Bos_hybrid

Actually they aren't, essentially the allies have won the battle of Afghanistan, but not the war. If the moment the allies leave Afghanistan, the Taliban gets back in power(which all things point to), then the West has lost. All those casualties, all that money and it was for nothing. The sad fact of it all, is that it actually is. Far more people are dying in tribal and religious disputes now then when Saddam was in power. Much of Iraq already limited infrastructure was destroyed in the war, power shortages, crime, poverty all greater now then before. Might it be better for it in the future? Perhaps or perhaps another dictator will take Saddam's place, or extremist group similar to the Taliban will gain power. Or perhaps it will become a thriving democracy. As it stands nothing is certain. And despite superior weaponry, tanks and tactics the Germans still lost. Not because of any American ingenuity, England's stead fast refusal to lay down, or Russia's winter, but the sheer numbers of the Allied forces. The amount of Russians killed in the German offensive was staggering, and yet despite that, the Russians sent more souls into the meat grinder. However judging from your post, you tend to think America won the war, rather than acknowledge that is was an Allied effort. He posted numbers on a 6 day war which was a surprise attack, that involved 240,000 arab troops rather than immense number the middle east could call on today . It has absolutely no bearing on the state of play today. You do realize that two years before the Europeans had landed, the plague had swept through North America killing an estimated 90% of the Native American population? And that had it not the European settlers would of found a thriving 20-100 million strong Native American civilization, instead of what was essentially the broken survivors of a decimated civilization. Roofles!

Didn't buy a single game from steam this sale. Nothing really grabbed me.

So over 370,000,000 Muslims are ineffective in war? Because they aren't currently in the military. You do know that the majority of people fighting in both WW were civies conscripted? NK has a massive army, with rumored weapon and ammo bunkers and tunnels dotting the land. That's why no one wants to invade NK, besides despite much bravado, they have done little to warrant it. Pakistan has limited means of deploying a nuclear payload anywhere but towards India. And again, about the only nation with frosty relation with Pakistan are India. Another point about Pakistan is that while it's not in the middle east, it is a Muslim country. One with quite a lot of hardliners. Nuclear arms are a deterrent to nuclear attack. Not so much full scale ground invasion. Unless of course you want to nuke your own land and civilians. Lets not forget that both of those nations eventually lost. The Taliban are as prominent as ever and Iraq is even more destabilized now then it ever was. There has been no victory, unless you consider Saddam's death as a victory.

There are plenty, see Al-Qaeda. Also I would like to point out that the introduction of magic, changes things drastically. An extremely powerful insane mage, would by mighty threatening to the world at large. New Vegas isn't grey, it has a wide spectrum of colour. Yes it gives you grey choices, but also lots of 'good/evil' choices. That's the way it should be, however it did lack a companion character of conflicting viewpoints of the crop that were made. Which is bland and uninteresting. If every choice is of the same tone with a shuffle of words,actions and every choice has unforeseen consequences the impact of those expected/unexpected consequences are lessened. Having those in compliment to evil/good choices, keeps things interesting and unique. You also avoid the 'this as to be this way because the world is grey', rather than it's this way because it's unique or interesting. There is no moral dilemma in those choices. They aren't interesting or unique or quality. They are the standard uninteresting 'grey' example that produces even less thought than extort/do it for free choices. Unless of course the writers go unnecessarily out of the way, to try a put a good reason in front of the player on why to do the opposite. Beating the player over the head with 'grey'. Please point out where an alignment metre has been suggested. You can't because in hasn't been suggested. Try again. What people want is a grey, evil and good choices. Not everything grey and not everything black and white. P:E is a real life medieval simulator? Awesome, so no female adventures/leaders. There are no mages, paladins or ciphers. Druids are deviants that practice ritual sacrifice with no magical ability because magic doesn't exist. People don't bathe, disease is everywhere, few NPCs over 40, witch burnings are a regular family event.

Entire Middle East population: 384,218,000 Israeli population: 7,695,000 Without the military support of the US and Europe, Israel would be conquered. Relations with every other country, that's the only reason. They would lose most foreign support, and enrage the other Muslim countries that surround it. Mainly due to the fact that these countries don't want Palestinian refugees flooding their borders.

That not how it works in games though. In games, when grey mortality is decided upon, everyone/thing becomes grey. The players is beat over the head with this fact and most choices are rendered irrelevant or just not given. Few games haven't gone down this path, when going 'grey'. Go play any game that is 'grey' and find a companion like One of Many or Bishop. Then see if you can be the villain or evil. You'll find it's a no on all accounts. Some people just want to see the world burn. There is nothing flawed or shallow about this archetype, just how it's written.

Really I find it less realistic because of this, it removes bad and good people/choices and replaces them with one choice/personality, grey. Realistically some factions/characters should be grey, but not every single one. We should have characters like Kreia, but we should also have characters like One of Many, Bishop, etc. Not just paint every character in one colour. And lets not forget the worse thing grey mortality does, the removal of being the villain. It forces the player to be the hero.

They've got nothing on prospers art.

Nope, we just import or use GMG or Gamersgate. With GMG I got X-com at $40 and Hitman at $34 pre-ordered. Basically cheaper than US prices. Another note as to why games are more expensive at retail, is due to what aussies earn. A EB games retail assistant earns $15phr quite a bit higher than what the US equivalent does, then add more expensive rent, warehousing and power etc, you get the picture that it costs more to do business in Australia than most other countries. As for Steam, it's retail again. Publishers can't undercut stores by selling a title on steam $20-$30 cheaper than stores, if they did that, stores wouldn't stock their product. Of course greed is also a factor, but not the only one.

What? This is a joke right? The combined might of the middle east would annihilate Israel, unless the UN steps in. Which would then make it WW3. Iran, Egypt and Syria, are not Iraq or Afghanistan. And that is not including Turkey a predominantly Muslim county, that wouldn't be too thrilled with the fact their Muslim brothers were dying at the hands of Israel and the west.

So I've almost finished Hitman Absolution, I don't really know what to make of it. The levels are really small, as a result the paths to the target seem limited in comparison to previous games and they just don't seem as memorable as other Hitman games. However there are still multiple ways to deal with a target. The removal of choosing your loadout hurts the game too IMO.(No more sneaking sniper rifles into locations, they are just conveniently placed) I'm also missing the newpaper clippings from BM, I thought they were a unique way of showing how you did. Despite this I've found enjoyment in the title, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except on a 50%+ sale.

Dishonored is half price at GMG, you can then add another 25% off that with the voucher code they have on site, which brings it to $22.50.

Finished The Walking Dead series. Excellent game, excellent conclusion. I think it might be my favorite game this year.

Edit, wrong thread.

PE had a touch under 74,000 backers. Star Citizen had 89,963 backers all up. To be honest I'm surprised at the number Star Citizen got, I would never of though it would surpass $6mil in pledging.

Gave Way of the Samurai a break and started playing Zafehouse: Diaries. Damn it's addictive and I'm really crap at it. 15 attempts and not once have I made it to the chopper, closest I got was to the correct building with the right clues, only to be killed by zombies in the building.

Spec Ops: The Line is on sale at GMG for $7.50AUD if anyone is interested. Use the 20% off voucher and get it for $6. I didn't know how badly a Hitman game could be made before I read this. It sounds like even the first game is better than this. I'll find out soon enough when it finishes DL. To me it sounds like another example of story and cinematic presentation(never the purpose of Hitman) taking precedence over gameplay.

$5.5 million reached.

http://www.pcgamer.com/review/hitman-absolution-review/3/ So very disappointing.

At the end of FO4,

Don't try too hard, because there wasn't any. So your not a crotchety old codger complaining about how things were better when they were younger? Blasphemer!

As long as there are alternatives to that fight, that allow for different way of killing of the target, I'll be happy. In Blood Money you could make the game look really basic and crap depending on what you did, in fact every Hitman has been like this.

Playing Way of the Samurai 4..... I'm enjoying it but...... It's a very strange game. Tortures/BDSM mini games(if you get arrested), a hook up mini game(chase the girl around the bedroom and throw them onto a bed), that can involve a.... lets just say her age isn't defined. All that is purely optional though. Still enjoy the story freedom it gives, and the multiple ending. Both the combat isn't as good as earlier games, it's dropped the one hit kills and is now more of a button masher. The factions also aren't as good as in the third one. There really isn't anything else like it on the market.

The problem is not cinematic experience per se. But the focus put on it and the homogenization it is causing in games. Bioware and the Dragon Age franchise is a perfect example of this, going from DA:O to DA2. Voiced protagonist and set race, just to make a better cinematic experience. Now while I never play anything else but human, I have to ask what else bio will dump just to get as close as possible to the movie experience. I enjoyed Mass Effect for what it was, but I don't want to play it forever. Another way to put it, I (really) love chicken, but I don't want to eat it every day. Developers are so caught up in the cinematic experience, they are forgetting that they are making a game, and not utilizing the platform to it's fullest.

Could we stop with the 'I don't like the bio style romance'. If you didn't like BIo romances you wouldn't be here asking for them. Lets be honest here, Obsidian games aren't known or popular for their romances. Bioware are. When you think of rpg romances that's what you are thinking of. And enough with the 1 or 2 sentences for a 'romance' too please. I really couldn't think of anything worse.... Well I could, be we really don't want to open that nightmare. As it stands I'm in the camp that doesn't want them in, but that's more due to the extreme focus and pressure people put on both Bioware and Obsidian to include it anywhere and everywhere for every gender and every preference with multiple choices, regardless of character, story, pacing, setting and budget.