Alls i can say is, thank god i finished MGS4 last weekend. Had this happened with the final Act left uncompleted, i would most likely be blogging a suicide note right now.

2.40; Sony's new firmware. Supposedly adds awesome new Trophy and XMB support to flesh out PSN's feature set. Not for me, sadly. My room mate downloaded the update earlier, and for lord knows whatever reason, our PS3 is now completely dead. It simply starts up, gets to the fancy wavy lines stage, and then... well, keeps up the fancy wavy lines. Indefinately. We called Sony up but they dont seem to have any answers now. They reassured me, however, that 2.4 is no longer available and thus this wont happen to other users. Yay?

I just hope they can fix it with a download or something, so i dont have to get it repaired. My PSP bricked thanks to a firmware update and they actually wanted me to pay to get it fixed.

RIP, Playstation 3. For now, at least.

The Xbox 360. Sure, it's nice enough. Certainly it's a heck of a lot nicer looking than the giant black box that was microsoft's original outing into the console business. It's definately a machine of the iPod years however, designed just as widespread love for apple's cool, shiny, glossy white gadgets was at its peak. Nowadays, big, white boxes dont really look so great under modern, black, flat-screen HDTVs.

But i'm not willing to upgrade to an Elite just because i dont like the look of a big white box. So i figured, with my exams being over and me having literally nothing to do until the end of september, i'd give modding my 360 myself a try. I expect to make a mess of it, but i've already found plenty of sites selling the plain standard case so i can always just replace it if i screw it up too badly.

I'm not planning anything crazy or elaborate, as that pretty much ruins the whole idea of not liking a big, garish white box in the first place. So i've decided it'll be getting a black paint job, but hopefully something more metallic rather than the fingerprint magnet of the PS3, or the dull matt colour of the Elite. I'm also going to tool around on the inside and see if i can fit an extra four USB ports in there, so i dont have to use the hub when playing games like Rock Band. If all goes well, i may even add some swanky LEDs.

I'll post pics of the remains of a perfectly good 360 when i'm done.

To be honest i thought stuff like this was a scam until my brother showed me the BBC story on how they're actually legit. I'm not holding my breath though, as while it may not be a scam i still doubt what they're asking of you is doable.

Basically, they will send me a free PS3 if i can get 10 people to click on this link, sign up for the free trial at LoveFilm, receive at least one DVD, send it back, and then cancel their account. It doesn't sound like much but it's really asking a lot when you think about it, of strangers to go to that trouble to get somebody else a PS3. Unless they too want a PS3, of course.

Still, i feel pretty bad anyway, as i really dont NEED a PS3 at all. My room mate has one. I have a 360. And we share the two, and buy games for both. He's decided we need a second of each, however, as one isn't enough when somebody else is using it. Talk about throwing money away. Hence, the desperate free-trial nonsense.

If it works, yay, if not... i wasn't expecting much anyway.

MGS4 -- AAAA or Nay?

So at first, Khansoul as all:

"AAAA? Hells to the no!", posting with his signature tooth pick, the pillar of healthy teeth and gums.

But then smokeydabear was like....

"WOAH hold up son... i disagree entirely. I believe MGS4 will achieve AAAA status with extreme ease..."

And in the spirit of system wars, the debate raged back and forth for months on end:

Some simply couldn't take the immense pressure of arguing one side or the other...

More resolved posters, such as smokey, took the debate to bold new heights:

"I swear i will freakin' kill myself if this game flops, with zero respawns."

Until finally, the gridlock was broken...

Many celebrated...

Others not so much...

However at the end of it all, to Metal Gear Solid 4....

Hello everyone. I wanted to post the screens from my bungie.net service record, but the forums over there move insanely fast so i figured i'd stick them here instead.

Mostly for my own enjoyment - but you can enjoy them too, five or six people who will see this.

It's probably best to do the ole' Right Click, View Image, seeing as i'm sure these will turn out compressed into some crazy shape when i hit "submit".

Epic explosion:

Me about to blow somebody up, aka "Boom Imminant."

See above, mid-air version.

Assassinating somebody with their own flag. The humanity...

We both jump...

We both.... assassinate each other? Is that physically possible?

Gravity. Aka "this cant end well for me."

The only headshot i have to be proud of... but come, it is pretty good.

Another headshot, aka "Argh, the front of my face."

Hello everyone. I just finished putting together my UCB - the Ninja Dojo - thought it still needs a little more work. It just opened up for posting, so there aren't many topics right now - that's where you come in!

Feel free to post and get things moving. It's a general off-topic forum so you shouldn't have many problems getting some discussio going.

Let me know what you think.

Link here