Wrath of Dagon

Wikipedia agrees with me : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve_banking

Depends who you consider to be the middle class, in US the top 10% pay the greatest share of taxes. Also the stuff you said about banks is wrong. They have to keep a certain amount of money in reserve, but they still can only lend money that's been deposited. The Federal Reserve on the other hand really can create money out of thin air. Whether they actually print it as cash or transfer it electronically isn't really relevant, it's all imaginary.

Ever heard of Ernst Rohm?

The problem with the modern gamer is they're so willing to settle for less.

Space-time invisibility cloak: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/18/...sibility-cloak/

It seems to me that DS3's intented audience, and by extension the gameplay, were very clear. Combat-focused, gamepad-focused, not too much distraction in the shape of dialogues or secondary gameplay, a strong combat system. And the audience were the gamers who liked console ARPGs like the Dark Alliance series or some recent X-Men games. I don't think DS IP is as strong as either one of those, so not enough to carry a game by itself, and not being a real RPG there's not much interest from RPG players either. On the other hand, if the game only cost $5 million or so, a few hundred thousand sales would probably make a profit, so it may be OK.

Looks to me DS3 is about as successful as AP. In either case, it's not really clear who the intended audience was, apparently not to the publisher either. Normally it's the publisher that specifies all the features in a game, not the developer. Of course writing and low level gameplay design is still up to the developer, but the publisher is in control.

K2. NV comes pretty close, and is better in a number of ways, but I just didn't enjoy the quests as much and somehow K2 is just more compelling. All Obsidian games are worthwhile, though I haven't played DS3 yet.

The article is intentionally misleading, as is normal with environmentalist propaganda. The bulk of "renewable" in US is hydro and ethanol. Hydro has always been there, ethanol is mandated by law for the benefit of farmers, there's at best no energy gain from it, in fact it's possibly the stupidest policy of modern times, driving up food prices, making people in third world countries suffer and causing instability. Wind is the only true new renewable, but still depends on government subsidies and constitutes only a small percentage of the total.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light on sale for $7.50 on Xbox Live this week.

Apparently the sound the wind mills makes freaks out people who live nearby, or at least that's what they were reporting on the radio. I also saw one of the blades on a huge truck the other day, I knew they were big, but until you see it up close you can't fully appreciate how humongous they truly are.

For and against: http://kotaku.com/5815846/the-supreme-cour...ent-video-games

I'd really like to know why RPG players are their own worst enemies. I thought greedy publishers and sloppy developers are the RPG players' worst enemies.

When some people shirk taxes, honest people wind up paying more. This discourages honest and beneficial economic activity and encourages dishonest and harmful one. It's not like no one at all is paying taxes there. That's not what I said at all. I was talking about crooked politicians stealing and spending public money instead of using it for public benefit it's meant for. Short term yes, private spending helps Greece more than paying interest to foreign bankers. But long term the economy will work well only if the person who actually earns the money is also the one who spends most of it, because that encourages him to produce and earn more. The basis of capitalism.

Not really, it's the difference between someone buying a new villa or opening a new Swiss bank account and building a road which will help economic development. No, because you're not changing the tax rates for those who are already paying. Assuming that the tax is on the profit, it shouldn't make anyone go out of business, since if they have no profit they pay no taxes anyway.

I thought they already are

I didn't mean that quote was the entirety of the article. I think his point is that we shouldn't quit while we're making progress.

A very good article on Afghanistan: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/0...t_it_could.html Petraeus should run for president, that's the second time he saved our bacon.

7 just means an average game, that's not the full scale

They're promising the new demo before November.

The first book was better than the game, that's for sure.

lol, there's no such thing as party leadership. The presidential candidate or president is the party leadership. The decision was all his, you can see why he has a reputation for being somewhat eccentric and erratic.

There was a huge Savings and Loans crisis in the 80's, so it's not like the financial system was so great back then either. It seems like instead of learning our lessons from that, we instead expanded the same principles to the entire financial sector. I don't know why we don't just look at what Canada does with their banks and do the same, I mean I do know but it's a shame that we don't.

Russia has no rule of law, any Western interests investing in there better beware, they could lose their entire investment. Apparently Russia can't even keep their oil infrastructure from crumbling, because of the rampant corruption. Also as far as I know Alexandr Nevski stopped the Teutonic Knights invasion, Ivan the Terrible expelled the Golden Horde.

I finished The Maimed God Saga NWN2 mod. Liked it a lot, for once a well-told and coherent story in an RPG.