So I try to play Mass Effect 3 multiplayer when it freezes at the loading menu. That's the menu which looks like couple of PCs and features your galaxy at war report. It also tells you that your XBOX is connecting with EA's servers. Now this happened after I lost the Internet connection. I reconnect easily and every device that is attached works. I call EA support on a Friday. We delete everything including all the DLC and reload it. Well, it looks like it worked since I could immediately play the game starting from the menu. But the next day, I started the game back up again and it froze. My XBOX crashed.
I call EA support again. This time we did a route trace. (Don't ask me what that means. I think it has to do with looking at the Internet signal to my XBOX.) EA tells me i'ts my ISP. I call Cincinnati Bell. We do a route trace there. They analyze and say since I can play Grand Theft Auto, it ain't us. They tell me to call EA again. I call EA again. They think it's a particular DLC. I'm told to delete each DLC and reinstall to see which one. Oh and before that we created another profile to test my XBOX. On that one, the test profile ran and it worked. That means whatever is wrong is attached to my profile. Which stinks since my multiplayer profile has all the weapons maxed out. Hey I play a lot of Mass Effect. Goddess. Well, I test each DLC. Voila. It's the DLC Retaliation that is crashing.
EA moves me up past Tier 2 support. I'm now discussing my case with senior tech support. This nice gentleman tells me to take my XBOX to another network. Now I've already done everything in support protocol. Disconnect my modem. Take the XBOX off the Internet and reconnect. I literally took my XBOX and directly connected it to the Internet connection. And I had said before, created a test profile to test whether it was my XBOX or my profile. Loaded each DLC separately and found it was Retaliation. So I'm a little skeptical. He said something about re-synchronizing my profile and XBOX.
The Happy Ending.
Well, I take my XBOX to another network. And it worked. What the ? Then I took it home. It took a little bit of coaxing because I couldn't connect. I ran the connection tests and got the XBOX to go online. And it started to work! I have no idea why Retaliation crashed on my profile. All I can say is that taking it to another network may have reset everything. One more strange thing. When downloading the single player DLC again, I would lose connection to EA's servers. Not a real problem since I just would reconnect. The bottom line is that I got Mass Effect to work again. Thank the goddess.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Bengals choke in second straight overtime loss
For the second straight time the Cincinnati Bengals lost in overtime. This time it was to the Baltimore Ravens, 20-17. The Bengals offense was putrid. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is beginning to remind me of Jon Kitna. He threw three picks. I gave up on the the third one. Here's the story from the Cincinnati Bengals. Here's Lance McAlister's point of view.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Colbert creates a service to "praise" Fox News
Stephen Colbert reported that Fox News would have staffers watch the Internet for negative comments and they would rebut them. Well, now Colbert's show has created a bot that takes positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and stick Fox News shows into them. Brilliantly funny.
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Grand Theft Auto V: "Legal Trouble" Gold Medal Tips
In Grand Theft Auto V, there are two tough requirements for the Gold Medal for the mission "Legal Trouble." They are the time limit of five minutes, thirty seconds and losing the wanted level in two minutes. There's also a tricky requirement of having the Weazel helicopter film the chase for fifteen seconds.
First, let's discuss completing the mission under five minute thirty seconds. The guys at Grand Theft Auto Series Videos show you how. When you reach the Maze Arena, take the road in front of it. Don't follow the yellow recommended route to the left. Now, watch the video below at the three minute forty second mark. You need to cut across the highway by the arena and go through the gap before the railing. That's a short cut that will save you time. Then when you get on the jet, don't worry about taxing on the runway. Just start her up and take off. Second, I fly west and high to elude the police. All of this should get you under the time limit and also cause you to elude the police by two minutes.
One more thing. I had trouble accessing the Weazel News helicopter camera. That's because I was driving in the first person view. You need to drive in the third person view to access the camera. Easy.
First, let's discuss completing the mission under five minute thirty seconds. The guys at Grand Theft Auto Series Videos show you how. When you reach the Maze Arena, take the road in front of it. Don't follow the yellow recommended route to the left. Now, watch the video below at the three minute forty second mark. You need to cut across the highway by the arena and go through the gap before the railing. That's a short cut that will save you time. Then when you get on the jet, don't worry about taxing on the runway. Just start her up and take off. Second, I fly west and high to elude the police. All of this should get you under the time limit and also cause you to elude the police by two minutes.
One more thing. I had trouble accessing the Weazel News helicopter camera. That's because I was driving in the first person view. You need to drive in the third person view to access the camera. Easy.
Grand Theft Auto V: " Repossession" Gold Medal tips
Here are tips for getting the Gold Medal for Franklin's "Repossession" mission. I got it with a couple of attempts. Now remember you can get all the requirements in multiple attempts by replaying a mission. IF you're great, you might get it in one try, like the guys that do Grand Theft Series videos.
The hardest part of this mission is the getting under the time limit. It's under six minutes and thirty seconds. First, you have to skip the cutscenes. Now once you get to the alleyway where the bike you have to repossess, go to the single garage on the right. That starts the fire fight with the gang.
Now I replayed this mission with better weapons and laid waste to the gang members. The guy below is unbelievably good. It took me a couple of attempts to get all the requirements especially the time limit requirement.
Once you destroy the car driving away and kill all the gang members, Lamar will ask you how you are doing. That's the cue for you to look for the appearance of a gang member getting on the bike outside of the fence. Shoot him. Hopefully, you have an automatic weapon if you've already got the accuracy requirement. Aim to the right of the bike and at him. If you're good try to make it a head shot. If you miss and have to chase him you will run out of time for the Gold Medal requirement. If you're good or lucky, you will nail him. Once you kill him, hop on the bike and easily take it back. Skip the cutscenes at the end.
The hardest part of this mission is the getting under the time limit. It's under six minutes and thirty seconds. First, you have to skip the cutscenes. Now once you get to the alleyway where the bike you have to repossess, go to the single garage on the right. That starts the fire fight with the gang.
Now I replayed this mission with better weapons and laid waste to the gang members. The guy below is unbelievably good. It took me a couple of attempts to get all the requirements especially the time limit requirement.
Once you destroy the car driving away and kill all the gang members, Lamar will ask you how you are doing. That's the cue for you to look for the appearance of a gang member getting on the bike outside of the fence. Shoot him. Hopefully, you have an automatic weapon if you've already got the accuracy requirement. Aim to the right of the bike and at him. If you're good try to make it a head shot. If you miss and have to chase him you will run out of time for the Gold Medal requirement. If you're good or lucky, you will nail him. Once you kill him, hop on the bike and easily take it back. Skip the cutscenes at the end.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Bengals bungle in Miami
Thursday night, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton learned what it feels like to be a Bengal. Against the Miami Dolphins, he threw three interceptions. Doh. Sacked in his endzone for a game winning safety in overtime. Doh. Bengals lose 22-20. This is how the old Bengals lose.
And to add insult to injury, Bengals superstar defensive tackle Geno Atkins tore his ACL in his knee. Out for the season. Classic Cincinnati Bengals heartbreaking moment. Doh, doh. Here's the story from the Bengals.
And to add insult to injury, Bengals superstar defensive tackle Geno Atkins tore his ACL in his knee. Out for the season. Classic Cincinnati Bengals heartbreaking moment. Doh, doh. Here's the story from the Bengals.
Grand Theft Aiuto V Golf tips
Having trouble getting the 100 percent requirement in Grand Theft Auto V's with the Golf game? As you know you must score par or under to get it. Here are some tips on how I got it.
Some basics.
I'm not going to go into detail about the game of golf. But here are the basic rules. The less strokes it takes to get the ball in the hole, the better your score. The 100 percent requirement requires you to get par or the exact number of shots in the game or lower. I've noticed that some of you on the Internet are having difficulties. I had trouble for a few hours until I figured out how to play the game.
Before you start swinging your golf club, scout the circumstances of the hole. On the XBOX, the left trigger previews the hole. The right trigger previews the shot. Note if you preview the shot, it tells you the trajectory and where the ball is going to land. The right trigger and right stick can also direct where the ball will land pursuant to your wishes. On the right upper corner is information about the club you are using, wind direction, and spin on the ball. There are four types of shots. Approach, normal, power and punch. Approach shots are accurate but have less power. I didn't use power much. Normal shots are just that. Punch shots put less trajectory on a shot.
Swinging is important. I'm talking about swinging your golf club so get your minds out of the gutter. On the XBOX, you start your swing by pulling back on the left stick. The power meter on the right shows a cross heading toward a yellow area. Push or shove forward on the same stick to hit the ball. Now this is most important. PUSH STRAIGHT. If you push off to the left or right, you will shank the shot. So think hit the ball straight through. You want the cross to hit the yellow area when you swing.
Now I've added a video below from Witness Gaming. It's a good video that will help you see what I'm talking about. The narrator tells you that putting spin on is an advanced technique. But I'm going to tell you that putting spin on the ball will help you immensely. If you see the ball is going to overshoot the hole then you might want to add backspin to cause the ball to roll backwards. When the ball is in the air, hold left stick back, tap the A button to cause the ball to roll back when it hits the green. If you need the ball to roll right push the stick right and tap A. And for the left, vice versa.
Basic strategy.
Like real golf, you need to get to the green with as little shots as possible. Where you are going to have trouble with GTA V Golf is the putting. For the right club, I use the recommendations from the program for shots. They are good. Remember what I said about hitting the ball.
Second, I basically use the program's recommendations for the first two shots of any hole. Now if I think the wind is going to be significant, I will compensate very slightly. That's about four to five miles an hour. IF the wind is blowing hard from the right, I will use the right trigger and stick to move the direction slightly right into the wind. But the program will do a very good job of direction for the first two shots.
The shot that you take to get the ball on the green is where you want to adjust slightly from the program's recommendations. You may need to adjust where the ball will land. Get as close to the hole as possible or even see if you can sink it. I never did but frankly, all I was concerned about was getting the requirement. Remember what I said about spin. If you land in the rough just outside of the green, I use a punch shot since it has a lower trajectory.
Putting is where you will lose on strokes. The reason is that GTA does a bad job of giving you touch to hit the ball with your putter. Once you are on the green, note the grid placed. Yellow areas are areas higher than the ball. Red areas are lower than the ball. The same philosophy for hitting the ball applies as above without the wind considerations. But if you need to adjust the direction of the ball, use the right stick ever so slightly to adjust the direction. With the loss of strokes on the green, this is why you need to get the ball to the hole with as few strokes as possible and as close as possible.
After a few hours, I finally got par or less. I got a couple of birdies. My score was two under par. If I can do it you can do it. And golf is a relaxing game. Hilarious too with Trevor. I played with Trevor in his underwear.
Some basics.
I'm not going to go into detail about the game of golf. But here are the basic rules. The less strokes it takes to get the ball in the hole, the better your score. The 100 percent requirement requires you to get par or the exact number of shots in the game or lower. I've noticed that some of you on the Internet are having difficulties. I had trouble for a few hours until I figured out how to play the game.
Before you start swinging your golf club, scout the circumstances of the hole. On the XBOX, the left trigger previews the hole. The right trigger previews the shot. Note if you preview the shot, it tells you the trajectory and where the ball is going to land. The right trigger and right stick can also direct where the ball will land pursuant to your wishes. On the right upper corner is information about the club you are using, wind direction, and spin on the ball. There are four types of shots. Approach, normal, power and punch. Approach shots are accurate but have less power. I didn't use power much. Normal shots are just that. Punch shots put less trajectory on a shot.
Swinging is important. I'm talking about swinging your golf club so get your minds out of the gutter. On the XBOX, you start your swing by pulling back on the left stick. The power meter on the right shows a cross heading toward a yellow area. Push or shove forward on the same stick to hit the ball. Now this is most important. PUSH STRAIGHT. If you push off to the left or right, you will shank the shot. So think hit the ball straight through. You want the cross to hit the yellow area when you swing.
Now I've added a video below from Witness Gaming. It's a good video that will help you see what I'm talking about. The narrator tells you that putting spin on is an advanced technique. But I'm going to tell you that putting spin on the ball will help you immensely. If you see the ball is going to overshoot the hole then you might want to add backspin to cause the ball to roll backwards. When the ball is in the air, hold left stick back, tap the A button to cause the ball to roll back when it hits the green. If you need the ball to roll right push the stick right and tap A. And for the left, vice versa.
Basic strategy.
Like real golf, you need to get to the green with as little shots as possible. Where you are going to have trouble with GTA V Golf is the putting. For the right club, I use the recommendations from the program for shots. They are good. Remember what I said about hitting the ball.
Second, I basically use the program's recommendations for the first two shots of any hole. Now if I think the wind is going to be significant, I will compensate very slightly. That's about four to five miles an hour. IF the wind is blowing hard from the right, I will use the right trigger and stick to move the direction slightly right into the wind. But the program will do a very good job of direction for the first two shots.
The shot that you take to get the ball on the green is where you want to adjust slightly from the program's recommendations. You may need to adjust where the ball will land. Get as close to the hole as possible or even see if you can sink it. I never did but frankly, all I was concerned about was getting the requirement. Remember what I said about spin. If you land in the rough just outside of the green, I use a punch shot since it has a lower trajectory.
Putting is where you will lose on strokes. The reason is that GTA does a bad job of giving you touch to hit the ball with your putter. Once you are on the green, note the grid placed. Yellow areas are areas higher than the ball. Red areas are lower than the ball. The same philosophy for hitting the ball applies as above without the wind considerations. But if you need to adjust the direction of the ball, use the right stick ever so slightly to adjust the direction. With the loss of strokes on the green, this is why you need to get the ball to the hole with as few strokes as possible and as close as possible.
After a few hours, I finally got par or less. I got a couple of birdies. My score was two under par. If I can do it you can do it. And golf is a relaxing game. Hilarious too with Trevor. I played with Trevor in his underwear.
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