GreasyDogMeat

I noticed one or two come on when watching 24. They basically involve an audio tape saying something and then the cabbie butchers it so it comes out in a goofy way. As many have pointed out, sometimes these 'jokes' don't work and people don't get it. Sort of like- TAPE: Do you want three? CABBIE: Do you want me? Not very funny little twists of the english language... but I don't think they are racist either. Just stupid jokes.

I think his writings should have been a fairly clear sign. He wrote a play called Mr. (forget the name) about a teacher who gives 4 students detention, the students then want to kill him and say things like 'I want to see him bleed'. This guy sounds very similar to the kids from Columbine. Atleast one of the Columbine kids also wrote about how people around them deserved heinous torture etc. for simple daily things. I remember reading about how one of the Columbine kids wanted to steal from a guy and kill him because he left his car unlocked and he deserved anything that happened to him. The scary thing is that he also wrote about how he changed his demeanor around teachers and parents. He'd be a nice guy, smile and all that while writing about how he wanted to kill them for the lamest, most trivial crap you could imagine. The bastard probably thought he was the victim in all of this. Getting back at that teacher who gave him detention and all the students who gave him funny looks. I have a hard enough time understanding a single murder, let alone a rampage where 90% of the victimes probably didn't even know the guy.

Yeah, I can just imagine if something was done the headlines would be shouting about the teachers stifling free speech at Virgia Tech or some other nonsense. Its just hard to accept that nothing could be done about it... especially with such 'signs'.

Seems like this is another tragedy that had some signs. I guess the shooter wrote a play in which he is molested by his stepfather and wants to kill him, writing such poetic phrases as 'die ****, die!'. Hindsight is always 20/20, but it is a shame someone couldn't have looked into this further.

How in the world could you consider Outcast more fun than Academy? Academy was basically the same game but with even better fighting abilities and tricks. If you were disapointed from a story stand point, I could understand, but from a gameplay standpoint it was a huge improvement to the combat system in Outcast.

Your answer is "psycho". Now go. Psycho eh? Go on. Tell me more of this "psycho." What does it do and more importantly, where can I find it? Son, let me tell you, psycho is a rare and precious commodity. Nobody knows where it comes from, but by chance, anybody who sells drugs on the corner is bound to have some. It makes you fast, but it also makes you stupid. And all those arbitrary measurements of damage you take every time you get hit? Well, psycho makes it even more arbitrary. Save your game before you take it, cause you might get junkie disease, which is bad. Nevertheless, one dose of the stuff will make you just about impervious to bullets of the 10mm variety, you'll take 0, 1 or 2 points of damage each hit, and it'll allow you to take more of any other kind of damage, but you won't be invincible. For example, in the Den there's a bar next to the Slaver's Guild. Punch the barman in the face until he is dead. On his body, you will find a syringe full of precious, precious psycho. Then walk into the Guild, take the psycho, and become their daddy. Take them to school in a van full of pain. Be forewarned that unless you hook up whoever it is you're with, they'll be vulnerable to all the bullets bouncing off of you. Repeat where and when necessary. It don't pack quite as much power later on in the game, but once you get your power armor it becomes obsolete anyhow. Speaking of game manuals, this should have been a quote from the Fallout 2 manual.

I'm kind of surprised body armor hasn't been banned already after the 1997 'North Hollywood Shootout'. Two bank robbers were wearing body armor and the police with their small caliber pistols couldn't penetrate the body armor. They were armed with machine guns and held the police off for almost an hour. Unfortunatly, once again, two idiots commit a crime and something decent citizens may want could become illegal.

Might be nice to have... just in case. I've heard that body armor may become illegal to the general public, so I'm thinking now would be the time to buy, unless it is like one of those fake 'closing now everything must go' tricks. Live in a rough neighborhood or something?

I think the problem with the 'me' generation as far as pathological violence goes, is that it makes the problem even worse. While a psycho is a psycho I believe one raised in a situation where everything is about that person, it makes personal failures and disapointments that much worse and therefore, the violent reaction/rampage that much likely to occur sooner and worse. I agree completly about how the situation was handled. From what I've heard, he shot two people, then came back to a different part of the campus TWO!!!! hours later and killed 30. They should have cancelled school after the first incident. Hell, if someone had a heart attack and died on campus (A natural death) school should have been cancelled, if nothing else, in respect of the deceased.

My point is that no one is addressing the root of the issue of what breeds these types of lunatics. 50 years ago guns were even more readily available to people in the U.S. yet school shootings were virtually unheard of. When you look at movies and games they have steadily pushed the limits of decency further and further. These shootings are, IMHO, a combination of the 'me' generation, bad parenting and violence in the media. Violence in the media alone of course is not a reason for these shootings, most of us have grown up with it. I enjoy playing GTA, Postal, etc. The problem is that people like this in Virginia and atleast one of the boys at Columbine are completely psychotic. Stricter gun control laws would not have kept weapons away from people like this, maybe delay it a bit, but not prevent it. One of the boys went out of his way to act like a friendly average teenager while writing about how he wanted to kill people in his daily life for petty things. Something needs to be done about TREATING these people and recognizing their problems before it explodes in a rampage. "If he'd waited four days it'd have been bitterly Ironic." Huh? Oh, the Columbine 'anniversery'. I think it is already bitterly ironic that another shooting like it happened almost 8 years to the day. "The issue isn't really about guns, or gun control, it's about peoples actions. If you ask me, accountability is something that has been stunted quite a bit these last few years. It's not longer having the responsibility for something you've done, no it's guns, video games, pornography, t.v., music, a company that sells a product that someone misuses, or just some poor schmuck thats now at fault. It's ridiculous." What theslug said. This is exactly what I was trying to say with the 'me generation'.

It is kind of ironic that some on this thread are advocating gun control/banning while a number on the news I've seen are advocating video game/porn/violent movie banning. When we look at the number of school based shootings in the U.S. vs school based shootings in other European countries, you also have to remember many of these European countries heavily ban music/movies/games. I really believe these shooting incidents are a lower moral standards combined with bad parenting and not an issue of gun control. If some nut really wants to go on a spree they'll get their hands on a weapon. These shooting incidents happen in Europe as well even with the stricter gun control laws.

Two very different games. I love JKA for the awesome combat. I love KoTOR for the story. Also, those of you who think JKA is nothing more than a button masher didn't get used to the combat. There are plenty of tricks, special attacks and timing of slashes. Yeah, you can mash your buttons, but you'll be missing out on some actual combat strategy and tactics. JKA is just an absolute blast as far as combat goes, and a huge improvement over Jedi Outcast. Nothing beats leaping over an enemy's head and force (lvl 3) pulling them into orbit, then watching as they fall a mile back to the ground. "AAAAAAAAAAGGGH!" Splat!

I think these idiotic shootings are due to a degredation of morals, not a case of gun laws. More and more focus has been put on the 'me' generation. Everything revolves around you. When things don't go a persons way it is the world's fault. The real issue is never addressed though, and this will be turned into another massive anti-gun drive from liberal politicians. What a damn tragedy.

The name of the movie is 'Next' I believe. Looks kind of interesting.

While the con of this is that the next Fallout probably wont have very good storytelling, (Unless Bethesda actually improves after Oblivion, which would surprise me since they didn't improve after Morrowind) this has some good possible pros as well. 1. Could it possibly be any worse than Fallout Brotherhood of Steel on consoles? That was so bad most Fallout fans pretend it didn't/doesn't exist. Well it does and I can't imagine a Bethesda Fallout title being worse. 2. If Fallout 3 offers the same modding capability as Oblivion (and it should, using the same engine and all) then we will see some great things from the modding community and fallout fans. Think about it, Fallout remake, tweaks, you name it. If any modding community could be called the heart and soul of a game it would be the Elder Scrolls modding community and if Fallout 3 is moddable the community may migrate and create great things for Fallout 3. They certainly made Oblivion barable and even if Fallout 3 does suck as bad as some people fear, the community may come to the rescue.

Can't wait for the expansion, but I really hope they enhance the engine and it's performance. It is nice that it will be taking place somewhere besides the sword coast for once.

I've greatly enjoyed both movies. They are just escapist fun movies like Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, The Mummy etc. As long as the next Pirates movie doesn't have the main characters have witty children who ruin the movie (See Mummy 2) I'll probably be happy with it, especially after watching the trailer.

'That is an unfair criticism. In NWN2 they were using the Aurora engine which is about seven years old now and really predated the neat physics implementations of modern games. All the did to Aurora was rework the graphics component to go with higher poly counts and generally make it look better. If they had to code a new engine, they would still be working on it.' Well, the upcoming game the Witcher also uses the Aurora engine and features ragdoll physics, characters who can jump and many other enhancements to the engine. I really don't see how it is unfair to criticize NWN 2 for missing these features when another game using the same engine does have them. Also, why are so many of the neat little tech features of NWN 1 missing? -Hair and clothing that bounced. -Grass that sways out of the way as you walk through it. In every aurora game but NWN 2. -Arrows that would stick to the environment and enemies. How cool was it to shoot an arrow through a goblin's head? In NWN 2 the arrows just pop. -Characters that follow you with their heads and make actual eye contact. In NWN 1 if I am playing a human and I talk to a halfling they look up at me. In NWN 2 they talk to my crotch while I talk to the empty space above their heads. -Water that would slosh as you walked through it. Remains completly static in NWN 2. -The falling leaves, even if they were 2d, seem to be absent from NWN 2. -Gibs that would bounce down inclines as well as blood that stained on the ground. NWN 2 just has puffs. Yeah the gibs were unrealistic but they were a cool option you could enable. -More varied combat animations where characters would clash with each other and sparks would fly. In NWN it seems like it is just a basic swing, and an occasional regrip of the weapon. -Other little special effects and tech features that I can't remember at the moment that aren't in NWN 2. I love NWN 2 for it's story telling and improved toolset power, but like I said, I am very disapointed in it from a tech stand point. Basically it feels like we've recieved a better looking game with a massive cost of visual effects that brought NWN 1 to life. NWN 2 just feels more static, like you can't interact with the world as much. I would absolutly LOVE to see the above features added in a patch or expansion, but it is just very disapointing to see these features completly vanish in a sequel despite, as you mentioned, it using the same engine. While I can somewhat understand why the bouncy hair and clothing may have been removed, I see absolutly no reason for the removal of things like swaying grass, sloshing water or heads that turn to follow you as you walk by. Even if some of the features did have a hit on performance they could have an options toggle to turn them on or off. It would really make my day if someone came along and said 'Hey, GreasyDogMeat, what the heck are you talking about? Those features are already in the game! You just need to activate y and press x and doodle with z in the ini file' but I just haven't seen any of these cool special effects from NWN 1 in NWN 2.

The Island. I have to say, the first two thirds of the movie had me thinking it was going to become one of my all time favorite movies. Unfortunatly like a lot of movies it became too preachy and started getting some goofy fluffy twists. For no apparent reason the brutally efficient hunter trying to capture the two main characters decides to get a conscience at the last second despite murdering someone not 20 minutes earlier in the film. A real shame, the movie had me engaged wondering what was going on in the first third of the movie, then on the edge of my seat the second third with the crazy chases and then in a 'meh' state for the last third. Either way, the freeway chase scene alone was worthing watching the movie for.

The only thing that disapointed me about KoTOR 2 was the botched/missing ending. Nearly everything else I loved more than KoTOR 1. I was much more disapointed by NWN 2. It feels way behind the times technologically. Where are the ragdoll physics, face creation and better interior creation? It also runs pretty poorly compared to many games that look superior and have more going on in the background. The only massive improvement over NWN 1 I see is the impressive ability to make outdoor areas that look realistic. I think even that could use some improvement. While I am very disapointed with NWN 2 from a tech standpoint, I very much enjoyed the single player story and I'm enjoying working with the toolset. The PC RPG is in a pretty depressing state with both Bioware and Bethesda focusing on consoles first and the PC second. NWN 2 is the most PC RPG I've seen in years and as the original poster mentioned, even it has a number of irritating console implementations. I'm all for making games more user accesible, but that doesn't mean the rules of a system need to be dumbed down as well. Games in general seem to be getting easier and easier, no permanent deaths, invincibility modes without the requirement of cheats etc. I'm frankly disapointed with the entire gaming scene shifting more towards console style. It seems like the only RPGs getting a real PC focus are stinking MMORPGs, which as you probably guessed from the 'stinking' part, I hate with a passion. I really hope Obsidian doesn't go the way of Troika. I really enjoy their writing style and have enjoyed their stories and characters more than the originals their games are sequels to. They have yet to make a Temple of Elemental Evil disaster or a Baldur's Gate 2 breakthrough imho. I do have a feeling with some optimizations and improvements with expansions NWN 2 will really start to shine.

While there are a lot, every so often one comes out that really stands out from the crowd, like the original CoD and it's excellent expansion. Unfortunatly the sequel is pretty much a prettier and dumber rehash with crappier multiplayer. I'm really looking forward to the next Medal of Honor game, Airborne. The trailer looked fantastic. Theres just something about the period that is interesting. Really, as far as war games go, WWII is the perfect war to base games on. It had a great selection of semi auto, bolt action and automatic weapons, wasn't as complex as modern combat, but at the same time not as simple as earlier wars that focused more on the rifle.

The original OC (Official Campaign) is fairly disapointing but not nearly as bad as people make it out to be IMHO. One of the big problems in the OC was that a lot of quests were carbon copies of a quest you had just performed. In the first chapter for instance, for one quest you need to break into 3 noble houses to steal art objects and the dialogue is nearly identical in each house. NWN 1 really could have been shortened in area do to these repeat quests and dialog. While Baldur's Gate 2 had impressive interactive followers who would interact with you at all different times and have completly different stories that each had a quest completly different from other characters, NWN 1 henchmen all open up to you in the exact same format. Level up to talk to me more and I'll give you another peice of the story. Once you get enough info out of me I'll ask you for some object to find. The henchmen, while having interesting stories, had the blandest and most manufactured way of telling their stories I've ever seen. I think it sucked a lot of the life out of their characters. The expansions are much better IMHO. I have a particular fondness for Shadows of Undrentide. I frankly recommend this game for all the amazing content developed outside the box. Even if you end up loathing the OC as much as others here, there are hundreds of outstanding modules available for this game, from recreations of classic D&D modules and games to outstanding new scenarios made by fans. There is even a complete remake of Diablo & it's expansion pack Hellfire out. If you do decide to get NWN DEFFINITLY get a complete package with the two expansions as many of the best modules require both expansions installed. There is always the possibility that you might even enjoy the OC. While many people complain about it there are plenty who enjoyed it as well.

I really don't have a problem with the graphics, its that the graphics vs. performance is way off. Graphically I think Jade Empire and even KoTOR to some extent are superior in looks AND they also perform 100x better. I'd frankly be happier if NWN looked even uglier than it did now if it ran more smoothly. It is just hard to make compromises and deactivate so many features in NWN 2 when it just doesn't look THAT good compared with many other games on the market that have just as many things running in the background (tracking stats, npc interactions and all that extra jazz) and character models much more detailed yet running at frame rates much higher and smoother. I really enjoy NWN 2 as a game, I wouldn't be making a module for it if I didn't, I just feel that the one area that this game needs the biggest help in is it's performance. I am very grateful and happy for the enhancements in the 1.03 patch and I REALLY hope Obsidian keeps working on optimizing the game as much as possible.

I'd love to see the entire Lone Wolf series come out in a large RPG game. Loved those books when I was a kid.

You don't have to be psychic to realize the odds of another Icewind Dale being anything like the originals is pretty slim. RPGs have been steadily becoming more and more consolized. Even NWN 2 strictly for the PC has numerous console style additions, like followers who can't die and the inability to refuse followers from coing with you etc. Some things have obviously gotten better over time, like production qualities but a lot of the freedom of the classics is disappearing. If an Icewind Dale 3 came out I would be surprised, if an Icewind Dale 3 came out that was anywhere near the originals came out I'd have a heart attack in surprise.