carlitobrigante

Have people seen the trailers for this bad boy of a game? I was surprised i couldnt find a recent thread about either game? I see people on other threads doubting it will sell even a quater of modern warfares totals. I think this time round they might be surpised.

I buy most my FPS's for my gaming pc except for the call of dutys for varied reasons. So i barely played bc2 as i was enjoying black ops so much.

Started it recently and i cant believe what i have been missing out on. It is fricking superb! The huge maps and vehicles are such a nice change of pace from COD. And for the price of a COD map pack you get an expansion pack which is basically another full game and a bloody great one at that! Battles feel that much more epic.

Some of the best bf2 games ive had i havent got a single kill. Instead i have been driving jeeps on crazy flanking suicide races dodging enemy helicopter and tanks that would take out our whole 4 man suad with a single shot. Or following our Abrams tanks to the front line, manning the 50 cal and hiding behind it doing repairs as the engineer class keeping the tank arrive. Or running round as a medic with my de-fibulators bringinhg team mates back to life.

Ort laser targetting enemy tanks, while trying to hide within a house slowly being blown apart around me.

I think anyone who has played both with agree although both excellent games, bf2 shades it.

I think the gap will be even wider this time round. The new frost bite engine looks seansational. Whereas COD will be running on the same engine as the last how many games, and will not doubt be pretty much the same game barring a twist or two.

I'll likely get both, but was wondering how many here are going for bf 3 instead?

im backing the board all the way still..

he is nowhere near my first choice, would be a strange and risky appointment for sure....

but Randy has earnt the benefit of the doubt with what he has done for us as a club so far and if he is convinced Mcleish is the man to take us forward then he has my backing still for the time being....

fine statement. basically he says we see him as a possible candidate for the job, along with the other irons we have in the fire.

the recruitment process was always gone to be done via interview process, as it was for Houllier.

Still far from certain he will get the job, but if he did i wouldnt be against it.

I somewhat rate Mcleish. Dann and Johnson are top notch, if he can sign us a couple of CB's like that ill be happy. The shite he has had to put up with behind the scenes, a la Brady and her Sun column, or Pannu and antics as described by the LMA earlier today are not going to help, yet still won them a trophy.

No where near first choice and its going to cause problems with the fans but for the sake of the club id back him 100 %. Lerners put in enough dosh and helped us enough so far to deserve the benefit of the doubt on this one. If it doesnt work out though he could be in trouble,

I still think Moyes is first, then its either McLeish or some wildcard we havent been linked with yet, all interviewed before being offered the job.

i know people want us to be more ruthless, but i really like hearing people like Whealan coming out and praising us for doing things the right way (this despite us trying to nick their manager)

i think its the right way to do things and although you might miss out on the odd deal, in the long run it will pay dividends as other clubs / managers will be happy to do buisness with us. Piss them off, try going behind clubs backs and talking to people without the clubs permission might get you the signing, but also means the club youve judas'd wont want to deal with you ever again or at the least will try to stiff you on the price next time you come knocking for one of their players.

In the murky scum bag ridden world of modern football, im immensley proud we have one of the few chairman who seems to carry out his dealings with the greatest amount of integrity and respect.

I dont think Hughes is a definate at all, i think Randy is the sort of person who does everything thing by the book and would never start discussing terms etc with a manager or player for that matter who is contracted to another club who havent given consent for talks to take place.

I imagine the board are accepting applications and probably early next week will be interviewing the favourites with hopefully a decision being made during the latter part of next week.

Ancellotti no 1 choice and more gettable than many seem to think, wants to stay in the UK and so what better option does he have at the moment?

If Ancellotti isnt available then its Jol, Moyes or Hughes, and i have no preference.....id be happy with any of them.

Yep Samba will go between £6-8 mill i understand. Which was the price mooted when we were close to getting him in January wasnt it?

Arsenal also have a great looking centre back on loan at Rangers, Kyle Bartley. Is only 18 i think, has the physique and has been great when he has played for Rangers.

I think we will see a different summer spending spree than we are used to from Wenger. I think Fabregas will go for about the 40mill mark, and Arshavin will go back to Russia.

That ontop of the existing kitty they must have gives them the money to do what they want this summer window. I think they are going to sign a top clas midfielder, a top class striker of the Benzema ilk, and then the usual smattering of Wengers unknown gems plucked from nowhere.

I think he realises he needs to strengthen the spine of the time and beef the squad up physically. Theres an interesting interview he has given recently where he says just that.

I think the Samba deal if true backs that up. Wouldnt be surprised to see them go for Parker either if they could get him under 10 mill. (Arse have close relations with West Ham and wouldnt surprise me to see them through them a loan signing or two to sweeten the deal).

I can see them challenging properly for the title this coming season. They need to sort the Nasri situation out though.

Samba almost certainly going to Arsenal, supposedly being announced soon

Gutted, wanted him to replace Collins, a beast of a defender..

will be inetrested to see what the fee is.

General,

Please pass on our respect, best wishes and thanks to Gerard Houllier.

A true gentleman, one of footballs good guys, and it wouldnt surprise me ifhis recent heart problem were partly caused by the endless hours he was putting in day and night to improve the fortunes of our great club. Real shame we never got to see him have the time to carry on the reforms he was making.

Hi General

Sorry to hear Houllier is likely leaving but probably best for both parties. Were it not for the health issues i would be all for Gerard staying and was looking forward to seeing what he does with the squad this summer.

My question is about our scouting system. Can you clarify who our scouts are and whether Randy sees us setting up a world class world wide scouting network as a priority?

For us to get where we want to be our scouting system in general needs to be among the very best. I worry that it seems to have become abit of a shambles under O'Neil and it seems that under Houllier he didnt have the time to develop it as it required and didnt have time to get the back room staff in.

We need to be combing the Championship, the Scotish leagues and every major Foreign league relentlessly to find the hidden gems that are definately out there. Can you confirm whether the club agrees this is a priority and what steps are / have been taken to improve it?

Most fans like me still back the board 100% but boy are you putting this faith to the test. You cant deny the wheels seem to have completely come off recently and things look rather bleak.

I dont blame Randy or Houllier for this. Its a combination of bad luck, some poor contigency planning, and a previous manager who has done all he could to sabatage this season, no doubt so his 6th place finishes look like they came only thanks to his supposed managerial genius.

Fans are describing AVFC currently as rudderless, amatuerish, leaderless and without any sort of long term plan and i hate to say it but thats the perception the club is giving out at the moment. I worry about the people Randy has entrusted the club to and its going to take a massive investment this summer to get us back into the top 6 let alone any further, money im not sure Lerner can afford to put in on top of what he has spent already.

We need to get a grip on things and fast. Some communication to the fans as to what the hell is going on would be a good start. Otherwise all the effort Randy and people like yourself have put in so far will be for nothing. Every penny of his own money Randy has spent will have been wasted. He will be further away than ever from making us self sustaining and getting any return on his investment. Filling Villa Park week in week out will be even less likely, and every good player we have will be looking elsewhere.

have blasted through 'Fringe' recently.

Gets increasingly far fetched, and you can tell its JJ Abrhams influenced as it feels very 'LOSTish' at times..

entertaining through and worth a watch.

About to tuck into this weeks Borgias and Game of Thornes...

Ancelloti / Jol would first choice if its possible.

After that id be equally happy with any of, Moyes, Hughes, Hodgson, or Houllier staying on.

been shocked at just how good he is. His runs off the ball are something we havent had at Villa Park for god knows how long. He makes the sort of runs that Gabby dreams about.

His finishing is generally excellent and his hold up player, heading, and willingness to track back are more than adequate.

Another player who has joined Villa and in a short space of time has worked his way into the England starting 11. Its becoming a good selling point for us to use when signing English players.

im half way through season 1 of breaking bad, have been for 2 months, really cant get into it

breaking bad doesnt really explode into awesomeness till the end of the first season (which was a short season anyway)

its truly brilliant and sits alongside sopranos and the wire as the best shows of all time for me.

Its very dark, and often brutal but the characters and the story are so so good.

Stick with it into season 2 and you wont regret it.

The Borgias and Game of thornes keep getting better and better

God the Syrian regime really are a bunch of utter scumbags arent they? We dont appreciate often enough how lucky we are to not live under such regimes. Seems the people, and many Western governments really believed Assad was a reformer and would change things. How wrong they were. Up untill very recently most Syrians believed Assad was not to blame for the killings and was being manipulated by other players in his government and his family. I see that myth is slowly dissapating and once it does the opposition to him will hopefully grow to a critical mass and bring in real change.

Its a real shame that military intervention in Syria would pretty much set off world war 3 as they deserve an international beat down as much as Gaddafi does if not more so.

The Iranian and Syrian regimes are downright nasty characters and i pray that within the next few years that the people of those countries finally suceed in getting rid of them.

Its all about the Japanese / Korean girls for me. Indian / Asian girls are close though.

Its not just the fact that they are 'different' or 'exotic' that makes them appealing either. It is a massive generalisation but the ones ive met, spoken to, or pulled just seem like classier girls and more pleasant to converse with.

Ive yet to see an Indian girl in the UK looking like a chav and swearing like a trooper like more and more white girls i meet do.

im a big d&b head. I started playing around with making my own tunes recently. Prompted by some of the utter tosh that gets released these days.

You would be surprised as i was at how easy it is to make decent sounding choons if you have the right software and prepared to put in some time watching tutorials etc.

See link below. Its my first attempt at making a song. I have never made music before, and know no music theory, chords etc. Im slowly learning, bought a midi keyboard that has helped alot. Im using FL Studio 8 as the learning curve was more gentle compared to reason etc.

I know its far too long, basic and repetitve. But it was knocked up within a week or buying the software. Any tips would be welcome.

watched Thor and 'Super' recently.

Thor was decent enough. Nothing spectacular though.

I loved 'Super' though. Dark, funny, very very violent. Much better than Kick ass and watchmen. The girl who plays 'bolty' is a fantastic actress, love every role ive seen her play.

p.s are serenity and firefly really good then?

On the recommendation of other VT-ers I have acquired all of "Deadwood".

Just watched episode 1 and I like it already, especially Wild Bill and ex-sherriff "Montana"

Its fantastic mate. The dialogue, the storys, the acting, all of the highest standard.

Al and his boys are some of my all time favoruite characters. Al Swearegen in particular makes the show what it is.

Such a shame it ended after 3 seasons and unfortunately you can tell the writers were expecting to get another series and so a lot of the lesser story lines arent resolved properly.

started watching 'Fringe'. You could tell straight away JJ Abrams was involved, has a very 'LOST' feel to it.

Im enjoying it, but like LOST its all getting too OTT and far fectched. Like LOST aswell i can see half of the mysterys not being explained. It entertaining though for sure.

Im not sold on Game of Thrones yet but its early days.

Im still loving every episode of 'the borgias', excellent telly, watch it.

yeah i saw the road recently too, well acted, agree its grim tho..

just watched 'super', i thought it was fecking brilliant, better than kick ass etc.

also just watched 'restrepo', documentary by that Brit journalist killed in Libya.....amazing footage, a must watch...

feck me, only 4 episodes in ro 'the borgias' and its utter brilliance.

Im a big history buff, so seeing the Cesare, Macheivilli etc on the screen is a joy when its so perfectly cast watch it.

About to start Game of thornes ep 1.

As for the Sopranos, pure class. Wouldnt say comfortably best though, on a level with the Wire and Deadwood for me, maybe just shading it.

Im sure someone will have mentioned it, but 'The Borgias' has started off brilliant, looks like being excellent. Up to ep 3 and loving it so far.

looking more and more like theres gonna be a stalemate, at least for the short term..