EnderAndrew

I haven't played any of them. Though I defend consoles, I haven't played a whole lot of console RPGs. When I borrowed a friend's PS1 once (mine had died at the time) I started many of his JRPGs that I never finished that I really dug, like Xenogears, Legacy of Legalia, etc. The only JRPG series I've played extensively however is the Final Fantasy series.

Not as much as more recent RPGs.

I think it is a necessity. Games that look outdated are far less likely to sell. We can't blame developers when that is the decision of consumers. I also believe that good graphics do not exclude good gameplay, or a good story. Just because you are spending money on art resources doesn't mean the writers are forced to write bad dialogue.

I often wonder about the pandemic of depression and I don't think is new, but rather a new recognition or definition of the human experience. We have more drug companies and drug lobbyists than ever before. We treat everything with drugs. We take drugs for things we don't have, but might have. We give drugs for diseases we can't prove exist (like ADD). Citing depression seems to be yet another way to pass the buck. I don't doubt there is honest-to-goodness clinical depression, and the brain chemical balances can be a factor. However, I think that sometimes it is just a matter of living life, be it good or bad.

My solemn duty in this life is to make Eldar shake his head.

You don't like trying new things? I recall when Ultima VI came out, and I had just played and loved Ultima IV and V. Ultima VI was mouse-based, and I hated the interface. Instead of a quick few keystrokes, I was dragging and dropping. Inventory was a real pain. But once I got used to it, I ended up loving that game as well. The interface became so popular, they used it for Martian Dreams and Savage Empire as well. There is also an Ultima VI online game using that interface today. Then Ultima VII came out, and suddenly the whole game was controlled via the mouse. A whole new camera angle and interface threw me for a loop. For the first ten minutes I hated it. I loved my keyboard. Why did they have to ruin the classic Ultima games I loved. In the end, I think Ultima VII was brilliant, and I came to love the interface.

I think Wil Wright is on to something. We sell games at largely the same price (with inflation factored in) for years, yet the budgets on games are growing exponentially. Art assets and staff on games keep swelling. Something has to give. I don't think the entire industry will turn to sandbox games, but with Spore, he is on to something. Community created content can supplement if not replace a large chunk of what would otherwise be professionally created content. Futhermore, a game that can create content on the fly (ahem, Diablo) suddenly creates all this replay value.

Wait until you see people's lives destroyed first hand from addiction. It seems like most people try pot once if not twice. So many of us trivilize the effect it can have on others, thinking that if it didn't screw me up, it can't be that bad.

Scientists have dated the ark as possibly 100,000 years old. Non-Christian scientists have stood behind the claim, and said that not only are there clear pictures where they can make out rooms and features of the ark, but they measured it.

I played D&D for many years, but I hadn't heard of the Baldur's Gate area because I wasn't into the Forgettable Realms.

It was the thief crucified next to him. Like I said, Jesus "hung" out with criminals.

I think very few things in this life should be mandatory. I like freedom, thank you very much.

I love my wife. She will game with me, enjoys geeky-stuff, role-plays, digs Star Wars, etc. She also is an honest-to-goodness sports fan. Despite being 9 months pregnant and due to pop (and despite the heat and humidity), she walked 2 miles to the stadium when we couldn't get parking, and walked all the way to the top of the stadium so we could watch the Husker season opener yesterday, and then was talking about giving me road woopie on the way home. Sadly she was feeling a little too sick for the last part when all was said and done. I think the walk back to the car about killed her in her current state.

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think the concept was great. I was extremely excited about a Star Wars RPG, even more so set in the KOTOR-era. The overall idea for the plot was pretty good. I think the execution of the game wasn't great.

Because marijuana contains irritants and carcinogens, it can promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract. A study comparing 173 cancer patients and 176 healthy individuals produced strong evidence that smoking marijuana increased the likelihood of developing cancer of the head or neck. The more marijuana that was smoked, the greater the increase in likelihood. Marijuana also produces high levels of an enzyme that converts some hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form. These levels may accelerate the changes that ultimately produce malignant cells. Additionally, marijuana users typically inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers, increasing the lungs' exposure to carcinogenic smoke. Users who smoke marijuana regularly may experience the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers, including daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and frequent chest colds. Continued marijuana use can result in abnormal functioning of lung tissue injured or destroyed by marijuana smoke. Within a few minutes after smoking marijuana, the user's heart begins to beat more rapidly and may increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute, or even double. Results of a study released in 2001 indicate that a person's risk of heart attack within the first hour of smoking marijuana is four times the usual risk.

We had tons and tons of painkilling drugs. THC isn't much of a painkiller, but pot does have thousands of carcigens. It doesn't make sense to smoke pot, and get lung cancer while trying to treat the "pain" caused by your existing cancer.

You can disable most any service in 2000 or XP. I'd be outright shocked if Aero can't be disabled. You can disable all the visual toys in Windows currently to improve performance, but you're saying we won't be able to in Vista? I haven't seen anything that says that.

When has Eru ever been malicious? I've seen Nurbs throw hate epithets around, so I'm really wondering about the source here.

What medicinal uses does it have? It causes cancer. That we know. We don't normally hand out drugs that cause cancer.

I have said nothing about faith. One man in 1969 thought he saw something. In 1998 scientists have discovered what looks to be Noah's Ark, and there is science to back it up. Show me one bit of science that debunks the 1998 claim. You're flipping out over a 1969 claim and now talking about faith. You're jumping all over the place and avoiding facts. Why?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/micr...5302772214.html

Do they still rent it?

That's no moon!

First off, multiple people have claimed to have seen Elvis. I am talking about the claim that has scientific proof behind it, including matching the measurements listed in the Bible. I did a Google search for Noah's Ark date and Noah's Ark dating and I haven't found a single link of someone who dated the wood to the 10th century. The link you gave me lists six tests, and six very different dates. Not only does this confirm what I said earlier about how how the ice throws off the testing, but those dates are from a 1969 expedition, which none one in the scientific community stands behind. The discovery that Popular Science wrote about, and that scientists do stand behind is the Ark I'm talking about, and it wasn't discovered until 1998 if I recall. Just because people were mistaken in the past, doesn't destroy the validity of the current claim.