o-BacklasH-o

For a 5th round pick this draft. WOW!

Oh boy. I hope my luck continues. I was selected for Home, Uncharted 2, and MAG's private betas. This would be the one I would really want to get in on obviously. The G.A.P. hasn't failed me recently, so hopefully that continues lol! I'm hoping for a pre-order beta too though, because that guarantees you get to participate.

You posted your standings a little early. The Hawks had fate in their hands. A win would have locked up the #1 seed (we hold the tiebreaker with the Sharks). Detroit beat us in OT though, so we have the #2 seed and the Preds in the 1st round. West Standings are now official: 1. San Jose 2. Chicago 3. Vancouver 4. Phoenix 5. Detroit 6. Los Angeles 7. Nashville 8. Colorado The East still has the #2 and #3 seeds up for grabs. If the Sabres beat the Devils in regulation they take the #2 seed. If the game goes to OT or the Devils win, they clinch the #2 seed. The Pens are already cemented into the #4 seed. 1. Washington 2. NJ/Buffalo 3. Buffalo/NJ 4. Pittsburgh 5. Ottawa 6. Boston 7. Philly 8. Montreal My prediction: Hawks over Devils in 6. To be honest I think whichever team gets the #2 seed in the East will have their hands full with Philly.

I'm so down.

No doubt Irish. It is quite upsetting that Microsoft is forking over a ton of money for exclusivity and time exclusivity rights for their games, especially when Sony cannot afford to match. Microsoft is a cash cow though, and they will do anything to get their product ahead of it's competitors. :'( There should be some kind of law against it lol. I'd feel the same way if Sony was paying for exclusive rights as well. It is depriving gamers, based upon which system they choose to play. Now I'm not talking about games like Halo, Socom, MLB the Show, or Gears of War. Those are games that will always stay with their system, much like Mario was with Nintendo, Sonic with Sega, and Crash Bandicoot with Playstation. The rights to those franchises are owned by the company corresponding to the platform. I'm talking about games that either have been multi-platform or are multi-platform, but favoring one platform over the other based upon money for exclusivity.

I balked at purchasing World at War after Modern Warfare 1, due to the series "backtracking" to WWII again under Treyarch. World at War was a solid game though in the time I played it. Treyarch has actually impressed me more now than Infinity Ward. Infinity Ward simply got lazy with MW2 and though the game has had much success, it is nowhere near the first. I will be giving Black Ops a fair shot when it releases. If it is a good game it will hold my gaming attention, as the same can be said for the upcoming Socom. I'm really intrigued by the "no commando" approach and non-stacking Kill Streaks. Also the series moving to Vietnam sounds cool and a new horizon.

Those are some really good thoughts Meaux and Prane (I removed the repeats from your quote Prane). The RA and M40 need to be back. I LOVED the RA-14 in S2 and S3. Also no day time thermal is a great call (it's unrealistic). Randomized public medleys is a good call too. I remember in Socom 1 and 2 logging on early in the morning/late at night and playing in random medleys when nobody was on. Medleys USED to be fun, but then they became systematic and boring of late. I would personally LOVE the S2 ranks to be back. Not the silly enlisted ranks that led to the many officer ranks that Zipper did in S3/CA. Confrontation's rank symbols were even worse. K.I.S.S. applies here. In Socom 2 if you were new (or a team killer) you had a butterbar or railroad tracks (ensign and Lieutenant respectively). If you were an experienced player you had a cookie or wings (Commander and Captain respectively). Oh and if you were an admiral you ranked up LOL. They made the rank too in depth, especially since rank really is irrelevant due to rank ups.

CDBS I'm at about exactly the same amount of kills (roughly 9,500 on the leaderboard with 73,000 kills) and I have NEVER seen my name "disappear." I've never even heard of it lol. MikeJaxon and I did notice that when you go to the leaderboard, every time your rank number continues to go down in the kills category, then magically poof you jump up like 200 spots. The cycle repeats itself over and over. So that part of your post I have seen, but have never experienced my name not being on the leaderboard. I wasn't thinking much of this issue at first, but now it has peaked my interest after your post. You say you have experienced this before. Now please do not take offense to the following question. Is this on the account that you "hacked" the 10th prestige rank? TheCaracarn stated that this guy is also a 10th prestige and is questionable. Maybe this proves he also hacked his rank, if it is an issue relegated only to those who used the hack. I have not had this issue (I am a legitimate 9th prestige level 70) and was asking around tonight if anyone else that I know to be legit had encountered this. They had the same answer as me, that they had not experienced it nor heard of it.

Yup, and it makes him more of a bargain. The Bears aren't going to pursue Marshall. As much as I hope and pray for it, that will not happen. If they trade up, I still think its a long shot they'll go after Benn (or any receiver in the 2nd). Angelo will address Safety with his first pick, I guarantee it. The only way that doesn't happen is if they have plans to bring in a FA Safety. Sharper is an option, but hates the Cover 2. OJ Atogwe is the likely fit, pending the money the Rams want to pay him. If they take Bradford and sign him big money, that could bring the price on Atogwe down. They have the chance to match any offer, but after spending a ton of money on Bradford, they might be hesitant to sign Atogwe to a large contract giving the Bears an opportunity to snag him. The Bears are in a really unfamiliar spot this year without a 1st and 2nd since the JA regime began. I won't rule anything out this year, including trading up once or twice. I'd be ecstatic if their first two picks went Benn then Morgan Burnett. I must be living on fantasy island LOL.

LOL BackCamp. More like Backrush&ownshane. Seriously though it's the same concept when the bomb resets as you are talking about when it doesn't. When it resets it goes to a place where anyone can have eyes on it from various places. Think of breach on Wasteland Large. That was HORSECRAP when the bomb reset and you'd have 5 enemies camping the bomb re-spawn point. You could say that takes away from the point of Breach. My point is it sucks when the bomb resets because the bomb carrier died during a team rush. Then amid a gun battle between the two teams for the bomb the bomb resets to somewhere completely away from the battle. Also Money I don't really remember the changes that were made to it really. By that point the game was already on life support if not dead.

The Yankees are a better team this year. There is no question about it. They lost an aging Johnny Damon, an aging Hideki Matsui, and an expendable Melky Cabrera...BIG DEAL. Damon was dying a slow death until New Yankee Stadium's right field jet stream saved him. They replaced Matsui at DH with Nick Johnson. Johnson is the PERFECT number 2 hitter for the Yankees. He had a .426 OBP last season. ANYBODY who gets on base 42.6% of the time in front of A-Rod and Tex is going to score a TON of runs. The intrigue with Johnson this year is he will only be DHing. He should be able to stay healthy and post a career high in At Bats. It appears he has regained his power stroke and he will be playing 81 games in Yankee Stadium. That bodes well for his power numbers. You can expect a batting average of around .290 with a ton of walks, with potential for 100 runs, 25 home runs, and 80-90 rbi. They replaced the Melk Man in Center with Granderson. Granderson showed he can handle Center thus far and he is a far more potent bat than Cabrera, with solid base-stealing potential. Not to mention they acquired Javy Vazquez in return for him (and prospects). They replaced Damon in Left with Brett Gardner, who will now start there full time. He showed what he could do last season. He won't have the "power" numbers of Damon, but he will have a similar average with a lot more speed. The Yankees don't need him to be a power guy in that lineup and as such he's a better fit. Winn is a 4th outfielder and Thames is a 5th. They are just added depth, not starters LOL. Their rotation is also a vast improvement. Vazquez adds yet another All-Star to this rotation that lines up: 1. Sabathia 2. Burnett 3. Pettite 4. Vazquez 5. Hughes Hughes showed last year and this Spring that he's ready for the #5 role and Joba is back to the bullpen, which SHOULD make their bullpen stronger if he can work his way into the 8th inning man again. Do you know what the difference between Vazquez and the combination of starters they used last season to fill out the back end of their rotation? They had Wang, Gaudin, Mitre, Aceves, and finally Hughes to fill the #5 role last year. Now you bring in Vazquez, a 15 game winner with the Braves last year, and Hughes fills the role for #5? Joba had only 9 wins last year and was VERY inconsistent, Hughes should exceed that mark and though he'll struggle at times he will be better than Joba last year. Vazquez replacing the rag tag group of starters from last year adds 5-10 more wins to this team and that is scary.

The first one was an instant classic. I played the single player countless times. The multiplayer was great too for a PS2 game. It was offline multiplayer, but it had a N64 007 fun factor to it. Back in the day I could play that for hours on end with the multi-tap and 3 friends. I've been watching this game since the PS3 launched and it was rumored to be a launch title. Red Dead Revolver was simply one of my favorite games ever. If it is even close to as good with improved graphics, it will also be a classic. It's been pushed back a lot, but finally May 18th appears to be the day of Redemption!

I agree with a ton of the above. Here is my list: -Get rid of the sprint. Period. Confrontation turned into a battle of who could be the lightest to sprint to a spot faster. -Bring back the real 1st person view (only see the crosshairs), not that ots crap Confrontation had when you zoomed in. -Bring back PMN mines. They were awesome and played a huge role in defense of an area, without extensive personnel deployment in said area. -UCCR's (like Crusty said, stands for User Created Custom Ranked Rooms). Every Socom aside from Confrontation had them. It somewhat takes the fun out of it having to play "unranked" to make a custom room. Moreover it sucks if there are going to be achievements based upon ranked stats if you have to join a default room to play ranked games(Ala gun unlocks, suits/skins, trophies, etc.). No game has ever been able to stop rank-ups from doing just that. It's unfortunate that it happens, but Slant Six's stand point punished legitimate gamers and rank-ups still existed. The cheaters will always find a way to exploit a game, do not punish real and honorable gamers for the actions of cheaters. -Weapon selects. Bring back the weapon select menu of old. Confrontations "retardo-wheel" was terrible and worked very infrequently. There was nothing wrong with the weapon select of old. -Reloads. They should NEVER stop because of a pebble. Enough said. -M203's...This is one of the FEW things Slant Six got right...Ban them from ranked rooms. -Outside communication. If there is a way to police this they need to do it. The vote feature is tough to take out in any capacity. I see your point in saying take it out for the dead Shane, but what if your team (when dead) notices a guy is cheating. You would then have to vote him at the start of the following round and would run the risk of a teamkill fiasco. If there is a way to take out the ability to receive PSN messages while alive, it needs to be done, though that may be a pipedream. -Sniping. Go play Socom 2, then play Socom 3/CA/Confrontation. Need I say more? -Jump sniping. Learn from what happened in S3/CA and have it fixed from the word go. -Not sure how I feel about knifing. I liked it in Confrontation, simply because it actually required some amount of skill and a close proximity to use. If knifing becomes like MW2 it will ruin the game though. -Jump climb. Needs to return. The lack of this feature ruined Confrontations version of DG. -Lean and subsequent grenade throw. Back to how it was. Shouldn't be an issue, since it never was for Zipper...only an issue for Slant Six -11 round games. No side switching. -For Breach points--Allow HE grenades (if they bring them back) and Rockets to blow up breaches. Maybe allow you to customize your locked C4 slot with one of the 3 options (C4, HE, Rocket). -Bomb dropping. When the bomb is dropped, it should stay there until picked up! No BS resetting. -Bring back the fun factor! That's all I have for now. Oh and please don't let that be true Last. Socom is not respawn, never has been, never should be. Respawn was practice/warmup, nothing more.

The only problem I've ever had or heard of with the leaderboard is "new" friends not showing up on the leaderboards right away, after adding them. I've never heard of someone disappearing from your list, unless they removed you from their friends list.

I thought it was going to be April 30th. :'( Another 5 days may kill me, waiting for these maps LOL.

Hell I'd settle for a trade up to get Taylor Mays. If we snagged Benn I would be ecstatic. He is very under appreciated. If he played for a prolific offense he would have been a top 20 pick and the next receiver after Dez Bryant. But he played with Juice....I would think Jordan Shipley in the 3rd is more likely, but they may have to move up from their pick in the 3rd to take him. I think Mays MAY fall into the early 2nd round. That relies on if the ViQueens go for a CB. That will make him much more affordable if the Bears were to move up. Morgan Burnett is a more complete FS though, so that may be the route they go. Either would be a great pick for us, but rumors are it will take Olsen to pry away an early-mid 2nd rounder. I hope that's not the case. Maybe a 2nd and 4th/5th in 2011 to trade into the 2nd this year. Keep in mind though during the JA regime, the Bears have only traded up once. That happened in in 2003 when we moved up in the FIFTH round to take Justin Gage. :-X

Good God what has this thread turned into?!

Dub how long are you going to be in Chicago? I'm down to clown for a night and I'm sure Prane is too. Maybe a few VR guys will make the drive up to hang out too from Central IL.

I just really believe when it comes down to it they are going to draft a playmaker in Berry. It's either him or Okung basically. The Skins have a really tough choice if Okung and Berry are still there, which they should be unless Detroit shocks the world and goes for Okung. I've been hearing rumblings about Trent Williams going to the Skins over Okung too. The Skins, like the Bears last year, are lacking on picks. If they learned anything from the Cutler trade, you need to protect your investment...We shall see. I can't wait until draft day. I read some bizarre story today that the Eagles may trade their 1st from this year and next year to the Seahawks for their 1st this year. They would then use that pick to draft Berry. Whoever lands this kid is going to be very very fortunate, that is for sure. I wish the Bears had a snowball's chance in hell at him LOL. :'(

It's a little early for NFL predictions LOL. I see the Skins easily leapfrogging the Eagles and G-Men though, especially if they land Eric Berry in the draft. Again, it's early. A lot of time before OTA's and Training Camp.

Interesting, 2 people picked the Yankees to miss the playoffs this year. CP who is your wild card for the NL, you have two listed. Also if the Cubs finish 5th (or worse) in the Central I'll buy you a UF hat Cp LOL. I love this thread though Crusty, because as the year wears on we can look back at who was right/wrong.

Way to start the season Zambrano... :-X Too early in the season to get upset about how ugly todays game was...Thank God for the off day tomorrow, our pen worked overtime today...

Washington offered Haynesworth for McNabb, but the Eagles turned it down.

Also the Reds are intriguing, but still a few years away from being serious contenders. I love Joey Votto, one of my favorite "young" players. Aroldis Chapman is starting in the minors, but his stuff is filthy. Cueto has the talent, but has yet to put it together for a full season. There's been flashes of greatness. Nobody knows what to expect from Volquez or when to expect him back from Tommy John surgery. He won't be back until after the all-star break at earliest. They better hope Baker doesn't ruin any more young arms...

Call me insane, a homer, a dope for picking the Cubs. I love being the underdog this season. It was such a quiet spring opposed to last year, fresh off 97 wins. This year the hype is down, but the talent is there. Who expected the Cardinals to come out and do what they did last year? Very few people...A lot projected the Cubs and Brewers a top the Central. This team is very similar to the 2008 97 win team. The bullpen is the big question mark here, as the loss of Angel Guzman was a huge blow. Let's face it though, our bullpen cannot possibly regress from the atrocity it was last year led by Kevin Gregg. Our lineup is still among the best in the NL, if guys can play to their potential. Remember this was a team last year that was without their BEST power hitter for over 50 games (A-Ram). Soriano played through injuries a LOT last year and struggled mightily after a hot start to the campaign. Soto was never right from the WBC. Very few guys that participated in the WBC had good years, in fact many had injury plagued seasons. I really like the additions of Byrd and Nady. Nady will be a 4th outfielder, but I love to watch that man hit the ball. Loved watching him when he was in Pittsburgh, and believe me he will play his way into starts if not a full fledged starter. If Fukudome or Soriano struggle, Nady and Tyler Colvin (STUD) are waiting in the wings Our rotation isn't any worse than last year. We lost Harden, BIG DEAL...He was a bust as a Cub. He pitched great down the stretch in 08, but couldn't find his form at all last year. Zambrano is a real wild card. If he can perform and limit the meltdowns, he can have his best season yet. That's been the MO on him for a few seasons now. Hopefully he's matured some. Lilly will be rock solid when he comes back in 2 weeks. Dempster needs to improve on his 09 campaign, though he put up respectable numbers. Randy Wells is confident and I really like his stuff. I think 2009 was not a fluke for him. Silva looks like a man reborn. This spring he put up real solid numbers, hopefully that can continue. He is battling Tom Gorzelanny for the #5 spot once Lilly returns. Gorzelanny also missed a lot of bats this spring, but his inconsistancies need to be fewer and further between. I think with the help of new hitting coach Rudy Jamarillo, Soriano can work back to form as he has vowed to do this season. Soto trimmed 40 pounds to get back into shape after a lackadaisical offseason last year. Aramis looks to return to form and D-Lee looks solid as ever. Fukudome is in his 3rd season in MLB now, so it's a make or bust year really for him. Fontenot/Baker are nothing special, hence why they will be relegated to the 8 spot for the better part of the season. Add in the new face and great clubhouse spirit of Marlon Byrd, subtract Bradley and you can have a winning formula. The Cubs have a very soft schedule to open the season and could build a steady momentum, dictating the pace of the season much like in 2008. A lot of people have forgotten how much potential this team has for success. To think of all the injuries and poor performances, individually and as a whole, last season and this team still managed 83 wins. That is an incredible feat. This is a team undoubtedly surrounded by "if's" and "question marks," but winning teams tend to work those out as the season wears on. We shall find out if the 2010 Cubs have that magic. My hunch is yes and I'm calling a 90-94 win season in the making.