Grandpa

D - O - N - U - T - S

??? Did you even read what I said? There was no air of anger in my post about not being the inventor of video game modding. KOTOR or otherwise. Also, I had tried just about every mod ever created for KOTOR up until I started hanging out here, and was a regular, albeit mostly a lurker, at holowan for a long time. In fact, I created several complete character reskins myself. So, yes, I do know something of what I'm talking about there. And no, I have no idea where those skins are anymore. Someone hosted them, but I think his site went down a while back. To this day, if you go to any of the hosting sites you'll find 90+% of the mods are simple reskins. That is not a mod in the truest sense of the word. code=script in layman's terms, and since I am not a programmer...layman's terms it is. And yes, several of the mods created to add planets and such would not run on my game. Mods allowing for new force powers and reallocation of NPCs dd run just fine. I'm sorry if you feel insulted that I said that KOTOR was not made to be modded. However, I am correct. It wasn't. And TSL, as stated by Chris A. will be "no more or less moddable..." So, if mods are going to be created for TSL, it's a good thing that the engine hasn't changed much, that gives all the mod community a head start. Just to be fair, I went back yesterday to try and find any improvements. I found a bunch of new reskins. A few new tools. And a lot of vapor. But no real mods. Someone did add some voice-acted dialog, but I can't see mixing that in with the original voice work. Clever, maybe, original, for KOTOR yes. Still, this does not prove that KOTOR is a great game for modding as you and the op seem to think. BF 1942 total convertion mods = great mods. KOTOR New Revan mask for your PC = not a great mod.

I wouldn't mind moving to California, or Cananada or anywhere a developer has shop set up (except EA, apparently). But I can't get the wife to want to move to any of those places. "Oooh! This is a beautiful place" she'll say. Me: "why don't we move here, then?" Her: "Oh god no. Why the hell would I want to live here?" Me: "I could get a job with Obsidian and..." Her: "What? More video game crap? When are you going to grow up?" Me: Her: "Oh knock it off...."

Easy, now. Careful of the corporate references. Remember In*ptplay? and all the nasty wrist-slapping? I read the forum created by that EA spouse's open letter. Pretty interesting, from a sweatshop view point. I would have to think that if all of those code monkeys decided to strike for a couple three day the suits would have to relent a bit. After all, you can't replace an entire team midway through a project and expect to remain remotely on schedule.

Except the British, who still use measurements of stone.

THOSE DAMNABLE QUAKERS!!! NAZIS!!! ALL OF THEM!!! Actually, I had never noticed. I usually just would add a little extra liquid (milk mostly) to make up the difference in dry powder to liquid ingredients. It's worked so far.

That is if they are working with a publisher. It used to begame companies created a game then set out looking for a publisher to help them get it to market. Bioware, for example, set out on its own to create game engines for games they hoped to do, then got publishers to foot the bills. I'm sure that, given the history and talents of some of the OE crew, there are some rumblings going on about what they would like to do next. I was just wondering if it is OC or are they looking for work.

Wouldn't a person be able to gain "experience" in a manner similar to how some IT people get that mandatory 2 years experience? A person starting out in IT should be building networks at home, in his college dorm, where ever he can to gain experience. Even volunteer work can count as experience. Getting paid does not equate to experience. Getting involved, going through the steps, learning from your mistakes, etc, are all part of "experience". With that in mind, couldn't a gaming hopeful chalk up mods and even flash games and such that she may create as "experience" to include on their resume? On top of that, a portfolio of sorts? I'm not a game developer, but I would think to want to see a batch of original work from a candidate. If said candidate sat in college for 4 years getting her gaming degree, yet have nothing physical to show for it, I would question the person's enthusiasm.

I see that "No [specialty] positions are open at this time." is available! I'm really good at that! Who should I address my cover letter too?

A simple posting with a simple question. We know NWN2 is in the works. I was just wondering what OE was eyeing for their next project. New license? Another follow-up? Game, engine, game and engine? Just curious if anyone at OE came up with any ideas yet.

You didn't bring donuts, did you.... New guys are all required to bring donuts! Geez...

I'm not ahuge FPS fan...nor a little one.... If I ever get HL2, it'll be when the price has been halved at least. Odds are I many never get RC. The hype has to interesting enough for me to want to try a game in a genre I don't care for. It just isn't there w/RC

Frustrating, isn't it?

I can't speak from the European perspective. I can't say what Europeans see and/or why they feel the way they do. No amount of explaining could make me understand. Likewise, a European cannot understand what/why/how and American thinks and why we feel the way we do. Each has their own perspective of the events taking place. All I can advise to Europeans is this, when you read or hear Americans running for the border or conversely wrapping themselves in the American flag, step back because you aren't getting the whole or necessarily the real picture. However, these are the most vocal of our citizenry (is that a word?), so they tend to be the voices heard by those from overseas.

I think what peaves Americans most about this analogy is that it is used so often by people who have no clue what they're saying. Uneducated middle-easterners have no clue, and use it because someone told them to. Europeans should have no excuse. It just is so extreme as to be insulting for no good reason other than the shock value. As an intelligent person, you (I say this collectively) should be able to come up with a better analogy to vent your opinion of the man. As EW pointed out, GW is nothing like Hitler at all. Now, if you were to compare Bush to, say, Ulysses Grant, it would be more acceptable, though not accurate either.

Isn't also a double standard to claim a double standard then expect a double standard? Why Iraq first? Why not? You have to start somewhere, don't you? That is, if you want to use that argument. If not, then we could simply throw back into the faces of the nay-sayers who say we should mind our own business. We're stuck in Iraq, now, so we have to finish there, but since popular opinion around the globe doesn't think we should be getting involved in other nation's afairs, maybe we should stay out. So, therefor, we shall not engage any other nations for fear of upsetting the world community. Far worse, you say. What is far worse than being tortured, and being forced to stay awake for days under said torture, because your football team failed to win the world cup? What is worse thand having your eyelids cut off so you can watch the rape gang have its way with your female family members? Define "worse". Starving children? I'm sure that is horrible, but not worse than some of the nasty things Saddam and his associates inflicted upon their own friends and people. The US military is only so big, and decisions are made as to where troops are dispatched. There are US troops in many places right now, but only the hot items get press time. Being a white majority outlet, the US media has little interest in the affairs of Africa, although we have troops in several African nations right now. Racist? Maybe, but being a free press, they can cover what they think will sell advertizing. We also have troops in South Korea, and have had since France ran away decades ago. Thanks, France! Maybe the US should stop cleaning up your messes for you? What if? What if the US retreated to within its own borders? What would happen? There needs to be a strong world power, it creates peace. Just look back in history. The time now belongs to the US. If the US pulled back, what kind of chaos would that create? What evil fascist would seek to rule the world? The US is far more benevolent than any world power in history, and it gives a lot for the honor of the place it holds. But, like any world power, it is not well received by those of other nations. Would Russia under Vladmir Putin be any more tolerable? I belive Russia is busy trying to keep its own peace at te moment. France? France has historically had a difficult time governing itself, much less others. England? Too much like America for most. Mexico? Denmark? Ukraine? United Arab Emrites? Botswana? Why can't we all just get along and play nice with each other? I wish I knew the answer, and I wish we could, but some people just don't want to.

Good points, EW. As for the Euro, I believe that, given the current world economy, the Euro is one of the stronger currencies, and far stronger than the dollar rigt now. It is also gaining momentum outside the EU, as you stated before, China was interested, Japan has already replaced some of their USD reserves wth Euro, and more countries are jumping on board. As I see it, the Euro is holding on quite well. Maybe I'm wrong? but that was from a BBC report I heard a couple of weeks ago on NPR radio. When Greenspan kicks the bucket here in the next few years, the USD will collapse along with him, I believe. I hope not, that would suck for me, but I think it is almost inevitable given that when the guy sneezes the economy shifts two points up or down. Rosbjerg, I will say this, we may not agree entirely, but at least we can see each other's side of the debate. Unlike a few fanatics (on both sides, mind you) on this board. EnderWiggin...did you miss this stuff or what?

This, however, is just crazy reasoning. China potentially accepting the Euro I'm sure had nothing to do with the war in Iraq. The EU, however grand an idea, is still in its infancy, and historically bound for disaster. The European countries have never gotten along for more than a few decades, and never all of them simultaneuosly. Hardly a threat as a superpower.

I personally don't think the US should have invaded Iraq, but we're stuck there for the moment and have to deal with it. I thought Bush was making a huge mistake. However, it's been done. I can't go back in time and change it, and controlling the US governmet is out of my sphere of influence beyond one vote. Rosbjerg is on the right path, and I agree with several statements you made there. The US, however, is not the only country to ever engage in puppet-dictatorship, and certainly won't be the last. Agree with it? No, but it happens, and the US is not the only perpetrator. Oil? That is another media inspired reason for the war. It just sounds convenient. But why the rush to save the oil wells? Because when the oil wells go boom, and the pipes are split, it affect far more than a few acres of bleached sand. Besides the immediate environmental concerns, there are the health risks associated with fumes and smoke, and those can stretch for hundreds of kilometers. Having extensive pollution response experience, I can tell you that securing those oil platforms was vital for far more than economic reasons. The ignorant few soldiers who complained about being assigned to oil well duty adding credence to the media hype were just typical, marginally educated US Army enlisted folks who at best know to "point that way and shoot". There is a perfectly good explaination for why rocket launchers have "Towards Enemy" steciled on the business end. And trust me, the officers aren't much brighter. How much intellect do you want a person to have when their job is to run at machine gun nests, et-al? They start questioning orders, and the whole machine stops working. I digress... POTC People who use "lol" to precede every statement don't have much intelligent to say. It makes it appear that you are either (a) a 12 year old girl talking about boy parts on AIM, or (b) have dug yourself so far into your own reality that when you realize how far into the twilight zone you've gone, you can only laugh about all the mindless and ignorant bung spewing from your hole. Instead of reading what I wrote, you assumed what I wrote had some political agenda. I was merely stating the facts of the case. Everyone stating that WMD was THE sole reason for the invasion of Iraq (of which you are one POTC), is working from the leftist agenda and not from any semblance of reality. OK. For your benefit, I voted for Bush this time around...why? Kerry is a bigger idiot and a puppet of that moron Ted Kennedy. The ultimate politician's politician. The last thing this county needs is Ted Kennedy running it, he's screwed up enough things just sitting in committee. Bush, as bad as it is, is still the lesser of 2 evils. Now, if you'll excuse me POTC, I don't engage it battles of wits with unarmed opponents.

Since they've been running around firing all of the apparent gamers at their company, the only people left to do QA are the suits. They see a pretty spalsh screen (ok, some of you Xboxers had trouble getting THAT far) and declare it "working". LA kind of reminds me of General Motors, cir. 1986 - 1998. They put out a bunch of mediocre crap, and every once in a while they have a hit, but that too is eventually marred by too many know-nothing-no-it-alls getting into the mix. Like the guy who headed the most expesive BF 1942 mod in history ~ err, I mean Star Wars: Battlefront game, axing all of their successful lines in favor of his and his buddies stuff.

I wonder how much of it was related to LA. LA did allow for the modding of some of its other games. I wonder if it was simply not feasible for Obisidian to release tools for modders without releasing too much of their engine source code at the same time. Maybe the Aurora engine (NWN) was easier to open up for modding than the Odyssey engine?

Source may be too technically different. Source was written for action/FPS games. While it may work with an RPG, why risk trying to make it work? Go with a newer engine designed for RPG like Eclipse? I haven't seen it in action first-hand yet, but it looks like a next-gen engine for the genre. I'm no programmer, but I'd have to imagine that an RPG engine has got to be able to handle things an FPS doesn't, and vice versa. I haven't played TSL yet (pc user), but based on some of the initial reports, I would think tying up loose ends is a necessity. And my biggest suggestion would be to enhance the physical attributes of character creation.

Do you really want to trust a GameCube enthusiast web site with an Xbox game announcement? Remember the TSL reviewer had, in his personal collection, Barbie's Happy Prancy Pony and Pink Bunnies, or some such nonsense. As for Bioware, maybe if they're planning to do it, they'll put it on their Eclipse Engine. It will keep the game on a created-for RPG game engine as opposed to what some of the suggestors have recommended using FPS and action engines.

People only see what they want to see to justify their positions. And you can put me in that category I guess, since I'm not omniscient. But here is how see this all. WMD is the focal-point issue driven into everyone's skulls by te media in an effort to get a good, juicy story. It is not, nor was it in the beginning, the sole issue. The reasons for invasion given by the US to the UN for wanting to invade was the failure of Iraq to abide by the provisions placed upon it after the first war. One of those provisions was meant to allow inspectors unfettered access to anywhere they wanted to go in order to ensure he had dismantled his arsenals. Saddam refused to grant the inspectors access to certain areas, and kicked them out when they went sniffing around, twice. Saddam was thumbing his nose at the international community and daring the UN to come and get him. Saddam was, and is, not a moron. He knew the UN was an impotent bureaucracy. The US took him up on his dare to come and get him. Certain EU countries didn't want to play because they had lucrative finacial deals with Iraq and other countries in the area, including a corrupt food for oil campaign. Or did that magically go away last week while I was sleeping? The media is what has been hyping the no-find-WMD issue. And the Democrats in the US. WMD was never the sole reason for the invasion...we did not invade Iraq to get at his stash of WMD, nor did we to get at his stash of oil. The US has never gotten very much oil from Iraq, most of Iraq's oil went to EU and Asia. Credible intelligence sources from the US, Europe and Asia all said it was highly likely that Saddam still had WMD, not just the CIA. That Saddam was not allowing access to portions of his country to the inspectors, and that he could provide no proof that he had lived up to the mandates placed upon him, led just about everyone to assume he had something to hide. As it would any reasonably intelligent person. Even France. But everyone was afraid to do anything about it. The US, fed up with the limp-dicked United Nations bureaucracy, decided to take action to hold Iraq accountable. Some like-minded allies also joined in, don't forget...41 of them. Would the US have invaded Iraq if Gore were elected in 2000 as the Dems and liberals would want us to believe? Who knows. Probably not, as he's a career politician and career politicians don't do anything that might affect their ability to be reelected. Would the war have turned out any better if they found tons of WMDs? Probably not, but the disagreement would still be hot. The people of the middle east have never been too fond of the borders drawn by England and France years ago anyway, and would be fighting outsiders and themselves no matter that a ruthless dictator was removed from one of those Eurpean-created countries part of their tribe happens to reside in.

Is this a prediction of a worry?