EnderAndrew

I'm going to see a free 311 concert in a few days. They're coming back to Omaha for our 150th birthday celebration. I grew up listening to 311 as a local band before they hit it big, but originally they weren't even going to do a concert here. I've actually seen 311 claim to be an LA band despite being from Omaha and having a song called Omaha Stylee. It's sad. About 6 or 7 years back, they returned to Omaha for a concert called Edge-Fest with 12 bands. 311 had only left Omaha to go national a year before, and they were announced as a LA band in Omaha. Most of the crowd walked. That and they headlined over the Violent Femmes which I thought to be a travesty. And a sham, and a mockery. It was a travashamflamockery!

Norton really isn't the best antivirus on the planet, but I digress. HouseCall Antivirus That website has a free, online virus scan. You don't need to download or install any software, and it's pretty good. If that doesn't fix it, Dr. Solomon's has a pretty good Trojan remover. And notepad is a horrid program. There are many better text editors out there like UltraEdit.

The X-Box does have a few buttons that no one uses (like the Back button)

Can we get a ruling on this? Is the Sion-Scion thing intentional, or coincidental?

That's what I figured. Fear-gus just didn't sound right. I still like Feargie, by the way. You should try calling him that and she how he responds. If anyone gets fired over it, just blame Volo. He'll understand. You've got artists, programmers, designers, producers, etc. I'm still convinced that Feargus must be you a coffee-fetcher. What else is there to do? I imagine that you probably have an office manager to handle paperwork, do payroll, handle applications, etc. What does a CEO do? I'm guessing that he acts as a liason to LucasArts and shops around the secret next project (Redneck Rampage 2 - A Hunka-Hunka Burning Fun). But to a certain extent, doesn't the producer deal with LA? Maybe Feargus has gone the George Lucas route, and he sits around in a flannel and points at things every day going "that's good, but can we make a children's toy out of it?" To which Chu responds "That's my hole punch, and I'm rather personally attached to it. It's a special kind of love you wouldn't understand." And then FU asks "Have we done bug-testing on it yet? I want that hole-punch to go gold next week!" Tension mounts until FrankK walks in and says "Don't make me roll initiative!" In the background, MCA is mumbling to himself, "they're giving away all of my secrets! This is the last time I trust my plot documents with the marsupials!" Presnell walks in, and everyone exclaims "It's not Friday! Can you put some pants on?" You guys would make for a great reality show.

I had wanted to start this week, but there are quite a few people who may have a problem with tomorrow. Depending on how many people RSVP today, we may have to push the start back another week.

Well if you decide to get a system someday, I recommend going with a new system over a used system these days. Consider this. A used X-Box or PS2 is likely going to run $100, and will have some wear and tear. A new unit will have no such wear and tear. (PS2's in particular are vulnerable to disc read errors from a cheap gear and dirty lenses...) They are also newer models, and come with more stuff. I think the new PS2's come bundled with the network adapter ($35 retail) for free, and a game. The new X-Box comes with Clone Wars, Tetris, and the X-Box live starter kit for free.

Going back after several years and rereading things, I do think that there was room to take more time with the series. Card just writes so many different books, that perhaps he doesn't take the time to put out 800 page books like so many other people. He actually tries to be a fairly concise, entertaining storyteller rather than the 800 page novelist.

You play Snake in the beginning. And there is a very good reason why you don't play Snake through the meat of the game. It seems Snake is a terrorist holding people hostage... Don't worry, you play Snake in Metal Gear Solid 3. And Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is available on both X-Box and PS2. I highly recommend it.

We should sacrafice a few trolls at his altar.

Oh... crap... What? You thought that Darth Toaster plotline was real! Silly Chu!

Williams' music has been known to literally give me goosebumps. I am a sad, sad panda.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is the special edition of Metal Gear Solid. In it, you can grab a skateboard and skate over all the levels. I'm not kidding.

That may depend upon the level of REM, but I'd buy that.

I get having a score that caters directly to the specific story, but can anyone really touch Williams work? I say reuse as much as you can, and rescore a few scenes.

The three most talented things I have ever witnessed a guitarist do: Early Metallica footage: Cliff (now deceased) is on stage, and plays the guitar directly into the speakers creating feedback, but in a good way. It's one of the most unique sounds I've ever heard a guitar create, and is beautiful in it's own way. Hendrix used to do the same thing apparently, but I never saw Hendrix live since I'm only 26. I saw a guitarist for Jonatha Brooke break a string in the middle of a song. He proceeded to rip the string off, and moved his hands at lightning speed. He continually retuned the guitar so he could play on 5 strings and not miss a beat. While watching Gravity Kills, I saw the Keyboardist switch between drums, keyboard and guitar seemlessly while dancing like a madman on the stage. The keyboard was on this odd bundie apparatus, the guitar he wore, and he danced over to the drums and chimed in occassionally.

I think every entry here constitutes good news. Some people are calling the game an expansion pack, but there may actually be more improvements in this game than Fallout 2 had over Fallout. And many of us loved Fallout 2.

I'm half surprised that Avellone doesn't just give you guys a few false story documents.

Vice City was actually smaller than GTA 3. The engine had significant improvements though. Doom 2 and Doom seemed pretty similiar to me. I wasn't hugely impressed. GTA 2 to GTA - Didn't beat either game so I can't talk about length. The gang/faction thing was a nice addition, but we're not talking about night and day here. I never played Red Alert. I own a legal copy, and I've never installed it. You should see my game collection. It's sick. Tyrell also mentioned Doom 3 and Half Life 2. Half Life 2 is in it's 6th year of production, and it's not done. Doom 3 has been in production how many years? (Not sure how many, but they announced the title officially over 2 years ago, and it looked like they already spent a good 2 years on engine). Halo 2 isn't out yet, and I think that's a 3 year sequel, and the game isn't going to be any longer, nor look drastically different. There are some new neat features, but they haven't reinvented the wheel despite over 3 years of development. We don't know what new features KOTOR:TSL will feature yet. We don't know what the level design is like, nor we do know what playtime will be like. Yet we're already judging it. Take early quotes on the game, and compare them to more recent dev comments. I have reason to be optimistic.

First off, it generally looks back when you take a few small pixels and blow them up. That's not truly indicative of anything. It looks like her hair and lips have changed though. And stop reading the developer docs. Not even Akari gets to read those!

Revan's alignment should have no bearing on how a new PC starts the game.

Damnit Jim! I'm a programmer, not a doctor! I think the suggestion that Sion is the guy from the start screen is dead on. And is Sion a play on Scion? (Pronounced the same...) Scion means descendent....

Catinas seem to be the break from the Williams music. Frankly, I love the scores from the movies. I don't understand why LucasArts have people rescore the games. Use as much as John Williams music as you can I say!

Here's a random question since I mention Feargus so much. How does he pronounce his name? Is it phonetic? And if he reads the board, I hope he realizes all the coffee-fetcher jokes are in good humor. Also, does he mind if I call him Feargie?

Note my new signature.