Monte Carlo

Yes, we must. Which is a shame because I like you a great deal. ::sniffs ::

For many rock fans of a certain age Dave Grohl is a saintly, almost god-like uber-being of cool. I am one of those rock fans. I am a Dave Fan Boy. I harbour feelings for Dave akin to those Duck and Cover forumites have for Fallout. :: sigh :: So not only did Dave play the drums in Nirvana, spot that Courtney Love was a wrong 'un, found the rock band I listen to virtually every day and appear in a couple of Tenacious D videos... he's also poured a big icy pitcher of STFU for the person who inflicted Glee on the world. Before you read more about the awesomeness of Dave let me pontificate on Glee. I have nothing, per se, against cheery kids performing cheesy covers of famous songs on a primetime music slot. I am also ambivalent about relentlessly optimistic crap American TV (I lived through the Fame years, ladies). But what really boils my piss is the idea that 'Glee Clubs' are in some way heralding a cultural renaissance on a par with the invention of stringed instruments. Wagner, to my knowledge, never attended a Teutonic Glee club. Elvis Presley was never required to squeak someone elses tunes in harmony after maths class (NO HE WAS TOO BUSY INVENTING ROCK AND ROLL). Dave Grohl never needed to wear a silly sweatshirt and caper about in order to write The Best of You. So, this thread is all about agreeing with me and laying a small online token of respect to the avatar of utter Win that is Dave Grohl for taking the fight to Glee. A minor shout-out also goes to the Kings of Leon who also fought this cacophonic audio menace by forbidding the cast to mutilate "need somebody." Maybe one day, if they try really hard, they will be as cool as one of Dave's abandoned training shoes. Then again perhaps not. I thank you all and goodnight.

That's quite an interesting take on it, except I think their writing is occasionally good, often OK and sometimes meh.

The big difference is that Native Americans have recourse to generous civil remedies and enjoy universal suffrage. Furthermore, the past has been in part bought out via the Reservation system. Ideal? Probably not, but it's something. Take your proposition to the the UN and you'd get laughed out, even as the ATF burn down their compound by accident. Freedom fighting and rebellion is what happens when people genuinely have no reasonable political, democratic recourse left to a reasonable and lawful aspiration. Terrorism is the reverse.

The tragedy in all this is that Bio really, really rate their writing. They think it's become the primary motivation for people buying their games (which mebbe for a significant proportion of their girlie new Twilight-adoring fanbase might indeed be the case) as opposed to the gameplay. Yet they can't come up with a compelling or original villain. In the Ying and Yang of RPGs the gameplay mechanics and plot / storytelling have a complex relationship and one can carry the other... up to a point. If Bio think that they can cleverly play off the gameplay due to their superb storytelling skillz they need to go and brew up a big hot mug of reality and take a glug!

Don't know where to start, really. Pax Americana has been a fact of life since 1945. You have full spectrum dominance, African commands, European commands and Asian commands, you have the largest global military budget and enough nukes to destroy the universe. Twice. There isn't a single square foot of this planet you can't surveil, bomb or put boots on the ground. Every single international organisation concerning Western defence is predicated on American approval and strategic direction. You've spent ten years (not unreasonably) stirring up some of the most unpredictable hotspots on earth in order to avenge an attack on your sovereign territory, and you've resorted to extra-judicial measures to achieve it. It's been a helluva ride. As a result you've had the world more or less they way you wanted it for for almost seventy years, believe it or not. You've had your ups (Ike, Reagan, LBJ) and your downs (Carter, Nixon, Bubba) but all things being equal I don't think you've done a bad job so far. So that's a tick in the 'Least Worst World Superpower' box. And what's really, really clever about the Pax Americana (and I say this as an admirer) is how you've dressed it up as something not even remotely imperialistic - your cultural and economic hegemony trumps the military and diplomatic ones in most folk's minds. Let's say burgers and Levis 501s versus the USS Nimitz and the NSA. You know there's a but, right? But ,the quid pro quo, old bean, is that you have put yourselves in a position where it is your freaking business. The Colin Powell doctrine (You broke it, you fix it) can be applied to all sorts of cause and effect. Iraq stirred up the pot and the Gaddafi rapprochment with the West (hey, at least he's our bastard) made him bold. Now he needs putting back in his box. To an outsider, the American duality where one minute you want to play Team America with a glint in your eye, the next an isolationist good ol' boy who simply wants to sit on his porch and watch the sun goes down is truly baffling.

Multiplayer = awful was spot on.

It's a shame this part of the game wasn't DLC, then you'd have had a large illuminated exclamation mark lighting the way.

Kim Jong Il is bonkers but he hasn't got anything on Gaddafi style-wise. Granted, the strange Kommunist take on Foster Grant sunglasses is slightly funny, but the Blofeld-grey playsuit isn't as spectacular as the examples of sartorial elegance shown above. Look at that brown paper thing the good colonel is wearing! It's stunning. Kim Jong Il would have to goose-step along the 49th parallel in a medal-bestrewn mankini to get anywhere near.

^ Poster invokes Godwin's Law and wins. Close thread now plz.

Hat-tip to newsbiscuit...

Yeah but 50 is the new 30 or something.

Yes, with a strange dash of Lord of Flies methinks.

Obviously, I'm looking forward to Col. Gaddafi being vaporised by a J-DAM as much as the next guy. But, let's face it, this will be a massive loss to the world of dictators-in-ridiculous-uniforms. Check this funky dress uniform out.. I particularly like the sunglasses, comedy epaulettes and un-military bouffant Bee-Gees style haircut. He looks like a 1920's cinema commissionaire trying out for the mafia. Please share. I'm sure out on the interweb there is a rich fund of ridiculous dictators wearing amusing uniforms or outfits.

I also, being middle-aged, had to look up 'Squee' on Urban Dictionary. It strikes me as an activity that fits the average Bio fan nowadays like a glove.

Lulz, DA2 has it's own Hitler / Downfall spoof too.

^ It's a lot of fun, very high finish on the mod. It's more convenient if you use Vordan's Hero Creator to get your initial party going else they'll have no GP at the start, though He's even got some original module art from Erol Otis in the mod!

I post here to share my awesomeness with the rest of the world. It's an altruism thing.

To be fair, if there's an epic iconic evil overlord type ending folks shrug and say it's old. So they go for something different then it's lame. I dunno what the way to split the difference is but I can see Laidlaw's dilemma. As for the rest of the design decisions, well they can carry on kicking over sandcastles until EA kicks their sandcastle.

A NWN2 mod called Legacy of White Plume Mountain by Wyrin (who wrote the Dark Avenger mods). It's an overland adventure like SoZ based on the classic PnP modules, it's done really well. You make your own party like SoZ too. Recommended.

Any reason why you left out poor George Clooney? Keaton is the better Batman, Bale was in the better movie. +1

The next phase of this mildly amusing piece of gaming soap opera will be the DLC. I expect some hardcore nickel and diming that will make fluff like 'Witch Hunt' look like Tales of the Sword Coast.

Just put him on ignore, the threads fly by.

UK prisons aren't the Playstation-and-satellite-TV nirvanas the tabloids portray* but neither are they Escape from New York. They are grim, undoubtedly. I know this mainly because I had to visit a friend who found himself in a Category 'C' prison. * We leave that to the Scandies.

BTW, it just occurred to me that DA2s meta-metacritic score is 6. LOL. That sucks.