Hell Kitty

Ivan Milat

It's not hypocritical to focus on one issue over another, and whether the effort is worth it depends on your point of view. It's perfectly understandable you would feel annoyed and possibly angry when criticized for doing something you enjoy. Accusing folks of being anti-smoking only as a way to feel better about themselves, despite knowing smoking is not good for you or your surroundings, is simply your own attempt at claiming the high ground you don't really have the right to.

Harmless gun aficionado or notorious serial killer.

The reason discussions like this end up talking about things like pollution in general is because there is no real way to defend smoking. It has a negative effect on the health of both the smoker and those around them. In the absence of any sort of argument for smoking that doesn't paint the arguer as selfish, then the only thing you've got left is to try to shift focus away from smoking, onto... something else. And don't kid yourself folks, it absolutely is an attempt at deflection. Shifting focus from one issue to another does nothing to address the original issue. Just because there are problems bigger than x, does mean folks aren't going to want to do something about x. There is nothing wrong with an organization or individual choosing to focus on a specific issue, and pointing out the existence of other issues you believe to be worse is a poor criticism of that focus. The study claims the effects of smoking are worse than previously thought, but it's not even suggesting a change in laws or behavior, so what exactly are you saying is ridiculous? If you're out in public and you do something that people think is disgusting, is it really so shocking that they would look at you with disgust? I remember trying a cigarette in high school, thinking it was disgusting and wondering why anyone would ever want to do it enough to get addicted to it, but I've also spent far too much time around smokers without it bothering me, so I don't really care either way. Militant anti-smokers or whiny anti-anti-smokers, you're all as ridiculous as each other. "I lit up and they looked at me funny!" Heaven forbid. What constitutes anti-smoking paranoia? When does something stop being a legitimate gripe and start becoming paranoia? Is the banning on asbestos, for example, the result of paranoia or a response to a real health threat?

What's the issue?

So if you have a problem with smoking, you're not a real man? You're ridiculous.

Where do you get the Geth Pulse Rifle?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ioslNR0WiI Between 1:47 and 1:50. Also, like Grom I'm playing on 360 with an imported (level 60) character. By the end I had maxed out the paragon meter, only had a few renegade points and no blue options were ever greyed out for me.

So apparently it's not at all like Stalker and comparing it to Stalker makes the devs cry.

I got everyone out. I sent Mordin I did that the second time around and everyone survived.

Just completed it. Lost two people. When I saw the I immediately thought of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Spoil me. I've just boarded the after doing all loyalty missions, and I've explored available part of the galaxy. What would be different had I done that mission straight away?

That was in response to this claim: You wonder why if we had such good VA back then, why we've got all these celeb voices now oand they sound worse. Yes we had good VA back then, and we have the same good VA now. We had celeb voices back then and we have them now. No, they don't sound worse. I think the issue is less the amount of lines as the amount of characters. For example if game A has 10 characters voiced by 10 actors, but game B has 100 characters voiced by 10 actors, then game A has every character with a unique voice while game B has the same few voices for a huge cast, which can lessen the experience even if the level of talent remains the same. If Patrick Stewart was to do the voices of 25 different characters in the same game, it'd be horrible for the player because even if he gives a brilliant performance for each one, it's still 25 different characters that all sound like Patrick Stewart. I think if we were to compare a bunch of old adventures games with a bunch of new adventure games, all with a small cast of characters with, we'd find the quality of voice acting pretty much the same. RPGs from Bioware and Bethesda that feature a huge number of fully voiced NPCs don't have anything directly comparable in older games. If we were to take the voiced lines in BG2 and compare them only to the main characters in ME2 (and perhaps only their most important lines), I don't think there would be a whole lot of difference in quality. If we include all the different NPCs in ME2 who all sound the same, then you're definitely going to water down the overall experience. Overall though, I don't think the best voice over work of old games is any better than the best voice over work in new games. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by appropriate. What an individual player feels is appropriate isn't necessarily what is appropriate. A lot of people complained about the voice actor for Leliana in Dragon Age because they thought she put on a silly fake French accent, not realising the accent was authentic. Did Tim Curry do an authentic New Orleans accent in GK? I don't know, I thought he did a good job but you can be sure there are folks who think it was the worst attempt ever.

Heh, another bit of hype for GK was that it had so many lines of dialogue it was like x amount of feature films rolled into one. I can't agree that voice acting was done better then than now. Like I mentioned many of the voice actors from back then are the same ones that are working today. A couple of old examples won't counter a couple new ones. Oh, and PST had a few celebs of it's own. Bethesda gets a lot of flack for using big names like Liam Neeson and Patrick Stewart (who first voiced a game character in the early 90s), but they actually do a good job. It's part of the advertising and hype. The time and resources Bioware put into the bazillion promotional videos for ME2, for example, don't alter the quality of the game itself, but you can be sure it's worth it to Bioware considering they've apparently sold two million units in the first week alone. I wouldn't say excellent quality is typical of unknown voice actors. If you're excellent you don't remain unknown. Jennifer Hale certainly has a lot of fans amongst gamers. Anime voice actors have huge followings. Anyway, I'm now going to have to join gog and buy GK as I can't find my old CD copy.

It's funny you should say that, as I remember Jane Jensen talking about what a big deal it was to have a celeb like Tim Curry in her game, and marketing for the game mentioning the star cast (Luke Skywalker! Worf!). I don't think it's at all true that "we've got all these celeb voices now", as most of the voice actors working in games now are the same ones as back then, and the use of celebrity names to hype a game has been going on since games have been using voice actors. Every FMV adventure from the 90s had at least one known celeb.

I just found Conrad and have the same issue. I handled him as a paragon but he's talking about what a big jerk I was and how I shoved a gun in his face.

I don't think I've been looking forward to a game this much before. I think this will be the closest realization of my fantasy of being the nameless guy/blondie from the dollars trilogy. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gameplay...-red-dead/61318 - I haven't been following this at all, but after watching that I can't wait.

That was fantastic.

Yes. Welcome to internet threads about piracy and DRM. Well they obviously are, according to you. You just aren't explaining why. That's what everyone is doing.

I don't like the way this company works, so I'll no longer do business with them = fair enough I don't like the way this company works, so I'll steal from them = criminal scumbag roofles Define significantly. So it'll stop some people from pirating, but it will also cause others to pirate? But that would mean DRM is useless! Quick, contact Ubisoft and let them know. Be sure to include all the data that lead you to this assumption conclusion. The piracy as a solution to DRM thing that hurlshot mentioned is a pretty common response to this out in internet land. Unless you were only interested in discussing how this effects folks who post on the Obsidian Forum Community.

How is pirating a game because you want to play it without having to pay for it any different to pirating a game because you want to spite the publisher? In both cases you've now got a game you didn't pay for and the publisher doesn't know your reasons. Does the spiteful downloader then delete the game even after they've just spent the bandwidth on it (and if using torrents, helped distribute it to others) and give themselves a pat on the back knowing they've "stuck it to the man?

Same. It does not go well with my OCD. At least I got to drive a moon buggy before. There's no other way to do it. Live offers downloads for free or for a price, it can't determine who is/isn't a registered owner of ME/ME:CE. While you start the download from the menu, it just gets added to the 360 download queue and I believe you need to quit and restart for the game to see the file. Anyway, I ran into a bug in a particular battle, where instead of taking cover I was teleported on top of the object and while I could move I couldn't get off of it. Thankfully once everyone in that wave was dead a cutscene placed me back on the ground, otherwise I would have cried like a little girl because I hadn't saved for ages. Oh, and does the game keep track of how much you drink and does it lead to anything? I've run into a few bartenders and the only interaction with them is to drink or leave.

There was even a news story concerning the events of the Bring Down The Sky DLC.

Harlan Ellison disagrees.

Vegemite is delicious on toast. I don't care for it otherwise.