BlackListedB
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Posts posted by BlackListedB
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Based on the game licensed trax or your own additions, or headphone simulcast?
I'd recommend Megadeth's 502
Can't stop loving Def Leppard's On Thru The Night, a master classic off High and Dry, but based on the first album title
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I've been lax on a few fronts, and I mentioned Decades TV a local CBS terrestrial digital channel new in operation the past year or so, documenting historical events like Wikipedia does on their landing page, a rather interesting formula given that it's archival programming from CBS and new and old features shown in 6 hour blocks. The 10 year anniversary for Hot Coffee was a segment more or less on video game violence, originally aired on CBS I believe.
Since I had issues replicating the broadcast, I filmed a DVD recorded playback and put it on my YouTube freshly uploaded tonight.
Another article on the channel talked about girls and gaming, tech, computers and their overall feeling of 'boring' in relation to the contrast of male interest, that was also interesting given how long ago it originally broadcast.
To this day I think Rockstar lost genuine talent who left after the HC fallout mess. It could have been avoided but in one capacity or another, GTA has always matured in it's content as it evolves, distinctly from chief competitor Saints Row which is not thought to be competition these days because Rockstar showed how adept they REALLY were at HiDef gaming
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Wow, I just happened on a Metallica concert and story intertwined on BluRay just as I was b-day shopping for my birthday on August 8, as a used disc, it was $16 in price, but includes a bonus BD-DVD as well as actual 3D (available via HDMI only) concert on disc 1
Metallica's iMAX filmed concert video is not new, hence my used disc purchase, but I had forgotten about it! hahah
In addition to that Bluray to add to my collection the original RED was also available (Retired. Extremely Dangerous)
Helen Mirren kicks some serious booty in both RED films! hahaha
Well, also to point out, I was offline on my birthday and making a trip to my folk's cabin as my mom had to be with her sister undergoing cancer treatment and it's not looking optimistic for her, sad to say
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Wow, I thought something the Don would say could wind up too big a foot in the mouth to remove, but anti-gov sentiment is part of the fury feeding Donald Trump's bid for the White House.
I've been following this as someone GREATLY effected by the recession of 2007, in fact it's been my mid-life crisis for real. Losing a job after 16 years really puts you in a tail spin about the future. Trump wants to rebuild America's world standing and it's own self-worth, but as John McCain made the mistake of saying too loudly, some Ultra right wingers as they're called, or 'Crazies' attach themselves to his campaign as well, I think as someone also outside of politics as usual that Donald Trump's main issues is more in dealing with non-US entities of which he's not that experienced.... His tough words on immigration and the Chinese or Saudi's might backfire as well as US citizen support, but so far, he's still getting people excited about how to improve the US as a whole, what do you make of it all??
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The straight up hard fact as I see it, it's really almost NOTHING to do with the users who joined GTAForums that make it intolerable and cruel, there are mean spirited users every now and again, but all my stuff was light hearted fun, and never mean spirited or really holding a grudge.... Life's just too short for that non-sense.
The problem that still exists is that staff by and large are egotistical snobbish, elitists, and it's just not right what they've done to usher people out of the GTA gaming community. I've been playing REAL video games longer then most all of them have been on the Earth... so it remains a great injustice that someone like me who's not there to rock the boat gets a ban for life, but they won't budge even now.... so the ban still stands. Most just like the fact without me there, they don't have to deal with me whether that's arguing a post or even merely READING one!!!
Absolute insanity if you ask me, and BTW, when I joined here it was marginally more active, but no where near GTAF's activity level. They have a worst case of Internet monopoly.
That also being said, Thanks to Chris I think problems here have been taken care of with calm heads prevailing and the intent of community above all... held to high standard, as it should be!
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What I applaud is the work of two or three people who with US resident assist work on the plotting for Rockstar's current crop of games, Dan Houser in particular as mentioned, he has a love of writing and story telling that in time, we'll see might give new ideas to video gaming over written work in books or other... and movies, the original inspirational sources
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I'd disagree with your tongue in cheek assessment in all seriousness, partly correct to some degree. Digital Photography is literally HALF the picture, if not one third, considering the birth of David Paul Gregg's optical disc medium (RIP), The optical disc was analog until the 5 inch shrink ushered in PCM digital Red Book aka 16bit CD audio we use even today to a lesser degree then Mpeg audio. (includes Mpeg2 and 3 and 4, By the way)
Digital photography had less controversy in it's growth period then digital video I'd say, partly held back by Copy protection interests, others felt the early efforts showed off glaring problems with pixelation, and this is true of both still and moving video and picture varieties. With the advent of acceptance now being 4K Ultra High Definition, we enter an era where DIGITAL FACSIMILE is more vibrant then the analog capturing of the same, to a degree where it's VERY hard to tell the difference!
Two key points where digital video fails and falls on it's face, DARK shades of gray, moving fast frames at times, and most glaringly, STROBE light effects, staging concerts for example, concert lighting can wreak havok with digital HD and SD. So don't discard analog hardware completely.
It's evolution only to one extent or another is kind of sad, but also offers particular high end professional and consumer devices that show it's strengths at the best it can be!
Hats off to the bodies of industry who have worked as the JOINT pictures group, what Mpeg and Jpeg are, Joint Pictures Experts Group and Motion Picture Experts Group, industry experts looking for approval for standards that can be shared and NON PROPRIETARY
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For PC, the early GTAs have the benefit of easy install and WIDE wide machine coverage (type and specs)
I still need to attempt finish of GTA 3, I did finish Vice City 2 or 3 times. San An was easy as well, but I do appreciate the bigger games in size and scope, the capability of player control and in ways, different methods per mission that allows an easier game completion.
One thing about Uncharted I didn't like was the puzzle complexity became much harder based on feedback from the first game, which was fair to level, but I think they ramped up the difficulty too far, there was an Expose The Answer option, but that's like cheating isn't it?!? hahaha
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Saw some of the HQ or HD demoes over the weekend for Uncharted's return to new consoles, It's looking that backward support for PS3 won't happen, but some demos appear rather lackluster, I'm thinking they could manage graphics that were somewhat watered down, shall we say.!?!?
I'd like to ask what you think of the long demos shown thus far and the rather long wait until next year for the next game? I love to see the returning cast, must say. Though I hold my breath about how long key lead characters can be reprised.
I think they hit a home run from the get go, and introducing new characters and keeping old favorites is fantastic, however the long demoes I felt were too much spoiler so I tempered my viewing!
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Cnet magazine IIRC, latest issue covers in brief, the most notable advances in 20 years to now, 2015, since 1995, think of it, I mentioned before, but it's safe to say Windows 95 and Intel Pentium, 200 and over Mhz processing ushers in the modern advent of computing, and all evolutions since are re-thinking those 20 years of electronic advancements.... and since April, 10 years of YouTube!!
Hell, yeah! I am celebrating YouTube a bit late with some new comments there tonight! Look for it! haha
Oh, and AMD fans, remember ONE SOCKET TO RULE THEM ALL!!! (???), yes, for a time, one socket could allow AMD or Intel,... or OTHER
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The book Jacked shed the most light, and astonishingly, Hot Coffee leads to and indicative of even more secretive nature Rockstar North followed with the public and industry back-lash. I remember from my experience, the outrage over killing hookers to get back cash spent on 'favors', this sparked the US violence concerns when Vice City GTA was the latest, we heard game pundits say you as game player are open to what game activity, in this regard, you under-take, not mandated by game plot, and there really was no nudity or cursing, this all followed in the wake of the outcry, Rockstar deciding they were coming under fire anyway, but they did under-estimate the USA legal matters and game industry, but with admiration for adult action USA Hollywood, including TV of course, Miami Vice the most obvious example.... Scarface was readily hinted at within Vice City as well.
I feel they should have at least worked more openly with the USA games industry, but they seemed to this day closed off from that avenue, in large part at least.
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Found what if memory serves is PC Gamer for Sept 2015, saying August 2015 issue gave GTA 5 for PC a 92% review, oddly low perhaps, BUT.... the main thrust of the back page articles currently in the long standing PC only gamer magazine revolve around their favorite user mods thus far..... and we had figured Rockstar would be closing down GTA and it's other games (RDR) to user mods, fearing cheating mostly invading it's hard built online communities... cheating and various other attempts to corrupt the normal gameplay and not offer other players a shared experience.
Worth noting if you're in the shopping mood near a news-stand
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Sam and Dan Houser's new way of running Rockstar studio, dubbed Rockstar North primarily, an outsider from World and USA game maker politics found out the hard way, your own way doesn't always work best.....
HOT COFFEE as a hidden mini-sex game unearthed July 20th 2005 this month in history caused the most angst and difficulty for the somewhat fledglinged company in all of it's history.
It didn't help that Rockstar even as DMA with GTA's first introduction...pre-introduction of it's top down classic... courted
Controvesy that was rather contrived at the time, due to connections and an idea that word of mouth rumor could aid the game growth outside of the normal avenue of advertisment.
I was reminded of what Hot Coffee represented and it's now 10 year discovery thanks to a new USA Terrestrial DTV broadcasting channel part of our local CBS channel expanding (for the first time) to TWO channels on digital broadcast (former restructuring of analog UHF and VHF TV airwaves to digital convention)
That channel is called 'Decades' and took some time getting going, for more then a month it had no sound and offered VERY old black and white programming, much of what it still does, but with main host Bill Curtis, hosts and hour dedicated to World events that happened on 'this day in history'.
The HC report they had was condensed with not as much on Rockstar and the Housers or the real story of Hot Coffee but how it effected video games evolution over all.
As I started this article, I mention the origins of Rockstar and DMA don't take into account video ratings as they stood for years prior.
Their main mission was moving video game evolution beyond where it had even been, but didn't do themselves ANY favors by staying 'clothed mouthed' and secretive, in fact the backlash against GTA putting them as 'deer in the headlights' made them more secretive then ever, and that sadly continues to this very day!!
I was there watching Rockstar evolve prior to San Andreas even coming out, and I remember flat denial that Hot Coffee was there, this was confused by what we, even as outside fans knew, and the idea of user mods, and Patrick who found the hidden code, basically accused of creating a mod, rather then finding one the studio created, this was the perception without his input, which put the spotlight back on Rockstar and exactly what was Hot Coffee embedded within GTA SA
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Is it safe? haha
I ask that of all downloads and dental patients.
There was one of the most amazing glitches in GTA V where if you fell off into the water at times (only in multiplayer that I remember) you would sink to the ocean floor and never drown. You could walk back out of the water and sound would return IIRC, but you could also walk to the very depths of the 'ocean floor' which I nearly did, but it seemed as massive a gaming mountain as those on land! (it appears like real underwater mountains in many locations around the landmass. While using scuba gear exploring, the same thing basically, the shark showed up and attacked. I was able to avoid the shark in one instance where I swam away at speed and then up and down as fast as possible, changing depth, this seems to avoid a line of sight for the shark
Tips you can use. If anyone knows more about the water glitch, reply in GTAV section prefered. For GTA III, the water is the worst graphical element of the game, but at this time, Rockstar North had JUST formed from the ashes (to put it one way, not literally) of DMA. The team was not experienced at 3D improved graphics and by now with GTA5, they're just coming into their own (compared to other studios who were jumping on 3D before Rockstar/DMA were
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Well, yes, I have to admit, I started over again mainly as a result of playing offline with tons of XBOX repair units, I have something like 6 20GB XB HDD units, I've been trying to sell, but also before completing GTA V I've gone into different profiles for each system (I was buying used Xboxes AND Playstation 3 units, and I'll likely take in a used Xbox1 or PS4)
I don't know exactly what prompts doing it over so early into the 100 or so mission story line, but part of the reason is my main game play .. I explore nearly endlessly, and as you know, that means UNDERWATER as it does on every mountain and hill. Getting to know the geography in hopes it's like the back of my hand at some point. But I also feel the plot and cut scenes do account for the most action in the game, more buildings being closed off and far less chaotic action then in past GTAs (improved AI to blame)
Anyway, yet to get the PC version, it's likely to continue for me... and I took a long long break from GTAOnline and have to delve back in with both feet!! hahaha
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I actually made filming (camcorder) references to GTAforums that were intended to express my opinion squarily and get uploaded to YouTube where fair rebuttel can happen in an online context where everyone can express themselves in the fairest way possible, but largely I never did upload those. I was always hoping someone could reverse the harsh decision against me there, and the main hope still resides in the annual pole where 20 people (a tie) voted for me as most missed member.
I'll take the time here to say, THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT guys-gals! It does mean the World to me. I may never meet you in person, but a friend is a REAL person just the same, someone who values your input!
BTW, Scott...welcome back, I joined only after much malignment at GTAForums, 9 plus years accounting for nothing to some of those a**hats! Anyway, The people with a REAL chip on their shoulder are staff with ban hammers and a bad attitude, I found NONE of that here, though there has been some judgemental replies... I warrant that perhaps to youth.. but I'm more then twice your age, nearing 50, I can tell you honestly, I would never forsake the fun of video games as they evolved for some other past-time, like golf or fishing, F-that! You're never too old to have fun, and I grew up in the age of video games REALLY evolving from expensive coin op to home computer versions, and as far back as the late 70s with the first APPLE II PLUS machines I was keenly interested in what they brought to the table
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Tommy Vercetti most famously voiced by Ray Liotta left me thinking like a lot of fans to Rockstar's decision for famous voice acting AND real musical artist licensing to breath a giant breath of fresh air into the GTA franchise, but like many of you, it's not only interactive video gaming entertainment that moves me, it's also music and film. I was already a slight or casual fan of Ray Liotta's intense characterizations, but like a few actors, he's not the only or first to do something and then move on, never to take a personal moment to look back on their work, some are even made very uncomfortable by watching themselves in such a manner, however, with a cartoon or animated film, or as in this case, a game is much the same case where only your voice and it's myriad of inflection influence the character as such.
http://www.gtagaming.com/news/comments.php?i=1777
I'm posting this blast from the past to express that I still hope the test of time for video games and the body of work might coax a retro-active response from Ray Liotta and others about their work, and get a chance to look back on the impact.
Let's keep hope alive.
I'm all for actors and artists getting revered for their life in the arts, Lifetime achievement awards and anything similar, preferably of course.... BEFORE they pass on. That way they can share in the celebration. David Letterman's talk show host career ending was much like this type of event, though may never happen for someone like Ray who's something of a character actor, he has been cast as the leading role plenty of times, and I like to think GTA; VICE CITY is in that caliber exactly!
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USA audiences, like me, stayed up to watch our own version of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, that was David Letterman starting on NBC, running for 11 years, and then in 1993 thereabouts, going to CBS to add to his legacy of thousands of shows, and memorable moments, for a glorious total of 33 years.
The gap tooth Prince of Late Night as he was known early on, is stepping down to concentrate on life with his son and wife, spending more quality time at home, HOWEVER, he joked that this may not be the last we hear from him. I tend to think that to be the case. I remember him joining the late Bob Hope for one of his specials in the 1980s, and though his schtick was the same, he felt well removed from the confines of his show, yet it was just a sampling of comedic genius, which is, quite frankly... NEVER ENOUGH!!
God Bless you, David Letterman, you've impacted all of pop culture more then mere words can say!
[image] http://www.tvweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/late-show-with-david-letterman-title.jpg[/image]
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I don't know how to title this different then the main body of content, but RDR according to a Tweet email heads-up I got, says that RDR is up for it's 5 year anniversary, half a decade. 2010.... as well as the first sets of added value content, embellishing a game that some felt was too big for it's initial offering of things to do, a fairly vast map invited other additions and weapons as well as a complete new take with Undead Nightmare, nothing like that which has ever graced GTA as a franchise.
Rockstar San Diego did so well, most of us have clamored for another full sequel or prequel. It's also worth noting the general release (since it covers 2 years between consoles with additions) the game was supposedly in development for a few years before hand, perhaps dating back to 2005 in reality.
It's been too long for me to recall the source, but it did also have some fall out where programmers wives of the SD branch had complained to the press about the horrible job hour pressures, which of course, we hope isn't something plaguing the programmers constantly for our benefit!
The bad press doesn't get discussed much because the GTAF stance has been not to offend Rockstar themselves, apparently I was told they got word from some of the staffers who guested at times or visited GTAF over their long history as a forum (forgive me in mentioning as well)
As a result the real story of how the games came to be remains clouded in rumor mostly, but we do know there's a clear evolution from Red Dead Revolver, which merely scratched the surface, and I'm excited to see how GTA and RDR can evolve as the tech just keeps getting better!!
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It was no joke for Sony who lost 100 American greenbacks per unit as they started implementing BluRay without compromise (for a lesser SKU as suggested in the press and by consumers) It was in reality, the right move to counter the lesser contingent supporting HD-DVD, however, HD-DVD I can tell you from personal experience in use, it's no worse for wear as far as HD films go, it's just that BluRay has proven more effective at doing more then movies! haha
As an aside, if you love quality audio as well as video, help find and support what's out there in the catalogs for Super Audio CD from Sony and the DVD Audio format, if you buy a Panasonic brand player, you're likely to get DVD Audio decoding, if you buy Sony surround equipment, you should be able to decode SACD, both stereo and surround. DVD-A or DVD Audio is the better choice like BluRay however, as it simply does more then SACD can! They both sound fantastic for pure HQ digital audio though. The sad fact is the public went ape for streaming portable MP3 codec music, while it's severely handicapped by compression. SACD and DVD-A look to do away with that and offer the highest digital quality possible that I know of.
Then there's DTS alongside Dolby Digital.
DTS started in theater surround as a sync'd disc along with the motion picture film projection, but it became adopted standard for DVD as well, so you'll see it used for high quality film on disc as well as plain DTS audio CDs, they do not play any other audio tracks however, DTS takes up ALL the available space!
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You're right about the time line in regards with Sony's commitment to BluRay via Playstation 3, setting a precedent for optical disc introduction via PS2 and 3, Blu Ray was the major cost, costing Sony $100 USD per unit because they couldn't get a sell through price consumers were up for as Panasonic learned some years before with the original 3DO (Goldstar, now LG, made their own version of 3DO hardware)
$599 I believe was the original SKU retail price.
Nearly a year after Microsoft Xbox360 with plain-jane DVD-ROM
What locale are you in where there's no HD retail?
Did you have access to HD-DVD prior? (Xbox expansion drives were oddly supporting non-gaming only)
I'm most happy that BluRay can be used for HD expansion based on it's size I suppose.
With PC's graphics cards offering capability for the new format, I imagine, should be somewhat easier for PC home theater users then those who want stand alone
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I didn't see this was so dated a thread, but I try and do my online character as close to myself as possible, since I'd like to envision an alter-ego if you will, impose yourself into the virtual game environment, that said, however, I still do everything I would refrain from in the actual World. As for how characters behave, most of their characteristics I assume you've gleened from the plot cut-scenes, since they could have any number of modus operandi that appearance belies
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BB King... aka Blues Boy, has sadly passed on, PBS station giving more to the story then I first heard informing of his demise.
BB King has been an institution of American Blues guitar and vocals. He was not only big in stature, but MASSIVE in influence. Words of reflection in the news by way of Facebook and Twitter came from Eric Clapton, Mike McCready (of Pearl Jam), and others, but the good side is his tenacity at performing and setting an enduring example and influence.
He lived to the age of 89, and for several month was off the road suffering from the effects of his diabetes. He was in hospice and died in his sleep.
I expect a number of tributes, and I'd expect all guitarists to have some feelings on the matter. In his book, Don Felder told of seeing BB King ... just barely, in the 1960s, at the end of the decade, if memory serves, and the large influence it had on him... Not only was Don Felder a key Eagles guitarist for many years in their heyday, but he ALSO TAUGHT a young Tom Petty guitar!
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This is worth sharing, Good news and some bad... as a new standard on top of HDef as we know it, a new player and RECORDER?!?!? Is required for UltraHD playback of movies and that means a spendy deck and possible media available to take advantage of it. The UHD sets aren't terribly expensive given the cost of original DVD and flat screen sets. HDTVs and scalers for example.
I remember it well, being a home theater nut with no cash to invest. Prices for HDTV started at $6000USD and went up from there!! Scalers were required for getting content input looking good on the TVs from a myriad of sources.
Anyway, the upshot is it's backwards compatible. But I wonder if this means an attaching BD Ultra drive for Xbox One?! (I bought two HD-DVD externals just to get a power adapter I needed, and both of them worked as it turned out! haha)
Pay to Play personal story
in GTA Online
Posted
Not really a general comment on this game or Rockstar, but I have to inform anyone interested....
I had a family matter detaining me from online and dealing with Paypal's dissolution of marriage from eBay
Not only was THAT an issue, but add also the untimely switch over from scratch cards for Moneypak (Greendot) allowing easy money conversion to Paypal account online billing. I finally got things more organized but just as easily could have had serious problems because Paypal's ownership for working out direct issues with it's customers and it's organization is a shambles if you ask me, they like a lot of companies want everything automated online without human hands on crisis management. While computers are good because they don't need real sleep or food to live ...ie, function, there's simply no substitute for humans interfacing directly.
That said the email help I got was greatly effective, and changing to a text capable Smartphone (with less minutes but 'unlimited data'?!?) allows more automation on that end.
I was delayed paying for Xbox Live and as such, GTAOnline service for two months!!
I got on the horn with Paypal and told them to make sure my bank to PP balance addition be used to pay those two months, and after two business days the deed was done,
No penalty as I was half expecting but hoping not to see...
Good news there.
I have to say, tying your bank account to Paypal has a side benefit, no more fees to transfer cash as is the case with Moneypak cards. Those switched to Visa/Mastercard Debit by the way, The scratch off numbers on the cards were deemed compromised by way of fraud techniques that would target gullible people Typically the older set who are less tech savvy. I personally think this requires user diligence over far reaching policy changes like abandoning scratch off cards, I think people just being aware of scams and what to expect in those cases could avoid being taken to the cleaners in the first place.