Monte Carlo

It's a fun game, fairly short and the multiplayer is crazy.

What about smartly-dressed racists?

We can't 'win' it's binary thinking. You can't have it both ways, the 'kill 'em with kindness' doctrine requires 'winning' to involve the imposition of democracy on the place, which is by all accounts a sclerotically corrupt, terminally doomed failed state. But we were told we weren't there to 'win' in that context, we were to dampen down the extremists in the field whilst administering first aid to the fledgling regime so it could stand on it's own two feet. This quagmire of hypocrisy has resulted in nothing but death and the scandalous waste of billions of dollars. Much of which I suspect is in Karzai's Swiss bank account. Basics: Can we sort out Pakistan (no) can we stop an international brigade of young Muslims making their way to Afghanistan (no) can we stabilize the region to allow civil operations to take root (no) can we do anything about Karzai's kleptocracy (no). Get out and police the region with drones. I couldn't care less how Afghanistan is run. If they forment terror against us drop some instant sunshine on them.

A few thoughts having played the demo: 1. The game is real purdy 2. It doesn't feel like a Dungeon Siege game 3. It's a console game, meh 4. Don't like the camera, and the need to use keyboard buttons to interact with the environment. It's the reverse of days of yore, now the PC-port crew are the victims 5. Combat feels smooth, hack & slashy and fun 6. Inventory / skills etc aren't great to access and look at, but hey its a console game. I won't be buying the game, will wait for D3. Sorry Obz, loved FO:NV, I love H&S Diablo clones too but this hasn't grabbed me.

Keyboard warriors want boots on the ground, wasting lives for what? Presumably to still their bleeding hearts.

No. The reason the government gave was that we were directly frustrating terrorist infrastructure that might threaten our national security. Nation-building was explicitly not part of the deal and I am mad as hell about every penny spent on the place, which will descend back into chaos the moment we leave. Your reasoning is false. We should presumably be invading the rest of the medieval third world hell-holes that litter the globe.

I have a 'fake' FB account with a pseudonym just so I can keep in touch with people (who know it's me). I don't upload any photos of me or my family, nor would I. Therefore I have no problems with it, I get a free, easy to use comms tool that is relatively anonymised (I use proxies a lot of the time, am seriously considering TOR) and FB gets to spam my account with stuff I like (targeted spam on FB can be quite useful seeing how specific it is - i.e. I'm on Foo Fighter and Game of Thrones and that stuff is quite cool).

I'm hardly a 'femi-nazi' but a video consisting solely of unprovoked violence against women, even in a video game, is ******* sick and some of you need to get a grip of yourselves for applauding it.

I'm playing a really interesting hands-on computer challenge. It's called 'trying to get my Blackberry to work.'

The Mechanic Jason 'The Stathe' Statham is an assassin. Donald Sutherland is in a wheelchair. People die. I liked it, especially the end.

I like the pitch Wals, although making it a vampire-romance-camel-slaying epic might widen the appeal, along with a superhero angle, mebbe the camels are experimental super-mutants. On a more sombre note I'm glad people are waking up to the more sinister tendencies of the Green movement. Mother Gaia and all that is cover for a miserabilist, totalitarian, life-hating clique. READ RAINBOW SIX - TOM CLANCY IS A PROPHET!

She's either a sadist or we managed to keep it concealed better than we thought. I'm guessing the former, because in my experience all women are sadists. Is she a hot sadist? ^ Thanks for cutting to the heart of the matter!

^ Wow, another sleepless night.

My points are, variously - The folks who get a house made for them are thrilled because they don't have to do it themselves, hey I'd love it if some clueless student flew in from Australia and mowed my lawn for free. Aid turns people into dependants, not humans. On top of that, charity begins at home. Like Australia doesn't have deprived areas and a downtrodden indigenous people who might need a helping hand? I remember putting a tenner in the pot for Live Aid back in 1985. My money probably bought a box of 5.45 ammo for a Kalashnikov, or went towards a limousine. I think aid is part of the problem and free trade part of the solution.

*shrugs* I think Sean Bean is fine. I see stubborness rather than stupidity in the character but mebbe that's because I've not read the books. As I said, hawt lesbian scenes are a gift from the Great Stallion so no problems there. Crazy blonde barbarian chick and Ghengis guy are growing on me, her story is very well done. I mentioned it before in the thread but it's worth reiterating, and that's how a lot of non-fantasy fans completely dig this series. Mrs. Monte, for example, loves it. All in all the cast are great, would love to see more of Peter Dinklage (sp?).

Boo, at this juncture I feel compelled to invoke O'Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to Malice that which can be explained by stupidity Cut it out and put it above your desk, like I have. It makes understanding politics and history much easier. Also, subscribing to internet based tin-foil hattery eventually makes you look like an arse.

Possibly, but we do so get yourself used to it.

Well, I don't think the right-wing government that followed did much better to be honest. Duh. That's my point.

I was raised by wolves yet appear to be completely normal. OK, I like raw meat but that's not overly unusual.

The problem with FPS chess is of course RT versus turn-based.

Weimar was social - democratic but broadly leftish for it's time.

Find me a Green party politician who has run anything more demanding than a herbal tea stall at the local vegan fete. Please. The Germans are nuts. The last time they gave their clueless liberals the reigns was Weimar. Looked what happened then.

Hello again. I have heard some good slang recently. On the tube the other day all these kids were going on about their "Beebies" which by a process of masterful deduction I worked out were 'B-Bs' i.e. Blackberry mobile devices. I also, originally, hail from East London (although obviousy I now live in some style in the Southwest of town, as befits a man of my luck). My father therefore inducted me into the rhyming slang hall of fame, my favourite of which is 'Aris' (for arse) because it's double-rhyming slang, i.e. aris-totle = bottle / bottle & glass = arse. So, given that many of you are from exotic, faraway lands (like Belgium) please share your favourite regional slang. Also, internet and gaming slang amuses me, please feel free to post examples of this too. Eventually we will develop our own bizarre off-topic forum slang language, like Droogs (the book, love, not the silly film) and nobody else will understand our argot. Cheers MC

They really need to make FPS Chess, where every pawn has like a minigun and stuff. The Queen can be a sniper.

It grips my **** that students go on vanity travelling projects and kid themselves they're making a difference. They ain't.