trueschoolalumni

By console gaming being ''dead as we know it'', I'm talking more about the unique way consoles gaming differentiates itself from PC based gaming.

Agree with some of what you're saying Happycow, but for me, the key differentiator consoles still have over PC is that one size fits all in terms of gaming experience. No need to upgrade video cards/RAM/CPU to keep up with min. requirements for Crysis 7 (not that I play FPS all that much, but you get what I mean).

• Secondhand fee is an issue, obviously.
• Loaning games can be kinda worked around with swapping profiles, but it's bit of a stop-gap.
• Dunno about you but most of my 360-playing mates have internet connections now. I use mine to stream video more than for games.
• Backwards compatibility is an issue, but that's why I bought a Wii - so I can still play retro titles and previous Zeldas.

So yeah, there are definite issues here, but keep in mind gamers are not the target market anymore.

Came 3rd on 2,087. If only I'd used my wildcard about a month sooner, I might have closed that 103 point gap to Northside.

Yeah, right.

As a Villa fan I would go for Lowton's for sure. But surely Loic Remy's sidefoot from outside the box is up there as well?

here

So who does everyone think is getting relegated? My money's on QPR, Reading and one out of Stoke/Sunderland/Wigan (again, I am biased).

I can kinda understand Wenger's parsimony in the transfer market a few years ago, in order to pay off the Emirates Stadium. However the simple fact is he needs to get his midas touch back, rather than buying middling players with potential but not world-beaters. Also selling your best players each season isn't a recipe for success (I should know, I support Aston Villa).

Having said that, here's a list of the biggest purchases in the last 5 years (anything over 5 million). What percentage would be considered a success?

Santi Carzorla - 16.5 million Andrei Arshavin - 15 million Olivier Giroud - 12.8 million Samir Nasri - 12 million Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - 12 million Lukas Podolski - 10.9 million Gervinho - 10.5 million Mikel Arteta - 10 million Nacho Monreal - 8.5 million Laurent Koscielny - 8.5 million Thomas Vermaelen 8.45 million Per Mertesacker - 8 million Andre Santos - 6.2 million

but, doesn't a lot of banned substances allow you to train longer and most importantly, recover quicker? so it doesn't make you a champion, but allow you to train and recover quicker which produces the results of a champion?

Yeah I stuffed up the quote linking, Mo - was quoting someone else. I agree with your viewpoint - doping adds significant performance to cyclists. I remember reading a piece with an Australian cyclist who watched guys just sail up the mountain, they were later found to be using EPO. Of course, he could have been crap, but you don't get to the TDF unless you're at world class level.

Damn formatting. Those were meant to be numbered.

if you're good without the juice. you'll be even better with it. if your crap without it. you probably won't be much better on it.

gear doesn't make a champion. its like 0.3% of the whole equation. genetics and training make up the rest in this case.

This was too good to pass up. Check out the all time best ascents of Alpe d'Huez from Wikipedia.

1. 37mins 35sec - Marco Pantani (alleged drug cheat, now dead from cocaine overdose)
2. Lance
3. Pantani
4. Lance
5. Pantani
6. Jan Ullrich (drug cheat)
7. Floyd Landis (drug cheat)
8. Andreas Kloden (alleged blood doper)
9. Jan Ullrich
10. Richard Virenque (drug cheat)
11. Iban Mayo (drug cheat)
12. Andreas Kloden

etc etc. - you get the idea.

Quakers - Quakers LP

redonkulous

The dude selling this bike said this one has a ''new shimano 105 triple crankset, shimano 105 front and rear shifters''.

So the other components of the groupset aren't new? A new 105 groupset retails for around $900 locally (less on Wiggle/Ribble etc.) so it sounds like it's too good to be true.

Check to see if the other components (brakes, derailleurs, cassettes etc.) are all 105 as well - generally takes a quick test ride to see if everything's working as it should, then look for the 105 logo on each component.