My reasoning maybe flawed and this might be a long shot, but please consider:

If you are a fan of racing games (Forza, GRID, Gran Turismo, Race Pro, etc.) like me, you always find joy in racing some of your favorite tracks -- Road America, Bathrust, Monaco, Monza, Le Mans, et al. Sadly, one of the world's most famous venues is under attack and may not hold another event until the year 2026!!! That place is Spa-Francorchamps.

Read article here

In my mind, real racing at these famous circuits allow us gamers to virtually race there. Sure it's possible that if there are no longer any real races there that the virtual version of the track will end up in future games. But it's the thrill of watching on television in the hope that one day you can step foot on such hallowed ground to watch in person...or even actually race there.

So I'm asking my fellow virtual racers to show your support to the locals in Belgium and please sign the petition...

Mfg Date 5/31/2006
Purchased 8/2006
RRoD @ 11:15 pm EST, Thursday, October 29, 2009


Today I mourn the loss of my first 360.
I was finally done with daily errands and was about to sit down to play Ballard of Gay Tony which I downloaded last night after the Oct. 28th NXE update. Turned it on and was greeted with an unwanted red smile that has ruined millions of people's day and night for the past 3 years.

And all I could do was laugh!

Laughed for 2 minutes non-stop. Laughed because of all the times I felt sorry for fellow CAGs (and Destructoid members) that have had this happened to them once, twice, three times before. Laughed because my big brother and his girlfriend have replaced their two units about 6-7 times total because they are hardcore gamers. Laughed because my unit has had its hiccups before Microsoft issued the extended warranties and I fix my 360 on my own. Laughed because Microsoft just recently extended...

EDIT: This was originally a forum post (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=209888) but unfortunately I wasn't getting any responses.
...So second verse, same as the first

NOTE: My apologies if anything I asked below has been covered elsewhere within CAG. I need to replace the hard drive on my laptop and it causes very frustrating delays when I'm forced to use it (which is daily). So I want to do as much as possible before the hard drive fails altogether and this was on my "to do" list.

Happy New Year, CAGs.

I love racing games and Microsoft's wonderful Xbox 360 wireless racing wheel, but have had several issues finding a comfortable setting when playing most games. Nearly always, I find the wheel is extremely touchy when slightly off center. For example, I'm thinking that I'm making a minor adjustment and the game thinks I want to fly off the course completely. Attempts at correcting the error quickly leads...

Despite the fact that the Bears sucked their way right out of the playoffs (Tampa Bay and Dallas lost which meant that the Bears could have gone as a wild card if they had won...OOOPS), today has been a great day of football (Thank you, NFL Sunday Ticket and DirecTv!)...except for Detroit.

But I digress.

Sooner or later, I was going to be hungry. That time came around 7:15pm. What shall I eat? That's kind of an easy answer to give once you know the situation. I'm single and live in the Midwest. What do single, Midwestern guys like to eat?

CRAP!!! (Too bad I didn't see this first: Two Baked Pasta Recipes)

So out of the freezer comes the first thing that looks good and simple, an unopened box of Ciabatta Bruscetta. Just in case you aren't familiar with Bruschetta, it's virgin olive oil, basil, butter & garlic spread, "Italian" spices (that's what the box said), parmesan & mozzarella cheeses, and tomatoes. It's...

Before you flip out over me writing a blog over this, no forum heading seemed like the appropriate place for this question. If you say otherwise, fine, everyone's entitled to their opinion. If you are a MOD, however, at least PM if you are moving/pulling/deleting/destroying/nuking/wiping your butt with this post.

Pretty please, with a cherry and whip cream on top, PM me first.

Anyway, I picked up my copy of TDK yesterday morning from Fry's (same price as Amazon plus tax, of course, but didn't have to wait for slowa** Free Super Saver Shipping) and was naturally excited to watch it again since the 3:15 am IMAX screening I went to on opening day.

To my surprise, the disc defaulted to the Dolby Digital "lossy" audio track instead of the Dolby TrueHD track as it should have.
(On a side note, why WB decided on a 16-bit "lossless" audio track when the source master is a 24-bit encode I have no idea. ...But, I digress.)...

Nothing like waking up on a Sunday morning to watch football, eat whatever the hell you want, and reading the ads in your local newspaper (especially the CareerBuilder classifieds these days). Should be a good day, right?

Well, until you find one of your forum post closed without explanation. Or in my case, try 5!

Yep, that's right. 5 forum post that I created were closed and not by my hand. Honestly, that isn't why I'm pissed and writing this blog. I don't have a problem with a MOD closing a forum that I or someone else created. I'm sure they have their reasons and are just following normal protocol for CAG. And IMO, that isn't anything to get upset over.

I do have a problem with a lack of communication though.

Did I get a PM from a MOD?
No.
Did I get an email to my personal email address attached to my CAG account?
Nope.
Did I receive any reminder of "The CAG Manifesto"!?
(I kid,...