alanschu

A silly question, but is there a manual on the steam page? (Although I know a lot of the time they don't work very well...)

Train simulator I could easily understand (as trains have been a huge hobbyist industry for a long time). Wouldn't surprise me if there's some level of it for Farming Simulator as well. If it's just an economic simulator (while driving around with farming equipment too), I don't see any reason why it wouldn't have a similar appeal to say, SimCity? SimCity has always been a lot of fun for me, but whenever I try explaining the game to someone, I can't really do it without it sounding really boring. I get the impression that the Train one has found its niche, as I think they have like set records for the amount of DLC they have shipped with their games.

Spec Ops: The Line

Yes. The writing is coherent. The first one totally hams it up and places rather arbitrary and silly situations of "look, you need to choose between supporting a nonhuman or supporting the human beside him!" I'm not really a huge fan of the gameplay of either, particularly the combat. The first has tones that I absolutely loathe. After finishing it, it was a breath of fresh air to play the second. Love the divergent narrative.

Finished up the witcher 2. Much better than the first

Exactly. Keeping those serving in the military grounded in reality is more beneficial to preventing full on government tyranny than packing my snub-nose six shooter or a hunting shotgun.

The EA is strong in this one. No, more just "you have to draw the line somewhere." How close to a sale do you have to buy a game to be eligible for the sale price even though you are clearly okay not needing the sale? I've personally been burned by buying a game myself that went on an even greater sale later (Splinter Cell: Conviction). But I realized that all it meant was that I was willing to buy the game at the earlier sale price, so it's more just bad luck than anything.

You think this is actually the case? Not only do the megacorporations utilize their huge amounts of capital to influence governments themselves (the cynical perspective is that the governments only represent the will of said corporations), they can also use their huge capital to attack and remove individuals and smaller companies. They are able to destroy competition and innovation simply because a smaller upstart is incapable of affording the fight. Lets see how successful you are when a megacorporation decides it wants to impose its will on you. What are you going to do if they decide your isolated neck of the woods is a convenient place to dump toxic wastes. It's easy to sit there in your decidedly freer country that has such constraints in place (put their by your government), while megacorporations make arrangements to purchase vast swaths of land in other countries, displacing those that lived on the land and ultimately undermining their abilities to take care of themselves.

I actually don't get upset if I just miss on a sale. Mostly because it's evident that I am perfectly okay with paying for the game at the higher price, lest I wouldn't have already done so. It's bad luck, but win some-lose some. The only other way around it would be for Steam to be like "FYI everyone! We are having a sale in 6 hours!" But then, those that bought 6 hours before THAT announcement would have the same complaint. It becomes cyclical as a result. At no point can something ever go on sale without the potential of pissing someone off that bought it just a bit too early. I'd consider yourself lucky because had it been up to me, I would most likely not grant you the sale price.

I don't think they have any issues with issuing refunds with preorders. I have gotten a refund in the past, but I requested it minutes after I made my purchase (bought the wrong version). Of course, I still bought a different version so that likely makes it easier for them to swallow.

At this stage, in 2012, is it really? I liked Zoraptor's point: the last check is keeping the military grounded in reality so that they won't obey BS orders.

Those two things can be easily deactivated (and outright deleted, if necessary). I remember hearing about that girl that killed herself, after the sad video she posted online about being tormented and people followed her via online. At one point should someone (and more importantly, a child's parents) interject? It's also trivial to prevent access from unwanted individuals on both Twitter and Facebook. Heck, one of my best friends only allows me to see her "mutual friend" list. I'm skeptical that this is actually an unavoidable issue.

Except that before you could get away from the bullying schtick by changing locations, now you're still followed via internest. How are they followed, exactly?

If you haven't already shown your wife the letter, you may want to consider it. I'm not relationship guru myself, but if you do make sure it's very clear to your wife that you're in her corner in terms of support (which I feel you are anyway). My impression is that there's a communication issue, and I don't know your family or your wife, but if this is the way they interpret things, there may be subconscious things that your wife may do (an effort to impress maybe?). I can agree with the sentiment your dad puts forth that she may need an "epiphany" with respect to realizing there are quirks in her behaviour that may be grating. I myself have run into those moments before, and I thank those friends that had the courage to actually tell me about it. Whatever happens with that, however, be super supportive of your wife because sometimes, especially in the short term, it can really hurt to have our faults pointed out to me. I think it'll also be necessary because assuming you love your wife (and I think you do!), the only way reconciliation is really possible is if your parents are open to reconciling with both you AND your wife. Now, you obviously do not want to cut out your extended family (or you just would), but I don't blame you for feeling hurt, especially with the following line: "Finally I'd like you to consider why you want to get back in the family. Is it because you miss us? Or is it for the kids? Or just to win? We love you and care about your welfare, but we also don't think it is good for anyone (especially kids) to be in dis-functional relationships." I found this exceptionally rude and very dismissive (the bolded part especially), while also shirking his own responsibilities in having and open and healthy relationship with his own children - this is not your fault. I think that if you decide to restrict contact with your parents, you should understand that as much as it may be difficult, it may also be a break from what appears to be a pretty significant negative influence in your life at this time. I think it's very unfortunate that your family isn't interested in reconciling. If I were in your shoes (so this is only what I feel would be best for me, which may not be best for you), I would try to talk with them in person, let them know that their unwillingness to put in the effort to enter family therapy deeply hurts you, as it shows an unwillingness to accept that they may be somewhat responsible themselves, and certainly an unwillingness to work together and keep their son in their lives. I would probably even try to use his words to echo the sentiment, by stating that you hope that he can have another ah-ha moment where he realizes he wants to have YOU in HIS life as much as YOU want HIM in yours, and consider working with his son (you) to attain that goal. Not to win or for the kids, but because you're family and love and support each other. Sadly, I have had to have a number of these conversations in the past year with my own friends, and they always suck. I set the expectation for myself that I will never see those friends again, which may not be as possible with family. An unenviable place for sure, but if it does go down this path, make sure it's clear that the offer to reconcile is always on the table and that they hope you'll reconsider. I hope your wife shows the same support in all this that you are showing her as well. Less obvious benefits could be a stronger relationship with your wife, and maybe even your immediate family as a whole. I'd actually encourage talking with a professional if you are able. They can help be really good sounding boards. I was able to get access to one via work when my life was in full on crisis back in early this year, and I just spoke with him for an hour on the phone once a month, for about 5 months. Worked wonders, and he gave me some suggested reading to help me practice moving on (mine was hardcore girl problems, coupled with giant friendship fractures that stemmed from that). I'm in a much much much better place now than I was 11 months ago. Good luck mate. Feel free to send a PM if you need it.

Wait until the last day of the sale and pick it up then.

To be fair towards THQ, filing for Chapter 11 protects them from their creditors (they can't demand payments), as they are dealing with an Asset Purchase Agreement with some private equity firm. So while it's quite possible the THQ name may die (it may not), I'm actually not too worried about the various IPs.

He's referring to the child in Vancouver.

Hardware wise it's easy to think that, but there were things that could be leveraged (and apparently were quite heavily) with the original XBox that I guess it wasn't a pleasant project to port at all. It was clearly never coded from the ground up to be run on the PC.

Dikembe Mutombo will save us (Seriously play that Old Space flash game it's hilarious)

I'm not sure precisely. I think it's due to how social media stuff is now getting integrated with other websites and whatnot. Occasionally I see links that have a rogue "/!/" in it, and the only thing I have noticed is that I only see it if it's picking up on my Facebook or something, and it often isn't necessary as part of the link (and can cause issues).

Careful of things like twitter appending crap to your links. Here's one without the extra garbage (which was giving me a blank page). http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-war-z/1226980p1.html

i actually find it harder to read your post with that highlighting.

Dohhhhh. Although based on the article it seems it's mostly to keep creditors at bay as they prep for new ownership.

We'll meet half way and ensure that it's horse... armor!

Ah yes, I'm sure there'd be the regular supplier that we could all just call up. Y'know, to protect us from the tyranny. Lets make lots of assumptions, use safe and non-committal words like "likely" and "probably,' and assume all our assumptions are all true, and have a parting shot that everyone else is in "lala land." Serious statement: If I wanted to get some marijuana (something I don't even think should be illegal) right now, I actually have no clue how I'd go about doing so. It probably wouldn't be that hard if I really wanted to, but there's barriers to doing so especially on an impulsive basis. I'd have to some investigation. I know precisely where Cabela's is (it's a big store 5 minutes away from me) and I could go buy a gun and ammunition right now. But you also have some anecdotes! I personally know someone that would've been a murderer but didn't have access to a gun. He cooled down. He's not a murderer. I win right? Anyone that suggests that a ban on guns may have stopped the shootings is 100% correct. It may have. We don't know, because that's not the reality. I agree with Zor that with the US, it's likely far too late to really put forth any sort of effective ban since there's so many firearms already out there. The real tragedy is that it's a large nation that really feels that they need them because the world is out to get them otherwise. Hah! This is probably me. And several of my friends. Given that we appreciate when games use realistic firearms, and when watching a movie we try to ID them. Still, I went to a firing range once and shot a Glock and immediately jammed the pistol because I didn't know how to shoot it properly. Unfortunate, since the media had convinced me that my gaming prowess and time spent in murder simulators should have made me a pro