JsARCLIGHT

Much like Diet Mr. Pibb and Toilet Duck I avoid RT.com at all costs. I have nothing against them, I just see no purpose to go there... I'll only end up getting mad or getting someone else mad at me.

Mechamaniac, you bring a tear to my eye!

Thanks Tuco, we'll remember that!

I'm near the end and wishing I had those harder difficulty levels right now the first time through.

I took it into work this morning for a quick tryout while no one was there to hawk me to play it. Here is my rundown on it's operational abilities on various systems: Pent 3 1.2 Gig system with a nVidia Ti4200 64 meg card and 1 gig of ram This is the "oldest" box in my end of the office. It had lots of problems running the game smoothly at medium detail in "game res" of 1024x most of the time choking and coughing up like 15fps framerates. Setting the game settings lower to half and half lows and mediums and reducing the resolution seems to fix that problem to a degree but the game looses almost all of it's pizazz, looks blocky and still runs clunky... not too playable IMHO. Pent 4 2.4 Gig system with a Raedon 9700 card and 1 gig of ram These are the newest, common machines at the office. It seemed to run the game fine in best/best/best and only hung up once or twice... when more than three or four people would get on the screen with effects at once you could notice the dip in the framerate. I would say the game ran just fine for the casual player... but not for my caviar tastes. Pent 4 HT 3 Gig system with a Raedon 9800 Pro and 2 gig of ram My home system. Game runs in a very high res at 30+ fps in best/best/best. No slowdowns, no hiccups. I recommend having a really good audio card with a receiver and speaker setup to get the best sound out of it. I'm running an Audigy 2 with a denon receiver and KLH speakers. I'm a person who needs the game to run best/best/best at 30+ fps in high res with dolby digital sound to consider the game a good one. With the new uber titles on the horizon I'm starting to see Max Payne 2 as the precursor "you need to upgrade that old paperweight computer" game. I jumped the gun and bought my new box in foresight of HL2 and Doom 3 but now it is proving it's worth on the other new titles as well. And just to put the last nail in it, Halo looks like dog piss next to MP2 on a high end system. It really shows it's repetitious console origins.

Don't feel bad, I was bidding on it too but would not go above $45 until I saw how low it was going to be on other storefront sites.

Halo PC is horrid. The level designs are boring, the gameplay is tiresome, the graphics really show their age and the weapons selection is pathetic. All in all if Halo PC had come out when the original Halo on Xbox came out it would have been somewhat nice but now it is just a dated console port... you have to admit the game reeks of "console simplicity". The two monster things about MP2 are the video card and the processor/memory requirements. If you have anything lower than a pentium 4 2 gig or a 1.5 gig Athlon don't even try playing the game as it will bog like a swamp (according to most accounts I have read). When it comes to video cards the box says you can run it on a 32meg minimum card, but it says something else that pretty much contradicts that: 32 BIT ONLY. All the complex textures in the game are only 32 bit, which will kill most slow and outdated cards right off the bat. It reccomends a 64 bit Dx9 AGP card that must have Hardware T&L support. I'm running the card they claim the game was "made to be run on", a Raedon 9800 Pro and it runs in best/best/best with everything on just fine at well over 30fps. I'm taking it to work with me monday to see how it runs on some slower/older boxes.

That bugs me a little too, on some levels when you run through things and just start knocking everything over it gets to be a little too much.

After my horrid, horrid disappointment with that turd called Halo PC I was in the dumps, depressed, and wanting some nice bleak blood-soaked death to sate my lust for revenge on Microsoft for loosing such a suckass game on me. Then today at Best Buy... I saw it... sitting there on the shelf... calling to me... begging to be bought... MAX PAYNE 2: The Fall of Max Payne I have been playing it all afternoon and only two words have entered my mind the whole time. HELL YEAH! Followed immediately by "About F@*King Time!" and "Who needs sleep?" To anyone who has played Max Payne, this game is just more of the same... ON STEROIDS! Here is my review: PROS: - Third person view lets you see things that a normal FPS game would not let you see and do things you would not be able to do like look around corners without putting your head there, dodge, spin, flip and "dance" between bullets and just appreciate how intricate and fluid your player character looks and moves - The GRAPHICS are THE S#!T. Remember Max Payne 1? Forget it. Those graphics are crap compared to The Fall of Max Payne. Yes, you need a kick ass system to run the game with a kick ass video and audio card to even so much as play it... but the reward is sooooooo sweet. Minute details, blood splatter, photometric effects, fog, debris, physics, shell casings everywhere, player characters dropping mags you name it... as EA Sports says: it's in the game. - Play control is smooth, fluid and easy to learn... but the hard moves like shoot dodges, leaps while shooting and spins take some time to master. Old Max Payne players will have no trouble at all picking up the familiar controls and themes - GUNS, GUNS, GUUUUUUUUUNS! Every popular real world gun you could want is hiding in the game... Dual Berettas, Desert Eagles, Ingrams, Shotguns, M4A1s... and with added melee attacks and sniper weapons there is a gun for everyone! - The Noir. It wouldn't be Max Payne without the gritty, overacted and dark and moody "comic book" cutscenes and the hard boiled evil plotline. I'm only a tenth of the way through the game and loving every hammy cheesy and over the top black minute of it! - The Physics. Can I knock over that thing? Probably. Can I shoot that box? Yup. Can I somehow knock over that really big shelf onto the guys behind it? Ouch, that left a mark. - The level designs are pure reality and they feel very, very moody... from the hospital to the warehouse to the old Ragnarock club the textures and effects combined with the layout and playability of the levels make for one smart and fun to play game. - BULLET TIME THAT WORKS. Sick of the Enter the Matrix? Play this game. The originator of PC game bullet time does it right, again. It gives you just enough to be effective but not too much as to make you invincible. Max can do some crazy stunts in bullet time but they are all still somehow believeable... did I just dodge a burst from that Ingram? Yep, Somehow I did! - (this is a personal thing) the packaging. it is beautiful. Bravo Rockstar, you have impressed me again. Much like the first Max Payne which had a DVD case as it's package, this new installment has an even fancier two DVD cardboard and plastic folding case as it's package. Themed and well layed out it is a nice departure from the tired CD jewel case and booklet you get with every other game out there and it adds to the "noir" experience... makes you feel like you are playing a DVD rather than a game CONS: - Crazy, crazy, crazy system requirements mean that only the rich and powerful... or those who bought new computers like me specifically made to play games ... can run this thing and see it in all it's wonder. - The "adaptive difficulty level" feature is on and cannot be turned off, meaning the easy parts are way too easy and the hard parts, unless you are just kicking the computer's butt up and down the level, are also way too easy. Beating the game (just like MP1) unlocks the really, really hard settings which would balance the game out more... but not having that option at the beginning is a little lame - if you are looking for a non convoluded story, look elsewhere. The story of this game is so twisting and "noir" that some people will be laughing when they should be crying and crying when they should be laughing. The art direction and voice acting help a lot but sometimes the dialogue is just so corny and cliche that you have to laugh - if you have not played the first game you will be a little lost at the beginning of this game as it picks up right where MP1 eneded - NO MULTIPLAYER. That's right, just like MP1 this game has no online, no LAN and no Deathmatch. It's player one versus the story and that's it. - I will be honest, if you did not like MP1 then you will not like the sequel... but the opposite is even more true: if you loved MP1 then Max 2 will be a dream come true. MY THOUGHTS: Gee, do I really need this part of the review? Are my opinions on this game so elusive that you can't pick up on the fact that I think this game is boss? Well then... I think this game is boss. From the graphics to the playability to the bullet time to the dank, dark levels this game oozes style and "noir". It is cliche and played in the story realm but the true meat of the game... the gunplay and levels... are the best of the best. Being someone who has a kick booty system I will not fall prey to the insane requirements needed to make the game look good and play good but some may fall victim. If you loved Max Payne 1, if you loved GTA: Vice City (just without the cars) and if you wish Enter the Matrix did not suck the chrome off a trailer hitch then run out and buy this game. My rating: 9 out of 10 (not getting a perfect score due to the insane system requirements and no multiplayer) So what says you guys? Am I the only Payne junkie on this board?

I myself would not personally use a shotgun for home defense... too messy, too wide of a blast pattern. You'll end up taking out more of your house than the perps. Also keep in mind that in most states it is illegal for you to shoot someone who is stealing your property unless they present a clear and present danger to you or your loved ones. Basically that means if someone breaks into your house unarmed to rob the place you cannot legally shoot them! But if it is a home invasion robbery and they are armed and threatening your family then, as chief wiggum says, anything you do to them is nice and legal. Back on to your question though: The best shotgun for home defense is one with a short barrel (18") a decent magazine tube capacity (say more than 6 shells) and a short stock or a pistol grip. You want something as small as legally possible so you can better manuver it indoors. I myself would also recommend a self-loader (semicauto) so you don't have to keep racking the slide so much BUT it is proven that just the noise of someone racking a shotgun is enough to freak out most criminals so that choice should be yours. You'll want one that can take full 3" shells and I would recommend loading it with large buckshot "big game" shells, not bird shot. Loading it with slugs is pointless as you are going for the "shotgun effect", slugs would be just like a normal rifle which you don't want as a high powered rifle round or shotgun slug can go clean through walls and hit innocent people. I only own one shotgun, a Beneli M1 Tactical, which is in truth not actually mine... it belongs to my fiancee but it is in the safe next to all my stuff so my logic claims it as mine also! It's an OK weapon, sort of ungangly and haphazzard. Shotguns are more "volume of fire" weapons than precision pieces like pistols and rifles. With enough training you can be just as deadly with a pistol as an untrained person can be with a shotgun... and do less damage to the furniture if the unthinkable should happen.

I think I and Ali Sama bought ours at the same time last night from DeepDiscountDVD. They still have it for $59.99 with free shipping... that is the cheapest I've seen it so far. There have also been two copies on eBay, one is still taking bids and the other sold for about $69.

I've seen cliches that would turn you white! Some more cliches thought up during a boring client meeting today: - the good alien mistaken for a bad guy and is killed/persicuted with the final "moral of the story" ending - computers/machines rise to power and fight off mankind General action movie cliches that really annoy me: - heroes can continue to function after taking several bullet hits - guns never seem to run out of ammo - the hero can always pilot/drive any vehicle they get into like a seasoned pro - no one ever aims but they always hit what they shoot at - grenades and RPGs explode in a bright billowing and flaming cloud of fire and smoke - the gun will always be kicked out of someone's hand so a wrestle for it will ensue

I had the originals fansubbed on VHS years and years ago. I plan to buy the new set and see the show without the "bargain basement" subs. I have always liked the original SDC: Southern Cross more than it's Robotech counterpart and I'll be another one of those voices telling people to give it a chance if you have never seen the original. Remember, it is the most heavily edited of the three Robotech parts and just because "you have seen Robotech Masters" does not really mean you have seen SDC: Southern Cross. The price is about the only thing that will keep most people away so I'd say rent it if you have the option... if you can't rent then maybee someone will let you borrow their set.

My words of comfort to those who do not follow the "way of the gun": Don't fear the gun, it's just a tool. Fear the person behind the gun and what their intentions may be. Seems to me that most of us in this thread are ex or current military, law enforcement or have a good solid background reflecting training and respect for firearms. I make it a point to not associate with "gunfools"... we all know gunfools: the guys posing in front of a mirror with their guns, spinning them on their fingers, leaving them lying around the house, trying to shoot everything they see, etc. The biggest killer of legal gunowners is their own stupidity so everyone show their guns the propper respect. Oh and give Agent a hug, he needs some reassurance that we won't hurt him.

Was that gun semi auto? Cobray made hundreds of semiautomatic open and closed bolt pistol versions of their infamous submachine guns in the eighties under licesees like SWA, Lienad and Ingram. You might have had one of those... funny thing is those semiauto open bolt versions were the exact same gun as their submachine brothers they were just missing the sear and the folding stock. I've seen several of those guns that have had their trigger action bars worn down with age and now shoot full auto... dangerous dangerous guns those Macs, pieces of s#!t too. Yup, that's a federal crime. If those modifications mean demilling the suppressor so it no longer reduces muzzle noise then they are legal... if that modified word means "fabricated to funciton" then yep those are also federal crimes... ain't I a stinker? Interesting fun fact kids!: It is 100% legal for you as a private citizen of the united states to build and operate a firearm from scratch. The only stipulations are that the newly built firearm must conform to all the statures regulating firearm features (like the 1968 NFA regulations and the 1995 Omnibus crime bill) and that the gun you make must be ingraved with your name and it can never be resold or transfered to anyone else. So if you have the skills and the parts you can fabricate yourself a semi-auto STEN rifle from a length of pipe, I know people who do it all the time. As long as the gun meets federal laws it is 100% legal... some of those shop guns are really nice too, better than store bought! I'm drawing a blank. There are tons of PPK knockoffs out there chambered in .380 ACP like the Sig Sauer 232, the Feg .380 and a few others made in China. If Colt made one I can try and look it up for you.

You don't have to renew a tax stamp, they are a one time payment deal. He is most likely renewing an FFL or Class II/III license.

Seeing as I have helped some cops with their Class III ATF Form 4 paperwork to get automatic weapons, here is an exact list of the things that must be done to get one: - you must live in a state that does not bar private citizens from owning class III weapons (only about half the states out there allow them, and even those states it can be near impossible to get one without propper "connections") - you must contact the BATF and get what is known as a "Form 4 permit applicaiton for a tax stamp" (the class III permit is actually a tax stamp like the things you see on booze and cigarettes) - You must fill out the form completely (not much harder than your average NICS yellow sheet) - You must submit a recent (within the last year) photo of yourself from front and back along with a full set of fingerprints. - You must get a signed letter of approval from your local LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) of appropriate rank to approve something like this (it can be from the chief of police, local sherrif, local DA or anyone in the top end of the legal field. The ATF website has a list. This is the part of the application process that is nearly impossible for most people) - You must submit the completed form, photo and fingerprint cards with the approval letter with a payment of $200 for each Form 4 submitted to the BATF. - When your application is submitted it undergoes a federal background check performed by the BATF using FBI files. This process takes between 6 months and a year to complete. - Upon approval of your application the BATF mails you in a certified envelope your tax stamp paperwork with which you can legally purchase one automatic weapon, automatic sear or a registered receiver that will become an automatic weapon. - Limitations on what you as a private citizen can buy: due to the 1986 Automatic weapons act private citizens who have a Class III Form 4 permit can no longer own, build or be in possession of a machine gun or other like weapon or item manufactered after 1986. This means any and all guns you could possibly own must have been registered as a machine gun with the BATF prior to the law's enactment in 1986. That is why most machine guns on the market are all old. Anything that does not fall into that category is classified as a post '86 law enforcement only model or a post '86 dealer sample that are only ownable by law enforcement entities like the FBI and local police departments (NOT individual officers) or they can be held by a Class II/III dealer for transfer to those entities. Getting a legal machine gun in the US is one of the hardest and costliest things to do. Not only is all of the above true but most of the time you never find the gun you want in your state and you have to have it transfered from another state in to your local Class III dealer, which costs an additional $200 transfer fee plus all the other taxes. The cheapest Class III machine gun on the market is the Cobray (Ingram) M-10/45 (commonly called the Mac-10), you can get them for about $1,200 plus the tax fee, sales tax and any other transfer fees.

Back during the punk movie explosion in the late '70s and early '80s Post Apocalypse was the "thing" to do. Such jems as Mad Max, Escape from New York and others blazed the way into the big budget "What came after" movies... nowadays the concept of some post world war 3 movie is just laughable like The Postman.

Ones that bug me the most: - Firey Explosions in Space - Bright Colorful Lasers - Cute Robots - The Doe-eyed Young Hero - The Wise-cracking but loveable space pirate - Post-apocalyptic anything

Proof positive: It should also be noted that Dubaya's Executive Order banning the importation of anything made by Norinco in China will block this pistol from being legal to ship to the USA... Canada on the other hand...

Thanks for the backstory Graham. I had heard it was having teething problems. I just always assumed it was another one of those european models chambered in some odd "non military" caliber so it could be sold to the EU gun folks legally. I love my G21!

I just don't get excited about all the "new" 1911 designs. I've shot everything from Para Ords to Kimbers to Wilson Combats to Gold Cups... Graham is 100% right when he said those guns are a barrel of trouble. My old fashioned WWII 1911A1 is so loose that if you shake it in your hand you can hear the slide rattle on it... but it is near 100% reliable which is almost unheard of in a stock 1911 without tons of shop work. These old war horses were made to have loose tollerances like the AKM rifle, you know so a grunt could run it with a handful of sand in it and no CLP. All these new fangled "Race Guns" and 1911 specials have their tollerances so tight that one little miscalibration and the whole thing fails to extract and you get a misfeed, stove pipe or a jam. Much like Graham I've put about a hundred boxes of .45 ACP through my Glock 21 with only one misfeed. I like my 1911 for the history more than the application, the .45ACP cartridge is the real secret to the 1911. I'd much rather have my polymer frame 10 shot G21 than a heavy 7 shot 1911. Speaking of Glocks and .45s, has anyone seen that brand new Glock 37 pistol chambered in that new .45 Glock round?

I have a friend who has a new DEP .50AE mark 19... they improved a lot of stuff on those guns to make them easier to cycle and shoot. But they are still waaaaaaay too heavy and cumbersome to be an effective pistol, let alone use it for hunting or target shooting. The guns can only run certain ammo types due to their sensitive gas systems or they will hang and jam like crazy, if you so much as touch the magazine baseplate while shooting the gun it will jam, if you don't keep it cleaned like a show bike it will jam and if you don't go to the gym and work out four times a week you'll never be able to keep the thing held up at arm's length long enough to empty a magazine. My preference is for a "balanced" handgun, just enough power in the round to be effective and just enough size and feel to be easy to aquire and be comfortable. I like Glocks because they are nice and beefy without being too heavy or cumbersome. I especially like my G27 Baby Glock, I thought I would hate it due to it's teeny tiny size but it recoils just right to be very comfortable to shoot and the night sites are set up perfect for target to post shooting. I can zap the ten ring all day with my two Glocks. My classic 1911A1 WWII is a bit finicky though, mainly due to it's teeny tiny sights. I can manage 3 inch groups with it at best but then again that is still combat quality. I also have a thing for the "weird" pistols like the Liberty Arms Calico 9mm and 22LR, the "Space Gun" and the Bushmaster Armpistol. Those guns are so cumbersome and problematic to shoot they are best left as conversation pieces rather than functional guns... but they are just so freaky they are cool.

I'm just saying that when people find out you own guns they look at you in a totally different way. Pfunk is right, I have had friends walk out on me because they find out I own guns... cause you know, owning a gun means I'm a criminal and a murderer and I'm going to shoot you dead when you least expect it. True story: My fiancee came home from the range one day when some of our friends where over at the house. We were talking in the "basement" when she came down. She and they exchanged pleasantries and she walked over to the safe in the corner. One of our friends then asked her what was in that large thing in the corner and she showed them when she opened it to put her Beretta away. Needless to say they had a reaction. From that moment on the conversation was dominated with the usual non gun owner questions of "why do you two own so many guns?", "M16s are illegal aren't they", "What do you two modern people need all those guns for?" and my personal favorite "I had no clue you two were those kind of people". We never did much with them ever again from that point, they just stopped calling us and they dodged our calls. People are just so scared in such childish and irrational ways about firearms that I've tried to do my best to not even mention them around people outside of the occasional joke unless I know for a fact that I am in "like company" that knows it is the person that kills and not the gun. I value everyone's beliefs about firearms, even the people who don't like them. Heck, I wholeheartedly agree that not just anyone should have access to firearms, especially the military grade stuff I and some of my cop friends have... but we're all well trained and we're not going to go out and start shooting cats and fence posts. All I (and most legal gun owners) ask is that you please don't stereotypically pidgeonhole me as a bad person or a psycho because I own a few guns. And that is about as political as I get on this issue. B)

True, but guns are guns. I'm one of those gun owners who had the hard lessons about showing guns learned at an early age... some people just don't react well to pictures or even the mention of firearms.