanger!

http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-29692008



It'll be called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, made with the help of J.K. Rowlings

I'm pretty excited to go here! It's opening up just next year, SPRING 2010! Apparently you enter in Hogsmeade and once you do, it feels like you're IN the Harry Potter world, and you can't see the outside. Supposed to be a really big project too, full with a ton of Harry Potter stores (Honeydukes, Zonkos, Three Broomsticks, Hogwarts Castle etc. etc.) with a bunch of cool rides. I really hope they do the place justice, and really make it immersive and huge!

So I'm guessing we're all around 20 or so in these forums, many older, many younger, but maybe the average is 20. I recently graduated from UAB and am currently applying to medical school. One of the most, if not the most, feared aspects of the grueling application process is taking the MCAT exam, a test that spans 5 hours, covering Gen. Chem 1 and 2, Organic Chem 1 and 2, Physics 1 and 2, and Bio 1 and 2, all in unfamiliar passage-based format. The test also has a Verbal section and 2 times Essays, all of which tests ones CRITICAL THINKING skills.

I've studied for this test for almost 14 months, spent $3000+ in prep. material, went over 20+ books, a 4 month long live class, tons of online workshops, quizzes, and a million passages, and about 35 practice tests.... I took it, and got a 27/45, in the 60th percentile. It crushed me, and I felt like giving up. But then I had to summon up the strength to retake the test, and after 3 months of 6+ hours a day of studying, I took it, and today, I got my score back... I made a 33, in the 90th percentile.

The tests curve is weird, in that, getting a 30/45 is like getting 80% of the test correct, but it'll still throw you in the 75% percentile or something. It becomes increasingly difficult to score over 30.

Looking back, this has been my greatest accomplishment (yes, even greater than making my game! JK  ​), but of course getting into medical school will overthrow this feat. I can't express how relieved I am about this, the test consumes you... and it has for the past year and more (its the reason why my game's been deadlocked in development in case anyone was wondering). Whenever anyone asked me to hang out, or I wanted to do ANYTHING, I had to have a mini-conversation with myself, on whether its smart to spend time doing this, when I should be studying more. I'm finally free from its chains, and it rocks epicly.

Just so this doesn't turn into a rant, what is something you guys have done that you're most proud of? Your GREATEST accomplishment in the short life we've had so far!

So there have been bouts where my sleep cycle has been bad. Like, going to bed at 5am, and waking up at around 1pm. Which isn't super bad really. Now however, I'm on a vacation up to boston, we're consistently sleeping at 10am, and waking up at 6pm. Pretty epic fails every time we get up. How abnormal is this? I have a feeling you guys' sleep cycles are pretty bad too.

So here's a new thread for the new volume, in hopes that it'll be better than the last volume!

What did you guys think? I was actually surprised the old thread wasn't updated, since everyone here seems to watch Heroes (why isn't there a LOST thread by the way?!)

I liked the episode, granted it's nothing new. Just another new version of The Company, except they seem to have gone FEDERAL here. But I'm glad Peter is getting his powers back, finally! I hated how he was so powerless last season - the epic hero needs to be... epic! I have a feeling this season might be Prison Break - Season 2 with super powers. But, hope they'll change it up!

Also, Fuller isn't taking over JUST yet. The next few episodes will be in the domain of the old writers I believe, so maybe the next few episodes won't kick ass which sucks, but then again, who knows! Here's to next week!

So I've recently gotten really into the GoW2 Horde mode online multiplayer action. BUT, as great as the game is, I keep getting booted for having lost connection to the host. Also, my game says I have a Strict Firewall set up?

Can anyone help me here on how to fix these problems? I know I lost connection to the host, anyway to prevent this from happening?

I looked up that to change the firewall settings you need to "input your ip address into a browser" and do some stuff. I have no idea how any of that works, can anyone put it step by step in stupid-people terms? Thanks a lot!

I know it's a weird question to ask at a forum here at GW: What forum have you moved on to leaving behind GW? After all, the only way to answer the question is to still BE HERE at GW.

What I'm essentially asking is, for members who have been here a long time, did you guys have a change  of interest, and left GW to join one more in line with your current hobby/passion? Did you do this, and then come BACK to GW? If so, what reason for did you leave, and why did you come back? Is there anyone who used to hold GW as their "primary" forum, but now visit it less often?

If you think you might leave soon, why?

I've actually left GW for a while, only checking the threads very occasionally. I used to be 100% Game and Demo when I worked on The Legend of the Philosopher's Stone, but the project is essentially dead, and the new thread that I have joined is its killer:

The Student Doctor Network!

Woo-hoo! I'm pre-med at UAB and it's that time to great ready for med. school. Since that's consumed my life, I have no more time for Rm2k3, and therefore, GW. I feel like I'm leaving a long time friend, but I'll be back here and there soon enough I'm sure!

So anyway, yeah, back to the questions!

Another jRPG with no thread yet, time to make one! So who has played Infinite Undiscovery? I was really looking forward to it, and was sad to see that it overall didn't get rave reviews that I thought it would. So hopefully Star Ocean 4 and FFXIII will take the bill instead. But regardless, I just finished ToV (clocked in at 54 hours just for the main quest, quite impressive) and wanted to pick this up!



I played about 3 hours of it so far, and it's def. not bad. I like it a lot, it's very different from any RPG I played before, primarly because of the battle system. It's like Kingdom Hearts but without... Donal Duck, definitly a plus. I always wanted to play an RPG with this battle system but one that wasn't cartoony, or didn't suck (Mana series?).



Can't say too much since it's just been 3 hours, but the battle system lags like anything. I dunno, it's weird. It's like, they intentionally put a brief pause before the sword slash? Cause it happens even when I'm fighting just one monster. I don't know, it's not too big of a deal for me, but still kinda sucks. The graphics are great though, def. next gen. material. The music is also really good so far, especially the battle theme, it rocks. There is however really bad lip-synching and a strange lack of voiced dialogue so far.



I have this weird thing were if I BEAT a game (defeat final boss) and watch the ending, I wanna' stop playing the game immediately. I don't know why. To unlock the awesome secret dungeon, Seraphic Gate, you need to beat the final boss, and load the clear data... and I wanna play the dungeon though! So what I'm gonna do, is after I beat the boss, I'll turn the TV off, and come back 30 min. or so later, and save and load the clear data. Haha, that way, I can go through Seraphic Gate, and then go beat the final boss again, and actually see the ending!  ​ 



Well, that's basically my consensus of the game so far, what are your thoughts?

Have you guys heard of this insane contraption?!





It's called the Large Hardon Collider:
-20 years in the making
-$4 Billion Dollars
-2000 Scientists

With this CERN project, physicists hope to cross a new frontier of knowledge by resolving questions of science. One, in particular, is pinpointing the elusive Higgs boson, a key “building block” particle that can help explain why all other particles have mass.

I believe they will be conducting this experiment sometime this October, where they'll collide two atoms at the speed of light into in each other, in hopes of discovering the very fundamental building blocks of matter, and why they have mass.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17399245

Frankly, I don't know TOO much about quantum physics, string theory, quarks, higgan bosons, etc. so if anyone does, shed some light on this in laymen's terms!