SteveThaiBinh

Romances are good. We should have more of them. All RPGs should have several options for romance for the main character, and an assortment of options for NPCs. It would have been great in Kotor 2 to have a relationship develop between Atton and Mira, for example, if you consistently chose those two as your travelling companions.

Ooh, yes, I think it might be. I had most of the Fighting Fantasy books up to the one where the guy woke up with no memory of who or where he was (such a lame idea ). Appointment with F.E.A.R. was the one where you could play as four different superheroes, yes? I wonder if I've still got it in the loft somewhere...

Yes. Some things look really good. I'll enjoy getting to grips with religion, though I will miss pollution and global warming. Not at all. The old Civ 3 graphics were very clear and effective at conveying as much information as possible. The new graphics will be very flashy no doubt, but will they be user-friendly? I hope they'll let you lock the camera into a Civ3-type angle, at least when I start playing.

Well, I can tell you what music I'm not listening to now. I'm not listening to the enhanced music for Kotor 2, because the patched files are coming down at a rate of 12.2Kb/sec and taking 3 hours each, and this with my 1.1Mbps connection. Crappy crappy Wanadoo. So I'm listening to Death and the Maiden instead.

This kind of thing happens all the time. There was a Western company that advertised soap powder in Kuwait showing the dirty clothes to the left, then the clean clothes to the right, forgetting that Arabic speakers read from right to left, so the powder was making the clothes dirty. Most international maps do show Kashmir a different colour to either Pakistan or India.

Cube was a fun movie and a good concept, somewhat let down by dodgy dialogue, but I enjoyed it a lot. Insomnia was a really good movie - I've only seen the US remake unfortunately, but I loved Robin Williams for once not being Robin Williams. The best ever children's film is Tonari no Totoro - I watched it with my nephew and niece a few days ago and was pleased that they liked it, too.

I hate Wanadoo. Crappy crappy Wanadoo. With luck I should have the files by this evening.

Well, if you're going to use accuracy at me, I'm not playing . Wikipedia acknowledges a vernacular use of bug that includes spiders, though it was interesting to learn that it has a precise scientific usage as well. It would have to be either a very small hippo or an air-filled one that deflated (or went 'pop') when you killed it.

The spider is a bug. Then there's the purple thing on the ground that might be a bug, it's hard to tell. The big thing to the left has sufficiently bug-like face and claws to be a bug by any other name. Hence, big bugs. I'm sure I'll get used to it - I managed with the Silt Striders in Morrowind, though that did take a while, and at least they didn't move.

Thanks. Ooh, big bugs.

If you watched Stargate SG-1, you would know that simple projectile weapons are more effective for killing and stuff, whereas showy weapons like laser/plasma thingies are only good for terrorising peasants and other humble folk. That's according to Jack O'Neill, anyway.

Our prayers are answered? Was anyone specifically praying for this? She's calling for more racially-diverse games. The sad thing is, there are some designers for whom this will be genuinely innovative. Will she be calling for non-scantily clad female characters, too? Hmmm...

Wasn't poor marketing blamed for the (relative) commercial failure of Planescape: Torment? Poor Obsidian, they must be having some unpleasant deja-vu feelings right now. I think I liked the fake screenshot that was posted around April 1 better. At least I could see it properly.

Thank you, Obsidian. Interesting, very interesting. So does this suggest that it was reluctance to host it on their own server that was delaying LucasArts' release of these patches? Was it the legal issue (notice the disclaimer that this is not an official patch and not supported)? It makes sense for a graphics card company to want to host a patch that shows off their product better, I suppose. By the way, I'm downloading the first two files and and they're coming very slowly (I have broadband). Is it my computer/location, or are North American broadband users getting it at a snail's pace, too?

Are they a good thing, though? So long as there's enough money left in the budget to hire good voice actors to do the bulk of the dialogue, then maybe it's fine. However, the need to pay a fortune to get a big name on the front of the box is only going to drive production costs up, forcing publishers to insist on bland games to appeal to the masses, right? It might work for certain types of games, but take a truly immersive RPG and have famous voices popping up here and there and it would just destroy the illusion. They'd have to be really good actors to make it work, and big name stars are not necessarily good actors.

Yes, and for me this is the most important thing. With the technology advancing as it is, the Kotors should be the last generation of games that restrict the player's choice of perspective. Let players opt for the one that they prefer, rather than imposing the designer's idea of how immersion - and fun - can be achieved. I too would not have made any headway with Morrowind had a third-person view been unavailable. Fortunately, the engine was flexible enough to accommodate me.

I expected he'll make a few hilarious inside jokes, ones that only people who've played Kotor will get, that will have fans guffawing in the aisles. I'll probably google it one day a month of so after it's released, and read the inevitable websites of quotations. I'm not rushing out to buy the game though, Mr. Lucas, so your marketing strategy has failed again. If it had been T3, of course...

Which part of me would be eaten first? Are we starting with the legs and moving up? I wonder when you would pass out from the pain... Eaten by what? Something big that would take huge chunks or something small like ants that would just nibble and nibble? Actually, I think I might get nightmares from this, so I'm stopping now.

I've been listening to the Mozart Horn Concertos - some of the perkiest music ever written.

Countries like India and Brazil are already producing technically illegal generic versions of anti retro-virals for AIDS sufferers. They justify this by saying that HIVS/AIDS is a national emergency, more than merely a disease or condition that affects individuals, and in such emergencies governments do have the right to take extreme measures that violates the property rights of companies or individuals. I agree. If a company developed a cure for AIDS I doubt it would be able to stop other countries analysing and then replicating it. Charging an astronomical price wouldn't be an option.

Wouldn't surprise me. This internet thing gets everywhere these days, even the most surprising of places. It's amazingly easy when it happens. You discover all these other things you can do with the days. Then of course, when your connection comes back, you forget it all in the giddy relief of being able to download game patches and read online comics once more.

I'm sorry to have missed it. Though I'll get over it, with counselling.

Growcube is scarily addictive.

There's some good fanfic out there to compensate for your (and everyone's) disappointment. Plus the cut content (you'd heard of that, right?).

Just off the presses: Atoms Develop in Universe that Favours Development of Atoms Shock! Actually, the article was a pretty interesting read. By the way, I only exit the game and turn off when all my Sims are tucked up in bed. You know, just in case.