About
Useless objects of interest, puzzles, games, wood-work, mathematics, toys, and innovations: just like my YouTube channel(s), except with more video games and fewer eggs. If you are purchasing something from pocket83, this is the only place to do it.
All Feedback (295)
ictbooks (11249)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
jopol63 (873)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past year
Verified purchase
Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
carriagehillspicker (1444)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Fast payment, Ideal buyer. A++ Hope to deal with again!!
raamun2727 (842)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Great customer no issue paid and shipped
charliebrooks0813 (947)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past year
Verified purchase
A+ Buyer. Great communication, fast payment, all around excellent customer, highly recommended. A pleasure to do business with. Thank you!
salesmaster07 (1030)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Thank you for an easy, pleasant transaction. Excellent buyer. A++++++.
Reviews (18)
18 Nov, 2006
Half-Life 2 (Xbox)
At first, I thought this was going to be the greatest first person shooter ever. The beginning of the game is a blast, it is very well planned and immersive. The attention to detail is incredible and the non-playable character models are the best I’ve ever seen. Some of the visuals are really something to see.
Then it starts to kick in. The control scheme is very limiting, only allowing the player to use two different stick configurations. Chances are, if you are a FPS junkie like myself, your choice control scheme isn’t in there. This pretty much ruins the game. There are no extras, no other side distractions or minigames. nothing to read into the story. The controls become clumsy, as your character slows down to nearly a stand still when crouched or when fitting through a low pipe or a tight space. These hang-ups are fatal in a FPS, frustrating to say the least. There is no button to change weapons, you must remove your thumb from the left stick to use the D-pad, and if you play inverted pitch, the weapon select is backwards also, adding to the frustration.
This game could have been great, but in this day and age a man has gotta have choices. Don’t waste your money unless you already have both Halos, Timesplitters 2, and XIII. 6/10
16 Nov, 2006
ATV fury 3
1 of 1 found this helpful Sorry, this third installment just doesn’t do it for me. The first was the reason I bought a PS2, the second was a beautiful refinement that had all sorts of extras and reasons to keep playing. Playing this one, (as both an avid quad rider and video game dork) is like having a quad land on your chest. I wish Rainbow would come back, and bring the magic back to video game quad riding.
The new moves were great ideas. You can power-slide around turns, and bicycle up on two side wheels, just like a real quad. The wheelies and stoppies are also great. So I have established that the new moves are realistic and appropriate additions, so what went wrong? The stages feel contained, like you can only ride in a circular area. Where is the freedom of quad riding? The textures, art, and environments are bland at best, which makes the exploration aspect of quad riding dull and pointless. You can see things all around you that would be great to ride your imaginary ATV onto, but you cannot, because of the uninspired mediocrity of this game. It does nothing to push the envelope, or further the genre. Take a lesson from Rockstar, free-roaming is what we want. I want an unlockable quad that has a rocket on it. I want to sometimes get off of my quad. I want to be able to use the right stick to use the camera so I can see my surroundings. Is that so much to ask?
This game only exists to profit from an established franchise, without contributing a shred of originality. Don’t buy this game. 5/10.
26 Jul, 2022
Hard science with soft edges.
This book blurs the lines between the disciplines. It helps the reader to begin to see science from above, as part of a larger context. If you think of science as being mostly a bland, dry, routine, tedious, and laborious endeavor, you're still right, but that means this book is for you. If you think that philosophy is useless navel-gazing for hippies, this book is also for you. If scientific discussions captivate you, but mathematics feels like a barrier to entry, this book is definitely for you. If you are a hard believer in science, this book is for you. If you are a skeptic who believes that science is hubris incarnate, this book is for you.
'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Einstein' manages to thread the needle between understanding the limits of science and still realizing its potential as one of our best tools of discovery. It explores physics primarily, but also pays homage to—and steps considerately around—other methods of human investigation in the process.
Gary Moring's writing is masterfully accessible and continuously interesting. The book is not only a minor biography of the world's most famous cliche physicist, but it also serves as a fair read of the history of science in its own right. Perhaps only Sagan's 'Cosmos' and Bronowski's 'Ascent of Man' eclipse this piece as a standalone, easy-to-digest science encapsulation, especially for those not willing to take on the commitment of something more substantial, like Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything.'
To keep it fresh, strewn throughout are related tid-bits of interesting trivia. You'll feel as you read that you're rapidly progressing to the point that you're now comfortably moving all over the place, which really helps the pace from becoming tedious. The read is not too detail-specific, but it manages well to remain sticking to the central theme. By the time the book actually reaches the man himself, you've already learned, by the sheer number of science's contributors and by the scale of some of their sacrifices, how silly it is to be idolizing or caricaturizing one of them, no matter how brilliant. In that sense, the cartoons are ironic, but they're also downright fun.
This book was my first exposure to real philosophy, and it was subtle enough that I didn't realize what was happening to me at the time. It ended up altering the course of my life. Now, nearly two decades later, this is still the one science book I most recommend. And I'm not sure it even is a science book, which is precisely what makes it such a great science book. This is hard science with soft edges, for the conceptual reader who wants to develop a big picture. Give it a read. You will absolutely enjoy.
-pocket83