Hi all,

Recently purchased a PS3 Slim and want the full experience for my new house.  Won't have too much space and am only looking at 32" (I'm a firm believer in some TVs just being too big).  Must admit I don't know a huge amount about TVs or technology nowadays.  All I know is it should be 1080p, have a slot for an HDMI cable, a nice contrast ratio, and pixel resolution of 1920x1080.

Am not looking to spend a fortune on this but ideally want longevity from it.  This TV has jumped out at me as standing out from the rest that I've been searching, and is at a really good price:

http://www.electronicworldtv.co.uk/32_Samsung_LE32B530_Full_HD_1080p_Digital_Freeview_LCD_TV_469_d

If someone who knows about this kind of stuff could give some advice as to whether that will do the job and will give me the quality I'm looking for at a good price, or suggest alternatives then I would really appreciate it.

I really don't want a monster 42"/50" TV, 32" is sufficient and I know Plasma is supposed to be better than LCD, but all the Plasma TVs seem to be huge.

Thanks a lot!

I haven't been around for a while and was totally shocked to see the adverts that Spore was out last week - I just hadn't thought about the game for ages and there it was on the shelves.

My internet on my laptop is pretty screwed atm, and I might buy myself a copy soon once I get my new bank account details through, however will I need internet to run Spore?  Or are there pre-loaded creatures et al that could entertain me prior to me getting internet back on my laptop?

Cheers, and I couldn't be bothered to search so don't bother flaming.

Hi everyone,

I haven't been around here for a while, but anyway... I was round a mate's house with some other people, and we were playing his Xbox 360 which I must admit I was very impressed with.  The controls were sleek and comfortable, and considering I'm frankly terrible at games like Halo 3 on consoles and that I hadn't played video games for a good 6 months or so properly I picked it up really fast.  I was really enjoying it, and what with games like GTA4 and Soul Calibur 4 coming out imminently, it feels like a good time to be picking myself up one of these gems which don't need to be updated to get the most out of games, and which I am guaranteed quality with.

Is it worth forking out an extra £200 or so for an HDTV along with the console?  And which console should I get?  I'm leaning towards the Premium package because of the hard drive which comes with it, as it's only £30-40 more expensive than the Arcade package and those hard drives are stupidly expensive if you buy them independently.

So yeah, anyone's more knowledgeable opinions on the Xbox 360 and what I should be spending my money on would be welcome.  Cheers!

Can't believe nobody has made a thread for this film already.

I saw it today for the first time - it's brilliant, and DiCaprio was excellent with his South African accent as the diamond runner/arms dealer.  Really makes me want to exploit a poor African country and make a monstrous profit through unethical means... I think I've misinterpreted the message of the film.  Yah yah?

I'm just going to vent something that's had me kicking myself for the past couple of days...

Basically, a very good friend of mine (female) was round the other night, and the next day I was still drunk and very hungover (I'd drunk a hell of a lot the previous night).  Anyway, I was in this morning after state, and we ended up having a little cuddle (you know, as you do with your girl mates).  I won't go into detail, but I basically end up with my hand around her crotch area (I hate beating round the bush with these matters... excuse the pun!).  Now I have no wish for a relationship with this girl, and don't know what the hell gave me the impulse to do that (apart from my penis, of course), but the trouble is we're quite good friends (and screw it I was getting mixed signals anyway, I can never understand women at the best of times... if someone says the previous night, "Come upstairs with me... NOW!" then I interpret that as, "I'm drunk, I'm horny, let's ****!") and she didn't exactly make much move to stop me doing that.  I don't want her and she doesn't want me, and damn it I don't really care about the incident - it means nothing to me, but I'd rather it wasn't brought up in future conversation.

So... bring it up and apologise, and tell her that it meant nothing to me and that to me it's not an issue, or just pretend it never happened (I like this option)...

http://www.footballmanagerlive.com/en/article/88/index.html

Yes you read it right... a massive multiplayer online version of Football Manager!  Goodbye life...

Hi there,

Did anyone watch this show?  I know it's been going on for a couple of seasons in America.  I'm going to be on the UK version and we start shooting tomorrow.  What did everyone think of it?  Thanks a lot!

Hi everyone,

I require a favour.  My current computer system is at 2.80ghz, 1gb ram, 9600XT 256mb.  I personally feel that this will be more than adequate to run Medieval: Total War 2 when it comes out in November this year (hopefully!).  However, people on the total war forums seem to have a feeling that the game will be extremely taxing on such a system.  I recognise that i can't play the game on maximum settings, but i was at least hoping for low-medium settings with anti-aliasing/reflections/etc. turned off. 

My computer runs Oblvion, Half-life 2, and any other new game you can throw at it at reasonable frame rates, good graphical quality (to me anyway), and with no slowdown.  Surely that in itself is proof that it will be able to easily cope with Medieval 2?  There will be a demo for the game (confirmed by a developer), so i will check properly if it will then i suppose.  However, if that fails, then i'm going to have to buy a new graphics card (i don't have the money to go splashing the cash on a brand new system, unfortunately).  I'm based in the UK and would be looking at a budget of £150 perhaps.  AGP8X as well - i don't have PCI-Express.  This particular graphics card has caught my eye: (taken from http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.Asp?IMODULE=CTVX1600PROAGP512MB)

"The Crucial Radeon X1600 PRO 512MB AGP graphics card is designed to deliver outstanding entertainment and 3-D graphics through its unique ultra-threaded core architecture and Avivo video and display technology.

Details

    * Complete support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 and Shader Model 3.0
    * 512MB of DDR2 memory
    * 128-bit DDR2 memory interface
    * 12 pixel-shader processors
    * 6 vertex-shader engines
    * 500MHz core frequency
    * 800MHz memory frequency
    * Dual link DVI-I, VGA, and S-video connectors

Box Contents

    * CD manual/driver
    * DVI-I to VGA adapter
    * S-video to RCA adapter
    * S-video to HDTV cable
    * S-video cable
    * RCA cable
    * Power cable
    * DVD playback CD
    * Installation guide

Display Support

    * Dual link DVI-I connector
    * VGA connector
    * S-video connector (TV-out)
    * Dual monitor support via HydraVision™ 3

Operating System Support

    * Microsoft Windows® XP™
    * Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition
    * Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005
    * Microsoft Windows Vista™

System Requirements

    * Intel® Pentium® 4, AMD® Athlon® or higher with AGP 8X (0.8v), 4X (1.5V), or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (8X/4X)
    * 128MB or more of system memory for better performance
    * Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
    * DVD playback requires DVD drive and decoder software (software included)
    * Connection to the system's power supply of 350W or greater is required (power cable included)

Sophisticated Features

    * Avivo™ Video and Display Engine™ HD: Connect the X1600 PRO to home entertainment devices and experience vibrant image quality.
    * H.264 Decoding and Transcoding: Supports H.264 decoding and transcoding, delivering ultra-high image quality for TV viewing and home entertainment.
    * Ultra-Threaded Shader Engine™ HD: Supports Microsoft Direct X 9.0 and Shader Model 3.0.
    * Advanced High Dynamic Range: HDR with anti-aliasing, blending and filtering, text compression, and tone-mapping acceleration for next-generation image quality.
    * HydraVision Multimonitor Management Software: Tailors your desktop to manage increased amounts of information and improve productivity. Use up to two monitors and create multiple layers of desktop workspace with Multi-Desk.

General Specifications

    * Powered by the Radeon X1600 PRO VPU, driven by 12 pixel-shader processors
    * Full support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0, OpenGL® 2.0, and Shader Model 3.0
    * 128-bit DDR2 memory interface
    * 512MB DDR2 onboard (800MHz) memory
    * 2 x 400MHz RAMDAC
    * AGP 4X/8X support
    * Dual link DVI-I, S-video, and VGA connectors"


Any opinions on this card (£114 inc. VAT), and why i should/should not buy this card potentially would be welcome, as well as other cheap alternative suggestions.  Thanks a lot in advance, i really appreciate any help/opinions that you give me.