Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo approves of this message. I am looking forward to this movie, which looks like it was fashioned from a large block of 22 carat win.

So, what you are saying is that now is the time to invest in hunting rifles, tinned goods and wind-up radios?

Not analogous, but still close enough to be funny in light of your previous statement. I hope the time you fell off wasn't one of the times you'd driven it. No, I was completely sober when I drove it. We displayed it at a show when they were first issued, and it was on a static display after hours. We had a few beers and decided to climb on top of it to see who could get up there fastest. Not a good idea.

By the way, I've driven one of those (and fallen off the top of one having had too much to drink). It's a big metal box on wheels, drives like a skip, the centre of gravity is too high so you wouldn't want to corner too fast in one.

Yeah: (for those lacking appreciation of advanced sarcasm, that's a Saxon APC on patrol in Northern Ireland). That was quite witty, but not analagous. I'd say that Cairo a week ago was more peaceful than West Belfast circa 1984.

^ Absolutely, more power to them. No doubt people will think it's a CIA plot, but they would, wouldn't they? As for the Muslim Brotherhood, of course the risk is you replace one type of tyranny for another but there's nothing to say that the MB has the necessary traction to take as much advantage of this as it might like.

Hey, how about Bioware hiding a decent CRPG inside DA2 as an Easter Egg?

Why do despotic regimes in 'developing' countries always use armoured personnel carriers in public order situations? OK, the obvious answer is because (a) it's a despotic regime and (b) a big tracked vehicle bristling with weapons is really scary and © in most of these places the point where the military ends and the police begins is a little blurred. Anyway, on the front page of the Times is a burning APC, my long-forgotten AFV recognition skillz do not allow me to identify it (except that it looks like it came from an early game of Command and Conquer) but of course it's on fire. Slowly moving tracked vehicles are not optimal against crowds, and let's face it the Egyptian army is unlikely to use the rockets and minigun option on crowds just yet. So why? It's like bringing a baseball bat to a round of golf. These countries need horses and dogs and water cannon. More effective, cheaper, and looks more civilized on the evening news.

Being a gamer is a state of mind. How many games you buy is a bogus metric.

I think you need a haircut.

LOL, I think there was another power failure in magical Volo's lair causing him to cut himself on his tinfoil Tron costume.

Read my post again. You must have sucked at comprehension.

Stupid question, but I'm assuming that "Nukes" is some kind of role in the army.. or a technician handling nukes? No, "Nukes" are the guys that work on and maintain the nuclear reactors that power most US aircraft carriers. This. Basically you're sent off to get trained on how to operate the nuke reactors and get nearly the amount of credits needed for a degree as a nuclear engineer. Also there's an automatic requirement for the security clearance so very few people are actually able to get into the corner of the ship you work in. [Clerks]So you're like the dudes who fill the soda machines on the Death Star?[/Clerks]

DLC is there to play on the percieved weaknesses of their customer base. For example, why does a burger chain have super size meals for +60p? Or those little fried donuts? Or those tangy little chicken wings? Or a burger with a strange piece of Latvian peppered cheddar melted onto it? Because they percieve fast-food lovers to be greedy, processed-food dependent lard junkies, that's why. You could just have the basic, cheaper and equally filling Basic Burger Meal. But no, you have to have the little fired donuts too, after all they were only three copper pieces. What is the percieved weakness of the gaming customer base? The tendency of gamers to be relentless completionists. A lot of gamers are. Hoarders. The DLC is like that little fried donut portion sprinkled with gaming crack. You don't need it, you know you don't need it but all the other romance junkies found out what happened to your favourite NPC and have that little magic item that gives you a +5% bonus to one of your powaz. SO YOU HAVE TO FREAKING WELL HAVE IT YES YOU MUST!!! IT'S ONLY FIVE DOLLARS! The developers know this. How? They're gamers too. You think they don't fall for it? Of course they do. The problem is choice. There are lots of games. For me now, games are like friendships, I've only got enough time and energy to manage a certain number meaningfully. So the DLC has to be good, which is where Bio has failed because although Watcher's Keep was OK and RtO was so-so but not awful none of it was compelling enough for me to develop a.... habit. So remember, next time you click on that 'Buy DLC' tab, it's just a little portion of fried donuts in Burger Shack: sweet, only temporarily filling and when you think about it not really necessary. The only difference is that DLC won't increase your waist size.

THQ Exec dreads release of next-gen consoles due to spiralling costs... I have to say I agree and another reason why PC gaming ain't dead.

Sorry

Why don't you, for the love of god, read the man's freaking post? He said it hasn't aged well. It hasn't. It looks horrible. The models are made of cubes. The clothes look like circus clown outfits. The tilesets are cookie cutter. The infinity engine games have aged better, but being from a completely different era of gaming that's not surprising because they were near the zenith of the graphical paradigm they were created in. NWN wasn't, it was at the start. This isn't Bio hate, it's just a fact. NWN is a joke game. A freaking joke.

Apologies, I was speaking for the British army where technical grades like signals, electrical and mechanical engineers and anybody who is allowed to touch the guts of a heli is paid more than an entry-level infantryman. I understand that deployment allowances and retention bonuses sweeten the pot for most infantrymen, as well as the traditional ops tour financial incentive of not spending any of your salary for six months (applies to singlies rather than your thirty-something senior NCO with kids). This of course leads to all sorts of extremely unwise, but psychologically completely understandable, impulse purchases on post-deployment day + 1.

I don't think anybody here is suggesting that women can't serve in war zones on active service. This is a role-related issue. With respect you are missing the point slightly. And in most western armed forces bayonet technicians (inf) are usually on the lowest payscales. The technical roles (like Guard Dog working in aviation tech) tend to get articifer NCO status and higher pay increments to recognise their training and skills. The role we're talking about is infantry and armour. The pointy bit. It's just different.

Tough. You don't risk lives and the success of the mission to help someone's career portfolio. Way to ignore the revelant points in my post. What, Di, like this bit where you appear to suggest that the deaths of women is a new and interesting metric for pursuing a WAR IS EVAL agenda? Usually you are a overflowing spring of common-sense, but alas on this one I think not. Edit: I realise my post might appear harsh, I'm not trolling Di but that really is how I read it.

It means getting your merde together on a two-way range, switching on, winning the firefight. Killing, stabbing, shooting at point blank range, blowing stuff up. Then doing it all again. For days. Could women do that? Possibly, even probably. Could they do that consistently and integrated into male combat units without degrading the ability to do all that better than the other side? I don't know. Do you want to be in the experimental unit?

This is why sometimes I struggle with alanschu's posts, in the nicest possible way his butt's in a sling because he's in the industry and works for Bio. alan, what we are saying is that the Bioware / EA DLC model appears to a lot of gamers to be sharp practice and price-gouging. It certainly looks that way from where I'm sitting, although I bought two DA:O DLC pieces and thought they were OK. I agree that paying to unlock content that's already there is smelly, buying DLC as a longevity thing after release is different.

Tough. You don't risk lives and the success of the mission to help someone's career portfolio.

Also, the game was marketed as having state-of-the-art graphics that required a decent gaming rig. And in the blink of an eye, WHHOOOOSH! they alientated 60% of their natural market.