Spider

I think it's great fun still. I've completed it twice on normal (one solo and one with a friend on LAN) and I'm still playing on Epic as well as creating new characters to try out new things. The thing that the game does absolutely best is the character development. Since you get to chose two skill masteries, there are a lot of options in how to create your character. The only bad thing about the game is that it uses predefined maps rather than random ones. While it allows for really gorgeous terrain, it may lessen replayability a bit. When you're running through the same map for the tenth time it could be a bit much. Although the gameplay and character development are still fun enough to make up for it. (oh yeah, some people have been complaining about the lack of something that resembles battle.net and a ladder system. personally I never cared much for anything like that, but it's still not in the game) So yeah, if you like hack & slash, this is a great game. There are also a few independent mods worth checking out. Most importantly one called TQVault. It allows you to share equipment between your characters and provides a place to store stuff you don't want to be lugging along (such as set items). Something like this should have been in the original game I think and the devs have said they're working on it. They are still fairly active at the games forum and seem to listen to the players, which is always a plus.

The security guards were all working for "bad companies" were they not? So it's probably safe to assume they were hardly nice people. Even so, it IS the World of Darkness and bad things happen to people. Sometime you have to get your hands dirty, it's all part of the setting. Still, I'm curious as to where you were forced to kill a security guard? The only place I can remember is at that chinese corporation and after what took place there, I have a hard time feeling sorry for anyone. (deliberately writing it vague to avoid spoilers). And yeah, they took a jab at BIS (which is indeed Black Isle Studios). It's kinda hidden though, so most people probably missed it. I know I did, although I've seen screenshots of it. In the hotel in Downtown there is a stage and on that stage there is a microphone. On the microphone stand (I think, or at least close to it) there are some scribbles, among those "BIS sucks" or something like that. Not really a big deal, although it did feel kinda childish. I suppose the Troika people were tired of the comparisons, and I guess the Troika founders didn't exactly leave BIS on good terms, although that is mostly speculation on my part.

I've played the game three times, two of them not a single cop was killed. A few security guards maybe, but not a single cop. Where was this? As for sex, not once have any of my characters actually had sex. So actual sex wasn't exactly forced down anyones throat. I think there are two characters you can sleep with, but I could be wrong. However, I do agree that the game went a little over the top with strippers and porn. I am aware that the World of Darkness is a caricature of our own world where everything is pushed to the extreme, but at some times it felt like the game was designed by teenage boys who haven't ever had sex at all. Although that was on fairly rare occasions and wasn't enough to stop me from absolutely loving the game. On an endnote, the political commentary actually bothers me much less than the cheap shot they were taking at BIS. But I'm not an american and let's just say I'm not a huge fan of the current administration (without inviting discussion about it), so I guess I'm a bit biased.

Now, it's been a while so my memory may be a bit flawed here, but I never felt the sequence you're talking about was directed specifically at Bush. It was more directed towards the position of the president. And as such it made perfect sense to me, the most powerful man in the world (or so they say at least) is a fairly likely candidate to be the head vampire. It was simply something the guy you talked with would accept given the state he was in. It would have made just as much sense regardless of who was president.

My guess is graphics card or motherboard. The graphics card on my stationary computer died and it behaved exactly like that (including acting strange for some time). I agree with LostStraw's suggestion, have it checked out by a repair shop. It can probably be repaired, although the question if it's worth what it'll cost.

I can't imagine there would be any problems with XP. I've been playing the original releases on XP for years now and it's never been a problem. As for the BG releases I think it's one DVD for BG1 and one for BG2. Not sure if the two are sold together or separately.

Think of it as a S2 light, but with supernatural stuff instead of sci fi. Nowhere near as good as S2 or S3, but a decent enough diversion. Can't compare to H&S since I haven't played it.

How is it D20 Vampire? Because they have one rule-book that all the settings use as a base? That, to me, is a vast improvement. Doing any sort of cross-setting campaign was a nightmare with the old rules. I think the new rules are a big improvement over the old ones. At first glance I didn't but after having played with them a bit, I've come around to them. The only thing I think is a bit worse is the removal of the freebie point system at character creation, but it's fairly minor (mostly it's annoying when 7 points in backgrounds aren't enough for the history you want your character to have). On another note, the new setting is still called World of Darkness. It's just a new WoD, the other one ended. And afaik it was the old one WW no longer wanted to support, which is what caused problems for Bloodlines (Activision wanted to axe it, but Troika convinced them to let them finish it but with a shorter deadline, something like that).

I have no idea of the cause, but a suggestion of a potential fix (or at least some troubleshooting). Try installing one of the alternate messengers that supports the MSN and AIM protocols. Not only because it's simpler than running separate programs, but to see if they show the smae problems. If they do, it has to be something with how your computer communicates with the internet or those protocols specifically. Does Explorer have the same problem on all webpages or just occasionally? If on all, are you using Firefox or something now? Links to messengers: Miranda - http://miranda-im.org/ Gaim - http://gaim.sourceforge.net/ (my favorite) Trillian - http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/

More like an incompetence thing. I'm a journalism major (in Sweden) and the first thing they teach us is make sure you get the name right. Have them spell it out for you. Twice if necessary. Nothing shows disrespect towards a source or interviewee as much as a mispelt name.

The links provided exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks a bunch, it helped a lot.

Since I'm a bit lazy I figured I should try and ask people here before I go deep diving into graphical review pages. It's quite simple really. The issue: A few weeks ago my graphics card went and died on me. I have no idea why, but fortunately it was covered by the warranty (or it was actually 5 days after the warranty had elapsed but the store I bought it from let me return it anyways). Today I've finally gotten an e-mail to let me know it's been processed and I will be given a replacement card. The thing is, I'm not getting the same card. I used to have a Nvidia 6600GT with 256GB memory and now I am getting an ATI1600XT with the same amount of memory. So my question is simply if I am getting an equal, worse or better card. Or rather, is it worth making a fuss about it? (If it's roughly the same I won't, because I'm happy enough to get a new card in the first place, although I am not a huge fan of ATI). If any one wants specific details, I used to have this card: http://www.gainward.net/products/product.php?products_id=36 and am getting this: http://www.connect3d.com/products/pcie_x1600xt.htm Now, the most important lesson to learn here is to never buy a Gainnward card ever again. Not only did it break down within a year, but the one I originally got was flawed on delivery. Let's just say they haven't exactly impressed me with thier quality products (and yes, I know you get what you pay for and all that).

I think a third party program like partition magic is required. Edit: I think this program could work: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html From what I understand it's shareware (only one I found though I only did a quick search). I'm not sure it can merge partitions, since I haven't tested it, but I think it can.

Also of note from the preview (since it's been discussed in the past): Apparently the Obs testers that know the game at the back of their hand complete it in 25 hours. At least that's what MCA said. The previewer from that assumed it'd take the average gamer 30-40 hours. Take from that what you will.

Right. I forgot. It is truly the end of the world as we know it then. The gaming industry may never recouperate. Better?

So instead of a SS3 from Irrational we now get SS3 from EA and Bioshock from Irrational. I can't see how that is a bad thing. Bioshock appears to be amazing, so we're already getting one good thing, and now there is the chance of two. True, EA may do a horrible version of SS3, but then we'd be no worse of than if they hadn't done it in the first place. But it could also turn out good. Not every title released by EA is a bad game.

There is a fine line between being greedy and being in business. The core rules of any given game system sells a lot better than any other book, by far. I'm sure there are a lot of companies that can live well on just doing modules, but in order to keep updating rules and keep a decently sized development team, new versions of the core books need to be on the shelves from time to time. And if those new versions aren't significant updates, a lot of the people who have the old versions won't bother to update. Yeah, sometime there needs to be change just for the sake of change. Of course, a lot of the time the updates are definitely warranted and based on a lot of player feedback. Personally I usually get excited when a new version of a game I like comes out, it usually means new things to discover and slicker rules. That being said, if 4e will indeed be more miniature centric because that's what sells then it could fall on the line of greed instead. I know I would have no interest in it. Then again, I don't have much interest in the D&D franchise to begin with so I'm hardly the best judge. Another point of view could be that if the miniatures are what's selling, then that is what the fans of D&D wants, and by going down that route Wizards is simply catering to the fans. I guess it makes sense from a business standpoint.

I'm playing the game with a friend over a network and it's very fun toplay like that. But it's extremely unstable in multiplayer, it crashes quite frequently. Still, it's fun enough to make up for it. But yeah, it's a hack-fest.

RPG's are games, and in a game it is vital that all involved parties have as much fun as possible. If a rule gets in the way of having fun, then the rule needs to be changed or removed. If my GM gives bends the rules in favor of NPCs he (or she, depening on who currently is heading the game) does so in order to make the game more enjoyable for the players. It's just as likely that the rules will be bent in favor of the players though. Rules must never come in the way of having fun.

If you're not knowledagble in (and preferrably a fan of) American trash culture, you're probably not going to like the Kevin Smith movies as much as you should. Personally, I love all of them (the viewaskewniverse movies that is, to which Jersey Girl does not belong) and I think the first Clerks was brilliant (although not my favorite). I am definitely going to watch Clerks II and I'm most likely going to love it as well.

If you ask me, the WoD books are quite excellent. I've always liked the WW books and think they usually hold a fairly high quality even after they've released a lot of books. The biggest drawback in WoD version 1 is the storyline they kinda spoon fed the audience (whilte interesting to a degree, it always felt a bit forced). Now that they've ditched that and instead are just going for source modules with the occasional plot ideas thrown in, I definitely feel they're on the right track. My play group (I am once again playing regualry after a very long hiatus) is currently playing mortals in WoD and it's extremely fun. And the rules are much more intuitive than any edition of D&D (to stay at least remotely on topic) (Eldar said in one of his april posts that I could resurrect this thred so I did)

There is HoMM5 for one. Others as well. The turn based games are there for the PC as well, however they tend to be world builders or god games. Turn based games when you scale it down to just a few characters are far and few between.

I only allowed the genuine advantage tool to be installed on my computer so I could get IE7 in the first place. Wanted to try it out just for the heck of it (there's no way I'll leave FF in the long run though). So of course, IE7 refused to work on my system (crashed on startup).

Or you can just go to add/remove programs and uninstall it. Of course that takes away your ability to do a manual windows update as well as trying beta software like ie7 and such.

Gromnir's comments on FO:T were spot on. In the same spirit I would like to suggest Silent Storm. Similar game to FO:T and JA2. Very similar. It does suffer from the same problem as FO:T, 2/3 into the game it becomes a lot less fun. The expansion, Sentinles, is awesome though. That one should be mandatory for anyone who liks squad based tacticals.