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Oh, that kind of role playing?

No point paying full whack right away when there's plenty of cheap games that can tide you over until the post-christmas crimewave fills second-hand shops with copies of the game and cheap PS3s.

1)    Talk to the Overseer but don't threaten him and he won't attack you.  Just leave the room and close the door.
1.a) I think he's African-American.

2)     Hamilton's Hideaway isn't a necessary stop to find the Family.  Just ignore it until later.

You are Stagger Lee and I claim my five pounds.

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.  I'm a bit bored with generic 'it's a bit medieval' fantasy settings, so I'm not as in lust with Fable 2 and Oblivion as I would have been when I was 14, but 'generic post-apocalyptic setting' is still pretty fresh for me, even if you can't shit your trousers in Fallout.

You can't use Steel Brotherhood Power Armor items until you level up and get the Power Armor skill, but until then, they're handy for cash, or you can repair them and stash them in your home in Megaton until later in the game (you get a home by disarming the bomb in the centre of Megaton - just take the Mentats to up your intelligence level before activating it).
The ants are annoying little bastards - best strategy is to stock up on frag grenades from the dumpster behind the diner in Greyditch, then take the ants out using VATS.  If you find the doctor in the train tunnels in Greyditch and wipe out the ants' nest for him, he'll give you an injection to turn you into an X-Man or something.
To get a healing factor, go to Megaton and talk to Moira about contracting radiation sickness, then stand in the water in the centre of town until you get over 600 rads.  Moira can cure you, but you also get a healing factor that repairs crippled limbs.

'Legally'?  I hired it from our local rental emporiom to make sure the bugs that supposedly cripple it are actually present and correct before I cough up my wad, and not just overzealous reporting on minor and/or infrequent PS3 glitches.  Not that I'm suggesting that the large amount of advertising Microsoft purchase and access granted to journalists that dries up after bad reviews inform any particular website's completely impartial reporting - and I'd certainly not mention Eurogamer and IGN by name - but the bugs seem to be nothing I haven't seen in Oblivion, and one screen-blurry thing that's actually a part of the way the game's designed.
I'll be buying the full package later today, bobble-headed thingy and all.

Played it a bit more - I have to admit I'm spending a silly amount of time just wandering the wasteland looking for stuff and having fights with Raiders.  It really is impressive in scope, moreso than Oblivion given the recognisable settings (albeit burned and irradiated).  Fave weapon so far is the laser pistol, which you can find if you search the supermarket by the river that runs through Springvale - just head straight through the town out of Bunker 101 and head right at the school.
It's a good idea to have a decent perception stat from the off, as tapping the R2 button as you wander around lets you focus on enemies you most likely don't even know are nearby.

God help me, I really am going to waste so much time on this game...

Anyone else playing it yet?  It looks tailor-made for sci-fi fans to waste a good portion of their short lives in front of the telly playing it, so I imagine it'll find a few fans hereabouts.

I like how it starts with the birth of the character and you pick the name and gender, then it flashes forward to age one and you're 'learning to walk' in a vague tutorial style-thing with nice touches like a baby's book that lets you decide what stats you want to improve.  Pushing the X button at this point makes your character burble baby-talk, too.
After that, straightforward RPG stuff for a bit, with a nice decapitation when I blew some fool's head off at age 19 - I think my character may have grown up a bad 'un.
I think I'm nearly outside the bunker where it all starts off on a quest to find Liam Neeson, we'll see how it goes...

Not seeing the technical issues I heard were a problem with the PS3 version, aside from a slight screen-blur that occurred when a system update for a download came up during a cut-scene, but immediately disappeared once the dialogue box did, leading me to assume it's supposed to do that in the first place so you'll pay attention to it.
Pretty polished-looking so far, but the bunker setting is still a little generic in terms of current-gen graphics.

Bit early to say, really, but nothing has been unenjoyable about it yet, though I can see complaints coming regarding the (seemingly optional) turn-based-ish combat system.

We should do a 'step too far' casting poll - what actor (or actress) if cast in the role of Doctor Who would convince you to stop watching the show, even to repeatedly come onto 2000adonline threads to tell everyone why you didn't like the current episode, the last episode, and why you think the next one looks shit, too?

James Nesbit.  If it happens, that show is dead to me.

There's a good mix of cross-generational stuff getting played, from Ike Turner's Rocket 88 to MCR's Teenagers, not just 70s and 80s mainstays.  Straits always get a response alongside Queen and Thin Lizzy, so the popular vote is in for them, I'm afraid.  Personal taste is another matter entirely, but where DS aren't the most rebellious of characters, I'm sure they've inspired the odd bit of anarchy in others, even if it's just men in the throes of a mid-life crisis.
The rest of the rock-night playlist is self-indulgence of the worst kind, although I have to admit I enjoy the blink-and-you'll-miss-it daftness of the odd Animetal track (Kamen Rider Black being a good one) and TV themes - hearing the complete lack of shame as grown men with families shout "Thundercats - HOOOOOOO!" is something else.

Seems Norton and I have a lot in common then...

You've both been bummed by skinheads?











I'm only joking, of course, but if this really is the case, that's quite horrible.

Down Down and Rain seem to be the Straits tracks that get the best response from what I've observed.

While I agree a certain amount of swagger and attitude is good for any rock enterprise, you can take it too far and end up defining the genre by it's trappings, and before you know it Will Smith is a bona-fide hip-hop artist.  I'd say Straits deserve their 'classic rock' tag, as Down Down always gets a response, their riffs are memorable and instantly recogniseable, and virtually anyone who's picked up a guitar has taken them for a spin.

Of course, I'll make a hypocrite of myself with four words: Manic Street Preachers - wankers.

Norton wanted the Hulk movie to be more like the comics, and fun as IH was, he ain't wrong.  It could have done with a bit more in terms of Hulk scraps, a bit more of a character for Bruce, and there's this bizarre sequence where the Hulk is hidden in shadow for his initial appearances, like the makers were under the impression people were going to be surprised when he turned up, despite the TV series, the cartoons, the comics, the high-profile movie from a few years back, the videogames, and the Hulk being in all the promotional material.

I don't think they'll do 'Demon In A Bottle' for the next Iron Man film, as Faverau has said that Hancock has ruined any hope of doing alcoholic superhero stories.  Armor Wars is my bet, if only to inevitably up the ante for smashy-action as sequels usually do.

All good picks so far!  The industrial stuff and Poguery comes under the 'self-indulgence' banner, but that doesn't mean they won't get played.

I don't remember some of it, but fortunately the laptop does!

Future-technology at a rock night?  Where will it all end?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu4hbkp4-Eo

Is this another of DCs 'Realworlds' series?  They did a few one-offs years ago, and I remember this one being mooted but didn't fancy it on account of the others being a bit pants.
Red Son is probably the best Elseworlds series, as it actually does exploit the premise with the extra breathing room three issues affords it.  The others are a bit 'meh' at best, with the odd highlight here and there like Batman: Holy War maybe worth a look.

Advance reviews of the PS3 version of Fallout sounds like it's bugged to fuckery, so I might end up playing through Fable 2 after all - but I'm rather disappointed that drawing out a fart until you shit your pants doesn't automatically make you a god in the eyes of F2's NPCs, because that's how it plays out in real life.

I'm quite liking the straightforward play mechanics of it at the minute, though it's too obviously a PC port to impress the Halo 3 crowd.