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So during an official Apex Legends tournament, players got hacked and remote installed cheating cheating software on their PCs. To make matters funny some got an account ban. What makes this story interesting is that apex runs a kernel level anti-cheat software and the suspicion is that the hack happened through it. This is the screen that flashed for every player when the hack happened. See if you can spot it.

"Take more advil if needed. Could be menopausal related, more exercise (motion is lotion, hey!), diet changes perhaps, wait and see" etc. So no. Most of such care I've already been doing anyway. Menopause hasn't been too bad for me, far as that all goes - dry eyes and some skin issues, I think the sleep sweats are over - but we'll see how that goes over time. I would like to avoid any hormone therapies.

So as much as I'll rag on Pillars of Eternity 2, The Outer Worlds, and New Vegas I still have to admit that Obsidian Entertainment makes some pretty great games and rpgs. Some better then others, so I figured that I would share my thoughts of them starting with the best and going down the list. -][- Neverwinter Nights 2: Neverwinter Nights 2 is one of those games that feels like it will never come again. The Loud music of the Harvest Festival seared into your heads, the stupidly complexity of the DnD 3..5 system and all of the race and background and class choices, how each of your companions though simplistic at first each have something to make them stand out as well as a complex plot of gambit pile ups upon gambit pile ups as opposing factions trip the **** over eachother as their scheming brings them into eachother's crosshairs by sheer accident. It's fantastic. And with all Obsidian games. . .there's a lot of cut content. Qara your Sorcerer companion is mostly cut content with only the barest bit to make her functional left in the game, Neeshka (who is bae) had her romance cut. -][- Pillars of Eternity: Pillars of Eternity is Obsidian's first real solo adventure that they had had in decades. A brand new CRPG, in a brand new hand-crafted world, with unique peoples, cultures, languages, gods, and all of it wrapped around a world coming into it's Renesceance. Pillars 1 has some of the best companion characters that they have ever made, with notable stand-outs being Durance the Self-aggrandizing Priest who hate/loves his own Goddess after he helped kill a god. Or That Village woman who is super super cool in concept but sucks to actually use because the other companions never talk to her and mostly just ignore her entirely. Or Pallegina whose arc revolves around whether it is best to follow her orders, or do her best to break those orders to better benefit her people for better or for worse. Or Aloth your Wizard pal who has a severe case of one too many people inside his own head. Or Hirevias the Druid trying to come to terms with his past (seriously I highly recommend picking Hiravias up as immediately as possible as he has SO MUCH dialogue in parts 2 and 3 of the game once you hit the big city) Sagani trying to complete her quest so she could finally return home, scared that her own family has forgotten her. And Kana Rua your giant friendly historian buddy whose sister you can date in the sequel. Genuinely one of the best games that Obsidian has ever made, even if their Rtwp system feels odd to go back to after playing the sequel. -][- Pillars of Eternity 2: Do you like Voice Acting? Ship to Ship combat? Turn-Based Combat? No. . .Aww. Pillars 2 takes place in the Deadfire Archipelago (Not the Dreadfire as it turns out, that was another Berenstein bears situation it seems) where you go chasing after the God who destroyed your well earned castle and home from the last game, and find yourself once more at the whims of the Gods. While chasing after this threat you find yourself embroiled in the political machinations of the factions of the region. The Huana: Or more specifically the Huana Tribe of the Kahanga who seeks to unify their people under their absolute monarchist banner in order to stave off the outsiders who are attempting to colonize the archipelago for themselves. Perhaps the most ethically good faction of the bunch hampered severely by their Caste system. The Royal Deadfire Company: The Faction of Rautai. Rautai's heritage belongs to that of the Archipelago as the same people who became the Huana and the Rautai were once the same, until a cataclysmic event led Rautai to flee and conquer Rautai for themselves having lost their homes. Now they are back to share their new culture and ways with the Huana. So think Imperialism being forced on you by your cousin, but in exchange they bring you Forts, Gunfire, and tear down the caste system entirely. The Vailian Trading Company: think the East Empire Trading Company. Their goal is profit. They seek to harvest, exploit, sell, and steal anything and everything that they can get their hands on. Stealing land from the Huana? It's all good! Working with Slavers in Huana lands, also good! Really the only thing they have going for them is that they don't want to conquer the Archipelago as much as they wish to exploit it and it's wealth of Arda. Amusingly they have what is either one of the most hopeful and one of the most dour endings of the game. Principi sen Patrena: The Princes without Patrons. Pirates of the sea, refugees from Old Vailia, who seek to claim a new homeland for themselves and or as much profit as they possibly can. They are perhaps the most colorful faction in the game. . .and also the most inconsequential in regards to the actual main plot of the game. Without a doubt the faction with the most potential for change with the most colorful characters and system of government. . . but again inconsequential. Don't do them for your first choice. Cool companions, each of which I tend to play in two teams. A Team: The Factions Gang B Team: Main Plot Gang. The Turn Based mode is odd but works oddly well after a while. -][- Alpha Protocol is a broken broken ass Spy game that is easy to break over your knee and is shockingly reactive to your choices and method of play. I highly recommend it. -][- Fallout New Vegas: Great Game, overhyped by everyone over the years, still pretty great even if only two game paths are actually viable and thus a player wanting to make their golden endings tend to make the exact same choices every single time. The Legion Sucks narratively because they could have been so so so much more interesting, and it feels like they were placed in the game first and written backwards. -][- running out of time before having to leave for work Uh The Outer Worlds decent, but it only has a single joke and message that ultimately does nothing with it. Best planet for writing and choices is Monarch, Best companions are Parvarti, Maxwell, and Fenix in that order, again a game where the choices are far far too easy. -][- And those are my rushed thoughts on Obsidian Entertainment games. What about the rest of y'all? What are your thoughts on their catalog?

Coincidentally, I was recently reacquainted with a person who I went to AE "A" school with 30 years ago in the Navy, and it turns out a different buddy of ours from the same class died last November. Since we are all around the same age I was bummed to think about the fragility of life. My daily light exercising continues unabated and Ive been able to increase the reps and weight for each exercise. Im still doing just body weight and dumbbell exercises but I did buy myself a weight bench so I could get up off the damn floor lol: Amazon.com : Lusper Adjustable Weight Bench Foldable - 660 Lb Stable Workout Bench, Extended head and neck protection design, 3 Sec Fast Folding Multi-Purpose for Full Body Workout : Sports & Outdoors Its really interesting to me that since 1 Jan I can already see improvements in my physique. Its like the slightest effort and the human body wants to jump into action. Feels good man.

Kuehnle didn't run for governor of NJ, but was supporting the Republican candidate Vivian Lewis, who lost to Wilson in 1910. Kuehnle was the boss of the political machine in Atlantic city at the time. It was reported in the New York Times that Keuhnle, on behalf of Lewis, did deliver more votes for Lewis in Atlantic City that there were voters. He was paying people to vote for deceased voters still on the rolls and for seasonal hotel employees in Atlantic City who weren't in town in November but whom he'd gotten to register to vote. Wilson ran partially on cleaning up politics in NJ, and was able to successfully pursue criminal charges against Kuehnle after he got elected. Kuehnle was chairman of the water commission and Wilson was able to uncover where Kuehnle was changing contract terms to pay companies he owned more money from government contracts that was originally bid. Knucky Johnson took over the machine, and while Kuehnle came back after his conviction and got elected to the city commission, he never wielded the same power again. This happened prior to the Volstead Act / Prohibition (1920-1933); Atlantic City however was home to a large number of criminal rackets (gambling and prostitution, primarily I believe) and a political machine believed to be as effective as Tammany Hall or the Vare's in Philidelphia.

I've figured out how to mod it so that it's not just a 90 degree angle. But before I go nuts with this, I just want to confirm it's not already been done. Welp, the answer better be no, because I couldn't wait And here we are!

A huge part of that inaccessibility is the attribute and enemy volume bloat. (Special mention, for the learning curve around how to build characters properly) Those two things basically require that you know how to tactically address specific enemies AND pre-buff after every single rest. And there are a LOT of buffs you'll need. Casting 5-10 buffs at the start of each day for each character in your party, then marching into enemy encounter after enemy encounter after enemy encounter is a slog. Wait, not just casting but manipulating certain feats to have 24+ hours of a buff, so that you can cast buffs, rest, maintain those buffs, then cast more buffs to deal with specific encounters. The end of Act 4 or start of Act 5, I forget, just dragged on. Not to mention dealing with "mirror image" constantly... I love the game mechanically, but it's something you need to be prepared to sit through. Because it can be a slog and it is not user friendly.

@BruceVC Are you sure youre clearing all the story missions? If Im reading this article correctly, even the lowest amount of missions (Jacob 41) rewarding the lowest possible value (600 points) should yield enough resistance points to advance the hardest region (24,600/13,000): Far Cry 5: Fastest Ways To Get Resistance Points (gamerant.com)

Thank you for this clarification, and for your post in general. As far as rackets as a whole are concerned, I was delighted by something I read in a new history of the mafia by Louis Ferrante, an ex-mobster. He pointed out that the mafia is not and has never been interested in overthrowing any governments; indeed, the mob relies on a "capitalist system with a democratically elected and stable but greedy and inept government; and in this the US has never been a disappointment to the mafia". Cruel but apt, I would say.

I played Kotor 2 completely once, but unlike many I did not enjoy it as much as the original. I felt it was trying too hard to be edgy and moral grey. I finished FO:NV once. I played quite a lot, but again, Obsidian's way of writing "moral dilemmas" I find meh. Obviously, humanity has proven time and time again, that Obsidian has a better understanding of humans than I have. People really do believe that between state funded healthcare and Caesar's Legion, the raping mass murderers are the lesser evil. PoE1 I played. I enjoyed the beginning. It got so tedious, I could not see myself to complete it, and it killed my interest in the story. NVN2 I enjoyed and found one of the better written RPGs. I also think that it fell into the post- Planescape Torment trap of every NPC having to be this unique out of the ordinary, breaking conventions of NPCs attempt, which made me long for plain boring party members. Which Outer World had and which made the game so refreshing. I think I finished Dungeon Siege 3 twice...

For a while now it's mostly been about whether the forum software is functioning properly. ========== In terms of the thread topic. Let's see, I've played fully: KOTOR2, FO:NV, Dungeon Siege 3, Pillars of Eternity 1. The first two were and still are the favorites. Ones that I have purchased but never went much past a couple play sessions: NWN2, South Park, Outer Worlds. I liked PoE1 a fair bit for most of the run but I haven't had a desire to play the sequel at all. I think what I want from, and the reasons I play, any games, have changed a lot, or perhaps it's more that they've reverted (away from RPG's). Although I'm expecting that the odds will be high that I'll purchase Avowed soon after release, more likely because I'm curious vs. a huge desire to play it. Maybe it'll surprise me.

I believe it was Louis Kuehnle from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who once got more votes than the city had voters. This would have been in the 1910s or 1920s, and the main opponent was one Woodrow Wilson.

I did not know people were actually posting in Obsidian General...

Luckily the police managed to crack down on the BLM and Antifa protesters that tried to sabotage the election with riots and public unrest, to ensure fair and free democratic elections! edit: I hope it's obvious I'm not serious, but still, keep in mind, just like a well known mustache wearing German, before he solidified his grip on power, he got elected.

Putin won the election in a landslide. Nobody could have predicted that.

Watched Mulan and Damsel. Mulan was first up because we do a movie night with my son most Saturdays, last week was as Moana, which he enjoyed. My wife had never seen Mulan either and both her and my son ended up loving it. After the kids went to bed we watched Damsel and some stand-up that I don't remember anything about. I had fun with Damsel and the standup made me chuckle at the marriage stuff but I can't remember the name of the guy for some reason. E: it was Steve Trevino. I can recommend him to any married folks easily but not sure if it'll land as well for single folks.

Heya Bonnell, Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately OBS no longer accepts game submission ideas. As an independent developer, Obsidian was often contracted by publishers with an idea for a game and make it through them. Now that we're part of the Microsoft family, it's a bit different. That said, you can reach out to developers with your idea and see if they're interested. They would be the ones who in turn approach publishers like us to make the game. The developers we've worked with in the past are: - Disney (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II) - http://help.disney.com - Wizards of the Coast (Neverwinter Nights 2) - https://company.wizards.com/contact-us - SEGA (Alpha Protocol) - https://support.sega.co.uk/hc/en-us/requests/new - Bethesda (Fallout: New Vegas) - http://support.bethsoft.com/form.php?l=en - SQUARE ENIX (Dungeon Siege III) - http://support.na.square-enix.com/contacttop.php?id=1373&la=1 - Ubisoft (South Park: The Stick of Truth) - https://support.ubi.com/en-US - Paradox (Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny) - https://www.paradoxplaza.com/support - My.com (Armored Warfare) - https://support.my.com/games/kb/AW - Versus Evil (Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire) - http://versusevil.com/contact/ - Private Division (The Outer Worlds) - https://www.privatedivision.com/contact/

Mostly of interest to people Down Under I think... elections coming up in Tasmania

If you own a game on GOG, you will be able to play it on streaming service Luna (subject to availability of said game on that service) for no additional costs. I think Nvidia offered something like this with Steam few years ago, but then cancelled it. So for some people, it might be interesting addition to their services. https://www.gog.com/en/news/bmore_ways_to_play_your_gog_games_were_teaming_up_with_luna_cloud_streaming_serviceb

Recently got the news that a former friend of the family was found dead by her son. Her son used to be a friend of mine until the end of school caused us to lose contact. Say what you will of the perils of mobile phones and social media, one thing they certainly made a lot easier is keeping in contact with each other. The only people from school I still have contact with were those from the vocational high school I went to - and that only because we all had instant messaging (anyone remember the then ubiquitous ICQ?) and mobile phones. Friends and acquaintences from before, like the aforementioned son? No, not really. Anyway, apparently she already had two heart attacks and was diabetic, and her health issues caught up with her. She also went through a lot of mental health issues, some ages ago, some years ago, some recently, like when she had an affair with a married man and did not take it too well that he would not leave his wife for her. She also had two sisters, and both commited suicide, one of them as a little girl, the other as adult. The other sister was a former teacher of mine - sort of, she gave me (private) physics lessons when my school's physics education was, well, let's say, a little lacking in depth and focus. She had a stroke a couple of years ago, then fought tooth and nail to get enough control of her body back so she could end her life on her own terms. Wee, that post became a little bleaker than intended.

Had to put my eldest cat to sleep. Farwell, Xiu Xiu. Nothing will ever fill that empty space heart...