SteveThaiBinh

It looks like Gaddafi is in serious trouble. Is it too much to hope that Iran is next?

Closed for length.

The Witcher. I do hope they've got a more idiomatic English translation for The Witcher 2.

An Egyptian activist interviewed on BBC World this morning said this was the first time she felt that Mubarak does not understand, is perhaps being sheltered from, the reality of what the protesters want and say. If yesterday's events were planned, then yes, Mubarak is delusional - announcements from the army and changes in editorial policy of state-run media all building up expectations, only to dash them so completely with a patronising speech, and to do this on a Thursday of all days! No, I think there's a power struggle and a lot of internal confusion behind this rather than delusion. I think the protesters are hoping that the army will conclude the easiest way to restore order is remove Mubarak - no bloodletting or international outcry, after all - and it's a reasonable thing to hope for. It's going to be an interesting day.

Might he not be rather good? Surely he has experience of running large organisations successfully, more so than some when they become president?

No-one knows yet whether the army will take over, or what other 'transitional' arrangement there might be. A straightforward military coup seems unlikely - the protestors would stay in the streets and the new military leader would have the same problem, and same unpalatable options for its solution, as Mubarak. And why would the army want that - they're already powerful, this crisis has enhanced their power and their popularity, so why throw it away? An Egyptian colleague tells me a huge concern is whether the judiciary is allowed to oversee whatever elections take place - Mubarak removed them from that role and that allowed him to pack parliament with his supporters.

I would love to have one, but it just doesn't work in my part of the world yet.

Yes, but more excited and hopeful than alarmed. Comparisons with Iran, whose revolution also started out with a pluralist push against an unpopular, Western-backed regime and ended up with extremists in power, are reasonable and make me nervous. However, the Egyptians have the example of Iran to look at, and I doubt they want to go down that road. Plus the spark that started this was Tunisia, and Tunisia seems to be heading towards democracy rather than extremist takeover (too early to be sure, of course). All very exciting stuff - it seems the army is going in now, but to do what - we shall soon see...

So Ben Ali gets kicked out of Tunisia and people start asking whether this is the start of a domino effect across the region. We're not short of Tunisia-like conditions - ageing dictators ruling young populations. But very quickly, there's a consensus that it won't happen anywhere else - other regimes are more entrenched, more resilient, more willing to put dissent down brutally and with long histories of doing just that. And yet, there have been big protests in Egypt today, with hundreds arrested, and everyone's talking of nothing else - the 24-hour news channels are powerful in this region. If Mubarak were to fall, it really would be a game of dominoes.

I'm doing a little online course on mLearning - very enjoyable so far. I wish we'd had iPhones when I was at school - I would have loved it - but it needs to feel properly integrated into the learning experience, not just a gimmick.

The Sims hat is quite impressive. If it hadn't been for all the press coverage, I probably wouldn't have even noticed it in the game. I hope it doesn't break immersion too much.

I started The Witcher again too, in preparation for the sequel due out in a few months. I gave up on Fallout 3 - I find the setting depressing and confusing, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to play it. And I tried to play KotOR and KotOR2, but it's just not happening with Windows 7, even with all the various suggestions on forums here and there - hopefully Steam or GOG will tweak it in advance of the release of The Old Republic.

I'm still in the early stages of Back to the Future, but it's good so far.

I regret the cancellation of Legend of the Seeker, because it caused me to start listening to the audiobooks of the Terry Goodkind series it was based on, and I really wish I hadn't.

If there's nothing more dangerous than these guys out there to merit police attention and resources, I find that mildly comforting.

I don't think they've said yet. I imagine the game will mostly be out in the galaxy gathering allies, with Earth as the final mission, maybe?

I downloaded Nehrim last night, though I probably won't get a chance to play for another week. Oblivion grew on me - the OOO mod helped a lot, though I still think Morrowind was a lot better. Did I not read somewhere that the company behind Gamebryo went bust? Or am I confusing it with something else.

I'm not completely sure, but it seems that it's the version made for release in Germany that's available, but you can switch to English and it has the English audio. Perhaps virumor could confirm this? You can get it here. Glad to hear it's good, though.

It is curious sometimes how badly people will behave when there are no consequences. Perhaps the North Korean leadership is doing this simply because it knows it can get away with it. That seems a reasonable explanation. I wonder what it would take for China to stop keeping North Korea afloat. After all, doing so may lead to the state's chaotic collapse, precisely the thing that China seems to fear most.

Is the story in Two Worlds 2 any good? I didn't much like Two Worlds' story, and that added to the combat which got much too hard when I met the snaky things, made me give up.

Beyond Divinity wasn't as good, but is still worth a look if you liked the first one. I enjoyed Divinity II as well, and am thinking about getting the Dragon Knight Saga. Is River of Time available for (legal) download in English anywhere? I heard it's coming to Steam eventually.

That's a bit soon - I still have to play through 1 and 2 yet.

When I buy through digital download, as I don't get a physical disc, I want to be sure that I'll be able to download again in the future if I want. For that reason, I tend to prefer Steam as a big established site unlikely to go bust. That doesn't stop me using another site if the game is not on Steam, but I'll go for Steam first if it's available. Perhaps I'm worrying overmuch about this - if other sites have survived the current economic situation, it's likely they're not going to collapse any time soon, but still the instinct is there.

I'm really glad I saw this via this forum, instead of just going to the site directly. I would have been gutted. As it is, it's a very silly thing to do, but provided they still provide a good service, I will forgive them.

I bought it from Steam, around the same time I bought Ceville, and I'm looking forward to playing in the next few weeks. I finished Ceville last week, and that was pretty good - deserving of a sequel.