Monte Carlo

Am going to try out the free trial of Age of Conan to see what it's like.

But then you can't read about his sexy pink panties, that are edible. Thanks for validating my decision. I might fail my SANITY check otherwise.

:: sighs :: I just wish they'd hurry up and release Diablo 3 :: sighs ::

...does this...does this mean I might take Volo off of ignore? :: thinks :: No.

I agree with you 100% that ME3 has to be awesomely received all-round, then as you say DA2's issues will be seen as a blip. No pressure there then, ME3 team, OK?

This is the interesting one. If slippery-slope syndrome kicks in and Bio titles stop being seen as AAA must-buy titles with automatic 90+ previews then it's the beginning of the end.

I dunno, I'm not a Scandie but those countries tend to be very socially and religiously homogenous. I'm just guessing that the majority of folks do. Scandies can you enlighten us?

I guess they perform a similar function to birth certificates.

Errr...not CHECK I think. Sucker Punch's plot is - AFAIK - about a girl injustly imprisoned in an insane asylum who concocts an escape plan with fellow "inmates" which is presented as a series of fantasy adventures for the girls as the line between their realities and their fantasies blur subjectively for them. So what would you call the strange WW1 stuff?

You can. My lifestyle guide is available as a $99.99 value from awesomemonte.co.uk

Sucker Punch looks awful from the trailers, like a soggy jambalaya of every allegedly kewl internet culture meme EVAR: Hot chicks in Japanese schoolgirl outfits with... katanas? CHECK Counter-factual r/w history with a twist...? CHECK Hi-tech firearms...? Giant fighting robots...? CHECK Impossibly large swords...? CHECK A smidgeon of American gothic...? CHECK DRAGEONSSSSSS? CHECK My advice is to go watch Time Bandits which is what this movie appears to be trying to be, just with some heavily armed **** cat dolls. Honestly, if some smartasshat director thinks that's going to impress this high-ranking geek callsign then he needs to go back to work and try again. Harder.

LOL Sarkozy looks like he's giving The Colonel a full-on Masonic handshake from the position of the thumb-on-knuckle.

If you're gonna amputate a leg just do it before it starts to smell. J-DAM the Colonel and let the locals get on with it. OTOH A division or two with total air superiority would ace Ghadaffi's forces in a week a la Iraq in 2003. Britain and France could just about do it, although the UK would struggle big time. Maybe a brigade at a push. Problem is, that's when the trouble starts. Regime loyalists aren't going to give up the ghost and then you've got Baghdad-on-Sea for another ten years. These rebels, marvellous though they are, have no hierarchy or proper agenda.

Indeed. 'tis from the Volornian playbook. Is there such a thing as a treble face-palm? If not, I've just invented it.

^ Indeed, and to be fair to her she's certainly got her pen and paper writing spurs too. I just found myself in a whole world of WTF reading the interview and it explained a lot about the direction of travel Bio are in.

Y'see, this is where I get all controversial... it's like saying men would dig chick flicks more if you made all the garbage about dating, kissing and dancing optional and threw in a few more zombies / car chases / explosions. That is to say, stop it being a chick flick. Cue lots of angry chick flick fans who want to see Bridget Jones Diary, not Bridget Jones Zombie Apocalypse (which naturally would be cooler). You can't appeal to everybody. You just freaking well can't. Bio want a game for story fans for action fans for women for men for CRPG addicts for casual console gamers for.... everybody. They are seeking some sort of mythical alchemy of game development, the ambrosia that is the unigame that appeals to everybody. And this race to the lowest common denominator is what is killing their games and, by a process of mimicry and osmosis, the genre.

What he said.

But what awesome thing would happen every time you pushed a button?

Oil is a really, really good reason to go to war. How did you get to work this morning?

So we should hire all the toilet paper fantasy writers that don't play games and you can't tell apart - because gameplay matters more? Avellone save us. You completely missed my point.

A lot of writers when actually writing don't read much, unless it's material linked to whatever project it is they are working on. It's sort of inevitable. Difference is, most of them still love fiction, books, writing and their genre. I'm not expecting a developer after a hard sixteen hours behind a bank of monitors to kick back and play another eight of WoW. I do expect them to have been through something similar at some point in the past, understand the love and generally dig games.

It's like she sees the writing as this awesome piece of the game that's detached from the gameplay, it must be a nightmare being somebody who actually makes stuff happen in the game when this ivory-tower type tapping away on her keyboard doesn't really care about it. The game is just a coded cradle for her magnificent prose. Right? Wrong. Get a grip. The writing is, always was and always shall be the secondary to the meat and potatoes of gameplay. Bioware will, mark my words, eventually release digital novels with optional minigames attached.

Master Oner, searcheth the general RPG forum, albeit festooned with holy symbols and anointed with protective unguents lest ye catch the palsy of rabid spleen that afflicteth the dam-ned in that place. Amen. In that forum you shall see the thread I describe, it is clearly labelled, in blood and the innermost parts of exotic beasts, for what it is. I can do no more lest I open an unholy portal which I cannot control. just wanted to say thank you for writing that. made my morning

The Codex' main function is to provide a Hate Vortex from which MCA can feed off of, so it does provide a valuable service to the gaming public. Here is the link to the original article: http://www.killerbetties.com/killer_women_...pler?page=0%2C3 Love the bit when they ask about "What's the worst thing about your job" (at Bio) Answer: Playing the games. LOL

Master Oner, searcheth the general RPG forum, albeit festooned with holy symbols and anointed with protective unguents lest ye catch the palsy of rabid spleen that afflicteth the dam-ned in that place. Amen. In that forum you shall see the thread I describe, it is clearly labelled, in blood and the innermost parts of exotic beasts, for what it is. I can do no more lest I open an unholy portal which I cannot control.