random n00b

Nah. I'm more the Euro-loud-mouthed-ignorant-jerk type. I try my best, though. Empires never play fair. Playing fair is playing to lose, in this case. I guess it's just a matter of comparing and deciding what you like best. A consumerism-based world which essentially depreciates the individual and reduces them to what they can buy, a model that entails that if you can't purchase you're pretty much cannon fodder... or the opposite. The gulags, engineered famines, chronic, integrated ineffectiveness and crimethink. Yep, for me it's that bleak. Excuse me now, it appears the depression is starting to fight through the medication Indeed. Reading some people's comments, it would appear Jesus is running for prez. Not this time guys. Good point, and no arguments here. That doesn't make him any less recalcitrant, though...

Welcome to the future of DRM: *Brought to you by the Ministry of User-Friendly DRM Hate to break it to you, but it looks like you've been foiled once again by "The Scene"!

Yeah. The US is the only superpower. I mean, some record, eh? They obviously don't know what they're doing. And these comments always come from Euro-know-it-alls. Oh well, I guess some things never change. This is probably the single most intelligent comment in the thread so far. The US prez is the US prez is the US prez. Don't kid yourselves, folks. I don't know about "evil conspirators", but Ch

The thing is, History shows that banning stuff just doesn't work. People like their booze, drugs and guns, and ultimately don't give a flyin' **** if those things are banned. Crime is the only thing that's strengthened from prohibiting things that are popular with people. Revising the policies which govern gun licenses, monitoring those who own them, those are things that are both realistic and likely to produce results. And, also, more money for mental healthcare can only do so much - how can people with mental or personality disorders be consistently detected? And even if they could be, how are the laws regarding forcing people to be treated against their own will?

Even at the cost of disrupting any number of discussions pertaining to other aspects of the games. Just because... you are worried about it. Take your shining armor off for a second, and note that DRM is not a deal breaker for everyone. It is for me, it is for you, and it is for a handful others. But not for everyone. Taking over threads with unrelated discussions (as much as sounding like a broken record can be called "discussing") about DRM is obnoxious and disrespectful to others. These boards just aren't the best place to conduct your private crusade. The point is that it's something over which Obsidian has no power whatsoever. They didn't design it, they didn't implement it - it's not a feature of the game. It's up to Atari. You are attempting to campaign against the wrong people.

I thought you were around when that happened? Anyway, if you are referring to the thread to close the forum, no. It was a "global notice"-sticky by Feargus which appeared as an overhead, that was taken down when the storm passed.

In how many threads can you beat the same dead horse? I don't like EA's DRM, but hijacking all possible threads with the same old song isn't such a good idea. We already had something along those lines when K2 was released, and it resulted in more stringent moderation policies and a threat to shut down the boards permanently. And no, anti-copy systems are not features any more than the color of the box the game is shipped in is. They are entirely up to the publisher.

Good point. I guess it's just naive of me to expect a bit of objectivity from "serious" media.

Lol. Actually, it appears that Photobucket scaled down those pics on its own. I don't know if it's an imposed feature or just something I didn't adjust before uploading. And just in case you weren't being facetious, it's Clear Sky.

Not paying full price for rental rights of software that contains malware is the only thing consumers can do in the face of this DRM escalation. Making lots of noise is a possibility as well, but if statements like Rob's are anything to go by, it's pointless. I understand that Rob's taking one for the team and all, but really, his arguments fail to convince. Because, if a SecuROM-protected game bombs, obviously this must mean that there's no PC gaming market to exploit. Nevermind that other games without integrated trojans sell just fine. Nah, couldn't happen. Piracy killed D&D.

I was more referring to the claim that it's somehow possible for the US economy to C&B while for the rest of the world it's smooth sailin'. Hopefully we won't get to see how that goes for real.

Be vewwy vewwy quiet - I'm hunting wabbits. The invisible, bloodsucking sort. This is still one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played. The monster hunting aspect simply never gets old. I'm not sure I like the changes they've made to bloodsuckers, though, what with them being invulnerable while invisible and all...

Yeah, that's why debate reviews are pretty much worthless. Watch the debate, or don't bother, because the media are always going to try to convince you that the candidate they like did it better than his opponent, regardless of what happened.

But what have we seen, really? Tempting as it may be to blame all the evils in the world on dubya, it just doesn't work that way. Guard Dog wrote a very interesting and readable timeline of the events that led to the present crisis. You are content to repeat these boring canned slogans over and over. If it's SO obvious, why not explain it to the rest of us?

It's rather amusing, isn't it? No, it's not amusing at all. Because, as things are, if the markets crash as badly as they've been predicting, everyone's gonna feel it - even us EuroCommies. Don't expect it to happen overnight, though.

Good catch. You mean this guy?

Published as in, she writes books and actually makes money off it? Wow. Wasn't that ~Di?

Wait, I thought politicians did essentially what The People want? If one doesn't, he's a bad politician and gets his butt kicked out of whatever office he holds...

I'd say she's around more than it would appear, but invisible. Wasn't she uber trolled or something? And who could forget Darth Nuke and his deep, well reasoned debates about essentially trivial and insignificant details from obscure SW canon? Boy, those were the days.

search on my posts... i don't remember the context but he went off the deep on regarding something about the eye, i think. taks Found it! Thanks That may have been one fun thread but I don't think that was the one that made him quit posting here. IIRC, it involved another thread (about politics, possibly), in which either Nur ab Sal or Battlewookie (can't remember which of them) made remarks that he interpreted to be racist. The mods refused to intervene despite this, and after making a new thread about it which was deleted, he changed his avatar to the present "keep your country nice and clean" and was never seen again. I may or may not have made up this story on the spot.

That's WAR? Looks... WoW-ish. How is it?

Ender chose to solve his irreconcilable differences with moderation by quitting the internets forever (so to speak). GoA showed up here not too long ago, but he went back into hiding. And Meta... yeah, that's a shame he's quit posting. Tarna... he does come over from time to time but not that much. And whatever happened to Baley? Shadowstrider... I assume he's too busy at Beth to loiter around here. Or maybe he's too important now, heh. And, of course, Epiphany. Epiphany, you are mighty.

On the other hand, you can't run from a guy with a car, or a guy with a homemade bomb. Dead is dead. And the police are always late, so that's not much relief, is it?

You'd be dead just the same.

There's still room for retrial, unlikely as it may be. Anyway, does anyone know if he could exercise his profession elsewhere?