MLB Front Office Manager

Take yourself in to the ballgame! MLB Front Office Manager lets gamers do everything a real-life baseball GM can do to develop a team from Spring Training through a full MLB season, into the playoffs and the World Series. Using Major League teams and players, gamers will create their own fictional baseball universe and build their reputation into elite status. Gamers can replace aging veterans with rookies, scout the Minor Leagues, make blockbuster trades, and even participate in bidding wars for posted players from Japan as they make their way to the Hall of Fame.

MLB Front Office Manager offers two distinct game modes. Become the GM in Career Mode, and manage a team through a 30-year career that will hopefully lead to the Hall of Fame. As your knowledge and skill progresses over time, gamers will gain points to improve various areas and help the team win games as a result. With Online Fantasy Mode, create an online head-to-head management experience. With up to 30 Managers in the league, gamers can compete against friends to see who has what it takes to be the best.
A true baseball general manager also acts as a mentor in MLB Front Office Manager. Legendary Oakland Athletics’ GM Billy Beane will offer advice, encouragement and guidance as gamers steer a team through the intense competition that is Major League Baseball. Billy Beane is considered one of the most talented GM’s in baseball today and has turned the Athletics into a consistent postseason contender since being named GM in 1997. Now, in MLB Front Office Manager, he passes that knowledge on to you, the gamer.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars GM dream
Here is a game finally geared to the person who really doesnt care much for playing the game as much as setting up a team and dynasty. You can pretty much do anything. Its great that finally a baseball game has REAL aspects of contracts and the roster functions such as Rule 5 draft, Arbitration, the 40 man roster and player happiness. Player ratings are even much more accurate. Instead of the typical ratings of A+ or a 98, Players are rated on the Baseball scouts 20-80 scale. (20 is lower quality minor league and 80 being Major league all star)

The game seems basic at first, but after you begin the career it gets down to the nitty gritty. A lot of information is thrown at you and it can be a little overwhelming. I had the misfortune of buying this game without having a PC controller which made navigating the screens very difficult and almost annoyingly hard. (HIGHLY recommend the Xbox PC controller as the buttons on the game and in the manual are geared specifically for it)

Again this game is for the person who likes building up a team and loves the intracacies and in-depth realism of Baseball, the game of numbers and cunning, OFF the field.

1 Star A Terribly Flawed Attempt
Even though you can’t actually pitch, bat, or field in this game, the chance to simulate being a GM with real players, trades, waivers, free agents, the Rule V draft, and sabermetric stats, and then watch the games, sounded like fun to me. It’s not, though, because it doesn’t get any of those things right. For example:

1. The statistics are incorrect. If your starting pitcher gives you two innings, but your team wins the game, the starter still gets the win. The game is filled with misinterpretations of the basic rules of baseball, like this one.

2. There is no way to sort players by their skills. Clicking on each player in every league one-at-a-time, and scribbling the results on a spreadsheet, makes the game unrealistic and tedious at the same time.

3. The players, especially the stars, seem to have been assigned skill levels based on random chance, rather than an appraisal of their abilities or statistics. Also, players’ skill ratings change dramatically from year to year, often with no relationship whatsoever to their age, health, or stats. (Using the realistic 20 to 80 rating scale is great, but the ratings the game assigns to the players are random, and change randomly.)

4. Unlike in real baseball, you can immediately trade anyone you just signed as a free agent. In real baseball, you have to wait until midseason to trade a free agent that you signed that year.

5. Unlike in real baseball, you can call up to the majors and send down to the minors players (who have options) without the mandatory ten day waiting period.

6. No lists of top prospects, either in the aggregate or by position, are maintained. (I’m not convinced that the AI is sufficient to figure out who the top prospects are, anyway.)

7. The AI is far more artificial than intelligent. Top prospects like Mat Gamel are placed on waivers in 2009 (without any reason, such as an injury). The computer-controlled general mangers lack distinct philosophies and strategies.

8. Even if you create your own players or edit the existing ones, you cannot use your edits in all aspects of the game. The players you create or edit are restricted to certain game modes.

In short, this game is not worth your money; it wouldn’t even be worth playing if it were free. In my opinion, it is the direct result of the lack of competition in baseball games that began when MLB sold the exclusive rights to make baseball games to 2K Sports.

2 Stars If this is the life of a GM, count me out
When I first heard about MLB Front Office Manager I was very excited. I’ve always enjoyed the management aspect of sports games and usually spend much more time managing and toying with the rosters than I do “playing” the sport itself. Enter MLB FOM. My sports prayers have been answered, right?

Not really. I’ve played through one season, and I can’t even bring myself to get through my second offseason as a GM (I’ll explain below). So with out further ado, lets get down to the good, the bad and the OMG what where they thinking?

The Good:

The interface is clean and the options are incredibly realistic. It runs pretty smooth. Anything you could want management wise in sports game. Not only can you offer arbitration, participate in the Rule 5 draft, and scout the world for talent, but you can also offer incentives, control your 40 man roster, and run every imaginable aspect of a baseball front office. You get frequent email updates informing you of various things around the league, but these quickly become a nuisance.

The Bad:

Where to start? The music is bad but that doesn’t really matter. Trades are horrible. Its nearly impossible to trade for anyone, even when they are on the trade block, unless you grossly overpay in talent. What’s mind bending is that when the AI makes trades, they seem to be almost laughable, but when a real player gets involved, the gloves come off. There is no way to gauge a players interest in resigning, an by the time you know they aren’t interested in your bid, they have signed with someone else. The menus are tedious and you can’t sort by things that really matter, like overall talent rating, the ability to hit for power or average, etc, on most screens. In fact, the only way to find out a players skill ratings is to go player by player and look at their info on a separate screen. This makes scouting for hidden talent in other teams farm systems incredibly time consuming and not enjoyable. The fact that the players don’t seem to evolve during the season regardless of how good or bad the play throughout the year. The only times I have seen ratings change is when the calender goes from Dec 31 to Jan 1. The big problem with this is that you can vastly overpay for players when you resign them or nab them on the free market. I resigned a 2B to start (rated 50, more on that in the next section) only to see him drop to 35 Jan 1st. he went from being my starter to not even making the MLB squad. Ratings should change before you resign players or sign free agents. Also, most teams seem to resign their free agents before the signing period starts, so there are very few good options to upgrade your team in the offseason.

The OMG What Where They Thinking:

The three things that drive me crazy in this game: The way you resign your own players, the ratings system for players, and random “game manager mode.” First, resigning players. Negotiating your MLB players is fine. What kills me is negotiating with all the minor league-ers in AAA, AA, A+, A, and SS (rookie league). The problem is that every single minor player will gladly except a minor league contact (does not count against your budget) for 1 year. If you offer more than 1 year they will reject you 99 out of 100 times unless you offer a lot more money. The problem? You have to go into every single player and offer them a deal. This wouldn’t be so bad if the game left you at the screen where you resigned your minor leaguer. But, instead, it jumps you back to the MLB tab. So you have to click on the minor league level tab every time you want to resign a minor leaguer. Whats worse is that you can’t even sort them by overall talent, so you have to look at each player individually before going back and offering a contract. So if you have 25 players at each minor league level (5) and then you have to click three times per player (once for the level tab, once to check their ratings and once to offer them a deal, you are looking at 375 clicks. It became so time consuming that I gave up before I finished with the AAA squad. Secondly, they ratings are very strange. They range from 20-80, where most games range 0-100. The problem here is that you end up with the vast majority of players falling between 45-55. Anything over 60 is a “great player” and 70 or over is elite. Somehow, Mark Texiera is only rated 60! In fact, the only player rated 80 is that certain picture the Yanks threw a ton of cash at earlier this year. Its just a very odd way to rank, makes some players seem ranked well below their skills and makes you feel like you are overpaying for everyone. Lastly, there is a mode where you can “manage” your team on the field. You can’t play anyone, its greatly sped up, you can’t really “scout” your talent, and the presentation is horrible. I really wonder why they added this feature at all. It would have ben better if they added commentators or something. Also, on a side note, you can’t even focus on certain players to help them develop. I could go on but i’ll stop.

The Verdict:

If you are looking for a game that resembles work more than it does entertainment then this game is for you! You get the feeling as you plod along playing this game that 2K Games just threw this game out there to milk the last untapped segment of their MLB License. There are so many things that could have been better. One thing I didn’t rant on was the interface. They took this game directy from their XBox360 platform. I mean this literally, and they didn’t even bother to remove the xbox icon buttons telling you how to differnt things. If you do decide to get this game make sure you but a PC Xbos usb controller. Also, many of the features seem like they should have been side notes added to their main flagship, MLB 2k’9.

If you are looking for a great gaming experience that mixes fun, game play, and management AND you have a PS2 or a PS3, save you money and buy MLB The Show 09 when it comes out. Its the best baseball game out there, has many of the management features that this games has AND they have added the rule 5 draft and arbitration for the upcoming release.

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Flight Sim X Gold

See airports come to life, the daily buzz of cities below you, or rural life with livestock and wildlife in their natural habitats. This installment of Microsoft Flight Simulator X delivers more than 80 missions to choose from, challenging the gaming skills of players of all levels. With a comprehensive view of the world from 100 feet to 100,000 feet, you can choose what to fly, where to fly and the conditions to fly in, with detail that has never been seen before in games.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars First time for Flight Simulator [Played Three Days Straight]
Fun once you’ve downloaded the three disks. There are over 5,000 Airports, 30 planes plus three if you buy The Gold Version, and Loads of Missions to fly. My Favorite Feature is Free Play. You can take off from your Hometown Airport or any other and vist landmarks like The Egyption Pyramids, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Niagra Falls. You can download any plane you want online like UFO’s, Futureristic Fliying Cars, and my favorite, a Thunder Bird version F-16. I love this game. Make sure you buy a controler like A Saitek X52 joystick and throttle. This game is unplay able witout one.

5 Stars Make sure you have a good videocard!
This is very easy to install and configure. It can be very easy or very difficult depending on how you set it up. Great graphics if you have a good video card otherwise turn the graphics options down.

1 Star Beware
The graphics are awesome. The simulation is great. Lots of fun.

You get all that….if it works.

Beware, if you do not have a stable, up-to-date, top of the line system, it will not work. If you have a computer over 1 year old running XP or Vista, it is most likely will not be stable. If you cannot or do not do windows updates, you are not current. All your drivers, video/audio cards need to be current.

Your video card needs to be at least 256 Mb, 512 Mb is best. You need at least 2 Gb of memory, 4 Gb is best, with dual core and at least 2 GHz speed.

If all of that fits your situation, and you are still interested, make sure you get it with the Acceleration package. It has the SP1 and SP2 updates and some fixes not available anywhere else.

Hint.If the short-cut icon does not appear on your desktop after the install, you may have problems. Also, if your do an uninstall, even a REVO uninstall, it will not be completely uninstalled. Microsoft should give you a complete list of the things you need to do to do a complete uninstall, because each time you do a reinstall, it will just make things worse.

I got my FSX and ACC package for XMAS along with a new Saiteck top of the line joystick and pedals. Along with the FSX book for pilots. An outlay of around $200.

I installed the FSX package and not the Acc package, It installed ok, but would not start up. So, uninstalled it (MSFTs recomendation and my first mistake). Installed it again with the Acc package, this time it started up but I would get a fatal windows error when trying a few things.

My computer is a Notebook and is a ‘gamer’ notebook. Pretty much top of the line in terms of performance. Got it in March of 2008.

After doing several uninstalls and reinstalls, I called MSFT support and paid the $39 fee for help.

After about 10 days of trouble shooting and trying this and that, MSFT finally told me I would have to do clean formatted reinstall of vista.

MY registry was so contaminated with FSX entries that it would take a life time to remove them all. The REVO uninstaller, which is the most complete freeware uninstaller in the business (even used by MSFT), could not clean up everything.

Not doing the Vista reinstall, now haggling with MSFT to get a refund.

Good luck,

Kent

4 Stars Great Level of Realism
This flight sim goes to the next level of realism. Very nice!

The only problem I have is that finding information that will let you know what the best system resource is used for this simulation is very difficult to determine.

5 Stars Flight Simulator X-Gold Rocks!
Game loads and runs smoothly. Lots of lessons / tutorials to teach the basics, which is very helpful. Graphics are great.

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The Oregon Trail 5th Edition

The Oregon Trail 5th Edition takes you along with a family as they travel 2000 miles along the legendary Oregon Trail!

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Does version 5 Oregon trail work with windows xp?
I want to buy this for my kids new computer, but I need to know if it works with xp thank you

5 Stars We love this game
I wish there were more history games like this. My kids love it. It is buggy. The trick is to save the file often so you don’t lose all your hard travelin’ work.

5 Stars Its been years since I last played it, and it’s still the best!
The last time I played this game was around 1989 when I was in junior high, and it’s still the best game ever. My best friend and I used to play it all the time. I don’t remember if we ever beat the game, but it was always fun playing. I bought the 5th edition of this game, and just today I finally made it to Oregon! It truly is the best game ever created.

5 Stars Still A Great Game!
I always enjoyed playing this game when i was a child so i bought for my son. I have as much fun playing it as him. Still has a lot of features as the original, but also alot of improvements. Nice clean game without the violence & profanity. A must buy for any grade school kids!

5 Stars No problems, son and his cousins love it.
I read some of the 1 star reviews - I feel sorry for them, but did not have any problems. Installed on both computers in our home, laptop and desktop running xp professional. No problems ever. It does take a long time to set up, so I do it and save it for my son who is 7. He needs a little guidance, but does it mostly himself. Lots of superfluous extras, but still good. My last experience was with the original version in sixth grade 25+ years ago on an Apple. This is MUCH improved. We really enjoy the game. If you buy a second small wagon, you can carry more. Buy oxen (6 or more for one wagon, 10 for 2) to carry the weight. Do not use the Conestoga wagon - it is too heavy regardless of what the pictures show. Do not buy any furniture or any heavy iron items. Hope you enjoy the game. Make sure you use your skill points at the very beginning, they really help.

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The Sims 3

Sims 3 goes steps further into breathing new life into your Sims. With greater opportunities come greater challenges to raise your Sims, as you want. Is it possible?
There’s more to your Sims’ lives in The Sims 3. Enjoy the challenge of short-term and long-term goals and then reap the rewards! Based on personality traits, skills, and career choice, your Sims have short and long term Wishes that provide constant fun challenges, things to do and achieve. You have the ultimate freedom to choose whether or not to fulfill their destiny, giving them lifetime happiness and rewards. Will your Sim attend the right training exercises, salute the right military personnel, and skyrocket from a lowly Latrine Cleaner to a high-flying Astronaut? Will they hit the sports stadium, impress the talent scouts, and make winning plays that catapult them from a Rabid Fan to Sports Legend? Maybe your Sim will perfect their guitar skill, headline concerts, and be worshiped by legends of fans who propel them from the life of a Roadie to Rock Star status. Your Sims’ destinies are up to you!
In The Sims 3, your Sims’ lives no longer revolve around the home. Open the door and discover a new town alive with possibilities. Every Sim has a unique personality including your Sims’ neighbors, co-workers, and friends. Your Sims can meet new neighbors on a brisk morning jog; visit their best friend’s home for a dinner party, take the family for a day of sun in the park, or even take that hot new Sim they’ve met for a romantic sunset picnic on the beach. Cultivate life-long friendships and stormy rivalries. As you explore your Sim’s surroundings, who knows what might happen! Your Sims might run into an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, a long lost pal, or a fierce rival. The town is open for your Sims to explore! The neighborhood itself has a personality, created in part by the unique personalities of the Sims.
Create Sims who looks like you or an

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Shattered Suns

Cushioned between two giant nebulae there lies a fertile region of space known as the ‘Cradle of Life,’ from which all known life emerged on seven distinct worlds. Each world developed in isolation until one species on each planet developed the intelligence and technology to explore beyond its terrestrial boundaries. After thousands of years of space travel, all seven intelligent species developed a long history of trade, immigration and cultural exchange. But all this changed with the development of space gateway technology, which allowed ships to travel vast distances instantaneously. As the second Imperial War comes to a close, the known universe is carved up between two great empires. The last free sector falls to the overwhelming might of empire and a rebellion is born. Fleeing from the conquering occupation forces, one brave captain finds the means to hide and survive until the time is right to fight again. You are that captain, Captain Max, and with the help of the underground resistance, the black market and countless brave citizens longing for the return of their freedoms, you begin to build a new fleet of freedom fighters. Your hopes are that his minor rebellion will grow into a massive uprising, but that hope is far from certain. Unknown to you is that new undiscovered technologies may lay hidden that will play a part for good or ill in the uprising and that eventually, betrayal may have just as significant a part to play.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star SHATTERED INDEED…
This summer PC Gaming was one disappointment after another. Unfortunately SHATTERED SUNS is no exception.

The graphics of this game are so dated and simplistic that I had to go back to the original Empire Earth to find something to compare them with! Homeworld 2 and even Homeworld: Cataclysm (a decade old game mind you!) had much better surfaces, shadows and afterburners. Not to mention gameplay…

SHATTERED SUNS interface feels clumsy and counterintuitive. One needs to micromanage everything as the AI (if existent) has flatlined. The camera will leave you seasick. And the advertised “ship customization” is nowhere near the Galactic Civilizations 2 standards: you can simply add defense or attack points to your predesigned ships, that’s it! Lucky us they did not decide to name them “hit points” and “THACO” and hype it as a space cRPG…

On a final note, the relative speeds of planets and ships is a joke - but this game has much bigger problems than…relativistic inconsistencies. No amount of patching can fix this one.

My advice: go with Sins of a Solar Empire instead, or, even better, replay the Homeworld series.

1 Star Very disappointed
I am very disappointed. I thought it would be more fun then it is. It can be very difficult at times to control where you are wanting to go.

1 Star A Giant Step Backwards
I was given this game as a gift, so at least I didn’t personally get ripped off. But this is awful. The game controls are clunky and non-intuitive, and the graphics are utterly primitive. Late-80s DOS space games had graphics almost as good. The options for strategic design are weak and not well-detailed, despite the product description. It’s hard to believe that such a low-quality software product is being sold in today’s market. Stay away.

1 Star OMG
I played Homeworld a long time ago. After that there was Homeworld: Cataclysm and Homeworld 2. All three of them were great games and provided tons of three dimensional fleet battles. Other games came after that as well. They were clones and IMO were not as great, but each of them tried to improve upon the concept of three dimensional space conflict. One game that I remember specifically was O.R.B. (Offworld Resource Base) It was a little bit of a step up but I remember that it got a lot of flack because it did not do enough to surpass it’s Homeworld counterpart at that time. It was still kinda fun but it was a ‘too little too late kind of thing’.

Shattered Suns… is a game that does not improve upon any concept in use today. In fact, it goes so far as to backdate graphics, camera control, playability and compatibility about TEN YEARS. Thats right. This game sucks so incredibly bad that the first ten minutes I was honestly wondering what the back story for the games development was. Who would honestly sit down and say to themselves ‘Okay, the game does not have ANY of the advantages or playability features that EVERY SINGLE 3D space RTS game IN HISTORY has had. Lets just ship it for twenty dollars less and a little note that says we’ll fix your game later when we have the time.”

I tried so hard to find the good points of this game. I really did. There was a hope that the ‘Ship Customization’ portion of this game would go one step further then all of it’s predecessors by allowing players to make their own ships. If that was true, it would be the only part of this game which equaled or surpassed every similar game in the past ten years.

Unfortunately the ship customization feature consisted of (Shields + or -) and (Armor + or -) You see… you customize the ship by spending resources on this ship. Customizing is as easy as clicking on the plus icon or the minus icon. But even that is a pain as they make you click on armor first and then on the plus button. Additionally, if the unit does not have the correct research to accomplish this, it doesn’t even tell you. It just highlights in red and sits there. Nothing about this game is intuitive. Docking a ship with a moon requires that you select the ship, click the follow button, click on the moon and then unclick the follow button so that the ship actually docks with the moon when it gets close enough instead of just following the moon around.

That is a direct quote from the tutorial!!!!

Seriously guys. In the words of PCGamer, Avoid Like The Plague.

4 Stars Give it a chance…
I guess I’m going to be going against the grain here, but I really liked this game. I think that it’s getting fairly negative reviews because a lot of people are just turned off by the graphics, and I suspect that others just don’t get the controls. It takes a bit of getting used to, but after some learning how to deal with objects that are constantly moving I find that the game has a lot to offer.

I really like the huge range of customization that the ships in the game afford the player. Rather than the standard one or two different versions of a unit that most other games in the genre have, this game really lets you customize a ship to a great degree. There are literally hundreds of different combinations you can make to a ship, and that customization is accurately represented on the ship model in the game. It’s pretty impressive how many different units you can have flying around, all with a specialized ability or task that they are equipped to handle.

the use of moving planets is a cool part of the game, and it really makes this different from most RTSes that give you a standard playing field to wander about in. Depending on if you’re a run-and-gun type of player, or a careful “turtle” who holes up to build your forces before attacking, you face a vastly different battlefield due to other planets rotating into close range. Since I’m a turtle, it kind of keeps me on my toes because I never know if I’m safe or not.

Most people out there aren’t going to go crazy over the graphics, but I’m not one of those people that really cares too much about these things. I think a lot of people like to claim that “it’s not about the graphics”, but I think that if this game had a bunch of whiz-bang effects they would have rated it higher (I’m not just talking about here on Amazon, but on the gaming sites as well). The graphics were fine to me, but my computer isn’t a tricked-out rig so I don’t really go for the graphics-heavy titles anyway.

All-in-all I really like the risks that this game took, and I think that it offered a good path away from the same-old stuff like other games in the genre. It seems that a lot of people aren’t willing to give it a chance, but if you’re into an RTS with a deep customization scheme and a lot of different offensive tactics, you should give it a try.

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Call of Duty World at War

Go to war in the final tension-filled, unforgiving battles against a new ferocious enemy in the most dangerous and suspenseful action ever seen in WWII. Call of Duty: World at War completely changes the rules of engagement by redefining WWII gaming. It brings an uncensored edge to combat, as soldiers face the most harrowing and climatic European and Pacific battles. From the remains of Russia and the ruins of Berlin, to the beach and jungles of the deadly Pacific Theater, the volatile action takes on added depth as you employ new features that previously were only available in multiplayer, including perks, rankings and online stats in up-to full four-player cooperative gameplay.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Bought 2 copies and feel doubly stupid
This is my first product review ever.

I actually bought 2 copies of this game so we could play co-op over the LAN.

I was such a COD fan. COD1, COD1:UO, COD2, COD4. They were all great.

COD5 stinks. I can’t believe that I can’t get my money back. We have two computers that easily meet the minimum specs, but the game is essentially unplayable with incredible long, long load times and choppy performance if you’re patient enough to wait for the game and level to load. We both run COD4 at the highest settings with super smooth game play.

I combed every forum and tried every possible fix. Forget Activision’s own site. It’s worthless.

I think I’ll put the DVD’s in the shredder. That’ll surely be the most fun I’ve had with this game.

4 Stars A good WWII sim, with Co-op
I know the software developer got raked over the coals for Call Of Duty 3, but this was a good game. By splitting the 15 missions between the Eastern Front and the Pacific Islands, you get to alternate flavors.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Call of Duty “limitless enemies until you move to the next checkpoint”, which is one of the few things keeping this from a 5 star rating. If you attack a small bunker, Japanese soldiers should not be able to continuously pour out of it like its a circus clown car. But the overall game is tense, action-packed and has a wide variety of missions.

The zombie level is a bit disappointing after playing Left 4 Dead, but still an interesting spin. If the loading screen didn’t announce what it was, it would have been a fun one to surprise my friends with who had just got the game when we did a LAN session.

The flamethrower is great for the trench fights. You SHOULD be able to pick one up from a German flamthrower that you headsniped, but I guess they are saying it is too much for your Russian peasant brain to handle. A pity that. Plus, it seems strange that the Russian you play is considered to be quite the hero, yet he never gets past the rank of Private.

The single player was enjoyable, but coop brings it to an all new level. Most of the time I am stuck with single player due to time constraints (playing on a laptop at lunch) but online and LAN games are the best. I am very glad they made a coop mode, instead of just the team versus team or deathmatch modes. Now, how about a sequel letting you play as Germans or British in North Africa?

5 Stars COD has done a good job again
All I can say is I am still playing it and it is cool with the zombies, flame thrower, bazooka and bayonet action. Graphic are good especially when you use the flame thrower. Thank God they made a PC version I have them all now and hope the next one they dont wait to put it out in PC as well as Xbox playstation versions. The game is worth playing.

2 Stars No Controller Support
I picked up this game for PC because I really enjoyed it on XBOX 360, but don’t feel like spending the money for the console. The box for this game states that it has game controller support, specifically support for the XBOX 360 controller when used via USB in a PC. This is not the case, and the PC version actually offers no game controller support, despite the fact Activision says it does on the game box. Just a heads up. I was pretty disappointed, and got a pretty lame excuse back from Activision when I inquired about it.

4 Stars Great Game
COD5 is a great game with great graphics, especially with DX10. If you can find the game for under 40 bucks– get it, u’ll love it.

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Rock Throne Drum Stool

360-Degrees Swivel Seat / Sturdy Chrome Plated Base and Rubberized Feet

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Fantastic!
Bought this throne for my “Rock Band Drummer”son for Christmas. Great product, saved my stools, fast response time for delivery, good price, great value.

4 Stars Keeps you up.
While this isn’t the most sturdy, it serves its purpose. Easy to adjust and comfortable to sit on.

5 Stars Excellent!
The Drum Stool makes me feel like a real drummer. It sits a bit low so it took awhile to get used to. I love it!

4 Stars Good for Rock Band play
This is much better than the piano stool we used before for our son to play drums in RB and RB2. It is much more comfortable and it can swivel (or not) as the user chooses. I am unsure if it will hold up to hard use. I guess we’ll see.

2 Stars Not tall enough…..
Stool doesn’t go anywhere near high enough for reliable use for an above-average height (5′10″) guy to use with the drum set. Returned it within a few days.

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Warhammer Dawn of War II

Experience intense hand-to-hand & devastating ranged combat / Command an elite strike force / Co-Op Multiplayer / ESRB Rating M Mature Customize your Space Marines with persistent leveling and unlockable special abilities Utilizing Relic’s proprietary Essence Engine 2.0 to deliver cinematic visuals, detailed graphics and special effects

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SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition turns you into a citizen, a criminal, an architect, a mayor, even a god — bringing you deeper into SimLife than ever! As you create railways, ferries, plan out streets, you also get to use that transportation in a series of great new driving missions

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Greatest Game Ever
This has to be the greatest game I’ve ever played. I’ve had it for almost five years, and I still play it. Unlike most games, it doesn’t get boring after you’ve played it a lot. I love it, and I’d definitely recommend it.

Also, ignore negative comments about lack of autosave and crashing. If your computer is up-to-date and powerful enough, you will have no problem. If not, turn down the graphics settings and just save a lot. I used this game on an incredibly terrible computer for years without ever hating it.

4 Stars Great Game, but somewhat limited…
I ordered this game over a year ago and was really looking forward to it. I really don’t play games like this that often, but thought this one looked interesting. There was one problem right off the bat… the game didn’t have the registration number. I tried calling EA to get one and I never got past their crazy automated phone service. I honestly don’t think it’s possible to talk to a person there. I had to mail EA the back of my booklet and it took them almost 2 months to get me a new registration number. When I finally got it and installed it on my computer I was really happy. I enjoyed playing it and had to start watching myself, because I would zone out and end up playing for hours on end… essentially forgetting about other things. I did start to notice that, while highly entertaining, the game is very limited in some ways. Building styles for example are pretty repetitive and there you don’t have much control over them. Also, there are few ways to control what type of industry gets set up in your city. For example, limiting heavy industry zones to purely green technologies. These are just a couple of the limitations. I do enjoy the game still, but I would like to see some more control over the building styles and zoning details.

5 Stars Lousy Amazon Service!
i have always loved this game thats why i ordered it on Amazon. First they sent me the software with no registration number, i complained and i received excellent service from the CS representative and said he would send me another one in 2days. the replacement came in and guess what, it was the same freakin thing! still no registration number! i returned it and got my money back sans shipping and delivery..

5 Stars simcity 4 deluxe edition
i like playing simcity 4 deluxe edition.i play this game alot on my pc.the any down fall to this game is that you can not save any thing on it.

2 Stars A bit Disappointing
This new version is obviously breathtaking graphics wise, but disapointing when I wanted to run Famous cities like London.

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Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick Silver Black

Take complete control with the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick. Its 12 fully programmable buttons give you an incredible amount of flexibility and performance for the gaming-edge you’ve been looking for. The precise twist handle (for rudder control) includes an 8-way rubber hat switch that is similar to ones found in real combat aircrafts. Throttle controls rotate smoothly for extraordinary control. And the stable, extra heavy weighted base keeps you firmly grounded. The sleek design looks hot, too!

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars improved my game dramatically
Very easy to use. I had no idea of what joystick to buy. I’m very happy I bought this one.

4 Stars great for my uses
i dont like how thin the base is cause i use it on my lap, but everything else works great, calibrated perfect, works with all my gta series great!

5 Stars It is well worthy! Nice to play with!
I have already had a experance about this joystick before! I am a student pilot,I found it wooks well.With flight 2004,I can take it as a simple simulator.It has force feed back and the rudder control !

5 Stars a excellent joystick
The Logitech Extreme 3D Pro is a large, sturdy and precise joystick. You cant find a better flight controller in this price range. It has 10 programmabe buttons, a trigger, a button for rockets or missiles, a 8 way hat switch and a dedicated throttle. The handle also has one more function and that is to twist left or right for which I use for rudder control. Overall it is fun to use, easy to learn, assign functions and excellent in normal flight or aerial combat.

4 Stars Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
Great Joystick for the price. This is my second one. First one after several years lost the handle twist action functionality, but otherwise worked great. And at this price I don’t mind buying another occasionally.

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