Tigranes

I thought we still had to reload? But yeah, I do agree with you. Some of the challenges in, say, late 80s-early 90s games were stupid ridiculous (harder than a physics test to figure out), of course, but a blind monkey could finish K1/2 or Jade Empire. I think the controversy over some of Fallout 3's new things has relevance here: the inclusion of the Fatman (miniature nuclear launcher), nuclear cars that explode and make chain reactions, and 'psych' attack guns. Quite removed from whether it's 'Fallout' or not, that kind of thing reveals a particular cultural sensibility that Bethesda are either immersed in or are simply aware of. I think it's the same thing with the jailbait girl, though of course, when we know more about that we might turn out to have been simply paranoid. But the reason I am worried is not so much because of the jailbait girl by herself: but because the kind of PR vibe Obsidian have been giving out seem a lot more attuned to this cultural sensibility than in previous games. I do think that perhaps this is because this is their first original game, and they recognise the need to bring a lot of new fans on board. I think there's still plenty of room for AP to prove our initial fears wrong and we still don't have an accurate grip on the 'feel' of the game, which will be crucial. We'll see. The latest interview (Walslink) and its moniker of 'exaggerated realism' actually reassures me because it's finally giving us something reasonably focused, and it's nothing to cry about (yet).

Never heard of it, but sounds intriguing. Yes, we are going downt he path of ultimate, inconsequential indulgence - a trend in all commodified experience that is reflected in this industry. Choose everything, get everything, all at once. Obsidian did seem to buck that idiocratic spiral with their games, at least a little bit, though. Precisely. The games I quoted were games where I found that the plot, characters and setting were generally okay, but nothing I really fell in love with. So I didn't commit myself that much to the world (though I loved the gameplay of, say, Thief), and because I played it in that way I didn't mind. So if our fears turn out to be true in AP, I won't be able to love it in the way I did, say, MOTB, which is a pity.

I will come back to the thread when I've had time to read it and the links - but, uh, don't even bother with the Sun. They're about as close to the truth as a Star Trek fan talking in his sleep. Worthless in every imaginable way.

Don't make me smite you Krezack. I can't remember if it was Sand or Volourn that comes up with the "it's really your own fault for not controlling yourself' argument every time this kind of stuff comes up, but really - it's so obviously not that simple. On one extreme you can't chain-smoke for 20 years and then sue the cigarette companies for millions of dollars, because you have to, you know, make your own decisions. But on the other extreme you can't say it's okay to sell raunchy goat porn in Times Square, because you know, you don't have to buy it. Desire is always cultivated and it's naive in the extreme to think that we are completely rational human beings making logical choices unaffected by whatever. The line between a healthy society and a sterile one differs for everyone else, but is there really any weight to the case that McDonalds can do whatever it wants? I did think, upon watching Supersize Me, that it was a poor and invalid experiment. Says nothin' about the guy's professionalism, because lots of professional sociological or scientific studies by Ph.Ds commit the same kind of biased, ridiculous jumps of logic. But certainly, bad science. But McDonalds is part of a capitalist mechanism that cultivates a desire for a certain type of food that is bad for you in the long run. This fact isn't affected at all by Volo's I-am-thin anecdote either, because in Logicland they practically live on opposite sides of the continent. As I say, where do we draw line is the question, not "isn't McDonalds really okay?" or "isn't McDonalds the devil?".

Well, I did end up starting that new BG campaign. This is probably the last year of my life I can play games like this so I might as well use it. BGTrilogy with lots of mods, including the vicious return of Dark Side of the Sword Coast & Northern Tales of the Sword Coast, which I hadn't tried before. NTotSC seems to be just as bad as DSotSC in absolutely horrible writing. I mean, a bard called Will Scarlet O'Hara? The pernicious lack of periods to mark the end of sentences? A run-on sentence every two lines? It's like everybody on the team forgot to go to middle school. But thankfully, it's not breaking immersion yet. A Wild Mage as protagonist (best thing mods ever did, let you go up against xvarts with 3 Dweomers memorised), taking along Ajantis, Khalid/Jaheira, Kivan and Imoen. Always loved archers, and the mods added some cool Paladin gear so Ajantis' annoyingness is excused. Pretty brainless tank party, but with a party of Kagain/Tiax/Edwin/Minsc last time I wanted to shuffle things up.

Another problem with the English team is its ego, which is very hard to fix because most of these players live completely immersed in hype. Look at Wayne Rooney. He can swear his head off at referees in the English league and not get a single booking. Every time he touches the ball the crowd screams in joy, and the commentators sing his anthem. All the newspapers love him. Etc, etc. It's the same with Gerrard, Terry, etc: it's comically true with players like Wright-Phillips, Sidwell and Bentley who are meant to be 'hot shots' but in truth are either quite mediocre or have managed to put their careers on complete hold. When you get these kind of people together, well, not much anybody can do. Look at the dismal French team this year - why do you think they failed to even pass to each other properly? Nasri and Ribery don't speak to each other, Benzema and Ben Arfa (if he was here) don't either, etc, etc. There are prima donnas in every team, but the English football culture makes every single one of them one.

Wait, wait, wait. So as long as you don't gain weight when you eat something, it's healthy? Thanks guys, I'm 110 lbs. so I must be the healthiest man in the world!

If there's no summary, I'd have to treat the game as I treated BG&E, Thief or Final Fantasy: good games, fun, but not roleplaying games and I probably won't end up being as committed. After Mass Effect I still think this 'cinematic' approach is wrong (or rather, antithetical to what-I-want, and no, what-I-want isn't a return to 1997), especially since spy-work involves a lot of careful, subtle dealing and negotiations. I don't want to have to trudge around blind, but we'll see what info comes up. As for the 'feel' of the game I think it's starting to be more fleshed out, their 'exaggerated realism' phrase will probably become iconic soon.

Germany [2] - Turkey [1] Spain [1] - Russia [2]

Back in town and with updated scores. Most of us got pretty much everything wrong, but not so with Diogo, who is now pulling clear on 17 points. Semis format: Germany [] - Turkey [] Spain [] - Russia [] Finally, since hardly anyone picked up on the Top Goalscorer thing, we'll drop it.

Since there is a possibility that his request for help is genuine, I won't close this yet. xgmx, if you do have a coding problem and need help, actually describing (in detail) your predicament and what you actually need help with would be a start. Moved to the appropriate forum.

So we've got a bit more nationalism and stuff coming to the fore, don't let the blood drown the brain - and while this isn't some sort of draconian mod directive, I'm sure we can discuss the merits of various teams using neutrally charged vocabulary. No, wait, we can't, this is football Just got back to town and watched Spain live, then Croat/Dutch replays... heh. It's that sinking feeling you get with the Netherlands: you know they're so great, and you know you want them to win, but when they do lose, you know that in the back of your head, you were somehow waiting for it. Guus Hiddink shows once again why he is one of the best coaches in the world, and also why his greatest asset is his calculated canny-ness. The reason he succeeded so much with teams like Korea, Australia and Russia is because they're not at the 'top' tier, but not absolutely poor: this plays into his hands because he is someone that is very, very good at installing the basics iron-tight on his players, then using simple tactics that don't need a great degree of skill to execute, just a lot of practice, discipline and hard work. Hiddink clearly identified the Dutch way of playing: when the ball is in the centre with Sneijder/VdV you don't rush, you stay tight and cover everyone: when it does go to the wings, you chase them down double-team. You lure them into the gaps between midfield and defence lines, and then squeeze in, and the Dutch - especially recently injured ones like RVP - can't just hold defenders off in the way that, I don't know, Rooney could. And of course, luck was with him in that Russia got the first goal. That's not to say that they didn't deserve it, but it's not as if Dutch never looked like scoring, and if they got a first half goal I don't think Russia could have won. As it is, the Dutch aren't a team that can deal with continued frustration (and Russia was, in the classic Hiddink way, dirty without really doing enough to be called dirty), and they were slowly drained until, by the second goal, they had nothing left. But definitely credit to Russia who are really getting better and better, and exposed the Dutch defence countless times. Spain remains the only team I really have an interest in, but at least Italy and Portugal are out (sorry Pid.)

I don't mind 'hardcoreness', what I hate is when I can tell the AI is making things easier for me, or they are so stupid it doesn't make sense. I'd rather it be so difficult that I cheat my resources up, then go up against superior tactics, than the other way round. DLV looks pretty nice, really got to check on some of these mods again when I have a better PC.

Hrm. My copy of MTW2 is gathering dust and I never got Kingdoms - mainly due to the fact that I didn't think they would ever be able to fix the two gamekilling (for me) issues of fragmented stacks running haywire and generally poor AI in diplomacy/combat. It's sad because in all TW games there are great mods like this one that improve on almost everything, but usually can't touch AI. Is that true in this case again?

Heh. As I recall, you can finish the quest just by frying the ogre mage and his CC's - but you can get extra goodies by giving the ruby ring if you have it on you. Maybe the corpse, too, but I forget.

Isn't Deco retiring from international football? I don't know where I got Pepe from, though. And in theory, you are right, but sometimes you find that your skillful, speedy attack isn't quite working out for whatever reason (good solid defence, injuries, bad pitch, bad weather, bad ref), and you need someone who can take half a chance and stick it in the net, or create something out of nothing. Portugal lacked that today because for whatever eason, their attack was a lot less imaginative and sterile than normal. I think they were lucky to get even 2, as Germany really went to sleep for the first (but then, Germany was 'lucky' with the third, too.)

Agreed. And now with Deco and (Pepe?) going away, it's not going to get easier - they really need a scorer of goals like Germany's had in Podolski this tournament.

Aaaand it takes just 2 minutes after half-time for Ronaldo to dive and cry again. Seriously, look at him. Lies there for 2 seconds to see whether he's getting anything, *then* scrunches his face up and starts rolling around. It's just impossible not to hate the abomination.

Huntelaar is a big name, Afellay and Vennegoor not so much. He just has a very good mix of them all.

That's a good point, and to be honest, I'm not sure how it's normally done. It's too close to the first game time for most people to change that prediction, so I will go ahead and say that all scores indicate the final score and result, including shoot-outs (if you predict 2-1 and they win on penalties after 1-1, you get it right). Hildegaard will, in this way, have a chance to change his Spain result. I just think it's best for everyone to predict the eventual result. We can do things differently for semifinals if you find a big problem with this, but I think we should go with that for QFs. Sorry guys, thanks for the heads up Architect.

Boneywasawarriorwayayix.

I could only find the version with rather silly comedy 'transliteration', but the video itself is authentic and pretty hilarious. That said, this one is insidious in the sense that you might just find yourself not entirely disliking it.

I will be away this weekend until something like Sunday afternoon, but I am sure you guys can keep this going. Quarter-Finals! Please follow this format: Portugal [] v Germany [] Croatia [] v Turkey [] Netherlands [] v Russia [] Spain [] v Italy [] ----------- My predictions: Portugal [2] v Germany [1] Croatia [2] v Turkey [0] Netherlands [3] v Russia [1] Spain [2] v Italy [1]

The table remains very close (and as usual, my scores are off by one goal. Wait, no, this time I was completely off.)

Bored after 15 minutes, but I expect that it'll be very, very entertaining if the rest of the game fulfills its promises (the civilisation building). As well as more pieces. It does confirm my fears that I've had for a while - that animations are fairly limited in that they're grafted on by code to specific combinations and pieces, and that makes true variety and craziness (e.g. Escher's Curl-Up) impossible. If we have the same kind of thing happen with the civilisation component, then Spore would surely remain an excellent game, but not exactly the 'infinite revolution'. I can understand the technical limitations behind that though. This one was interesting, saw it somewhere: