[US Presidential Elections 2]

you mean, as quoted by democratic congressmen? of course... so far the "deal" looks like the american taxpayer gets to bail out yet another government failure. yes, this is a government failure. they try, try and try again to force some regularity into the economic system and it just.doesn'.t.work. companies have zero incentive to behave as they should since they know uncle sam will come running to the rescue. maybe mccain did screw up the deal. maybe that was a good thing.

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...

[Members of the forum who are no more]

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.

[Members of the forum who are no more]

And about Ender, can anyone link the ID/Evolution-thread, where he had his so called 'breakdown'? I must've missed that one entirely.

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.

[Pictures of your games]

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

[Members of the forum who are no more]

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.

[Finland is Winland]

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?

[Finland is Winland]

You'd be dead just the same.

[Jack Thompson Has Been Disbarred]

There's still room for retrial, unlikely as it may be.

 

Anyway, does anyone know if he could exercise his profession elsewhere?

[EA and DRM]

There's nothing to explain, it's my opinion!

[EA and DRM]

Oh, crap. Lost in translation or something.

[Baldur's Gate 3 rumor]

the week of the biggest financial crisis in 70 years and that's your best argument for making BG3?

 

profit?

Eh, are you trying to make an argument out of the current financial crisis... against making games?

 

Yeah, OK. You run for the hills now. I'm going to keep an eye on BG3.

 

 

i sure hope someone's paying you to be a cheerleader for corporate greed, though, because it'd be thoroughly dumb if you were just sitting next to a computer somewhere, being like a [edited by SteveThaiBinh] on your own private dime.

I wish they were paying me, that'd be grand.

 

It's still better than being a [edited by SteveThaiBinh] on the Internets, though. Oh, and let's not forget irrelevant.

 

 

boy, i'd sure hate to be the guy manning the counter at your local game store:

 

ME: "hey fella, what do you want?"

 

YOU: "i want to buy that new game"

 

ME: "which one? we got hundreds of them"

 

YOU: "that new one, with the dragons"

 

ME: "do you know the name?"

 

YOU: "no, i don't pay attention to names or marketing ploys. i only care about quality"

 

ME: "yeah, that's great, but you still have to tell me what it's called before i can sell it to you"

 

YOU: "uhh..."

 

bottom line, folk who claim names are irrelevant are talking [edited by SteveThaiBinh].

I order via Gameplay UK.

[Baldur's Gate 3 rumor]

first of all - how is that BG3?

How it isn't? Really, what are the conditions a game must meet so that it'll be *rightful* to call it BG?

 

 

aside from the name, which is a marketing decision. what's the connection to the BG series? by your own admission, it doesn't have the same location, story, setting, or characters. it has the same gameplay, but so do most D&D games, broadly speaking. you might as well call it IWD3 or NWN3, for all the difference it would make.

The setting is the same. So could be some of the characters, and locations. Re-read what Tigranes posted.

 

 

the second question - what is the point of calling that game BG3? besides a crass marketing exercise to fool clueless n00bs into buying another game?

If you are not a clueless n00b, why do you care? It's obviously a marketing exercise. So what?

 

 

the Bhaalspawn saga is over. done. finished. they could always try and come up with a way to tack on a prequel or a sequel but, let's face it, it would suck ass and wouldn't be the same.

Yes, it wouldn't be the same because for it to be the same, it would need to be either BG1 or BG2-ToB. That does not say anything about its quality, though.

 

Interestingly, you can still be wrong, even if all you're doing is, basically, stating the obvious.

 

 

so why bother?

Why not?

[EA and DRM]

Guys, guys.

 

Have you tried taking your pink colored glasses off for a second?

[Baldur's Gate 3 rumor]

sloth? greed? those were sins, last time i checked.

Right. So companies shouldn't be driven by profit? You'd make a wonderful CEO.

 

 

you mean you're interested in a BG game in name only? i think Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 should be right up your street then.

No, the only thing that decides whether or not I'm interested in a D&D game is its quality, not its name or the marketing ploys used to sell it.

 

 

*shrug* i'm just saying it would be a dumb idea. i'm not sure why that should offend your delicate sensibilities, though. really, who could have guessed that arguing against BG3 would get your panties in a bunch?

Interestingly enough, it's you who's got his panties in a knot because they might reuse the name of a dead franchise. What I've been arguing all along is that the naming is irrelevant.

 

 

so not calling the next D&D game 'BG3' would be like ... suicide?

You make non sequitur a form of art.

 

 

get back to debate class, kid. you need the practice.

Tsk, tsk. Mediocre, even when trolling. I'd ask for a refund on those "debate classes", if I were you.

[US Presidential Elections]

Heh, looks like a by-the-numbers crash & burn for McCain.

[Baldur's Gate 3 rumor]

*shrug* either you liked them or you didn't. but if you liked them, it's hard to understand your enthusiasm for a completely unconnected storyline sharing the same name.

It may be hard, for you. Anyway, it doesn't need to stir "enthusiasm" for me to keep an eye on it. It's just another game I may be interested in, nothing else. Again, I fail to see the cardinal sin in reusing the old saga name. At worst it hints to a lack of imagination. I think I'm keeping my shirt on regarding this.

 

 

and if you didn't like them, your enthusiasm for a BG3 unconnected to BG1 and BG2 is even more mystifying.

I'm not even sure what you mean by this. Must I be part of some official "true fan" elite BG club to be interested in a possible upcoming BG game, or is it just that my opinion doesn't count because I'm not "hardcore"?

 

 

who said anything about entitlement?

You don't need to mention something by name to convey a general feeling. "This is my BG! Don't you dare mess with it!"

 

 

yes, that's just what the fans are crying out for - a plot with loose connections and/or references!

I don't hear any cries either way - only you.

 

 

hey, you know what would be even simpler? if they don't bother to make it in the first place.

 

either that or make a good D&D game but don't call it BG3.

 

i would have thought both those things were simpler than making BG3.

Yeah. They are "simpler" in much the same way as suicide is "simpler" than living life. That doesn't make it any more sound, though.

[EA and DRM]

I'm going to try again, without the obviously taboo references. (!)

 

 

That would deal with one of my issues with the DRM, yes - issue a no-CD no-DRM patch two or three years after the game came out, though that doesn't deal with the issue that apparently Securom can't be uninstalled!

IIRC, it was the same with Starforce 3. It's difficult not to label this kind of software as "malware".

 

Anyone can confirm if the version included in NWN2 is left behind when the game is uninstalled as well?

 

 

There is no way, though, that I am transitioning to a pay-to-play model. Very simply, I don't rent stuff if it can be at all avoided - one of the reasons why I don't play MMORPGs. The only things I rent are those that I absolutely need and cannot afford to buy. Only "place to live" falls in this category at the moment. Games are something I like, but don't need. If the industry transitions to the pay-to-play model, I will simply stop playing computer games. I like computer games, but there are many other possibilities for spending my free time and should the pay-to-play model be adopted I will make use of them.

So, going to the movies or the arcade is unacceptable to you?

 

I don't think it's reasonable to discount a different model beforehand based on speculation alone. It could be a better model than the current one depending on how they choose to implement it - but it could be worse too.

[Baldur's Gate 3 rumor]

why anyone who claims to be a fan of the original BG series would want to condone their favourit series being turned into an empty branding exercise is beyond me.

And why anyone who enjoyed the first two would be compelled to worship them as some sort of holy totem that must be protected from desecration is beyond me. This sense of entitlement some fans seem to develop towards games they like is pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

 

There's plenty of room in the setting for a plot with loose connections and/or references to the Bhaalspawn story... let them make it. If it's garbage, you can always NOT buy it. Simple enough, yes?

 

Getting to see different settings (Eberron?) for a change would be more desirable, though.

[Movies you have seen recently]

Watched The Dark Knight again.

 

I am surprised at how much more I like it the second time around, though I think they bungled on the ending.

 

Also, am I the only one who thought Aaron Eckhart's performance was just as praiseworthy as Heath Ledger's?

 

He was good, but he didn't die, so he fails.

Yes, he fails... at being AN HERO!

 

Sorry, that was in poor taste but I couldn't resist.

 

Anyway, I think his performance isn't praised as often as Ledger's not only because he's still breathing, but because his role in the movie is accessory to the Batman/Joker antagonism which is the main theme of the movie.

 

On a side note, I just saw Falling Down. Awesome movie. Somewhat depressing, too.

[US Presidential Elections]

Another mantra.

 

At any rate, I doubt this will have much impact, and it's looking like just another PR stunt. The ball's in Obama's court now, though.

 

[retarded talk]I think the elections should be postponed indefinitely and G.Bush remain president, best thing for US and the whole world because people just don't realize what a great leader he is [/retarded talk]

Grow up.

[US Presidential Elections]

Another mantra.

 

At any rate, I doubt this will have much impact, and it's looking like just another PR stunt. The ball's in Obama's court now, though.

[US Presidential Elections]

If the roles were reversed, would you be so keen on "the democratic process continuing forward"?

 

Not that I expect a forthcoming answer.

[Finland is Winland]

And now they are countries with gun restrictions which are in no danger whatsoever of some sort of armed uprising. This makes the whole observation a complete anachronism. Much like the notion that easily available guns protect US citizens from a military coup d'etat

The point is that stringent gun laws in Europe are not related to the governments' lack of fear of being overthrown in either way - it cannot be wielded as proof of anything. They are more a tradition than anything else, and one that nobody has any reason to challenge.

 

 

They are fast with their knee-jerk reactions of banning handguns, those politicians. Should focus on the real problems. What causes this behaviour in the first place? I don't mind making those licences harder to get, but the real problem is people. They'll find ways to kill people if they want. Have they forgotten the Myyrmanni bombing already?

Indeed. There have always been psycho ****ers, but coming up with initiatives to outlaw ammonium nitrate probably isn't as profitable politically...

[EA does it again!]

3/ The automatic release of all discontinued games into public domain.

That's a fairly rare occurence even with the traditional model...

[Finland is Winland]

Well that is rather obviously incorrect. There isn't a single government in central Europe that has any fear of being overthrown.

Not quite. General policies towards private gun ownership in Europe are mostly inherited notions. When those notions were first made into laws (1600-1700s?), the threat of armed revolts was very, very credible.